markbognor
South East
 
Posts: 9,970
Club RR Member Number: 56
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I've been thinking about the possibilities for this, and knowing that there's some folk on here who have done it i've come here first for some advice on what i need and where i can find info.
How quickly can they be made to boot up, and how do they shut down when you park and turn off?
Do special cases exist that can be powered from a 12v supply or do you run a transformer, for a 240v supply.
What i envisage is a touch screen (flip up in a single din package maybe) to navigate, but maybe with a mini keyboard/ mouse in the glove box. With the computer itself mounted in the boot.
I really only want it for running i tunes and storing music (at least 40GB), with the possibility of running sat nav and playing DVD's and games at some point.
Cheers, Mark
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rysz
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,558
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Mar 25, 2008 10:01:31 GMT
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SeventyNine is doing this in his escort Mk 2. He is using a program called centrafuse that is essentially a front end for Windows XP. I would recommend that you look here www.mini-itx.com/ for a load of information / hardware / projects etc... Sites like www.bit-tech.net will be a fantastic source of inspiration / advise as well! All PC's run off a 12V supply quite happily. Biggest limit really is your wallet tbh! Rysz. |
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markbognor
South East
Posts: 9,970
Club RR Member Number: 56
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Mar 25, 2008 11:20:38 GMT
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Anyone else thinking about this there is what seems a very usefull FAQ at mp3car.com. |
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Last Edit: Mar 25, 2008 11:21:15 GMT by markbognor
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Mar 25, 2008 12:10:11 GMT
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i'd forget ruinning XP and set it up with windows 95 if you must have a microsoft operating system, there is lots of info around if you google it about the parts you can delete from 95 to make it boot faster, XP is damn slow to boot up for car use unless you have the patience of a saint.
To be honest though, if its just for music you'd be better off with a proper mp3 player as its less hassle to set up and look after, if your gonna play any decent games you'll need a pretty pokey set up and be aware that its easy for stuff to die in a car as it gets subjected to quite extreme temps and vibrations so you could be risking a fair bit of cash.
could be worth thinking about setting up an X box in there, game are selling them for 20 a throw, they can be softmodded to run linux and act as a movie/mp3 player as well as a games machine, i fitted a biger hard disc in mine and i have about 20 xbox games on it as well as music, movies and some emulators to play nintendo, playstation 1 and Mame games on, don't think you could run sat nav from one though.
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Volvo back as my main squeeze, more boost and some interior goodies on the way.
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Tim
Posted a lot
Posts: 3,340
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Mar 25, 2008 12:12:32 GMT
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What abut an ASUS eepc in the glovebox, linked to an external laptop hardrive/flash drive?
Cheap solution and have really quick boot and shutdown times - draw minimal power too
Perhaps not so good for games mind
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Last Edit: Mar 25, 2008 12:16:04 GMT by Tim
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markbognor
South East
Posts: 9,970
Club RR Member Number: 56
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Mar 25, 2008 12:36:29 GMT
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I'm really not that hung up on it being capable of running games. All i really want from it is to use it for playing music from, and i would like all my music to travel with me so 40-60gb minium storage, without going out and spending £200-300 on a mp3 player that i don't really need the portability of.
Whats an eepc Tim?
Another thing i was considering would be a hard drive head unit, but i'm not sure how easy it would be to navigate a music library on just a slot screen, I liked the idea of having a pc because i'm used to having my music library running from I-tunes all day at school, and off my flap top at home.
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Mar 25, 2008 12:41:57 GMT
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Nothing wrong with the boot up times on XP. Cleaned up nicely, I can get a 25 second boot time, from post to explorer starting.
Also, you don't have to turn it off entirely. Suspend to disk is an equally good option.
A whole pc really is overkill for just music though. When you also consider how cheap separate GPS units are, there doesn't seem to be much point.
There is a strict limit to how complicated something can be in a car really, because you cant drive whilst fiddling with anything. A head unit with a USB interface, and a hard drive in an enclosure with a USB interface would fit the bill though. All the storage you want.
Other option is a laptop mounted inside the glove box, angled so the driver can see the screen. Good for GPS, because you get a big screen. Then you could use a remote control to control the music.
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rysz
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,558
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Mar 25, 2008 12:47:44 GMT
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i'd forget ruinning XP and set it up with windows 95 if you must have a microsoft operating system, there is lots of info around if you google it about the parts you can delete from 95 to make it boot faster, XP is damn slow to boot up for car use unless you have the patience of a saint. The problem with Win 95 is no or poor USB support and any kind of modern applications that work. With a little effort, you can get an XP install down to 256MB ( www.nliteos.com/) and cut all of the dross out. Win 2k might be worth looking at as well. If you are looking at having some kind of media centre / gps front end thing, I would seriously not recommend a linux distro unless you REALLY know what you are doing or if you like pain. Why not get an older laptop, throw in a bigger hard drive and then run it all from a Lilliput touch screen in the front connected to the VGA port in the laptop. You can extend the power wires up to a button on the dash or even set up a switch that will hibernate the laptop using the pressure switch already there for when you just close the laptop? It has a battery to save everything and then for the bonus win, you can sync it wirelessly to your home network for updating the music on it! It already runs off 12V, Ram is peanuts these days, so throw a Gig in and I very much doubt that you would need to run any av software or similar that kill startup times etc and you could even use it to sync a smaller mp3 player / ipod to it. Thinking about this more and now eyeing up old laptops sat in corner at work...  Also, thinking about the whole MS thing, you can get a PS2 GPS connector off ebay for about a tenner that will sync straight in with the MS Map Point and hey presto dirt cheap GPS! |
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Last Edit: Mar 25, 2008 12:50:19 GMT by rysz
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Mar 25, 2008 12:51:44 GMT
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i'd wholly recomend using a HP E-pc or E-vectra. as they run from 19v DC power, so a standard laptop power supply will give you a regulated 19v from 12v. can be picked up for literally pence, i had one lying around. screen - make sure you use a VGA one, which rules out all the cheap eBay specials as they are all RGB and a bit of a game to get working, i've heard of cables and converters but they are more hassle than they are worth. surprisingly, the bigger you go the cheaper they are, mines a bit 'too' big but at 30 quid i couldn't complain, its an old point of sale screen from a shop or something 12.1" big. i'd run windows 98 if you wanted quick bootup times, windows 95 is a bit too oldskool ;D theres a few ways of sorting out the shutdown stuff, i've made a shutdown timer with a few bits of elektrickery, that basically shuts the PC down when i press a button on the alarm and gives the PC 10 minutes of live before cutting off, incase i leave it on. theres no real need for a keyboard and mouse if you have a touchscreen, on screen keyboards are built into windows 98/XP. MP3car is the best place to start, but most of them systems have had serious money thrown at them ($1000+ :S ), which IMO is a bit pointless really.......the only reason i built mine was that its cost me under a hundred quid, which is less than a decent head unit with twice the functions. plus as its run by a retailer, theres less people who come up with budget and cheaper options than just buying it direct from them. if you need any help let me know  |
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Mar 25, 2008 12:58:40 GMT
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Peugeot 307sw - Suzuki SV650S - MX5.
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Mar 25, 2008 14:07:24 GMT
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Tim
Posted a lot
Posts: 3,340
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Mar 25, 2008 15:35:17 GMT
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Mar 28, 2008 19:13:13 GMT
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With a little effort, you can get an XP install down to 256MB ( www.nliteos.com/) and cut all of the dross out. Win 2k might be worth looking at as well. Thanks for the link - very interesting! I'm about to redo my new laptop with XP (most of my software doesn't like Vista...) so will almost certainly make use of that |
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Mar 28, 2008 22:20:53 GMT
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What abut an ASUS eepc in the glovebox, linked to an external laptop hardrive/flash drive? Cheap solution and have really quick boot and shutdown times - draw minimal power too Perhaps not so good for games mind I have an EEE PC, with an 8Gb SD card in the onboard slot, added a £5 fm transmitter from my local garage when I bought petrol-sorted. Folks are doing mad things to these-touch screen mods, internal GPS and more ;D U can run XP on them too... www.eeeuser.com/ |
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'82 Volvo 244 DL "Priscilla"
'95 Subaru Impreza WRX Wagon "Xtina"
1988 VW Jetta "Lena"
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bbq
Part of things
(. )( .)
Posts: 485
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Mar 28, 2008 22:35:06 GMT
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theres no real need for a keyboard and mouse if you have a touchscreen, on screen keyboards are built into windows 98/XP. I just need to disagree with this bit.....  Our vans at work have all just been upgraded to a touch screen (with virtual keyboard) connected to the Toughbook in the back of the van. I would KILL for a real keyboard to attach to the touch screen (or skyeye pad,as it's called). They're, in my experience, impossible to type on and extremely variable with regards to touch sensitivity. If you ever see an RAC patrol screaming in his cab or maybe rebooting his touchscreen with a hammer....... you now know why! With regard to your music collection could you not just get a DVD headunit with MP3 capability? You can get a lot of compressed songs on a DVD! |
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Last Edit: Mar 28, 2008 22:36:22 GMT by bbq
2003 Suzuki Wagon R+. Feel the POWAAARRRR!!! 1968 Volvo 142. My street/strip car. Currently fubarred, it will run one day. 1971 Volvo 142. Parts car. Stripped and gone. 1993 Nissan Sunny diesel. Runs on cooking oil!  [/UR |
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Mar 28, 2008 22:45:05 GMT
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you can get a mini keyboad in maplin at the moment for £19.99 that looks pretty cool. not that i'll have one
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rysz
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,558
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With a little effort, you can get an XP install down to 256MB ( www.nliteos.com/) and cut all of the dross out. Win 2k might be worth looking at as well. Thanks for the link - very interesting! I'm about to redo my new laptop with XP (most of my software doesn't like Vista...) so will almost certainly make use of that No Problem - SP3 is due out soon asnd this will be a vast improvement as well... The issue here is that for a pc that is going to be used as a Media centre, there is not a lot of typing that you need. I would imagine that in the RAC, you would have to type more information... Even if you add gps, at the most, you would be typing in a postcode... The best reason for a touch screen is that in my opinion, it is safer to use one that is set up with a good interface to make is safer for the driver to operate than using a small 1 or 2 line display... Rysz. |
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