Project CarPC

[meissenation]

Figured since I don't post here too much, I'd throw these up for people to chomp on. I'm still in the process of fully installing it, my powersupply that I got was faulty so I have to get a new one, can only do so much while I'm unemployed. Anyway, here's some background info:

It's a fullblown computer, motherboard, harddrive, touchscreen LCD. Only has a 600mhz chip in it, but it's upgradable should I decide to, I figured I'd start slow and work up as needed, but it actually runs quite well at 600mhz. Haven't tried the DVD yet. It has my whole mp3 collection on it, as well as GPS software, and a few games and stuff for parking lot boredom. Oh, and it has wireless internet access so I can "dock" the car on the home network while it's in the garage to exchange mp3 files and stuff like that.

The pics are with my ghetto rigging, so you'll see wires in the background on the floor and what not. Right now, since my actual 12v DC-DC powersupply hasn't come yet, I have to use an invertor so I can use a regular 110 ATX powersupply, works for now but not the best way to do it.








Here's some night pics, when it really looks sweet IMO:


http://carpc.meissenation.com/10-23-05/carPC%20003.jpg
http://carpc.meissenation.com/10-23-05/carPC%20006.jpg

[ November 08, 2005, 07:31 PM: Message edited by: meissenation ]

[HokieBird]

Thats pretty cool. It looks like you did a pretty good job. I thought about doing a car-puter, but the customer fabricaiton of the dash kind of pushed me away.

Few suggestions for upgrades:
-Make a piece to go around the front power buttons and cover some of that empty space on the sides.
-OBD interface? that would be pretty cool to be able to pull up guages on the screen and log info.
-if you know anyone else with a wireless car-puter it would be cool if you could have a wi-fi messanger or speech program for road trips.
-I assume you have blue tooth already or plans since you have a phone icon on your menu
-when it boots up it has to say "Hello Micheal" like in knight rider. If you don't do this I'm going to request you be banned [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[asdf1234]

That is awesome. I've always thought about doing something, but I was never too sure how the HD would handle potholes and what-not. Looks great though.

The only thing I dont like are the flame guages, and maybe the CF windowswitch bezels. Other than that, HOT.

[meissenation]

Haha yeah, sadly enough it's only been installed for a few weeks and I'm already thinking on ways to improve the bezel. It's a never ending project. I literally received the screen and then just took the bezel and started molding it in and didn't even test fit until it was all finished. Now I've seen some things that I need to work on, and I'd like to have it integrate into the center console a little better too.

No bluetooth technology yet, I have a Spring PCS phone and the phone control button that's in there needs a GSM network phone, so looks like I'll have to be changing services just to integrate my phone into it. ;) For the OBD interfacing, definitely wanted to! Unfortunately, I'm one year off, 94 only has OBD-I, and with a v6 there's no software available. :(

So far all the hardware has held up quite well. I haven't encountered TOO many potholes (surprisingly, living in MI and all) but the few bad roads I've driven on hasn't had any problem with the HD at all. I've seen a few other cases where people mounted their HD to the inside of the dash, so I figured I wouldn't have any problems either. I'll keep ya updated tho if I encounter any vibration interferance.

Thanks for the compliment tho, guys. Much appreciated! [img]graemlins/rock.gif[/img]


Edit: Here's a video showing some of the functionality of the mp3 player part of my carPC.
http://videos.camaroz28.com/player.a...5-2FF7470C698D

[ November 08, 2005, 07:56 PM: Message edited by: meissenation ]

[articacid]

looks pretty sweet! the cf looks good too. a good buddy of mine has a 94 3.4 he loves your car. hes been working on some ideas he got from your car, i think he might of even talked to you about it.

[meissenation]

Just wait till this Spring when I'm done with the interior, then it'll be entirely different. Things people have never seen before, never done before, and never thought of before. [img]smile.gif[/img]

And of course, there will be those that it'll piss off -- so yes, it'll be VERY different. ;)

[nikon]

looks good, but im more interested in the guts and where you were able to mount them, and if your having any overheating problems (yet). and good work with the molding better than I could do, but I guess thats cause I never tried. Good job keep us posted

[Dead Body]

COOL THING !

Wich Monitor diy you use ? how " ? price?

here is my friends firebird:

[meissenation]

The screen that I used is a Lilliput 7" touchscreen, uses the VGA and USB connector. Then I have a regular 20gb HD, which is mounted on the inside of the bezel. The motherboard, a Via Epia ME6000 (only 6.5" square! half the size of a standard keyboard!) is mounted under the bezel. So far everything has worked out pretty good, the bezel is already showing signs of stress from being put in and out so many times trying to get different things mounted and installed. I'll probably have to redo the entire bezel within the next 6 months, but considering I only took a week to do this one, I'm pretty happy with it. For some in-progress pictures, check out:
http://carpc.meissenation.com/

[ThatsMeGC]

If the HD becomes an issue, I bet a laptop drive would hold up better. I don't know if it would plug straight in or if an adapter would be needed or something though.

Looks very cool.

I'll keep an eye on the local news stations and look for them to talk about you as the guy who got arrested for watching porn in his car. [img]graemlins/rofl.gif[/img]

[meissenation]

Haha yeah everyone's already been talking about me watching porno in the car, but I think it'd be too distracting. It's bad enough as it is when I'm driving down the street pressing the touchscreen to change songs, and texting people on my cell phone too. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[whitefirebird96]

where did you mount the climate controls at once the monitor is in?

[meissenation]

I didn't have to move my climate controls to fit the monitor, just the headunit. My headunit is actually in the glovebox, with a 9 foot extension cable for the faceplate. My faceplate is in the sunvisor, but going to be molded into my fiberglass headliner that I'm working on right now. So, I can control the radio and volume aspects from the faceplate still, even though the rest of the headunit is actually in the glovebox.

For other people that do move their HVAC, a lot of times they move it to the glovebox too. From what I've read, in most cases you can move it over there by rerouting wires and you won't even have to splice or extend any of the wiring.

[easyc4]

wat software did u use to get that interface on the computer?

[meissenation]

The main interface is called Road Runner, it's called a frontend software. There's many different kinds, from FrodoPlayer to Media Car and Media Engine, etc. There's whole forums devoted to them in the Software forum on mp3car.com. Most work pretty good, but I went with the one that worked best for me.