hi

iv been looking at putting a double din touchscreen in the alfa. perfect place for it, but ill need to cut some dash out [cant be seen its behind it all.], and thats a no-no, for me anyway.

so iv decided to go with the car pc. the only on the market car pc was a single din, slide out touch screen with every thing your house comp does, 3rca's and dvd burner... nice, but not double din.....this was in australian markets too.

so i can get a laptop, cheap, and quite decent quality, but i dont know what kind of sound card ill need to get some rca's fo the amps, and i still want my touch screen. [iv got the room for a max 9", 7" with room for the power switches down one of the sides of the screen or something]



how can i hook up the touch screen to the laptop??

what software do i use? just windows xp or vista or get one of them specialy made programs?

how do i run a highend sound card?

can i still run the touch pad mouse with the touch screen? [iv got the perfect place for that too!! even the key board will have the perfect slide out place, lol. gotta love this odd european designing, thinking of the future they were!]



thanks jazigk

What screen are you wanting to use?

hello the touch screen you have does it have usb connection? because that is the logical manner that many touch screens are actually computer controllable. I have installed a 7" double din in dash lcd screen hooked up to my dell laptop, for the sound card i used an M-audio external sound card (musiclab in brisbane have the audiophile one forsale at $319 special atm) They have optical input/outputs, spdif in/outs, aswel as fairly high powered rca's.

now installed that for my home pc as currently thinking bout my next project. pm me if you need any other help cheers.

yes I think you'll find that usb 2.0 is your friend here. You can purchase an external audio card which will go straight into a usb port. I'm not 100% sure on the screen but I envisage it going into the udp?? basically a blue plug on the laptop. Along with that cable will be an adjoining usb cable so that your input in the screen can be transported to the laptop. Doesn't sound too hard and expensive for that matter

i havent got anything as of yet, but the GF wants a new laptop, and ill just get the 'old' one off her. or buy my own

i dunno what kinda screen ill get but id like to know what to look for.

Personally, I'd tell the GF to get over herself, and use the money to buy a dedicated PSU, Motherboard, etc. But that is just me, and probably 99% of the reason I am a career bachelor.

It seems there aren't many options for screens that are in the conceivable bounds of the working class. They have those liliput or xenarc things that are dear as sh1t. For the same money you could buy 3 of those hong kong ones off ebay and hope one works.

I think that the only important factors when selecting a screen is that it is TFT (ie active matrix, text readable), and that the Power leads and Touch screen interface meets your requirements. The hong kong jobby on ebay is $250 Buy it now with postage included. It has an 8" inch screen and has a ciggie lighter adapter which is easy enough to solder into ACC and USB for the TS.

I am poised to buy one myself. It will give me the ability to test my carpc and allow me to use it now, rather than wait til I can afford a $6-800 dollar model. Even if the quality is not as good as the name brands, it still has a warranty and will still work in the short term. Long enough to see if you could be bothered with the big bucks. Cheers.