10 replies to this topic

[MR SPL]

Hey guys,

Im lookng to do away with my alpine headunit and fold out screen for a car pc. Il run a eepc or something similar under the seat and mod a 7" touch screen from jaycar cause i can get it for under $100.

My questions are what sort of options do i have as far as processing goes? I want to be able to have time alignment, electronic crossovers etc I would be running straight from the headphone jack if it would work and i guess into a stand alone processor. Im after one that has either 5 channels or 7 channels and software etc

Any ideas? Im looking at this but dont know much about the car pc idea as i havn't tried yet

http://www.minidsp.c...202x4%20Box.pdf

How would everyone go about this?

[Langas]

The biggest turn off for me with a car pc...is you have to wait for the damn thing to boot!

There are a few work arounds...say a linux package that boots in seconds....or a very low powered pc you never actually turn off...

I'd be inclined to try and get a high quality sound card...and run all your channels out of the PC...and use it for the processing.

[MR SPL]

I would have it go to sleep when car ACC is off, Then when ACC is on it would boot up within 5 seconds. Never actually properly turn off

Would prefer an external card as i plan on going laptop or eepc route

[268669♫]

I'm going the laptop route in my car atm. I've got a MacBook pro to use though. Going USB out converted to digi coax then into a home processor. You don't have to use the USB out or home processor, but if your going to the trouble of installing a carpc, use it to it's full potential.

Ant

[mr_jay_318i]

i agree with these guys, you just wont get what you want out of a netbook. trust me im trying at the moment

be much better off with a proper car pc box i think

[Incredible Hulk]

I'm running a carpc from mini-box.com. Its an Intel board with a dual 1.6ghz ATOM CPU, 2gb RAM, 160gb hard drive.
It's a VoomPC-2 enclosure, and it runs an M2-ATX DC-DC powersupply.

When I turn the ignition off it goes into hibernation, and takes about 30 seconds to reboot. I haven't tried putting it to sleep because I don't know how long the battery will last.

My PC has an AUX out on the front, which feeds into a MiniDSP and splits it into 2.1 channels for my splits and sub.

You would need multiple MiniDSPs if you wanted more channels, or you can get a 3.5mm to RCA connector and run front, rear, centre/sub off them directly into an amp (some soundcards have 1.5V output). I did that before I got the MiniDSP and it didn't sound too bad.

[Big_Valven]

What purpose do you actually have for the carpc?

I guess the best advice I could give is that it's not as easy, or as fun, as you think. And when you can realistically get headunits that do 110% of what a carpc can do, I don't really see the purpose. Especially when you go backwards needing processing etc that is standard on most good headunits. (Ant's setup is a different kettle of fish )

[Chris.]

also go with a SSD, rather then a HDD.

faster boot times, lower power requirements, safer over bumps in the road and the such.

there used to be a few programs out there that would load up instead of an OS before iPods became big.


depending on how you want it setup, you could have Bluetooth, GPS, wireless.. with many other things in it.

Edited by Chris., 21 March 2011 - 02:27 PM.

[Incredible Hulk]

SSD are quite expensive still for their size, but I am slowly working to one aswell to improve boot times.

My install was quite simple, wiring it up was very similar to wiring up an amplifier and a set of speakers, I wouldn't say it was difficult. I haven't had any problems with it running either.

I can setup Bluetooth on it with a dongle, I have a GPS receiver in the car too, I also have a 3G dongle which when plugged in can connect the PC to the internet so I can get weather updates etc on the display in the car.
It can still do a number of things that some HU's can't do.

I can also get a board called phidgets, which takes digital/analogue inputs and can control things in the car, such as if I went to the extremes of turning all the A/C controls onto servos, creating an automatic climate control in the car. Or any other number of things.

But in terms of SQ installs, it may not be the perfect choice, but there are some pretty good USB soundcards out now which may change that.

[TruthfulLies]

1. First things first; plan!
first ask your self, what do you demand your car pc to do? how do you plan to collaborate with it (touchscreen, keyboard, keypad, articulation recon)? Additionally bethink admeasurement issues and ability issues too!

I’d acclaim afraid to the mini-itx anatomy agency for installs you plan to put in the advanced bench area… back you’ll accept to do some above modding/fabricating to get it to fit…

for block army car pc’s, you can do whatever you want, aloof so it fits and you accept abundant ability to run i…

2. How do you ascendancy your pc.. safely??
another important affair to consider… this is absolutely the acumen why i alone the project, i feared the accident.. ;-) be careful!!

there are three capital options:
1. Touchscreen interface (more big-ticket but actual convenient, Lilliput, Xenarc branded ones are excellent, usually can get for about $300 on ebay)
2. Keypads/Mini keyboard/Trackballs (also a bit spendy but can be cheaper than a new Touchscreen LCD, attending into ones that appear with programming software to bureaucracy hotkeys)
3. Articulation Recognition (cheapest but not the best able and useful)

3. Ability / Startup / “Crank”
so you accept a pc now, how are you gonna ability it??
you accept a few options here.

first off, you’ll apprehend bodies accredit to their pc’s not authoritative it through crank. Crank is back you go from the AC position [car off, but radio, accessories on] to starting your car, that moment area ability fluctuates back the car pulls abstract to start.

1. dc to ac inverter (big, no base required, do not consistently bear crank but best will back of the advancement battery)
2. mini itps lath (cheap, fanless, but do not put out abundant ability at all)
3. Opus powersupply (expensive but QUALITY and affection laden!!)

also if you demand a broadcast about-face (a lath that tells your pc to about-face on back you about-face the car agitation to AC or alpha car)

and a abeyance controller, this usually works with a psu, this tells the psu to stop cartoon ability at a assertive time afterwards the car is angry off. one would demand one of these if you demand to be able to aloof about-face off your car and the pc will abeyance automatically. (windows and the motherboard ability administration options assignment with the ambassador to faculty this

4. Mounting and Installing

Now area do you put things??
lots of bodies do dashboard mounts of LCD and again install the PC into the cuff box and beneath the commuter ancillary area…

this is all a amount of what your accommodating to put into your car pc/project and your skills… i army my pc in my centermost animate for accessible admission to put dvds in…

5. Absolutely application your car pc

using windows as is on a 7 inch touchscreen can be .. difficult to say the least….

you can go the avenue of application thirdparty software; there is addition that has a freeware affairs that accomplish things accessible to apprehend and accessible to access

or you can use article like DesktopX to actualize your own custom GUI for windows.

Also counterbalance the advantages of VGA vs RCA/S-VIDEO monitors.
with a PC VGA is above to RCA/S-VIDEO achievement but will amount more

[dupontin]

the previous reply here looks like someone used translation software. wierd !

Anyway, I've started my PC build//config/install, going well.

A couple of suggestions,

1. use a Mini ITX sized motherboard (Do NOT use ATX or mATX) make sure it has an onboard processor using an AMD e350 or e450 (depending on budget) these are dual core processors,
These are more powerful than the Intel atom processor motherboards, then buy a small mini ITX case no higher than 100mm (you will be dictated to by the room under your seat or in the boot.

2. Try Windows 8 (although it's in beta or test release at the moment) Micro$oft have reduced the boot times by a huge amount, optimally configured, it will boot in 8 seconds, or from hibernation
from 2 seconds... now that's QUICK

3. As far as disk drives go, a 40Gb SSD would be minimum, or maybe even use a SATA to Compact flash converter (lets you use a compact flash card as a hard disk)
then use a USB stick for music.

4. I ordered my screen direct from china (10.4 inch) however i would expect you can only fit a 7 or 8 inch monitor ? (for the 7or8in you can try bybyte.com) so far i'm pleased with their service, i ordered one 7inch for my wife's car.
I would suggest DVI or HDMI for the video signal, not VGA, (DVI and HDMI are digital signal, whereas VGA is analogue... meaning your PC needs to do digital -> analogue -> digital conversion.)

5.You'll also need a double din frame to suit your car....
The only place I've found so far is RYDA.com (please if anyone has a better source for frames please post them and share them around)

6. Software... really only recommendation I can make at the moment is centrafuse it seems to do everything. I got a discount code which made it about $120 AUS

7. Radio.. I ordered a DAB+ USB plug in radio from the UK, still hasn't arrived yet so the jury's out on that one... when it arrives I'm sure we'll know if it's ok.

8. Power supply, M4-ATX great unit, perfect for car's with multiple shutdown modes to suit. there are lower power models - M3-ATX which draw less power.
with mine I might need to put in a 2nd deep cycle battery.. time will tell. with the smaller units, their power draw should be well and truly within the charging
ability of a standard car battery. (depending on the battery age and how on/off your engine is each day).

The wirings messy but easy, I just taped everything together with electrical tape every 20cm and tucked it all up behind the dash and console.

good luck, I think little projects like this are great.