carputer

[pitslayer]

that thing turns the laptop on.
start the car, which turns that thing on, which then turns on then laptop, you can get cheaper startup shutdown controllers but, for 30 odd quid more you might aswell buy one that does everything

[n13l pm]

oh really, thats that sorted then.

As for the cooling of the screen, I noticed they get fairly warm aswell so what I did was to mould some fans at the bottom of the console which pumps up air to the back of the screen. I guess I only really did this to make it look a bit different, if your not moulding the whole console then putting a pc fan on the back is fine, theres loads of space at the back.

[pitslayer]

its just being fitted in place and bolted down, so will just have a pc fan stuck on the back..

the carnetix p1900 is very good, expensive at the same time, but it saves having to move the battery into the back, or running a really long inverter

[Beastlee]

Step by step guys

[pitslayer]

wouldnt do it any other way

[pitslayer]

right done a bit of work on the carputer side of things today.
first job of the day, turn the car from grey to white, wash polish wax and seal, still not happy could be shinier.
next job remove center of dash. now this is an absoulete arse of a job if you dont know what your doing and havnt really done it before. i found that its pretty resiliant but didnt pull to hard as it probably will break. i would tell you how to do it, but it angered me that much i cant be bothered
*few to many pics to upload so you will have to click the links*
you need your screen
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...2032008047.jpg

now you should have your center console infront of you, relativly unbroken
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...2032008045.jpg

now with a quick trial fit of the screen i found these things to get in the way
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...2032008046.jpg

now this thing, here surrounds the air con unit( i removed the air con unit as it is easy to work around with out it there) what it does i dont know, it doesnt hold the air con unit in place, it just sits there for no reason what so ever
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...2032008048.jpg

now its time to dremel it up, remember kids make sure you have an adult with you when using these, especially when you have hotwired it so its constantly on, as the switch packed up
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...2032008049.jpg

now as you can see, using the dremel we cut the things off in the third picture
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...2032008050.jpg

then its trial fit time whilst out of the car. does it clear the air con unit-yes....how does it look etc
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...2032008052.jpg

more coming soon

[Gooch]

That looks magic.

My name is bob I am from Oz I have recently brought a leggie and really looking forward to putting in a carputer.
I have a question I hope I can get some help. I have three kids all with individual personalities so each would want to watch something different or listen to something different as a result I was thinking the processing power of one pc would not be enough to run what they want and have a GPS running in the front.
So I thought of the following configuration, I can buy a Toughbook pc from the army surplus auctions in Oz for around $150 (all prices in aud) then I need to add the special shock proof hard drive (army dont give out their hard drives). Now these models are tablet so touch screen already, was going to move the aircond to the bottom part of the center console as I dont smoke. I will then put a couple of EEE pc's (Asus) in the rear (cant mount in roof cause of the sunroof and the recaro's dont have much room in the head rests) can pick them up for around 400 second hand in aus. Then I will need to spend around 500 on stuff like cables and additional batteries and a shut down and power up unit if I can.
This will give me a highly useable system with everything and one that wont take long to move to another car or take it out when camping so kids can do stuff on the pc's.
I have only thought of it and want to know if it would be do-able I know that the toughbooks have a 12" screen. which is large but we have a bit of room to play with once the console is out then it is a question of filling in the gaps.
Blow me down I have only started to think about this roughly let me know where you think I could do better. by the way your site rocks

[pitslayer]

you dont really have enough room for a 12" screen, as i personally found the center console to be a bit flimsy in the double din area.
you could just buy a car pc itself im doing it the cheap way, however i see no reason why you couldnt run a laptop with an external hard drive on it, for 3 users with GPS, store films etc. then i would put a 7" touch in the double din area, and 2 monitors in the back of the rear seats angled upwards slightly.
?

[pitslayer]

sorry everything has kind of ground to a halt at the moment, as i need to buy the carnetix p1900, but its 70 odd quid, will see how things look at payday. really need car pc now, cd player that i have litteraly wedged in the whole is doing my nut in...mp3 cd-folder random, means folder random. not a constant loop of korn, pantera, the offspring and daft punk. there is 60 odd folders of music and i can guess what is coming up next half of the time

[pitslayer]

right, my carnetix controller has turned up today, courtesy of linitx. and kicked down to me by initial city link. im quite suprised actually, for city link the box has only a few dents in on it, and bag was only partially ripped and scuffed up, where its been sliding around there van.....one day initial sh*ty link will deliver me a parcel, which isnt bent, broken,damaged or lost...one day

[n13l pm]

City link for me have been great, in fact the best delivery service iv had..

[peter thomson]

City link for me have been great, in fact the best delivery service iv had..

Same for me and I've sent or received over 500 parcels in the last 3 years and only had misdirected parcels on a couple of occasions and they've always managed to sort it out.

[pitslayer]

ive got 2 bent bonnets, bought of reputable parts dealers, delivered by city link, of course not there fault that my lovely bonnets ended up bent. or the 2 paddle mixers we bought for work, on next day delivery which turned up 2 weeks later after being lost. or the box of mobile phone headsets i ordered from carphone warehouse, which i refused to accept, the guy thought i was having a laugh with him when i said "im not accepting that, in that state, have you been playing football with it?". or my mates tv which they didnt even deliver, took the day of work waited in, heard the letterbox go, with a card saying we called, and the guy just got in his van and drove off.... i had to drive down to cardiff to pick it up, with a smashed up box, and most of the tv casing smashed. and for these reason and more i hate them
i only go through ups or tnt now, picked up from door, delivered to my door never a fuss, never a dent on the box..

but still, the car pc assembly should be starting soon, just waiting for my mate to help me now

[n13l pm]

Seems like city link in wales keep sheep in the van, for added security!!

Looking forward to the icpc getting built. Keep us updated mate.

[Turbo_Steve]

Can't work out how Sh!tty link are still in business: None of the banks will touch them, and they've been dreadful whenever I used them in Coventry..never delivered, could never find my parcel.

Round here they seem a mite more reliable, but in Reading they just destroyed everything.

[Gooch]

Keep up the good work.
Sorry to hear about your delivery issues that really sucks was there any insurance on the items??
I know what you mean about the money side of things. I am stuck with a radio that does not go to any real Ozzie stations worth listening to and Mini Discs didn't really take off here either. I could go buy a modulator that will allow me to go higher up the FM Scale. But rather put that money to the ICPC.
Keep posting keen to hear how you go with your icpc, and what you get connected to it.
Cheers

[Beastlee]

This thread has renewed my interest in CarPCs. I have all the gubbins for a new PC here but based around a full size tower. I may look at what can be done to use it but I think I will be forced down the proven carputer type route.
Being as I'm in IT I really should get this done.
I can then patch the Evoscan in and log constantly as I could with the Greddy kit to....

Now what screen do I want.......

[pitslayer]

i used the lilliput screens, readily available they work, and they are cheapish.
an actual pc would work, the only reason im using a laptop is that i got them free, they fit in the boot nicely
what you need is
screen
laptop
powersupply/startup/shutdown controller, ie the carnetix, expensive but it works really well, and stops all voltage drops so it doesnt kill everything, or leave it all running.
VGA cable
length of 7 core trailer wire
powercable with inline fusebox

[pitslayer]

right, done a bit of work on it today.
so i have run a few more cables, the big length of 12v cable was an arse to get through the dash, but its finally there.
tomorow, i will be mounting the cd player....somewhere, not sure where yet, but somewhere.
finishing off some of the cabling, and a general tidy up, then i will be awaiting my mate, to come and help finish it all off, now i have a working laptop, and a cdplayer with a line in

[pitslayer]

i forgot to add, you will need a cd player with a line in. kenwood do a cheap one, on offer in halfrauds for 60 quid at the moment. it has a line in.