Car PC

[salvi]

A guy on the mp3forum did that and I was able to do it as well. Have it just start the logger directly.

 

PM me for details.

[f1anatic]

A guy on the mp3forum did that and I was able to do it as well. Have it just start the logger directly.

 

PM me for details.

 

If you are so overwhelmingly generous...explain it here so everyone can benefit.

[NSFW]

Must rant now.

 

After spending the last few days downloading and checking out various CarPC front ends, I think I'm only going to use my CarPC for navigation and data logging. I had high hopes for putting all of my music onto the CarPC, but I don't think I can stomach the user interface. I just want a music player with UI that is simple and efficient. Does anything like that exist?

 

I never realized how tedious it would be to deal with such a large music collection using a touch-screen UI. Having 6 MP3 CDs (aka "playlists") directly accessible with 6 buttons really makes the factory stereo pretty attractive.

 

RoadRunner has a bug or something, it will show lists of bands and albums (the directories), but it wont show the names of the songs. It all shows up just fine in WinAmp though. Go figure.

 

Done ranting.

[f1anatic]

I am actually happy with Cenrafuse. I never got to create playlists the way it is supposed to work...I just couldn't so I just resolved to reorganize my entries in folders...

 

Thru Centrafuse I get my Navi (IG3), my music, my E-dashboard (Enginuity), weather, web - as a matter of fact these 5 buttons figure on my first screen. Well hold it...web is on the second page since I put Hiberante and Shut down on the first.

 

Overall, I am happy with Centrafuse.

[Guest Gitster]

I needz subscription

[NSFW]

I tried 4-5 different skins and music-browsing was broken in all of them. It can show the names of songs that are in WMA format, but not MP3. Funny thing is I'm in the middle of converting all of my WMAs (all lossless) to MP3s for compactness and (I had hoped) broader compatiblity.

 

I would appreciate a .zip of your RR skin. I haven't given up on this stuff yet. Thanks!

[BlackHole]

I'm pretty sure I'm going carPC, it's just a matter of when.

 

What about disassembling the new Everex Cloudbook for a carPC - $400, 1.2GHz Via processor, 512MB of RAM, a seven-inch screen, a 30GB hard drive, Linux... all you'd need would be a touchscreen (supposedly available only on the developer models).

 

http://arstechnica.com/journals/linux.ars/2007/12/11/linux-based-everex-cloudbook-laptop-revealed

[NSFW]

Yes I do, and Winamp works just fine. I'm going to try a couple of Winamp skins today just out of curiosity.

 

BlackHole: I like the laptop idea, but I took a more conventional route. Refurbished Thinkpad for $550 = 1.7ghz Pentium M, 1gb ram, 80gb disk, bluetooth, wifi, and XP. I really like the idea of being able to take it out of the car and work on it. And half of the power management is built-in already (the rest should be taken care of with a ~$40 turn-on unit for ~$40 that I'll be installing over the next couple days). The only drawback so far is that its VGA output only does 800x600, not 800x480 (even after tinkering with Powerstrip).

[salvi]

Try the Simplistique skin, that is what I use. Your problem might be in the configuration file. Make sure that both .wma and .mp3 are set as supported files.

[NSFW]

It was indeed the 'supported files' thing. I even have an embarassing thread on MP3Car about it now.

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/road-runner/112833-missing-song-names-all-rr-skins.html

 

I'll give Simplistique a try.

[1-3-2-4]

has anyone installed a carpc in a 2nd Gen Legacy?

[salvi]

CarPCs can be installed in any type of vehicle.

[umcp]

Where does everyone have their power wires hiding?

 

I currently have my 8 gauge power wire sitting on the floor next to my trunk/gas levers.

 

Thanks!

[salvi]

Take off the plastic pieces/door seals and route the wires through there. There should be no wires resting on the floor for any reason.

[Kelvrick]

I've been getting tired of the difference between the radio and carputer volume levels. Those of you who use the jazzypc aux input know what I'm talking about.

 

Anyway, I'm going to be using a cmoy type pocket amplifier for headphones and see if it evens things out some more. Info found here:

 

http://tangentsoft.net/audio/cmoy-tutorial/

 

Of course, I'll be wiring it directly into my Opus 150 to do away with battery power.

 

I'll post videos of with and without once its finished. Just thought you guys might be interested.

[Kelvrick]

Yea, I phrased that wrong. No real loss, but my motherboard sound card just has a lower output that won't match the headunit. Some electronics just have low power outputs. Some of my mp3 players sound fine, but say when I plug in my blackberry, then i'll have to turn the volume +15 or so to match what it was from the radio or cd.

 

I'll post this up in the jazzy thread too, since jazzy once posted a nice cheap inline amp from radioshack, but it no longer shows on their webpage.

 

I just posted here since I immediately think of carpc applications.

[dragonman586]

I've been skipping around this thread and reading bits and pieces. But I'm wondering why you folks are using a jazzy input. I figured you could just get like a 3.5mm plug from radio shack solder some cables to it, and send it directly to your amps using like the low power input on the amp. And I've been looking at mp3car.com and some of the motherboards have like 6 channel outputs. Using the method mentioned above it seems possible to have some kind of surround sound in our cars!

[Kelvrick]

I've been skipping around this thread and reading bits and pieces. But I'm wondering why you folks are using a jazzy input. I figured you could just get like a 3.5mm plug from radio shack solder some cables to it, and send it directly to your amps using like the low power input on the amp. And I've been looking at mp3car.com and some of the motherboards have like 6 channel outputs. Using the method mentioned above it seems possible to have some kind of surround sound in our cars!

 

I can't answer for everyone, but I don't have any amps. I have a completely stock system and don't plan on upgrading any time soon, except maybe the oem sub.

[CombatCQB]

Jazzy is the simplest option for stock systems right now. It is completely logical to bypass the stock radio and drive the speakers with a cheap amp directly from the PC. But then the stock system just sits there doing nothing.

 

I would like to integrate the stock radio controls to the PC so that you can still use the interface for something.

[f1anatic]

So what is the story on this IG4 and the plugin ? Working or not ?

I have had the IG3 and the plugin for well almost a year now...and I am afraid to upgrade to IG4 for fear of serious headache afterwards.

 

I have not tried yet. Can IG3 and IG4 co-exist ? When I install IG4 i just want it on one machine...no funny licensing issues afterwards I hope. One machine ID, one license and that is gonna be my car pc. But I need some reassurance the process is smooth. How did you upgrade ?Is it just as simple as installing IG4 and not touching the centrafuse plugin ?

[salvi]

From what I've read, the IG4 doesn't work with Centrafuse plugin. Do you have the issue with the current IG3 plugin that when it loads, IG moves all over the place before embedding? Also, that tool bar will still show unitl you Maximize/Minimize the Centrafuse IG screen?

 

Here's a little pic of a bezel I just finished for a customer

 

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r263/wsiliezar/Allpics.jpg

[f1anatic]

The IG3 plugin works flawlessly for me and I customized it to cover more screen (over the centrafuse music buttons).

 

The toolbar issue i have but I looked past it.

 

I am running the Enginuity ...forgot which version I think the last one that made it on the website 047 ? for which I run the comand line and i have it embedded in Centrafuse. Works fine. Not the smoothest startup but works ok. Load the profile and that is it. I have a touchpad which simplifies mousepoint operations

[Vsick]

Anyone just ditch the clock? I am finally getting around to installing my carpc, just deciding on a few minor things. one is whether or not to just ditch the clock maybe hide it somewhere behind the stock radio? Has anyone done this? Is there room for it?

 

My main reasoning is i like having the cig lighter where it is now.

[CombatCQB]

I can currently capture and decode the data from the clock/trip meter with my laptop. I just don't have a fancy way to integrate it into my UI yet.

[deltabi]

I can currently capture and decode the data from the clock/trip meter with my laptop. I just don't have a fancy way to integrate it into my UI yet.

 

That is great news, CombatCQB!

 

I'd really love to integrate that info in my upcoming CarPC project (BMac1203 are you listening? ). What kind of frontend are you using or intend to integrate the info with ?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Diego.-