2011

wow that laptop will get hot as hell under that seat which in return could cause damage the MB.. i didn't see no type of heat sink or cooling for and device that he had in the car. H must have the AC blowing on the laptop..

you mean the netbook i bought? it barely gets hot at all. 6 months running every day for a couple hours and no issues to speak of. the heat sink and fan is internal to the case, which has side vents. you need to also remember that i don't stress it. the load i put on the CPU is fairly minimal, plus i installed 4gb of ram to alleviate the need for the CPU to ramp up high constantly. also, the fact that i am using an SSD eliminates alot of the heat that would be in there.

i actually opened it up the other day to look inside and there are no signs of overheating. now that being said i would prefer to put it in the trunk or even cut up the glove box but that's a project for another time....

***edit***
i finally re-read this entire thread and i realize you're talking about the other use, my bad....yeah that could get hot under the seat. he'd be better off with a custom trunk mount for it. although to be fair, if its an old laptop and he doesn't care he could just make sure the vents aren't blocked by anything and realistically the cooling might be ok...

hey remmy did you ever get the screen to display properly on your car? Like good clear resolution?

firozu - well yes and no. i ended up not having as much free time as i had hoped in the summer/fall then i had alot of personal stuff going on so i kinda gave up on pursuing that (in reality even if i hadn't given up i wouldn't have had time).

im actually happy with the resolution thats on there now. at first i was striving for something better but for my purposes its honestly not that bad at all. as time goes by (maybe this spring/summer) i may toy with using the direct rgb signal into the stock screen but we shall see.

Hi Remmy,

I've actually added a system similar to yours with a touchscreen overlay and Cetrafuse (pictures will be added later to a new thread).

I have a CarPC mounted in the trunk that goes to a converter box (VGA to composite) and into the AUX video input in the center console. Unfortunately, the picture is not centered on the screen and requires manual adjustment (using the converter box in my trunk) every time I start my car.

I was wondering which VGA-to-Composite Video converters (company and model numbers) you were using - you mention you had a "cheaper" one and a "newer" one. Using either, was the picture on the LCD centered?

I am not using a PAC VCI NIS like you are.

Hey Mike, which touchscreen did you end up using?

I PMed you but i forgot to add a hyperlink in the PM sorry....

as for me i started with a Sewell PC to TV adapter
http://www.amazon.com/Sewell-Convert...5620687&sr=8-1

and then i upgraded to this one:

http://www.aitech.com/products/webcable.htm

but honestly the sewell is cheaper and pretty much just as good. it did retain the memory settings if i recall. the aitech is more expensive but i found a used one on ebay for cheap. both use USB power.

and keep in mind if you're going through the armrest video input you're going to lose some of the image quality anyway so don't get too hung up over buying the best converter you can get.

Bob


________

FYI it was announced today that garmin mobile PC is officially being discontinued. i am going to update my maps and continue to use it but i guess i will have to start searching for a feasible alternative in the future. i really liked garmin's product. oh well.

Oh no! That really sucks considering I only bought the maps a couple of weeks ago... Hopefully the 20x antenna will work with other mapping programs.

Anyway, my CarPC install is complete, and here are the final components I used:

7" Touchscreen Overlay
VGA to Composite/S-Video Converter

For the video converter, it turns out the reason I was losing color and it wasn't centered was because the toggle switches were mislabeled and in PAL mode instead of NTSC mode. It took longer than normal to diagnose because when I connected it to my LED TV in PAL mode, it still processed the signal correctly.

For my final mod, I will be adding a rear-view camera in the stock location (right now, I'm using a BOYO in the license plate area ). Video input will be controlled by a simple DPDT 12v relay which will cost significantly less than buying a PAC adapter.

Pics to come in the near future!

mikaly, you'll still be able to update the maps, they are compatible with all other garmin maps for their standalone units, they just won't be updating the software anymore. i bet some people will start hacking it though since it's one of the favorites out there.

Remmy,

I have been following this post for some time and am interested in putting a carputer in my g35 2007. The warranty is running out on it and I think it's time to start a project like this. I have the maintenance manual, but I need some questions answered on the type of hardware needed. I have an OEM non-touch screen non-navi on my 2007 g35 sedan.

I am guessing I need a OEM touchscreen or an overlay. What do you recommend for that first...

Also, how did you connect the Garmin carputer to your screen? Did you use just a video out converter?

EDIT: I noticed in the posts that the garmin carputer software is discontinued Any other viable options?

I finished doing this recently and can provide an exact list of all the parts I used. I'll make a new thread about this and post a link here this weekend.

That would be much appreciated!

Genkidama -

as for parts, the overlay and video converter that i used is listed on post #69 of this thread so those links should take you right to it. there are others out there obviously but that's what i went with.

as for software personally i would still say buy the garmin mobile, the program is excellent but since there will be no more updates coming there won't be any new features added on, you'll only be able to update the maps. if you're still wary about that i hear navigator and iGuidance are excellent programs. if you're internet connected you may even just want to consider using google maps (im not kidding).

check out the mp3car.com forums if you want to read up on them some more:

http://www.mp3car.com/gps/

as for front ends i'm seriously considering moving to the microsoft origami program but it requires upgrading my PC to windows 7, and i just don't want to spend the money on that yet.

otherwise just go through the pictures ive posted and what mikaly will post. if you have other questions you're always welcome to PM us or post it here.

Cheers!

Bob

Hi ... need help in putting all of these together in my car... can you help?

-AJ