My CarPuter and Car audio build thread (Lots of pics)

[crazyman03]

Meow?

[crazyman03]

hmm.. It wouldn't let me edit my post. odd..

 

Anyway..

 

So I got my wire harness to install my deck I had been holding out installing it because i don't have a cage for the deck but i like how it turned out.

 

I was toying around with the LCD to see where i wanted to put it. Looks perfect where the stock deck was located.

 

Nothing permanent at the moment, except the deck but its a start :-) Just need to build the trim piece to make it look perfect!

 

but at the moment: (i didnt want a gaping hole in the dash just because It might take a bit before i start on the trim peice)

 

 

-Justin

Edited July 19, 2010 by crazyman03

[eulogious]

I like man! You stole my idea I am going to do the same thing with my car. I am going to remove my ash try and cig liter, and then cut/mold the compartment below it to make so I have one big gapping hole Then I will install a touch screen above the deck, just like yours It looks good man! Now just make your self a nice surround and it will make it all clean

 

Have you messed around with linuxice at all? It's pretty sweet. I have been playing around with it lately... Ever since I saw you do this, I was jealous, so I have been busy as of late with a little project

 

This thread triggered my memory and I remember that I have a G4 mac mini that was sitting in my office plugged in, but turned off. So I decided that instead of it doing nothing, it should be doing something in my car Long story short I got gentoo running on it with nghost (media front end, like road runner) installed and working. It boots to a working computer in 1:25 too And the mini only use 85watts. So it's perfect for a carputer!

 

So ya, thanks for kicking my rump roast into gear with this! Now I just need to find a good deal on a touch screen...

[crazyman03]

cool! yea, I had a mac mini PPC running 10.4 with a gig of ram. but dipstick here decided to sell it. really wish i still had it! I would've molded it where the deck is and called it done! lol and it would've been easier to install.

 

I saw an audio install where a guy did a 10"? TLCD in his dash. Looked pretty flipin SWEEEEETT!!! running an intel mac, headrest monitors going to the mac as well. Though, he didnt run a front-end software.. (SMD Monster Install) he just used iTunes lol i would've at least used front row or something

 

At the moment though.. I'm torn. I had a guy offer me a flip-out Dash DVD player. MP3/DVD/CD/AM/FM, rear camera, 2 video outputs. Of corse, its a Dual deck so its.. well.. a Dual:rolleyes:.

 

I want to keep the carputer but like i said earlier, i wouldnt mind a dash unit. Double Din would've been nicer though.

 

 

Anyway, depending on what i'm going to do about that. I'm going to try and start the molding process here this next week. $$ is being retarded so buying bondo is going to be on hold.. I've already got wood and paint.

 

 

 

-Justin

[SubaruJawn]

i have some extra computers in the closet. i could do this myself but i dunno if I'd want to.

 

don't know how long the pc will last after off roading and bumps and thumps of normal driving.

 

I'll have to get a converter

screen similar to what you got.

ect...

[crazyman03]

i have some extra computers in the closet. i could do this myself but i dunno if I'd want to.

 

don't know how long the pc will last after off roading and bumps and thumps of normal driving.

 

I'll have to get a converter

screen similar to what you got.

ect...

 

Get a SSD disk. (solid state disk, disk on chip, flash drive whatever) there is no moving parts on it so bumps wont affect it. I have a 512MB drive i'm contemplating installing in the dell. I can install winxp Embedded on it which takes up like.. 100MB???? the rest can be for added software.. and just use a thumbdrive for music and movies.

 

They make larger SSD/Flash Drives. of corse they are a bit pricey.

 

on the other hand though, laptop hard drives have come a long way nowdays. Better shock protection, less moving parts. even if you had a desktop setup, you can get a converter from Desktop EIDE to laptop IDE. or SATA fo that matter, you can just plug it in.

 

 

-Justin

[SubaruJawn]

Get a SSD disk. (solid state disk, disk on chip, flash drive whatever) there is no moving parts on it so bumps wont affect it. I have a 512MB drive i'm contemplating installing in the dell. I can install winxp Embedded on it which takes up like.. 100MB???? the rest can be for added software.. and just use a thumbdrive for music and movies.

 

They make larger SSD/Flash Drives. of corse they are a bit pricey.

 

on the other hand though, laptop hard drives have come a long way nowdays. Better shock protection, less moving parts. even if you had a desktop setup, you can get a converter from Desktop EIDE to laptop IDE. or SATA fo that matter, you can just plug it in.

 

 

-Justin

 

i have an 8GB Flash drive. i could install and run Ubuntu. its fast free Operating System and can be installed and ran off Flash Drives

 

Solid state drives are way to expensive. my father has a converter he doesn't use. i dunno if it'll be enough to power the pc. i'll have to check it out next time i get up to the garage.

[crazyman03]

ah.. yea flash media is nice

 

btw, eulogious, I tried that LinuxICE thing. I wasnt all that impressed. I mean yea, its linux, open source and.. its linux. But 1, it took too long to boot. 2, the GUI was rather choppy. I'm going to play with it a bit.. maybe see if i can get the GUI to look a bit more friendly. But centrafuse is a much nicer interface IMO. that or RoadRunner.. that's a nice one too..

 

 

 

-Justin

[eulogious]

btw, eulogious, I tried that LinuxICE thing. I wasnt all that impressed. I mean yea, its linux, open source and.. its linux. But 1, it took too long to boot. 2, the GUI was rather choppy. I'm going to play with it a bit.. maybe see if i can get the GUI to look a bit more friendly. But centrafuse is a much nicer interface IMO. that or RoadRunner.. that's a nice one too..

 

 

 

-Justin

 

Well of course it takes forever to load off of a CD! Same with the gui being choppy. Proper drivers go along ways

 

I got my mac mini to boot from pressing the power button to using the interface and playing music in 1 min and 25 sec. That's fast, no matter what you are running. Keep in mind this is 6 year old hardware that is "obsolete". So on decent HW, it should boot quickly. Of course I am using gentoo, so that makes a difference, but ya. Nghost (the front end) is pretty sweet once you get it going smooth. I am using a better skin as well. Much better looking than the default. I am still working everything out with it, but I got sound going today, so that was the last "big" piece that I needed to get running. Now for all the little stuff.

 

BTW, I am forced to go with either OS X or linux, as my mini is PPC (Power PC) not x86, so I can't run winblows on it, so roadrunner and centrafuse are out for me. They are nice, but I don't want even more pirated software on my computers if I can help it. nghost is super easy to skin as well, so that leaves it open for me to customize it the way I want, and I like that. That and it runs on my favourite OS, gentoo

 

I am going to play around with the GPS program as well and see what I can come up with. I think I have an old skool GPS laying around here I might be able to use with it...

[crazyman03]

Well of course it takes forever to load off of a CD! Same with the gui being choppy. Proper drivers go along ways

 

I got my mac mini to boot from pressing the power button to using the interface and playing music in 1 min and 25 sec. That's fast, no matter what you are running. Keep in mind this is 6 year old hardware that is "obsolete". So on decent HW, it should boot quickly. Of course I am using gentoo, so that makes a difference, but ya. Nghost (the front end) is pretty sweet once you get it going smooth. I am using a better skin as well. Much better looking than the default. I am still working everything out with it, but I got sound going today, so that was the last "big" piece that I needed to get running. Now for all the little stuff.

 

BTW, I am forced to go with either OS X or linux, as my mini is PPC (Power PC) not x86, so I can't run winblows on it, so roadrunner and centrafuse are out for me. They are nice, but I don't want even more pirated software on my computers if I can help it. nghost is super easy to skin as well, so that leaves it open for me to customize it the way I want, and I like that. That and it runs on my favourite OS, gentoo

 

I am going to play around with the GPS program as well and see what I can come up with. I think I have an old skool GPS laying around here I might be able to use with it...

 

1:25? thats forever!! lol I actually was booting off a USB drive :-P. Ya know, you probably could use something like front row for it. I'm sure there is some front end for ppc. I've seen tons of installs with a mini and i'm sure someone came up with one.

 

Anyway yea. Running pirate software does kinda blow. Since the PC is a Dell, i just threw the Dell cd from work in there and it activates it. simply because its a dell. (btw my boot times are around 45 sec or so. I did a slim-down of xp)

 

I did like the simplicity of the nghost front end and i might end up using bits of it. I do particularly like the open-source part. But for now, Its probably going to stick to XP.

 

I'm getting my ducks in a row for the install. I have plenty of wire, relays, diodes and such but now i'm waiting on time to do it. My daughters birthday is on one of my days off so i probably cant do it this coming week.

 

If you want, i'll trade you my sx270 for your mini :-P lol

 

 

-Justin

[crazyman03]

some new development on the carPC front...

 

1 Dilemma and 1 possibility.

 

first the Dilemma..

Speed, or size. I was rummaging around my random crap in my closet.. and found a HP Thin client. Its about 8"x5", about 1/2 the size of the sx270 really. BUT, its 800mhz@512MB Ram.

 

The sx270 is a p4 2.8@1gb ram. With the thin client being smaller, i can put it in smaller places (like behind the deck) but its a bit significantly slower and memory is limited to i think 512 max.

 

the Possibility is i know of a laptop that i might be able to get my hands on that is a centreno 2.8@1GB with a blue ray drive that is thin. only thing wrong with it is the screen is cracked.

 

decisions, decisions. any input?

 

 

-Justin

[crazyman03]

OK, So I've been tossing around how exactly I wanted the CarPC to run, position and such and I came across a Laptop that had a trashed LCD and KB but the system itself was in decent shape.

Picture:

 

Its a Centrino 1.8? with 512 that can be upgraded to like 2GB. So.. Now that I'm going that route, I dont need to worry about the power off module. But, now i needed figure out how to get it to turn on automatically since laptops don't really have a "power on after power loss" option.

 

Here's what i came up with:

 

Correct me if I'm wrong on this one. I came up with it based on a few options i've found on the internet.

Relay 1-

when power is applied to the switch, it briefly connects 87 to 30, when the cap is powered voltage set to "0" then it disconnects 87 and 30.

 

Relay 2-

Basically if the computer is already on, dont do the action of pushing the button.

When the USB port is powered, it turns on the switch to 87 which is attached to nothing. unless the computer is Not on, the first relay will travel through the 2nd untill the usb port is live.

 

will this work? i havent tried. It looks like it will.

 

After looking at it a bit more I might be able to get away with this without the cap. "theoretically" when you turn on the computer, the USB ports are active so it would stop the jumpering of the power button. maybe?

 

 

-Justin

[crazyman03]

Well last night I started to get a bit impatient with the whole waiting for monies, wood and such to get started on the dash mod.

 

I started looking at the original trim piece and noticed that the screen itself would fit in it just perfect. did a little cutting and came up with this: (click on the thumbnails)

 

did a little "redneck bondo" and:

 

I also started working on the power supply. Since i'm going the route of a laptop computer, i dont really need a 300w inverter. I'm still keeping it installed but i'm going to have a stand-alone power inverter just for the laptop:

 

Got a little anxious... so i installed it this morning, no sanding or anything yet but just to get a peak at it:

and i still got cup holders!

 

Well. at the moment I'm at a good spot. I'm going to sand down the mold so that i can apply real bondo to it mold it, and make it pretty.. paint it and call it done.

 

Perhaps tonight I'll install the laptop. I was thinking in the glove box so that i can still utilize the DVD player in it, but we'll see.

 

 

-Justin

[crazyman03]

I installed the new computer in the dash.

I positioned it there so that i can still be able to use the CD/DVD

 

I had to trim the back of the glovebox.. but it closes! lol

 

 

-Justin

[tractor pole]

OK, So I've been tossing around how exactly I wanted the CarPC to run, position and such and I came across a Laptop that had a trashed LCD and KB but the system itself was in decent shape.

Picture:

 

Its a Centrino 1.8? with 512 that can be upgraded to like 2GB. So.. Now that I'm going that route, I dont need to worry about the power off module. But, now i needed figure out how to get it to turn on automatically since laptops don't really have a "power on after power loss" option.

 

Here's what i came up with:

 

Correct me if I'm wrong on this one. I came up with it based on a few options i've found on the internet.

Relay 1-

when power is applied to the switch, it briefly connects 87 to 30, when the cap is powered voltage set to "0" then it disconnects 87 and 30.

 

Relay 2-

Basically if the computer is already on, dont do the action of pushing the button.

When the USB port is powered, it turns on the switch to 87 which is attached to nothing. unless the computer is Not on, the first relay will travel through the 2nd untill the usb port is live.

 

will this work? i havent tried. It looks like it will.

 

After looking at it a bit more I might be able to get away with this without the cap. "theoretically" when you turn on the computer, the USB ports are active so it would stop the jumpering of the power button. maybe?

 

 

-Justin

the 5v dc from the usb pin 1 will not likely be enough to drive the relay.

you could use a transistor to drive the relay with the usb voltage.

 

when I get home I can dig us some diagrams.

[tractor pole]

 

this will do what you want, give you about 1/2 second momentary pulse.

 

although I can't take credit for it.

http://www.the12volt.com/relays/page5.asp

 

 

what are the pinout/values needed at the power button pins? is it 12 volts or 5v?

[crazyman03]

 

this will do what you want, give you about 1/2 second momentary pulse.

 

although I can't take credit for it.

http://www.the12volt.com/relays/page5.asp

 

I actually already got that covered. I ended up doing the diagram i made earlier without the USB relay. I mainly wanted the second relay because i didnt want the computer to shutdown when i was starting the car. (ACC starting the pulse, then would lose power when cranking, then would "re-pulse the button" when the engine was not cranking anymore) Turns out, the cap kept power long enough not to do that. also, even if it did.. the computer wouldnt shutdown anyway.

 

the USB relay would've been a 5v switch. so technically, it would've worked but it seems i might not need it anyway.

 

what are the pinout/values needed at the power button pins? is it 12 volts or 5v?

the way to get the power button to switch isnt by putting power to it. you simply jumper it and it starts it. is that what you mean?

 

The computer is in there now.. I'm going to wire in the standalone inverter tomorrow as well as the "auto on switch"

 

 

-Justin

[tractor pole]

the way to get the power button to switch isnt by putting power to it. you simply jumper it and it starts it. is that what you mean?

 

-Justin

 

that is what I was getting at.

was just curious what was needed to complete the circuit.

 

glad you got it figured out.

[crazyman03]

cool! yea thanks!

 

So, i've been playing around with some interfaces.. at the moment, centrafuse! been skinning too! here's what I dinked around with!

 

Boot screen:

 

main navi screen:

 

Artist Selection:

 

Now Playing List:

 

 

-Justin

[Twitch de la Brat]

cool! yea thanks!

 

So, i've been playing around with some interfaces.. at the moment, centrafuse! been skinning too! here's what I dinked around with!

 

Boot screen:

 

main navi screen:

 

Artist Selection:

 

Now Playing List:

 

 

-Justin

 

Me likey...

 

But you should make each of the background stars an option, esp since you have 6 options...

 

Twitch

[SubaruJawn]

looks really good crazy.

 

custom Operating system ? were did you get that ?

[crazyman03]

Its actually just winXP pro. running centrafuse on top of it.

-Justin

[Uberoo]

but you can't play with it while driving?..

[SubaruJawn]

Its actually just winXP pro. running centrafuse on top of it.

-Justin

 

You Little Sneak:grin:

its in credible tho.

[crazyman03]

lol I dont really "Play" with it while driving. I just use the centrafuse interface so i can quickly access music and movies while driving. the text is big so i dont need to squint down to see it. Its kinda neat. maybe I'll make a vid of it.

 

during the day its not that bad.. there's a bit of a glare off your clothes and hands but not really that bad.

 

 

I really love it! I just need to get more music to put on it. I dont really play an album or artist cd.. i usually play everything and hit next if i dont like the track

 

-Justin