OK in my slow and costly build up I plan to run a cerputer for use of DVD/music/GPS/internet. To intergrate the first to I see no easier way then to slip a combo drive in the dash underneath the touch screen.

The problems i see are this...

1) The bumps associated with driving may cause the CD to jump out of drive..skipping etc
2) The interface between computer and drive over the 5is meter gap

So to make it work I would need a secure drive such as a laptop (push CD onto a holder type) and something that is connected via usb/firewire (external drive type) as IDE would obviously not be practical.

I am sure this has been done before, so what drives have people used?

You can get adaptors for laptop drives to USB

Can I ask though why do you need a CD drive up front?

Just a question

Mount it at a 90 degree angle for bump resistance, that way it will only be affected by high G cornering.

Seriously no need. Laptop drives take a fairly hard knock to disturb the drive. It would probably be worse to mount it that way because of the weight on the spindle

http://store.mp3car.com/Panasonic_UJ_875_p/opt-005.htm

Panasonic also make a Blu-ray slot load too.

As to mounting in the car, fix the drive to some strong elastic bands, and fix the bands to the mounts. That way, you'll never have a problem with skipping.

And my Laptop here has a program which is designed to detect shock loading and limit damage to the drive. Its called 'Active Protection'.

Man whose really going to appreciate the quality of bluray on a 7" screen?

Save the coin and just get a cd/dvd combo drive. Bluray is too exy at the moment

The panasonic slot drive seems the best option ay, pretty cheap to. The only thing I am worried about is the connection. Considering the ride is bagged to lay rail i have tubbed well into the firewall at the front. Because of that I have absoloutly no room to mount even the smallest computer. So my understanding is that an adaptor can be purchased to conevert to USB? Will a USB (2.0 obviously) be fast enough to stream video directly?

Sparkles I am running a drive up front for convenience. The comtputer will be mounted in a location that is not easily accessible. Much easier to put a drive up front for DVD loading etc

do Mpegs on your home PC and drop them onto the car pc via wifi

has the mainboard got USB 2.0?
otherwise, occasionally, i have had occurances when customers havnt been able to get enough power through usb 1.1, even when using PS/2 to grab power.
whereas, with usb 2.0, one single USB pritner cable, and she works perrrfect.

cheers.
jase.

man do any boards come out that arent USB 2.0 these days?

Either way an add on card is only like $10 any way

yea mate, i know what you mean,
but i know of heaps of carpc installs of people using thin clients etc.. like the HP evectra, with no expandability.

cheers.

Ahh fair enough.

i have been using the pioneer slot load dvd in my boot (since i couldn't be bothered to mount it up the front yet). It gets a lot of bumps and vibration from the subs and general driving around but it hasn't missed a beat. literally!

I have been thinking of a way to do this also. I have a DVD burner drive from a toshiba laptop here and going to retrofit that to my carputer. Ill search and report back on where to find the attachment to do this, but if anyone know wheres to get a laptop drive -> usb connector posting a link to whereabouts of one would be muchly appreciated.

Still can't find anywhere in Australia... I'll get one tomorrow if I can find one.

http://www.centrix-intl.com/details.asp?productid=3022 (America)