Here is a project I've been working on for a while.....thought I might give some people an idea for gps and a lot more!! Me and my girl originally bought a fully loaded 5at Coupe minus navi. Guess what we eventually wanted after a few months! Here are the results.
Touchscreen PC with navi, mp3 playback, video playback, internet, live traffic, weather..etc. All for about $1500 in parts.

Some cool things are when you put the key in the ignition into the start or accesory..the computer boots up and goes directly into a touchscreen interface that automaticlly plays my mp3's by default. These mp3's..about 1,000+ are in a random mode and sound quality is awesome. I also have many other functions like gps, videos, live traffic, weather, games...etc. Now when I'm done driving or playing with the carputer...I just pull out the key from the ignition and the computer goes through a soft shutdown...simple.
I will be playing with a lot more functions as time goes on and post my results for anyone thats interested.

Here's most of the parts I used:
Gigital wheelz touchscreen
Home made low power consumption mini pc
(800mhz mini itx,512mb ram, 20g hard drive)
pac aai-nis adapter for direct audio into bose system
swi-x for steering wheel control
usb gps
usb wi-fi adapter
carnetix 1280 power supply/ sequencer
usb hub (2)
and lots of cables, wire connecters, fuses, and padded insulation.



Full size pics at http://www.chupkin.com/album83

 

Looking good! Where did you put the mini-pc? Seems like a lot of people are going with carputers now.

 

After screwing around with putting in the trunk near the bose oem amp ........I realized that there would be too much vibration when I through in some subs.....upper glove box would fit but I was worried about heat buildup. i eventually mounted the pc and power supply under the seat! I played around for a while and eventually got it positioned where it would not be affected by moving the seat and built a metal brace/bracket to keep it in place and make it a nightmare to get it out. You basicly have to unbolt the seat to get it out. Hopefully I won't have to get it out anytime soon.

 

Yeah, you definately wouldn't want it in the back if you plan on installing subs. Good choice as far as mounting though. Did you run the GPS receiver to the dash or is it still under the seat?

Also, you don't have DVD playback do you?

 

thats sweet! I had the same idea about putting the PC under the seat. Under the passenger seat?? Any pics of the instal? That was my first thought when I started thinking carputer! Where did you get your power adapter, how many watts, and how much $? I've heard lots of things about the opus 90w adapter...but not sure if 90w is enough (for athlon 2.4ghz, 512 ram, 32mb video, 80gb, wireless-g, dvd-r) and it's like $160.

 

You'll probably average around 90 watts with that setup, but your sure to have a peak power draw far exceeding that, you'll definitly need an OPUS 150 to power it. I would also recommend going with a mobile athlon rather then a regular one. There much better on the power draw and you don't give up too much performance for them.

 

GPS receiver and wi-fi ran to the back speaker deck. They seem to get the best reception and also not be very noticeable.

As far as under seat mounting it is pretty tight under there. I am using a Casetronic c134 that is 2' high and it has almost no clearance.

 

Does your carputer have a DVD drive to play movies or read the navigation CD?

 

Gizsf,
Might be a dumb question, but since you have kept your stock HU, what was the purpose of 'swi-x for steering wheel control'?? I thought the only time youd lose the steering wheel controls was when you swapped out the stock HU. In case I am wrong, what does that part allow you to do w/ your setup?? In other words, what was the point of obtaining that part as I am assuming your radio still maintains its funcionality w/ steering wheel controls??

Other question is did you perform install yourself and how hard would you rate install??

The more I am seeing this screen the closer I am coming to purchasing it, I know I can handle install mechanically, only thing intimdating me is the wiring portion. I have done amplifier/speaker/Headunits in the past but havent messed around w/ ignition switch etc to get the screen to power up...if thats even necessary??

 

What software are you running on the Computer to provide all that functionality? What OS and all that good stuff..

Regards

 

As far as the swi-x, it is for additional control for the carputer. For example...I play my 1,000+ mp3's through a shuffle mode...when I am not in the mood to hear a certain song (like my girfriends depressing love songs) I can tap the screen "next" button or because of the swi-x..I can tap the steering wheel button "next" and not even have to look at the screen..safer on the road that way.

I did do the install myself and the hardest and most time consuming part of it wasn't the car install....it was reasearching how to make the computer so it would work how I wanted...(optimizeing windows, frontend software, GPS, powering pc via car key, wi-fi, placement, parts, electrical). Most of my actual work was at home with software. As far as the actual in car install....I did the digital wheelz touchscreen with the pac aai-nis + swi-x on one day. Then a few days later I mounted and wired the pc with its toys

The ignition wiring is actually easy once you figure out your sources. I used the armrest ciggarete lighter positive as the ignition wire..it is used just like a remote turn on wire and has minimal draw.

 

I decided not to do the dvd player.....I have tons of preloaded music videos, and I can always wi-fi load more and the GPS is ran directly of the hard drive. To add a dvd player will cost me $40 and 30 minutes of work....I just chose not to get one due to noise on spin-up, slight delay, power consumption and the fact that I would never be able to sit and watch a whole movie in the car any ways. I have Mame32 which is an arcade emulater, keyboard, and wi-fi...theres always something to do!


As far as OS....I'm using XP Pro which I optimized manually. I cut out non essential services and services that slow the pc down(indexing,messenger..etc) For the front end I am using Centrafuse. As far as my opinion the best car front end out there. There will be an update in a few weeks to it and that will allow me to connect my cell into my car pc system properly by just sitting in the car...my cell and pc both have Bluetooth. There will also be a bunch of speed enchancements to the software...can't wait!

 

Yeah, that's what I figured. About the mobile tho, I have a athlon XP 2.4ghz sitting around doing nothing (aka free!). I think I have an old 550 mhz around somewhere....I could probably use that since I'm mostly looking to add mp3's, movies, and maybe some games. It would probably be plenty fast enough (and lower power draw) but I figured if I have faster lying around, why not use it? lol

 

I've been thinking of installing a carputer in my car for some time now. However, I don't have the SAT button on my bose system. Is there a way around it to create an Aux in?

What do you think about installing a mac mini? seems to be an economical system to install. Not to mention artsy fartsy to go with out classy cars.

 

The mac is economical only when comparing it to something with its exact capabilities, i.e. an ITX board with built in 3D card. For $500 you can get yourself a PC system with similar specs or with a similar size, but not yet both.

The MAC mini can make a very nice carputer. The only real reason why I wouldn't recommend one is its lack of support. You will have a much harder time locating both hardware and software that will work on a MAC, certainly nothing you can't work around, but you will be limited in how you can do some things compared to a PC.