NSFW

I have yet to see a report from anyone who has even tried with a netbook yet.

If you have a laptop, this device (click here) will basically simulate a press of the power button. Unfortunately, the only way to find out if your laptop's power button wires are accessible is to pop it open and try it. I tried and failed with an IBM T41, but on the HP 530 it was very easy. Anyhow, that widget will turn the laptop on when you turn the car on. The laptop's own power settings can be used to have the laptop shut down after you cut power to it. Basically, it thinks you've unplugged it. Mine will run for 15 minutes, then sleep for 15 more, then hibernate.

I've also read some reports here and at RomRaider.com of a "vag com" USB cable on eBay that works. Those are closer to $35 shipped IIRC.

There's a factory (small) spare under that shelf.

I'm happy with the way mine turned out... minus some wiring tidying, but I'll get to that. http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z151/Legacy_NSFW/Rack1.jpg

The trickiest thing about laptops, like F1 said, is the power button. My HP 530 was a piece of cake, my IBM T41 was a no-go. Unfortunately it's impossible to tell without opening the laptop, unless you can find someone who has already tried it with whatever laptop you're interested in (that's what steered me to the HP 530). It's worth asking on mp3car.com in the laptop subforum before you buy one.

I wouldn't go that far. I put in an MP3 head unit, and 6 discs of MP3s (or 5 + whatever regular CD I last bought) makes me pretty happy. GPS alone made the whole thing worthwhile. I am probably going to use the CarPC for music, but it's pretty far down on my list of priorities.

One of the nice things about laptops is you can do almost all of the setup from the comfort of your couch. My cost breakdown, to the best of my recollection: $500 laptop $400 screen $250 bezel fabrication $40 120v inverter (will toss this and use a 12v power supply some day) $35 auto-on module $50 (?) for a very long VGA cable (10ft or 12ft I forgot) $130 for iGuidance software w/ USB GPS $80 Tactrix OpenPort 1.3 OBD2 cable (no longer available, the 2.0 cable is $130ish) Plus a couple of USB hubs ($15ish each) and a couple USB extension cables I am not using the CarPC for music yet, only for GPS and engine monitoring.

Cool, thanks.

Hey F1, can you update the 1st post with a link to my setup? http://www.legacygt.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1992851&postcount=2 Thanks!

I used a laptop in my system and I think it's the way to go. I mounted it with foam under it, and elastic cords over the corners of the laptop holding it down, for vibration isolation. It survived sub-freezing temperatures on several ski trips last season, with no trouble. I figure it's just as robust as anything else now. I bought an SSD for it the other day (hasn't arrived yet) but that was out of curiosity more than anything else. The hardest part was getting wires to the power button. I don't know of any way to predict how hard that will be for any given laptop, you just have to open it up and see. See if you can find one with all of the connections (power, VGA, USB) on the same side of the laptop, it makes for a tidy install.

I see, that makes sense.

If you're logging total timing and knock sum, and taking LV snapshots, why bother adding IAM and the knock corrections?

Nit pick: If you log Load, RPM, and MAF, use the "calculated" load parameter. That way you're really only logging RPM and MAF, and the logger is calculating load from them. It's one less parameter going over the wire, which means slightly faster logging. Do CAN cars log rapidly enough that this is a non-issue?

All these branded donks have raised one very large question in my mind: Could I get a vinyl shop to make some bitchin' flames for my Legacy? That would just be hilarious. Seriously.

I doubt the average lifted-pickup driver is any more (or less) aware of physics than the average donk driver.

Anyone know the part numbers for the "test mode" connectors? The ones in the passenger-side footwell that need to be connected to do a reflash... I want to run some wires from those connectors out to a switch somewhere near the steering wheel. It'd be nice to use another pair of connectors there, instreading cutting/splicing/tapping/etc. I looked at all of the parts listings above (thanks again, TRS!) but didn't see them in there. Thanks in advance if anyone can help me out with this...

I actually like that one, kinda. Or at least, I like the idea behind it. Never liked those half-truck, half-wagon things.

HighlineCA was doing the stereo/nav separation, but last I heard, he wasn't doing them anymore. But he did say he would resume at some point in the future though.

Do you have the latest version of RomRaider? http://www.romraider.com/forum/topic3841.html The logger used to freeze up for me as well, but Kascade fixed something and it works fine for me with that version.

That giant list that you have open in the second screen shot isn't baud rate, it looks like it's the packet size that USB transmissions are sliced into. A smaller value is probably good, like 500 or so. What's the smallest value it will let you choose? The first screen shot shows a dialog box with "9600" in the "bits per second" field. That is the baud rate. Baud and bits per second are two words for the same thing (technically they're not necessarily identical, but the terms are used interchangeably). It probably doesn't matter what you set that to, since RomRaider / EcuFlash will decide what rate they want when the open the serial port, but go with 4800.

I think baud rates were up to around 14,4000 when laptops were invented.

Can you post a screenshot? I'm wondering where you're getting that UI. ALT+PrintScreen should capture the window, then paste it in to mspaint and attach it to a post here. On use photobucket if you want.

I think SSM runs at 4800 baud. Are you sure about that 4096 limit? Even 4800 is ridiculously slow by PC standards.

SeattleLegacy wins the thread.