Car Computer Suggestions - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

NRM · 05-08-2005, 11:26 PM

After some deep thought between some mobile video, I think I've decided on incorporating a car computer. Lots of thoughts, not enough ground base. Hoping to ask if anyone has any experience with these. It'll be mostly used for DVD's and if I can get wireless internet access, pretty much everything else.

Budget: $1500 +/- 200 (Hopefully minus, I likes my monies)
Car: 2005 Corolla S

So far, I'm planning on relocating my current headunit down to the cubby box. Probably ending up looking something like...

I will also be incorporating a Valentine 1 concealed display somewhere on the dash.

For those of you who haven't seen the interior of a Corolla, here's my current.

I'm just looking for some solid ideas to put this into play. I'm looking at a 7" touch screen, if not bigger (whatever fits), and possibly a PC box in the trunk with my keyboard and CD Drive up into the glove. It's either that or building getting the motherboard put straight mounted onto the car somewhere and working off of that.

Sorry it was so long, just calling out to anyone who's done this or got some good ideas. Thanks guys.

***EKam*** · 05-08-2005, 11:51 PM

Here's a start:
http://www.shuttle.com/

***cam2Xrunner*** · 05-09-2005, 12:51 AM

I'm planning one myself. There's some good info here
http://www.elitecaraudio.com/forums...threadid=111975

Also check out the forums at www.mp3car.com That forum alone will pretty much be all you need, just do alot of researching there.

nadir · 05-09-2005, 12:59 AM

here's what I had noted in a thread earlier ....

Before you guys start a project, it's best to put a price tag on it and stay within those limits.

There are SO MANY options available now.

First, start with a motherboard. Take a look at VIA products, they have some pretty exciting stuff. 1ghz+ is the way to go now if you want a decent media-driven system.

Powering it is your second issue. Most of the VIA boards take a standard ATX power (harness). There are many products available for the VIA boards as well. There are some issues to keep in mind like having the system survive (doesn't reboot) when the car is cranking. Also, most of these power supplies (DC-DC) have features like auto-on when the car starts up and auto-shutdown when the car is turned off. OPUS is one company that comes to mind, as well as many ITUNER products.

Now, worry about your display and interface. Personally, I say you save up for a VGA touchscreen. They are about ~$300 for the lilliput screens. Alot of people have complained about them, but I would recommend them. I have spoken directly with the manufacturer as well as a few distributers and all of them have confirmed that their latest screens have a new power controller (weak link before that people had issues about).

Keep in mind that both lilliput and xenarc use the same LCD screens, just different power boards.

Now, you'll need some sort of GUI. MediaEngine is pretty good, based on winamp. It is skinnable so you can play with it and make something customized to your needs.

If your system is not going to fit in a single or double din (at this point not really possible with mini-itx boards), you might as well get a standard 3.5" harddrive.

GPS is a must-have if you are going to be building a carputer. I recommend the Rikaline GPS mouse that you can easily find on ebay for about $50-$60. The BU-303 GPS mouse is pretty good too. I have both, both of them are great and lock sattelites quickly.

There are different O/S to consider, but for the average carputer enthusiast, you can stick with XP.

As far as all the other fine details, like GPS software, and whatnot, check out MP3Car Forums.

I am working on a similar project... hopefully to be done by Summer. I've spent alot of money and time, testing a bunch of different products, and my feedback here is based off of first-hand experience.

I'm now involved with some of the embedded solutions that aren't found on the consumer-level.... so much available since last year. The project has taken forever now, but soon, I'll have my own hardware and software up and running.

Ruffrydasean · 05-09-2005, 01:05 AM

those are nice.. may have to try and get one

***cam2Xrunner*** · 05-09-2005, 02:13 AM

Hey Nadir, so what's the best motherboard VIA offers?

Also what would you rec. for a 9"-10.4" touchscreen VGA?

NRM · 05-09-2005, 07:54 AM

Hey, thanks a bunch guys. Currently going through mp3car.com to gather some more info.

***Knailgun*** · 05-09-2005, 09:45 AM

goodluck, I was entertaining the idea..but elected on EVERYTHING being WMA, MP3 and vorbis compatible

nadir · 05-09-2005, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cam2Xrunner

Hey Nadir, so what's the best motherboard VIA offers?

Also what would you rec. for a 9"-10.4" touchscreen VGA?

depends on what you plan to do with your system ... but the most common and widely supported board is the VIA M10000 (1.0Ghz CPU / onboard everything)
http://www.mini-itx.com/reviews/nehemiah/

as for a 9-10.4" touchscreen, you actually have some options. First, check ebay .... if you find a screen without touchscreen, you can always add it with a touchscreen kit:
http://www.digitalww.com/104TSK.htm

they're all pretty much POS (point-of-sale) devices so keep that in mind while searching. This is pretty much all in one: http://xenarc.com/product/1040ts.html

good luck

triniphen · 05-09-2005, 11:22 AM

get a kenwood music keg. their cheap, all in one, and safer than building a system from unseen ebay crap. that or a ipod

NRM · 05-09-2005, 03:46 PM

I'm hoping to expand beyond stuff like the Kenwood Music Keg or any simple machine. Car Computer does have prebuilt car computers which are in my spending limits, but for some reason, I don't feel satisfaction in doing that. I'm sure some of you guys are the same.

So far, I'm looking into getting a motherboard behind some glass casing located in the trunk. Visible, but cut into the area where my spare tire used to be (or somehow if I can work around it). Super long IDE cables somehow worked under the carpeting to the front to a DVD/DVD-RW/CD-RW drive OR possible portable drive run with USB cables. Touch screen, so need for mouse, mini-sized keyboard or a one-hand keyboard (i'll have to learn), and some other stuff I still need to work out.

One of my main concerns is powering this thing up and getting it to some sort of setting that will allow me to run it while cranking and when the car is off. Also, what kind of power and how would I get it there. I might have to expand my spending limits later if necessary, but for the most part, I think this will be one of the biggest projects for my car. I'm open to good, solid, creative ideas if anyone has any to offer. Still a lot of research I need to put in before I tackle this. Thanks to anyone who's contributed.

BTW: Rob, I shipped it out today, I'll send you confirmation later tonight when I get home.

nadir · 05-09-2005, 07:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NRM

I'm hoping to expand beyond stuff like the Kenwood Music Keg or any simple machine. Car Computer does have prebuilt car computers which are in my spending limits, but for some reason, I don't feel satisfaction in doing that. I'm sure some of you guys are the same.

So far, I'm looking into getting a motherboard behind some glass casing located in the trunk. Visible, but cut into the area where my spare tire used to be (or somehow if I can work around it). Super long IDE cables somehow worked under the carpeting to the front to a DVD/DVD-RW/CD-RW drive OR possible portable drive run with USB cables. Touch screen, so need for mouse, mini-sized keyboard or a one-hand keyboard (i'll have to learn), and some other stuff I still need to work out.

One of my main concerns is powering this thing up and getting it to some sort of setting that will allow me to run it while cranking and when the car is off. Also, what kind of power and how would I get it there. I might have to expand my spending limits later if necessary, but for the most part, I think this will be one of the biggest projects for my car. I'm open to good, solid, creative ideas if anyone has any to offer. Still a lot of research I need to put in before I tackle this. Thanks to anyone who's contributed.

BTW: Rob, I shipped it out today, I'll send you confirmation later tonight when I get home.

The trick is to find either a power regulator/power supply with a startup controller and has the ability to survive the crank.

If you want the all-in-one solution, look at the OPUS power supplies (90watts / 150 watts). They are a bit expensive, but it's one of the only power supply that will survive crank and has a built-in startup / shutdown controller.

The startup/shutdown controller connects to the pin header where the power button would usually be connected to.

***cam2Xrunner*** · 05-10-2005, 06:32 AM

http://www.tmz.com/wrx/bezel.html

Check that out, it works with the Lilliput 7" vga touchscreens, make's it easy to mount into the double din opening.

nadir · 05-10-2005, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cam2Xrunner

http://www.tmz.com/wrx/bezel.html

Check that out, it works with the Lilliput 7" vga touchscreens, make's it easy to mount into the double din opening.

nice catch, but damn, that thing is way over priced. For the same $$, you can get a MOTORIZED-single DIN flipout for the lilliput, and all your buttons will still be there.

something like that is really easy to build too.

DMDrew812 · 05-10-2005, 03:21 PM

For most of the internal components of the case (computer brain, CPU) you can get good deals at Newegg.com. Great low shipping and amazing return/exchange. Worth a look. Granted, they sell for the desktop consumer, but most of the parts you need can be found there cheaper.