Hey question, what would be the possibility of doing that, but putting a docking station in the car so all you have to do is plug your laptop into the trunk, instead of actually having a dedicated system. could you do it, with the laptop loading the touchscreen software??? Cause that would make way more sense for me, as well, can you set it up so you can still swith between that and the stock navi system?

 

Absolutely. In fact I say this is version 2.0 because my first version was a laptop sitting under the seat. It DID work perfectly however as you can imagine you can get a lot more juice out of a desktop (better sound, video card, etc.) What I did was I had a docking station and wired an external switch that sat in my center console and had the laptop hardwired for its power. My laptop was pretty old too and didnt even have a working screen but it didnt need one since its hooked up to the touchscreen. Just got in the car, pressed the switch on my console and away I went.

I'd check out www.mp3car.com for all that good information. Their forums are great.

 

did you need a special software to make the touch screen compatable? Well I'm buying the toshiba sattelite, top of the line, with all the bells and whistles. So i was thinking of just using that. Deskstops only get slightly better from there. Anyway, if i were to have someone install it all for me, cause i don't feel like doing that stuff myself, any idea what it might cost?

 

Well I cant say how much the install would cost for the touchscreen. It all depends on if you go with DigitalWheelz housing or not. As far as the software, the Xenarc touchsceen comes with USB drivers so thats all you need to turn the monitor into a touchscreen. Just hook up the VGA and USB connections from the monitor and install its software that comes with it. You're good to go.

 

What software are you running on the carputer?

 

Sorry Dreamcar for the delay in answering you. I've been answeirng so many PM's, maybe I can just address all the answers here.

The front-end that I'm using is Frodoplayer (Its free) and I'm using the Dice skin on top of it. That infiniti logo I have is my own custom-made one I quickly made in Photoshop for the overlay screens.

1. I didnt do the entire install by myself however it can be done! I had some help from Chuck (owner of DigitalWheelz). With the instructions, I bet an A/V shop could do it pretty easily. I did build the PC by myself and did run all the wires from the front to the back by myself. All that stuff is relatively easy and will save the A/V shop some on labor time im sure!

2. You can place the PC in the center armrest however it would have to be a pretty small one. I use my center armrest quite a bit and have heard about others having some heat issues there. Plus, I find in the trunk its a lot more cleaner (I can add more USB devices as well which is very nice - keyboard, wifi, gps, etc.)

3. The whole cost setup was probably around $1000-$1200 or so. A lot of the software was free to me (front end, Windows XP Pro). The actual Navi software was around $80 or so. I guess I haven't priced out everything since a lot of it was gotten over time and the box is actually an old computer I had laying around collecting dust.

4. I dont think it will void your warranty unless the dealer can claim whatever problem you had was directly caused by whatever modifications you did.

5. The biggest and best resource I can give you is www.mp3car.com - you'll find a ton of information on the forums there. As far as whats a carputer. Its basically car + computer = carputer. Easy enough.

 

Thanks for all the information. I am doing my research now

 

Man, that is very, very nice. That is the first thing I plan to do when I finally get my G. I had always wanted the stock nav because of the way it popped out, but I realized for much less than that $2000 you can have an awesome carputer with a lot more potential.

Ed

 

Nice setup pratik! I'm digging the touch screen! You're putting $BAD$ ideas into my head....

 

haha ducatiguy. Dont I have to get you back for when you post your car and people start spending more money on mods???

 

awesome work Pratik...wrapping it in carpet might induced heat soak...

 

Thanks Randy. Thats an old case that I just had laying around so since I've added a DC-DC power supply onto it I am not sure if I can get the case to close. Another option would be to build a nice acrylic custom case to fit into the car (sounds great but would be expensive and time) or possibly just get a new case to fit everything into it. Once I have an all in one solution I'll wrap it in carpet so it matches and hopefully the temps will be OK!

 

Impressive.... But have you thought about using those embedded thin clients running VIA 1Ghz or Intel P4 1 Ghz? Those are a size of a book.... but no optical disc drive though =P

 

Not really. I bet my machine is significantly more powerful and I feel like I'm flexible to do a lot of things. If you are worried about losing some of your trunk space, I'd recommend a custom slimline case. Lots of options out there. I really like the fact now I can keep adding new things via usb. You ever seen those coffee hot plates via usb you can get? That may fit very nicely in my cup holder