In Car Computers

[Big Bruin]

I have searched, but didn't find a thing... I am looking for pics/details on others who may have done this in a 300 to get ideas on how to integrate a car-puter.

I have a mini computer that can be hidden out of the way all controlled by a 7" widescreen touch screen monitor. It handles MP3s, DVDs, movies, GPS, XM Radio, Internet on screen... and audio goes through the head unit.

I don't want it mounted in the dash since I want to keep the stock head unit. Maybe a flexible arm for the monitor? Bracket in front of the cigarette lighters?

I'll post pics of what I have (uninstalled) to give a better idea of what I need to get in there. Hoping someone else has a 300 with a small screen inside, too...

Thanks!

[sstevens805]

Talk to Shiltz, he's a member here and on mp3car.com and has a cool setup. MP3car.com has lots of junk on there to help you out. Also, you can buy complete car-puter's there and other accesories. hope this helps

[DannyC]

What about the bracket the police use to mount laptops and other devices? I wouldn't mind doing something like that myself.

Anyone know where to get the laptop brackets?

[quarky42]

Add a FM tuner card and remind me why you need the stock deck? Nice setup.

[Big Bruin]

I've been on MP3Car for years, too... Great place. I get alot of ideas there, but none are 300 specific.

I have a flexible steel arm that works to hold the display, but it isn't the cleanest look, and finding a good mounting point in the car is hard. Just like this thing, but modified to elminate that plate and it screws to the back of the display... http://www.arkon.com/dvdmount.php

In dash would be nice, and was what I did on my old Jeep, but I like the look of the head unit and bezel and don't want to mess it up. My goal is to keep the look stock, and by having just two cables (USB/VGA + Power) and maybe one or two bolts holding the whole monitor assembly in place for easy removal.

Maybe down the road I would integrate it in the dash, but I think I'd need a fabricator to help make the dash look just right.

[Hazman]

This site too
Ram Mounting (http://www.ram-mount.com/nodrillsystems/ramvb129.htm)

[RandomAccess]

Man... those don't look like they'll make the passenger too happy.

[Mr. iNCREDIBLE]

Ram Mount is what most police departments use and they are made very well......

plus they have 100s of designs and mix and match to your desires.

[Meathammer]

Well you could go the in-dash route and make it look factory. You'd need a touchscreen to fit the NAV bezel. I don't have the NAV unit in my car but this was my plan...... eventually as these can be readily purchased. I don't have the measurements but I don't think that the typical 7" touchscreen displays will fit the opening of the NAV bezel correctly (ie, seamlessly or without some modification to the bezel). However if they will, then you just need a custom case and you'd be all set.

[pigpen]

Yup in dash will look 20 times better!

[Kamakazie2]

Ive had a pc in the car for a while now.. the 300c navi dash holds a 7in xenarc touchscreen monitor very nicely. I am also using an ibm thinkpad laptop in the trunk. The 300 has plenty of hiding spots for voltage converters crossovers and usb hubs..

What did you want to use it for? you can build it out to do just about anything..

Have you considered mounting the factory radio in the center console? This way you still can use the steering wheel controls for vol and tuning.

[Electrofreak]

Wow... I used to build computers and do computer repair, and I never considered this... until now. Hmm... I can think of some pretty cool ideas already. I have tons of parts... and I'm sure I could pick up a touchscreen LCD for pretty cheap. I was considering spending up to 700 bucks for an in-dash DVD player, but if I can build something myself that can end up doing even more, why spend the money?!

Problem is I'd have to build a micro ATX box and my Maggie doesn't really have anywhere good to hide it that is ventilated well enough. I could probably pull it off with a laptop or maybe even a pocket PC. Time to brush off the computer workstation :)

Have you considered mounting the factory radio in the center console? This way you still can use the steering wheel controls for vol and tuning.

Hm... didn't think of what to do with the factory radio. I'm obviously getting carried away. Kamakazie, do you have any pictures of your config?

[Kamakazie2]

Let me delete some pics. Ill snap some at lunch today.

I think its pretty simple. Try this. On my first design i was able to fit a micro atx (Commell Lv670) motherboard behind the lcd screen on my A8. and trust me when i say the lx has 2x the room in the dash.
For temp control i actually punched a 1/2 inch hole in the air vents in the dash so i had heat in the winter and a/c in the summer.. The only time i had trouble was when th temp dipped below 18 degrees F, then i had to wait about 5 min while the heat kicked in.

I didnt use a headunit. I was able to get a custom made am/fm rds tuner from the good people of mp3car.com. The most expensive piece of car pc hardware for 1940's technology.. go figure.



anyway back to the install.

In the dash i had the following

Xenarc 7 inch VGA touchscreen - today they have new monitors that have non glare glass.
Microatx mb with 2.5in hdd
Opus makes a 120w 12v input pc power supply with auto sence on off
Use the 5v rail on the opus to power any usb hubs

This will get you started. I really want to stress that the laptop is so much better to use. This is my 4th car pc install and the laptop by far was easier. The hardware is made for hibernate/resume and anytime u need to rebuild you can pull it out and bring it inside to resintall stuff

A laptop with broker screen is a great candidate!

Cell phone pics for now:

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=38358&d=1166797528

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=38359&d=1166797538

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=38360&d=1166797550

[Big Bruin]

I don't have any steering wheel controls, so that isn't an issue for me, plus I already have every component, so I want to work with what I have.

I have:

VIA EPIA M10000 Mini-ITX motherboard
512MB DDR memory
DVD/CDRW combo drive (which will have to be left out in the new case)
256MB PCI Video Card
160GB laptop hard drive
Lilliput 7" (http://www.bigbruin.com/reviews/lilliput/) widescreen VGA touchscreen
USB GPS receiver with Delorme Street Atlas 2007
XM Direct receiver connected via the Serial port
USB wireless network adaptor

Right now everything is back in this case (http://www.bigbruin.com/reviews05/serener/index.php?file=1), which is a great unit, but totally fanless and unable to handle high heat in a car. Will be moving into one of these cases (http://www.mini-box.com/M300-Enclosure-w-Bootable-CF-Reader_2?sc=8&category=87) before final install... Will be great since it allows the CPU fan to be installed, two case fans, and one PCI card. The whole thing is still only about 8"x8"x3" - so it can hide in a lot of places.

The frontend is Windows XP, but with this free app called Road Runner (http://guino.home.insightbb.com/index.html) is the interface, which makes nice big touch screen buttons for control, and makes it easy to control GPS, MP3s, Movies, XM radio, Internet, as well as other things I don't have activated (FM, Sirius, Bluetooth telephone). Extra cool since someone made a skin to include the Chrysler wings in the software.

Everything is built and functional... But presently on my desk instead of in my car. Just need to make it happen, and I suppose I just need to get creative...

[Kamakazie2]

I don't have any steering wheel controls, so that isn't an issue for me, plus I already have every component, so I want to work with what I have.

I have:

VIA EPIA M10000 Mini-ITX motherboard
512MB DDR memory
DVD/CDRW combo drive (which will have to be left out in the new case)
256MB PCI Video Card
160GB laptop hard drive
Lilliput 7" (http://www.bigbruin.com/reviews/lilliput/) widescreen VGA touchscreen
USB GPS receiver with Delorme Street Atlas 2007
XM Direct receiver connected via the Serial port
USB wireless network adaptor

Right now everything is back in this case (http://www.bigbruin.com/reviews05/serener/index.php?file=1), which is a great unit, but totally fanless and unable to handle high heat in a car. Will be moving into one of these cases (http://www.mini-box.com/M300-Enclosure-w-Bootable-CF-Reader_2?sc=8&category=87) before final install... Will be great since it allows the CPU fan to be installed, two case fans, and one PCI card. The whole thing is still only about 8"x8"x3" - so it can hide in a lot of places.

The frontend is Windows XP, but with this free app called Road Runner (http://guino.home.insightbb.com/index.html) is the interface, which makes nice big touch screen buttons for control, and makes it easy to control GPS, MP3s, Movies, XM radio, Internet, as well as other things I don't have activated (FM, Sirius, Bluetooth telephone). Extra cool since someone made a skin to include the Chrysler wings in the software.

Everything is built and functional... But presently on my desk instead of in my car. Just need to make it happen, and I suppose I just need to get creative...


Im using roadrunner with the alpine skins. I noticed your in North Jersey. Im in Eatontown. If you need some help or wanna check out my setup let me know.

As for GPS i would highly recommend Iguidance 3.0. It integrates rather well with RR and allows for auto screen switching when approaching a turn.

[Big Bruin]

Yeah - I may swap out the Street Atlas, as I now realize it isn't the best for small touchscreens. Not sure what I will do, but there is another application which I have been playing with that looks great, but needs some more development in my opinion... RoadNav (http://roadnav.sourceforge.net/). It is free, so you can't expect too much, but it does work well (in general) and it is actively being developed. Just doesn't use the best maps, doesn't have preset way points, and my main beef is that it gets hung up when planning long routes. Otherwise, it is simple, looks good, and fits well on my screen...

I may have to take you up on the offer to check yours out... Thanks. Or, I'll have to keep my eye on the NJ area meet and greets and get to one sometime.

[RandomAccess]

Those cases remind me of a game console... Speaking of which, why hasn't anyone modded an old XBOX? It is a Pentium III in there.... HDD, Progressive scan DVD, network, USB support...

[lowriderman3]

Those cases remind me of a game console... Speaking of which, why hasn't anyone modded an old XBOX? It is a Pentium III in there.... HDD, Progressive scan DVD, network, USB support...

I have my Xbox modded with a 160gb hard drive. Never put it in the other car though. I had went with the PS2 since it was much much smaller. I might entertain that idea this time around.

[Meathammer]

I know heat can be a problem with an in-dash computer, but here is what I was thinking of using.....



































...... Liquid cooling!

The radiator could be mounted outside of the firewall or even in the cabin. Not to sure how well it would work, but it could be worth looking into. Of course this will mean a really "permanent" install so any maintenance would be a bear.

Personally for me, I prefer this idea but I'm sure it's not right for everyone.

[RandomAccess]

I have my Xbox modded with a 160gb hard drive. Never put it in the other car though. I had went with the PS2 since it was much much smaller. I might entertain that idea this time around.

You have your PS2 modded as carputer?

[lowriderman3]

I know heat can be a problem with an in-dash computer, but here is what I was thinking of using.....



































...... Liquid cooling!

The radiator could be mounted outside of the firewall or even in the cabin. Not to sure how well it would work, but it could be worth looking into. Of course this will mean a really "permanent" install so any maintenance would be a bear.

Personally for me, I prefer this idea but I'm sure it's not right for everyone.

Only the monitor would be in the dash. The CPU part will be under the seat or in the trunk.

[lowriderman3]

You have your PS2 modded as carputer?

Nada..I was saying that I have a modded Xbox from a reply to another post above about the xBox, but went with a PS2 in my car, not as a carputer.

[Big Bruin]

I know heat can be a problem with an in-dash computer, but here is what I was thinking of using.....
...... Liquid cooling!

The radiator could be mounted outside of the firewall or even in the cabin. Not to sure how well it would work, but it could be worth looking into. Of course this will mean a really "permanent" install so any maintenance would be a bear.

Personally for me, I prefer this idea but I'm sure it's not right for everyone.

I have a nice PC water cooling set up I could sell you! :wink:

Asetek Antarctica... High end components, great cooling.

I haven't used it in about a year, but that was in the house... Would be very cool to see something like that in a car.

[pigpen]

Yo in the magnum you could get a small enough computer to fit under the center console if you wanted to. I am not sure about the 300 though.

[OoTLink]

Yep, the center console is huge, I've made jokes about fitting a large size tissue box in there with room to spare :)

I want to do this with a mac mini - they don't get all that hot and don't require TONS of ventilation though I'd probably still stick the machine somewhere cooler. The center stack area gets quite warm (I presume from engine heat) sometimes and I wouldn't want to be subjecting computer parts to that, however water cooling would be a nifty idea!

YET if you have no capability of fabricating your own parts, that means you're pretty much stuck with using off the shelf things - things that usually will only fit on full size boards (not that you'd be able to get said chips for ITX boards anyway).

If you want to do full size, that's actually a neat idea - in the trunk it would be great! And water cooling could run all the way from the front by the big radiator - you could rig up a fan system to keep the radiator cool when not rolling as well :)

[Big Bruin]

Just for kicks, here is a shot of the Road Runner interface I use... Pretty much the stock install plus the Chrysler logo. Of all the skins I have tried, the stock one is still my favorite. I need to start hacking it to get unused features off the screen...

http://www.mostlyuseless.info/thumb/136.jpeg (http://www.mostlyuseless.info/view/136)

[Kamakazie2]

Thats still a good one. The contrast is great for car usage. I picked the alpine skin because i used to have the headunit the skin was based off of so i thought it would be cool to keep.

http://www.carpcs.net/moremods/post_images/greenss.jpg

[shiltz]

Talk to Shiltz, he's a member here and on mp3car.com and has a cool setup. MP3car.com has lots of junk on there to help you out. Also, you can buy complete car-puter's there and other accesories. hope this helps

She :p

And yeah, mp3car.com is a great spot for info on it, that's where I did all my research before building mine, this is what I ended up for it, Magnum not a 300, but close enough.

http://pages.prodigy.net/shiltz/carputer1.jpg


The computer itself is hanging under the passenger side dash, used to be in the center console but I wanted that space back.

[GROUNDED]

is that the liliput monitor? those are pretty sweet. but like ^^he said, mp3car.com is a wealth of knowledge but the easierst way is in the dash vezel or some sort of fiberglass piece that mounts it infront of the ashtray, then get some duramix 4040 because its your friend.

[RandomAccess]

but like ^^he said

I believe Shiltz is trying to say that she is FEMALE!

I was a little dense about it too... But then it hit me after seeing that photo she posted... Obviously a female leg in that picture... LOL

Into both computers and cars... VERY cool!

And that is a very clean install!

[GROUNDED]

:roll: type-o

[lowriderman3]

She :p

And yeah, mp3car.com is a great spot for info on it, that's where I did all my research before building mine, this is what I ended up for it, Magnum not a 300, but close enough.

http://pages.prodigy.net/shiltz/carputer1.jpg


The computer itself is hanging under the passenger side dash, used to be in the center console but I wanted that space back.

That is a sweet setup. Like the way you did the ports and such down low. Did you do this setup yourself? If so when can you do mine? :)

[RandomAccess]

Shiltz... you have to come up with a cool integrated mount for that stylus laying in your tray.

[Kamakazie2]

Check out MGD on mp3car.com. Although his pics arent around anymore he used a CNC machine to build a sweet bracket into his NAV dash for the 300 using a liliput monitor and also had a slot for a slot load dvd drive. It was sweet he was bale to match the curve of the dash and everything. He was not interested in selling the bracket for any price. I dnt blame him it was too sweet looking.

[shiltz]

is that the liliput monitor?

Nope, Xenarc monitor, I know at least when I made it about 2 years ago the Liliput while much cheaper than the Xenarc was junk in comparison, not sure how the new ones are in comparison though.

That is a sweet setup. Like the way you did the ports and such down low. Did you do this setup yourself? If so when can you do mine?

Thanks, yup, I did the setup myself, I've done everything on my car myself.

Hehe, unfortunatly I don't have a workshop to do stuff like that anymore sadly, I used to live with my father and used his, but right now there are some issues between us and we aren't on speaking terms so no workshop to use :(

Shiltz... you have to come up with a cool integrated mount for that stylus laying in your tray.

Hehe, i'll admit I did consider trying to do something like that, but in the end I ended up not because I couldn't find any spot where I liked how it would have looked and since it's a black stylus it doesn't really stand out being there anyways.

I guess if I wanted I could make a spot under the tray to put it since I don't actualy use it much all, a few buttons on my GPS and in windows are a bit small for a finger tip but my nails work fine, the stylus is mostly just for when I break a nail, lol.

[lowriderman3]

Thanks, yup, I did the setup myself, I've done everything on my car myself.

Hehe, unfortunatly I don't have a workshop to do stuff like that anymore sadly, I used to live with my father and used his, but right now there are some issues between us and we aren't on speaking terms so no workshop to use :(

Are you married? If not marry me and I will build you a workshop! LOL :)

[Big Bruin]

I have had a Lilliput for 2+ years and it has worked great the whole time... I think I am lucky given what I have heard about others with units of that age. They are supposedly much better now, though.

[Peybella]

I went with the RAM mounting system for my car and love it. I have my laptop mounted in the center coming off of the passenger side. Just under the laptop I have my mobile phone mounted and am able to tie it in with the computer.

My entire systems goes through the blue-tooth system and my wireless card in the laptop. From there I am able to tie into wireless connections, mobile connections when wireless is not available and use a full screen GPS system with sound.

With my travel for work, its perfect for me. I'll be glad to send pics if you want.

Regards,

Greg

[shiltz]

Are you married? If not marry me and I will build you a workshop! LOL :)

Nope, no husband or boyfriend and not looking for one, sorry :p

I have had a Lilliput for 2+ years and it has worked great the whole time... I think I am lucky given what I have heard about others with units of that age. They are supposedly much better now, though.

Cool, Actualy my biggest issue with them was on the older ones at least even though the native resolution of the monitor was 800x480 just like the Xenarc the Lilliput's wouldn't actualy reconize it so nothing looked quite as clear, hopefully that is something fixed since eventualy i'd like to get one of the MP3car Transflective sunlight readable monitors, but they are modified Lillputs so I was worried about the res issue.

[Big Bruin]

I have been running my Lilliput at 800x600 with the onboard EPIA M10000 video and it looks great. I got a new case that allows a PCI card, so I am going to use a GeForce 6200 card that will do 800x480. I hope it works! LOL - Even if it doesn't it will be OK since it will dump some of the processing off the motherboard and free up some system memory.

[shiltz]

Let me know if it works, i'm interested in finding that out, I have an GeForce MX4000 in mine that I got for doing 800x480 with the Xenarc, and yeah, having the video card to take some strain off their CPU is definatly usefull with the VIA processors.

[Electrofreak]

I'm going to be installing a Via nano-ITX system into my Magnum I think. I have all sorts of fun ideas, but I need to get it all sorted out. I really like your setup Shiltz! Can you tell me exactly what the stats are of your PC rig or is that a secret?

I'm wondering whether to go tiny, or something a bit more expandable. I want to look into integrating Wi-Fi and Bluetooth into the whole shebang.

Nano-ITX would give me room for a decent size HDD or flash drive (probably flash if I want to keep cooling to a minimum), as well as not require me to do any cooling. If possible, I want to be able to mount the PC in the dash or glove box. Once I get a PS3, I plan on wiring my current PS2 into the equation as well.

I'm thinking also of a secondary monitor. A 7" touch screen is great for input and the like, but I don't want to have to hunch over my dash to browse the internet. I'm also considering mounting a small LCD monitor to a RAM bracket, and using a Bluetooth mouse / keyboard to improve input. This is where I start thinking a laptop might just be the best bet, but I'm trying to keep costs low and make everything as seamless as possible (though, now I'm trying to figure where I'd stash a keyboard...)

[shiltz]

Nope, not a secret, it's my sig on mp3car.com, here it is.

VIA MII10000 / 512mb ram / EVGA MX4000 / Xenarc 700TSV
M1-ATX PSU / 30GB hitachi 2.5" HDD / Panasonic slimline slotload CDRW/DVD ROM

Even with the VIA MII10000 having some expandability between 1 pci (2 with a special riser card) and a PMICIA card if I upgrade i'm considering going with one of those shuttle motherboards with a pentium or AMD mobile CPU for more expandability.

As for cooling in my experience running my carputer for almost two years heating was more of an issue, the only fan I have is the stock 40mm fan on the VIA cpu, it's never overheated, however in extreme cold, sub 10F, the fluid bearing in the hard drive starts to freeze and it won't boot till it warms up.

Well one spot i've seen people put keyboards is mount it to the top of their visor, I don't have one though in mine, just a USB mouse because the touchscreen calibration screwed up so much 2 times that I needed a mouse to be able to run the calibration program to fix it.

[RandomAccess]

Do you have a keyboard somewhere... or do you just plug into the usb port when needed?

or better yet... do you have a bluetooth mini that you can store in the glove compartment?

[lowriderman3]

I am really going to put this on my "to do" list. Gathering all the info that I need currently. I have always wanted to do this in my past cars, and it will become a reality this spring.

[pigpen]

Lowriderman3 - This is so much better than a nav or anything you will be happy to do this, this is something on my to do list also so many things you can do on it.

[lowriderman3]

Lowriderman3 - This is so much better than a nav or anything you will be happy to do this, this is something on my to do list also so many things you can do on it.

Yea..I have the AVIC-Z1, and do not use the Nav all that much, so this will for sure be something I can make use of. What I need is someone to make me a surround piece. I want to put the biggest screen possible in the dash.

[RobAGD]

I am working with my old HP Laptop it had a 17" XUGA screen ( 1600x1200 ) and and I looking to use it to dive a few small LCD screens for extra guages using some kind of ODBII interface. It will of course have all my MP3's on it as well as my Delorme software but the car nav works well. What I have been trying to noodle is a way to mount the screen so that its actually movable. I would love to do something with rails so when I dont want need the screen I can just slide it out of the way.

As to keyboard and etc I would use a micro Keyboard and thumb mouse that can be stashed in the console with the puter being in the glove box.

I have a dislike of small screens :/ This system may end up being trashed depending if the MB is any good or not. If its Dead than Ill build a Pentium M Core Duo system. This has not been a burning issue for me so its still in peices in the dinning room table :)

I look forward to seeing what you all come up with for your rides.

-R

[Big Bruin]

I don't use a keyboard or mouse at all... I have VNC software installed on the carputer, and when necessary I can take full control of the system via my laptop over my wireless network. That's actually how I took the screenshots posted previously... I wasn't even near the carputer at the time.

My M10000 VIA board handles all the processing well enough except for DVD... Slightly choppy playback. It does fine with GPS and MP3 or GPS and XM running at the same time, so that is all I care about... Just don't need that much muscle.

BUT... If I do need a boost, I have a mini system with overkill specs in my basement... One of these (http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=RED-ZMAXDP&cat=BBK) with dual Opteron 270 processors (effectively four 2 GHz Opterons), 2GB of Memory, and 1.25TB of storage... I wouldn't need heat in the car with that thing in there, either.

[Electrofreak]

Nope, not a secret, it's my sig on mp3car.com, here it is.

VIA MII10000 / 512mb ram / EVGA MX4000 / Xenarc 700TSV
M1-ATX PSU / 30GB hitachi 2.5" HDD / Panasonic slimline slotload CDRW/DVD ROM

Even with the VIA MII10000 having some expandability between 1 pci (2 with a special riser card) and a PMICIA card if I upgrade i'm considering going with one of those shuttle motherboards with a pentium or AMD mobile CPU for more expandability.

As for cooling in my experience running my carputer for almost two years heating was more of an issue, the only fan I have is the stock 40mm fan on the VIA cpu, it's never overheated, however in extreme cold, sub 10F, the fluid bearing in the hard drive starts to freeze and it won't boot till it warms up.

Well one spot i've seen people put keyboards is mount it to the top of their visor, I don't have one though in mine, just a USB mouse because the touchscreen calibration screwed up so much 2 times that I needed a mouse to be able to run the calibration program to fix it.

Awesome! I'm working on building a system with a VIA EPIA NL nano-ITX board. Since you mention the HDD issue, and it does get so very cold up here in NY sometimes, I may just go with a flash drive. I don't think I'll really need that much storage, but who knows. My projects have a tendency to snowball.

As for what was mentioned earlier about DVD playback being a bit choppy, that's why I'm considering getting a TFT with a slimline DVD player. A friend told me they were available but I have yet to begin the search for the product.

[shiltz]

On the choppy DVD playing with the seperate MX4000 video card to offload DVD decoding there is no choppyness unless the GPS is running at the same time, then there is some very minor choppyness, mostly seems it's just droping a frame or two here and there, I would imagine it could be even better with a higher up video card such as a 5200 or 6200, I belive both are avaliable in PCI.

[Big Bruin]

GeForce 6200 PCI is definitely available... I have one right here on my desk waiting for me to build this new case up. I am not sure if it is even better, but ATI has Radeon x1300 PCI cards available, and that may be the highest on that side of things.

[wilcom]

do a google on Troy Sheet metal, Gamber Johnson, and SDI they make the police mounts

[Big Bruin]

PCI GeForce 6200 does do 848x480, but the Lilliput screen gets all mushed. Tried messing with it, but 800x600 still looks best. Not sure if I will keep the PCI card in there, as I can't seem to totally disable the onboard video. It is disabled in Windows, but I don't see an option in the BIOS, and it shares at least 16MB of system memory to it, even if I am not using it... Grrr!

[shiltz]

Any video card including the onboard one will do 848x480, that's a standard resolution, 800x480 is the holy grail so to speak res wise with those 7" monitors as that's what their native res is, 800x600 does look better on them than 848x480, but both squish the image, one horizontaly and one verticaly, to do the 800x480 is what you need a Nvidia PCI card for, the Nvidia control panel allows for custom resolutions so you can setup the 800x480 yourself on it, Xenarc has all the information on their web site for what settings you need to use, not sure if Lilliput does or not. You can also do it with ATI cards and I belive the onboard video on the intel pentium/celeron systems but you need a seperate program to make the custom res as neither's drivers can do it themselves like Nvidia's can.

Yeah, that is the one anoying thing with the PCI card, the onboard one still takes up a min of 16MB, wasn't to big of an issue for me though since I have 512MB in it which is overkill for what I do with it, I think at most I use about 350MB.

[BlkLikeMe]

Shiltz...please tell me you love sports as well and I'll call it a day. The mp3 forum has a lot of good information. When building my carputer I basically took the good of most of the systems that I'd seen other members build. I found out that it was easier for me to write down all the uses I wanted my system for; nav, music, video, wireless et. al., and build my system around my needs. Prioritizing what I could give up in performance here and there, for the features I really wanted. So far I've been gun shy about pulling the trigger on a carputer for my C. I definitely like Shiltzs' set up. The only draw back for the C install is ideal mounting location for cooling of the PC. Using the factory air ducts for cooling is okay as long as it's not winter time. I've been tempted to build a carputer in the amp cases and using the old cooling amp enclosures that they use to sell to mount over the amp with the fan constantly pulling in air...time will tell.

[shiltz]

Shiltz...please tell me you love sports as well and I'll call it a day.

Hehe, no go there, I despise sports :p

The only draw back for the C install is ideal mounting location for cooling of the PC. Using the factory air ducts for cooling is okay as long as it's not winter time. I've been tempted to build a carputer in the amp cases and using the old cooling amp enclosures that they use to sell to mount over the amp with the fan constantly pulling in air...time will tell.

How hot does it get where you live? it can get up to the mid 90's here in the summer outside so I can only imagine how hot it is inside the car and i've had no overheating issues with mine and the only cooling is the little 40mm fan on the motherboard's CPU so cooling definatly doesn't seem to be an issue, at least not with the VIA based systems anyways.

[Big Bruin]

I think I got distracted and didn't finish my post before... LOL

848x480 is standard in there and is mushed. No good. 800x480 can be programmed, and I did so at 60, 70, 72, and 75 Hz. 800x480 at 72 Hz looked OK, but not great. Maybe 3 pixels of wasted screen on either side, and top to bottom it fit perfect. The other frequencies were mushed or too fuzzy.

Even at 72Hz, the best setting, it just wasn't as sharp as 800x600 60Hz and to seal the deal, apps didn't load right to fill the screen. For example, I couldn't get Road Runner to show right, and it cut the bottom off the interface no matter what I tried.

Back to 800x600 to me... It really is the best looking. As for memory, I have 512MB in there too, and 16MB isn't much but I want it all available. May get a 1GB stick if I see another huge sale soon.

[lower8]

I know that Meister has a good mount in his C, I am curious what he powers with it?

[lower8]

really cool setup shiltz!!

[shiltz]

That must be because of the issue I had read with the Lilliput not properly reconizing the 800x480 res then from back when I built my system, guess it's confirmed it still has that issue, with the Xenarc it's crystal clear clear at 800x480 once it's set right.

[Big Bruin]

With 800x600 looking so good, I am unsure I'd care to lose the 120 pixels now anyway...

[BlkLikeMe]

Hehe, no go there, I despise sports :p


damn damn damn:doh: Just when I thought I'd found the perfect one *sigh*.. Oh well, you have forum friend potential with your love of cars and computers so it's not all bad lol



How hot does it get where you live? it can get up to the mid 90's here in the summer outside so I can only imagine how hot it is inside the car and i've had no overheating issues with mine and the only cooling is the little 40mm fan on the motherboard's CPU so cooling definatly doesn't seem to be an issue, at least not with the VIA based systems anyways.

When I was living in Texas it would become extremely hot in the summers but that's not where I would run into issues because the AC was blowing full throttle cooling the carputer for the most. A move to ND with it's -20 temps requiring I use autostart to warm the car with heat on high and than the commute with continued heat would pose a problem from time to time. Moreso on long winter roadtrips but never enough to shut it down. I was on mp3car.com a few weeks ago and came across a carputer setup in an '06 300Z placed in the glovebox that made me start rebuilding a newer system for my 'stang(yes I said 'stang). Since I'm a music freak I need to get a reliable and durable system that will replace my ever needing to put another piece of music media in my car. So, I'll see what happens in the next couple of months. I just don't have the heart to touch my 300C yet but the plans are laid for it as well. I'm actually going to install a carputer but integrate it with avelectronics splitter. If you get a chance check it out. www.avelectronic.com (http://www.avelectronic.com)

[realorc]

I'm thinking about getting Mp3car's transflective 8" lcd screen (lilliput 809) for my carpc.
I believe the dimensions are 205Wx167Hx41D (mm).
Would it be too wide to fit into the dash?

[shiltz]

Width wise that would be fine, the Xenarc 700TSV which I have is 7.75" and it was about .5-1" narrower I belive than the factory GPS opening, 205mm works out to 8.071" so that's only .312" wider, definatly still smaller than the GPS opening.

[Big Bruin]

Going grave robbing to bring this thread back to life... I recently rebuilt my carputer and finally have it all installed. The only issue is screen placement. I don't want to cut my 300's dash, so for now the 7" screen just sits on the shelf between the shifter and ash tray.

Any ideas for a better mount that gets it up a little, and does leave wires hanging all over?

My new specs:

Jetway Mini-ITX board with 2GHz embedded CPU
1GB PC2-5400 DDR2 Memory
160GB Seagate 2.5" shockproof SATA drive
M300 Mini-ITX chassis
160W M2-ATX PSU
Onboard Audio and video
USB WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS
Lilliput 7" Widescreen TFT LCD Touchscreen
GPS, Wifi, XM Radio, MP3, Photos, Videos, DVDs, all handled through Windows XP with Roadrunner / Digital FX 2.0 interface

Some of my screens:

http://www.mostlyuseless.info/thumb/220.jpeg (http://www.mostlyuseless.info/view/220) http://www.mostlyuseless.info/thumb/222.jpeg (http://www.mostlyuseless.info/view/222) http://www.mostlyuseless.info/thumb/236.jpeg (http://www.mostlyuseless.info/view/236) http://www.mostlyuseless.info/thumb/251.jpeg (http://www.mostlyuseless.info/view/251)

Should probably take a picture to help with my screen mounting question, ehh? Anyone have a monitor in the dash area that isn't 'permanent'?

[shiltz]

Unfortunatly that normaly is an issue with non-permanent monitor mounts, they don't really look nice and neat in comparison and will have wires/cables hanging outside in sight.

Are you still using the headunit, or you doing it headunit less?

[Super T]

Going grave robbing to bring this thread back to life... I recently rebuilt my carputer and finally have it all installed. The only issue is screen placement. I don't want to cut my 300's dash, so for now the 7" screen just sits on the shelf between the shifter and ash tray.

Any ideas for a better mount that gets it up a little, and does leave wires hanging all over?


Aw c'mon, a new bezel is like $70. Just hack it up! Honestly, it's a cheap and easy swap back to a stock one later if you need to do it.

[Big Bruin]

Yeah... I still use the head unit. Right now I use the AUX in on the front, adding another wire, but have a nicer FM modulator I may go to.

I have been working on a hinged mount that will hold the screen right in front of the heater controls, and let it swing down flat... This way all the wires are obscured if routed through the little storage slot just below. And, the bulk of the AUX cable is hidden, too.

Where can I get a new bezel for $70? I don't think the dealer does anything for $70...

Thanks.

[lowriderman3]

Yeah... I still use the head unit. Right now I use the AUX in on the front, adding another wire, but have a nicer FM modulator I may go to.

I have been working on a hinged mount that will hold the screen right in front of the heater controls, and let it swing down flat... This way all the wires are obscured if routed through the little storage slot just below. And, the bulk of the AUX cable is hidden, too.

Where can I get a new bezel for $70? I don't think the dealer does anything for $70...

Thanks.

Try eBay.

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?sofocus=bs&sbrftog=1&fcl=3&frpp=50&from=R10&fcol=ship-off&satitle=navigation+bezel+magnum&sacat=-1%26catref%3DC6&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D2&sadis=200&fpos=ZIP%2FPostal&sabfmts=1&saobfmts=insif&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=1&fsoo=1

[shiltz]

You can find them new online for that price, payed like $65 for mine when I got it, forget where I got it though, but using the factory headunit would make fitment an issue, can barely fit it in with a single DIN aftermarket headunit, would have to remove the vents to fit it with the factory headunit still there.

[Big Bruin]

Thanks... Might have to get one to play with.

In low light, the current setup looks OK... (boot screen and main menu)...

http://www.mostlyuseless.info/thumb/260.jpeg (http://www.mostlyuseless.info/view/260) http://www.mostlyuseless.info/thumb/259.jpeg (http://www.mostlyuseless.info/view/259)