f1anatic

After many many many nights spent reworking my CarPC and several hundreds of dollars spent just this February (new Solid State Drive, New Centrafuse 3.5; new connectors, microphone etc) I am finally happy again with my device. Cold boot to working screen about 25 sec but i plan on using either hibernation or sleep. And with that said...I remain firmly convinced that any new car should be now purchased with OEM navigation.

I do not see it as a replacement for the FOXCONN d510 or n330 NET TOP box that i purchased for my current CarPC (see a few pages back). The one that I got runs on the Intel processor, and you could get a dedicated video card, 4Gb Ram and the 2.5 inch drive inside for literally half the price. My unit was 170 dollars and has a quad core Intel Mobile 64 bit processor. What would I need all that power in a CarPC ? Anyways, looks cute but it ain't any better.

Is that CF 3 ? And what keyboard are you suing for Garmin Mobile PC ? What screen is that ?

How do you align the hi beams. I have Toshiba HIR bulbs and they are next to useless since they light up the sky not the road. They project much much further; I would like them to in fact overlap with my low beams.

Resurrecting my own mega thread. Managed to finish my CarPC version 2. Actually works well. Foxconn Nettop D510 2 Gb RAM Carnetix P1900 Xenarc 700 TSV - refurbished ( I refurbished my own original screen for 110 bux) Centrafuse 1.47 (vintage 2007 - maybe old school but I like it) iGuidance 4 TreeHugger SSM (embedded) The neat thing is that I imaged the old hard drive (from a Toshiba) onto a new hard drive to use in this new CarPC; I did a windows fresh install without deleting or re-formatting the existing partition; identified the working WinXP N-Lite folder; accessed the drive onto another PC as an external USB drive and removed the old Windows install; reinstalled Centrafuse and I was good to go. Most other programs, including iGuidance; Treehuggage SSM; RomRaider; ECU explorer worked. I did have to install the drivers for screen and Tactrix but by no means was this a lengthy install, even with completely new hardware. After I reinstalled Centrafuse, even my old settings stayed the same. Now the PC starts and shuts down automatically, controlled by ignition and the smart PSU. I have no idea why for 3 years I still used a little button to turn on/off my PC. Hibernating the PC causes issues - changes the resolution and so on but I figured why bother; I will just make it shut down instead of hibernating. I am sure it is some software problem which I may or may not tackel by spring. Boot time to fully operational about 45 seconds.

Dear God ! Be merciful on the rest of us and never let us see such hideous setups !

Well the question is what are you using for navigation; interface when most things are Windows-based in the CarPC community ?

it took 5 months to get it in the car but i was not working on it every day. I say you will put an honest 200 work-hours in it. Or about 1 month of daily work on it for a couple of hours at a time.

Ok...so screen works, but I need some skinny zip-ties and it will be back in the car within an hour. Windows does not display once it gets to the full windows interface...must be some issues with the resolution. And one of the splitters that i am using for my on-off doesn't work. and the P1900 output A to turn on-off the PC does not work. Back to installing output B onto the PSU and looking for the splitter issues.

You assume that I assumed that you are at the begining with the CarPC thing. I chave noted your contributions over the years in the CarPC thread. I've recently been thru the same thing: PC died (actually USB ports stopped working) and the screen died. Screen got fixed by Xenarc and I bought the D510 unit. 170 bucks; no more work but solder two wires and mount it in a smaller plastic box enclosure. In fact in about 10 minutes I am gonna take this Veteran's Day break to go install my CarPC...version 2.0 to be exact. And in fact I can teach you how to get your old Windows Operating system (with Centrafuse, SSM-3, iGuidance or whatever you are running etc) back in a new PC. That was my course of action because I did not want to fiddle with new hardware beyond minor soldering and wrenching several screws and chopping out a plastic box so I can put my new CarPC inside. It worked out so far.

ok take a chilling break back. Grab one of these: Foxconn D510 Nettop that has more computing power than the space shuttle (mine is 4 cores, 64 bit - a wee overkill for the car right ?). It is the size of a VHS tape. A DC-DC converter (P1900 or P2240 by Carnetix) will allow you to supply power to a wide range of PCs and smartly turn it on and turn it off. You may have to do some soldering such as to the power button to connect it to the smart power source ports. But in the case of the above unit that was easy. Screen of your choice. There will come a time when you will either forget to remove the tablet PC or you will feel either lazy or secure in your decision to leave it hanging there for 5 min while you run in the gas station or back to the house/office etc. In doing that you will provide an excellent opportunistic crime event. Not to mention that hanging that huge thing (the IPAD or tablet PCs) does take time; may reduce visibility and or inconvenience you in the safe operation of your vehicle. You only need that one time reaching in your glove compartment and getting your T-shirt caught in your hanging tablet to either ruin clothing or smash into someone. Additionally, in case of an accident, I'd would like to reduce the number of things flying in the car which are mounted in front of a driver (and that includes GPS units; radar detectors etc). My advise is do it right the first time. Once you go on the CarPC route, you should have a budget but if you have 3-500 to spend on a tablet spend another 3 and get it done right for a number of reasons, some outlined above. And if you're gonna tell me that portability and being able to take it from one vehicle to another matters; then that's what a 5 inch Tom-Tom is for. See the CarPC thread for details. The first 20 pages should give you the idea of how to mount your screen. Mind you, you can get a screen to already fit in there http://store.mp3car.com/In_Dash_Touchscreens_s/61.htm or you may have to hack a little. And no, a basic touchscreen interface akin to a smartphone is not gonna get you far for a CarPC. Recommend Centrafuse or RoadRunner (on the free side)

N00B:rolleyes:

did you download tree hugger ? which version of CF are you using ? In my vintage version, I have to get the exact window name to import it. I do not use Rom Raider for the gauges cause you would not make them appear in the window at a tough of just one button.

I use TreeHugger with CF 1.47. Maybe nowadays lumberjack is the replacement. Funny names... What the old CF used to allow is to import applications and open them in the CF screen; and the success rate was much dependent on either plugins or having the correct window name. Not sure how the new one works. You'll need to get on their forums and research. I know little of the VAG cable but if you can datalog with it via Road Runner you should be able to use it with SSM TreeHugger or Lumberjack, RedNeck or whatever it is called these days.

I would like to know that as well. Also please include any and/or all links to the said operation of using a relay.

Treehugger SSM

That's your answer right there. With a CarPC as in Windows PC you have the software (including the interface and the navigation program, not just windows itself) that can be customized to your likings, and the flexibility of hardware plus the ability to expand and do all sorts of things.

I too was overly enthusiastic once. Sure, technology came a long way and there are different options today than 3 years ago. But the moment you start taking the car apart, fabricate bezels, run wires, and try to be creative with the lack of space, while still trying to maintain a quasi-OEM look, you'll know what I mean. Good luck.

Audio, Nav, Engine [Data Logging; Real Time Display & Diagnostics; ECU reset] Trust me it came in handy - at least 6-7 times. I reset 4 CELs ; bumped up the RPMs twice; and diagnosed my misfire in cylinder 3 (when my coil blew out).

Nope. It is NOT that simple. Very sorry but I gotta send you to do your homework. I triple dare you finding the easy way of turning it on and off...powering it on and off (that's not too bad until you realize you have no space for the PSU and that you have to run wires thru the firewall) and the sheer amount of work you put in running all the wires. And I do not know who likes keyboards and wires running around the car. I never use a KBD - if I did, I would be content with a windshield mounted navi system. My lady has an eeepc 1000 HE or something to that extent. It does not fit into the glove box without cutting that divider between the upper and lower compartments.

have same thing happening. So what did everyone find to be the cause ? Mine works perfectly with the engine coolant below 90 C. anything above and it is not working. When it is working, it is freezing. When it is not, hot air is coming. I am thinking electrical...since even my engine fans seem to be only working half speed.

i agree with all of the above. My laptop is mounted in the trunk, vertically, on the driver's side, inside a plastic box which I hacked up myself and added a fan for more cooling to the processor. My problem with the CarPC is that often, the screen resolution would change after I boot up again and I have to manually reset it. I do not know whether it is the power source (since the PSU) supplies power to the screen and %V usb and the PC itself...or it is the old laptop's graphic adapter. Oh and the PSU, I bought 3 of them...1 failed and repaired...then its replacement failed and got repaired...and I recently bought a 3rd brand new that i keep as the backup to the backup. That is 450 bux in PSUs that i did not have to spend.

Don't get me wrong. I love the concept and the uniqueness and flexibility of it. And while I was not a pioneer, I was an early user. The market came a long way from modded laptops. Still - you never get the factory integration and frankly I would rather pay 100 a year in map upgrades and 1500 dollars upfront for OEM navi THAN spend 3-4 hours remote-logging into my CarPC and performing maintenance and 1000 dollars on equipment that I have to install and configure myself followed by another 500 dollars in hidden costs over the years. And the reason I have not been in here is because I solved the software kinks and now I just am afraid to touch it. All I did was replace some wires on the PSU back last year and that was it. Half a day's worth of soldering but I am done tinkering with it till there is a new update from Intellinav / iGuidance. And I am still on Centrafuse 1.47.

Damn...my baby thread is at page 92 ? I have not kept up with it in the past year - but then again, it is mostly for the GTs of old, when Navi was not available or available in only certain trims. Cause to be honest, I would not put in a CarPC again. Too much work.

i will take them - my driver side got holes in it