Car PC

[MrCoffee]

I was wondering what you use to play mp3s? I'd like to use the newest version of winamp becasue of the AVS feature. Pop that into full screen mode and have the visualization dance to the music! That would be a nice little bonus!

[AllTheGoodNamesAreGone]

Mr coffee.. you need to get into this!! you sound just like i did about a year ago.. its really exciting stuff.. simply because you can make it do whatever you want!!

its like a HU, with gps, wireless lan, plays movies, mp3s.. ect ect.. its really alot of funn looking for hardware also.. you find alot of really neat products!!

give it a shot!

[Quijeeboe]

don't get into this its simply an easy way to blow all of your money really quickly I repeat myself don't do this its horrible awful and may cause random limb growth in the elderly and cancer in puppies, then again I might be just a little stupid at the moment and am acting like a complete idiot

[AllTheGoodNamesAreGone]

Quijeeboe,

LOL.. atleast your rig is in the car.. mine is just stilling in a box.. its like 2K worth of stuff so far.. and that just the computer stuff.. not counting car audio amps/speakers (those are in the car though).. lol..

[MrCoffee]

I've been thinking about doing it. If I knew the screen would fit in the stock dash spot, and if I had a case design that fit somewhere in the car, then it'd be done. I have a few spots that I'd like to measure to see if a case might fit, and I need to think of a mounting bracket that could support the screen (if it even fits).
If the screen doesnt fit in the stock HU spot then maybe the touch screen on my visor and another basic screen in the passenger's visor. But that's more expensive so its a last resort.
I've been thinking about that power supply I posted earlier and that may be the one I'll use, I know its big but it seems to be the best idea. Either that or an inverter wired to the ignition wire.
I just dont like the possibility that the computer might suffer from the power randomly shut off. And if I could get it to go into hibernation mode then it'll pick up right where it left off. But then it draws current all the time, and thats not good for the stock battery... AHHH too many things to think about :mad:

[mikesoc82]

K&N Sealing Grease

there say it :
Sealing grease is designed to create an airtight seal between the filter and the tube.


is this bull or worth the 10 bucks?

[youngcamarokid]

Sorry...but I really think you should make the project OpenSource...put it up on SourceForge, then you wouldn't have to do it all yourself. I know I would contribute.

I'm not the best programmer but I'm good with hardware. IE: I design little gadget circuits that make your life easier. As in, you say you want a little circuit that would automatically trip the power switch on ignition shut down, sure no problem, but it's quite a bit more than just a relay!! With a relay, it'd be held down. And that's no good...can we say, "inproper shutdown" every time it's shut down? that adds a good 3 minutes to boot up. no fun.

Anyway, you get the idea...

[MrCoffee]

I dont get it...
if you just cut the power off its improperly shut down no matter how you do it. you have to shut it down through the OS, or motherboard.

[youngcamarokid]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by MrCoffee:
I dont get it...
if you just cut the power off its improperly shut down no matter how you do it. you have to shut it down through the OS, or motherboard.<hr></blockquote>


we're talking about that fancy nifty cool feature ATX and above mb's have called "soft-power". The power is always connected to the psu...but to turn it on you hit the power switch. To shut it down with windows, you hit the power switch. To turn it off with no shutdown, you hold the switch for ~4 seconds.

[AllTheGoodNamesAreGone]

we were talking abouit the hibernate feature w/XP... it shuts all the way down.. and you can set it up so when you press the power button it goes down to hibernation and then cuts the power..

thus rig that into the switch and viola..

~BIll

[MrCoffee]

Oh I see
if the switch was made, tested and perfect that would be cool. I'm thinking about that power supply I mentioned with the built in UPS circuits, unless a cheaper and/or better way is presented

[camaro_speedemon]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Quijeeboe:
OK, I'm back to answer a few questions.

1. Heat is definately not an issue I live in south FL and have been using this system for the past several days without a single problem and it has been really hot here.

2. Power Issues, I just use a standard ATX pc with an inverter and I've yet to run into any problems. I shut the system down when I'm leaving my car for extended periods of time because I don't want it to drain my battery nor do I want it to run in a parked car which easily reaches temps of 150 degrees in the middle of the day. I set the system to boot after power failure so it kicks on as soon as I turn on the inverter. And on a side note the current draw appears to be minimal as my friends were using this for at least 20 minutes with the engine off and and the stereo running full blast with no signs of a low battery.

3. Hibernation, I never even considered it because it would be almost worthless in this project because the pc boots so quickly (well under 30 seconds). The only thing I have to "mess with" is clicking the power button in my software to shut down the computer, all in all pretty painless.

4. I do plan on selling this software very soon and the price includes customization of the background to display your car or whatever you'd like the background to be. Further customizations will also be available for varying prices depending upon the complexity of the request.<hr></blockquote>

What about having a feature where the person can customize the background whenever they want to? Or is that what your talking about? My next little project is an in car PC so I might be interested in this software as well.

[Quijeeboe]

Guys like I've said before the power really isn't a problem. I've got a switch that turns the inteverter on at which point the pc (an ATX pc) kicks on. To shut down I've got a button I put into my software that shuts down the computer. Hibernation would be of no real help and will introduce all the problems generally associated with it. I've had a lot of different problems with hibernation in my days (over 3 years) as a network admin. One of the biggest being massive memory leaks after coming out of hibernation and overall poor performance. In the long run it is just better to do a cold boot because A. it doesn't take all that long B. it cleans out all the crap and gives the system a fresh start.

[ July 16, 2003: Message edited by: Quijeeboe ]</p>