Car PC

[BMac1203]

Thanks for the info, we'll have to look into it

[f1anatic]

I grounded the computer at the battery for fear of interference.

 

I know I am in charge of the INDEX in this thread and I have slacked recently

[BMac1203]

I grounded at the battery as well. I remember with my car audio system in my previous car, have a ground that was extremely shorter than the +12v gave me a ground loop interference. But this is power for the PSU rather than power for an audio amp, so maybe its different. I guess Im old fashioned as well.

[McVicker]

It's no big deal, I was just curious. I've always made my ground wires as short as possible.

 

-Dan

[BMac1203]

Making a custom skin? Why not use the stock skin with the Suby logo?

[BMac1203]

Fair enough. That's why my CF skin is just Nav, DVD, and Music

[gfxdave99]

I saw f1's live in person yesterday and I have to say I'm pretty damn impressed.

[BMac1203]

Yup, fine piece of work it is. Now we just need to get more members here to convert!

[f1anatic]

I saw f1's live in person yesterday and I have to say I'm pretty damn impressed.

 

Thank you Dave.

 

I wanna share with you guys. i bought the ELM SCAN 5 tool to get OBD-2 readings into my Centrafuse. While i did make it work, the refresh rate was horrible and the units of measurement are absolutely ridiculous: imperial units are in Hg - inches of Mercury) while metric units are kilo Pascals. Apparently none of the folks at Flux Media have a turbo car. Everyone uses PSI - Euros or Japanese or Americans. It simply is THE unit of choice. Anyways, I am sending the unit back and will use the money for other purposes. At this point in time, OBD-2 via Centrafuse's native software is NOT worth pursuing.

[BMac1203]

Thanks for the heads up! Well appreciated. I'm still waiting on a final date for the sale of CF.

 

Have you updated to CF 1.2? (I believe)

 

Supposedly an update was released a week or two ago, but you cannot download it from Flux's site. David, on Mp3car, said that you have to have an internet connection and update CF from inside with its own integrated updater software.

 

I dont have a wireless card/dongle in my CarPC yet, so I have yet to make the update.

[f1anatic]

I have finally decided what my buttons will be

GPS - MEDIA - DVD

HIBERNATE - BLANK - SHUTDOWN

 

INTERNET - APOI (Netstumbler) - WEATHER

ECU (to launch Tari Soft) - TV - CAM

 

MIXER - SETTINGS - TOOLS

RESTART - SHUT DOWN - HIBERNATE

[BMac1203]

Sounds good, like it.

 

Why'd you choose to put the hibernate and shutdown buttons, doesnt your PSU handle that anyways?

[f1anatic]

Sounds good, like it.

 

Why'd you choose to put the hibernate and shutdown buttons, doesnt your PSU handle that anyways?

 

I have a laptop so it really is just the software that would do it. I am cool with that...hibernation causes me zero problems and only takes 10 seconds. I can always let the PC turn off by itself ... BUT I seem to lose the settings for the monitor that way (brightness, contrast). Rather than investigating that I just instructed myself to do things differently.

[gfxdave99]

Peep dis SHIZEL!

 

http://www.hipepc.com/store/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=102

[f1anatic]

Peep dis SHIZEL!

 

http://www.hipepc.com/store/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=102

 

Das ist X-PENSIF

[gfxdave99]

Das ist X-PENSIF

 

What the hell does that mean

[Kelvrick]

What the hell does that mean

 

That is expensive.

[BMac1203]

Das ist X-PENSIF

 

Agreed. Reason we do it custom - about 50% of those prices, if not less. And, we can do what we want with it. I can suit my needs, without voiding the thing's warranty.

 

DIY for the win!

[f1anatic]

 

DIY for the win!

 

I wouldn't be able to buy the monitor with the entire amount I spent on my Project. And I can argue any of our projects don't look nor do they perform much worse. Quite the contrary is true.

[gfxdave99]

Hey i wasnt doggin your project or saying i would buy that, i just think its cool that there are more pre-fab car-pc options which means more competition which means the prices will go down eventually

[andrew.anderson]

I think that prefab is cool.

Te get the options we want though it ends up pushign the price up near 3.5k and I could do alot more myself with 3.5k.

[BMac1203]

Hey i wasnt doggin your project or saying i would buy that, i just think its cool that there are more pre-fab car-pc options which means more competition which means the prices will go down eventually

 

Oh agreed, we were'nt hatin', just saying that we can do more for less.

 

I wish it would push prices down, but it won't. Reason being that the parts we use to make a CarPC are normal PC parts, nothing special (minus the PSU's and Screens). So, maybe certain parts will go down, but won't affect the cost of some of the most expensive parts.

 

Agreed though, it's nice to have other options, I just like my OEM look

[f1anatic]

No Dave, you know I ain't hatin'. I know you actually liked mine so much more in person than in pix. But the price of the unit you posted is steep. The equivalent unit - purchased all from MP3car.com - (Ampie Case, processor, mo-bo, pwr source, in dash flip out screen etc) will make it close to 1100 - while they sell for something like 1600. With navigation still being optional.

 

Again, I am just complaining that they aren't helping in making this infotainment more affordable. Like everything else...the more manufacturers are there, the lower the prices and the more people have it.

 

Also, if I had to guess, none of their in-dash solutions would fit the Legacy. Those double din units seem bulky - plus you need the space in the back for all those cords and cables. I complained of space with a hacked up panel screen...don't even wanna think of a double din.

[Kelvrick]

Tax season is almost over!!

 

I've been looking at parts and am coming to two conclusions. Its currently between the following two solutions.

 

Albatron KI51PV

AMD Turion 64 MT37 2.0ghz

M2-ATX power supply with VoomPC case

slim Samsung 8xdvd+r dvd writer

80gb 5400rm 2.5" sata hard drive

1gb 184pin pc3200 ddr

 

That would be a pretty small case, pricing out to be about 660.

 

The other option is getting a used laptop with like a 1.6-1.8 pentium m with an ati or nvidia integrated graphics for like 450 and using a carnetix CNX-P1900 to power it. A docking station will also add like 50 bucks to the price.

 

The laptop is about 50 bucks cheaper and has the option of pulling out of the car when needed and will probably consume less power. The advantage of the mini-itx is that it seems to almost fit into the side compartment in the back of the wagon whereas the laptop will probably be mounted underneath the floorboard above the spare tire. Hopefully it still leaves enough room for a full-sized spare.

 

Choices... Choices...

 

This is completely apart from cables, the jazzy aux-in board I already ordered and a xenarc 700tsv.

 

EDIT: Yay! While I was typing this, the audit partner came by and said I can go home now.

[f1anatic]

Kelvrick, some people here swear by the laptop, some don not. The advantage of a laptop over a regular PC is the available battery. You can use it to play a role in your power off scheme. And of course you can take the laptop out and work the bugs out if and when. However if you want absolute "factory" type of work, you've gotta build your own and take advantage of the smartness of a Carnetix power supply... which you may wire in such way that you can totally turn on or off the system from your ignition key. I would say go with the custom parts.

 

And no, there will be no room over the spare tire for a laptop...if you have a full size. I should probably show pix of where and how I mounted mine.