MontrealCL

Been playing around with car computer for about 2 years now...

2 years ago, I showed you guys my Acura MP3 player that I built, which consisted of a 40X4 backlit LCD display, a P166 and a 6 gig HD which would play MP3s and display song information on the small display... Everything was working well during that time, until I got the urge a few months ago to go ahead and build something a bit bigger...

Here it is, it is ALMOST finished, a few things to fix (like the front LCD bezel, I'm not totally satisfied with it).

Here's what it can do:

Plays: MP3s, MPGs, CDs, Video CDs, DVDs

GPS navigation using Microsoft Streets and Trips (stuck with that program because I live in Canada, and it's the only software that has Canadian maps)

MAME: This program allows me to play older ARCADE games in my car. My favorite game is GAUNTLET and I included a screenshot. My girlfriend likes Ms. Pac-Man which in my opinios is really boring.

Future mods:

- I ordered a OBDII connector which will allow me to see vital car information on my LCD screen... should be interesting.

- XM radio

- Reverse camera... Now ACURAs have reverse cameras too.

- Voice control

Oh yeah, I'm not using a HEADUNIT... my computer's sound is connected directly to my AMPs... makes for a cleaner sound. Volume is controlled via my remote control.

Anyways, let me know what you guys think...

Thanks,

MontrealCL

Acura3.0CL

DUDE!!! thats soooooo cool...althugh i really woudnt want to have that huge keyboard hangin around...but still..i like it!!

MontrealCL

Keyboard usually stays in the rear seat. It's a wireless keyboard... it's only used when I need to enter an address while using Street and Trips and my GPS.

cor

tight!

cor

btw, my friend is doing the mp3 thing--he's making his own mp3 player for his car, he is using his iPaq pda to control it

rEmixnZZa

datz crazy foo nice job

ib_jimmy

that's tight as hell!! is this like a computer that's running an OS where you have to run the program and everything like a PC?

1StGenCL

Nice work. I currently have an LCD screen that is too big for the double din opening and i was wondering how you made the trim piece you have? Also you dont have a HU at all anymore? I put mine where the cig lighter and ashtray were if you would like to add it back but im still looking into how to make a trim piece for it

MontrealCL

Nah, no head unit is necessary... I plug my computer's audio directly to the amp. For radio reception, I might end up getting a cheap USB radio card and that should do the trick. The program I'm using (Media Engine) allows me to control a USB radio.

As for the trim piece. Believe it or not, but it was the most aggravating thing to do... What I did at first is take out the black plastic that covers the headunit and that little storage compartment.

I then traced the dimensions of that black piece onto a piece of wood, and cut it (very roughly) out. I then used a sanding block to sand it to size... After that I used some material I got from a hardware store to cover shelves and covered the piece of wood and used an x-acto knife to trim the piece to match the woods dimension. I might redo the last step. I'll be experimenting with different types of materials to choose which one looks best.

And that's how I did it, if you have any more questions, don't hesitate.

joeshmoe

That's what I call a custom stereo!!!!

Nice Job!

65 Fury Convert

Except for your choice of music :P that is some excellent work you did there!!! Nice job!!!

ding069

Looks kinda hack, but very fuctional. I wouldn't do it to my car, but i like all the features that you integrated into that system. I have never seen anything like that in a car, good thinking

green972.2

UR a GOD!!
u shud consider making a buisiness out of this. I'm sure a lot og people would like this in their cars.

shawhite_RENAMED

just a little suggestion on the monitor trim ring check out www.selectproducts.com and they should have the wood grain that will match your stock wood grain... also another question... your navigation you said it was gps... if you are using microsofts streets and trips then it cant be gps... gps has an antenna that it uses to trianglate your postion for directions.... but other than that your shit is pretty hot you had alot of good ideas when you came up with this....

ricardo

reminds me of fuckin kit from nightrider. You're a genius, dude. I agree, it doesnt look all that clean... but damn, good work. I think you'll get a lot of improvement if you play around with the trim piece finish a little more.

MontrealCL

Shawhite:

Yes, agreed, the trim piece is UGLY! It was my first attempt... I will definately whip out something that looks much better. Thanks for the link BTW.

As for the GPS system:

Microsoft Streets and Trips has a GPS add-on feature on the CD. You connect a serial NMEA 2.0 (or above) GPS to your computer and you have an exact location of where you are in North America.

You can also get driving directions to wherever you want to go... I'm currently working on an interface to make it look cleaner and more integrated with the car.

Thanks for all the comments, much appreciated. I will post pics of the new trim piece of the LCD when I get to doing it.

1StGenCL

Thanks MontrealCL, the more i look at that the more i like it (well as soon as you get something else to cover it like selectproducts wood or carbon fiber). It is an amazing job and i like the radio idea but i have one more question, how did you mount the LCD and what did you mount the trim piece with? Also, have you looked into a xenarc touch screen, that would be pimp

98CL2point3

all i can say is....WOW. you are a genius, sir.

MaCe

yea im gunna have to agree those little red X's look hot ... nice job

MontrealCL

Yes, looked into the XENARC touch screen... but it's about $600, way more than I wanted to spend for my screen. I paid something like $180 for mine, and it's quite decent... although it's nearly impossible to read text in Windows at 800x600. Most of my programs are menu driven anyways and require little interaction from the user. The GPS software allows me to have bigger fonts, so it looks really nice.

Again, guys, thanks for the input, it's much appreciated... My project is in no way finished, I have a few cool ideas for the upcoming months, like:

- A reverse camera system
- OBDII connection, will allow me to find out all the interesting details about my car in real-time
- XM radio

- Possibly a front and rear video recording system... Over the past few years there were several times where I wish I had a camcorder pointing in front of me to record what was happening, like that time where I saw a hit and run unfold in front of me... A truck hit a poor woman in a Honda Accord... the truck totalled the car, stopped for 2 seconds, went in reverse and took off. A recording system would have been great to get his license plate number...

nandowong

are you like an electrical engineer or somethin? because that amazing work keep up the good work

MontrealCL

OK, how's this then?

I went out to HOME DEPOT today and looked around at the tiles section and found a CHEAP flexible tile for 50 cents... Bought a few of them and proceeded to cutting it up to fit my dash. I then painted it using a new plastic paint that KRYLON came out with that fuses itself with plastic. I'm impressed with the result, hopefully it'll stay that way for a while.

Anyways, IMHO it's much better than the previous dash, there's still a bit of room for improvement, but I think I'll leave it like that, it looks pretty good. (much better than in the pictures)

Thanks to everyone who commented on my little project, it was really appreciated and helped out A LOT!


Picture of the LCD running the GPS NAVIGATION software


Picture of the LCD running Media Engine


Picture of the LCD running Media Engine


Picture of the dash trim

Loseit

iTrader: (1)

how do change music selections?

You have to use the keyboard for that...correct? If you did that toch screen thing...would that eliminate the need for you keyboard?

BTW, it looks good....the trim piece no 2 looks WAY better than no.1 Very innovative...you have me thinking now...heheh. good job.

MontrealCL

LOSEIT: I have a small RF remote control (doesn't need to be pointing at anything and can be used from anywhere in the car or around the exterior of the car. The keyboard is used only when I need to perform certain unconventional tasks on the computer or when entering a street to find in my GPS program.

Yes, a touch screen can be used, and you would not need to have a remote control or keyboard... You can control every feature with the software's touch screen menu.

It's really great to have over 10,000 songs at your finger tips and being able to watch music videos instead of just listening to the songs. (of course I don't watch 'em, it's for the passengers)

And the GPS feature really helps, although I don't use it that much, but it sure helps when I'm in an unknown part of town looking for an address.

I'm sure that in 5-10 years having a full working computer in your car will be the norm... Just wanted to get there a bit earlier!

klepto

Damn that looks uber although theres not much trunk space left...

imgoof02

Ive been wanting to do this for a long time in my car.. i just didnt like the fact that i would have to do some sort of custom vibration-less mounting for the hard drives, or buy laptop hard drives (can withstand greater shocks). I dont feel like putting a 200GB drive in there just to have it crash later on. (been there... done that)

I wish I had the money to be able to do something like this... I almost did a while back, and I started writing a custom GUI for it.

What did you use to bolt on the MB, power supply, etc? did you disassemble a pc case and use the parts for it?

hmmm.... talking bout all this makes me wanna build one

MontrealCL

You don't really have to do anything to your hard drives, except ensure that they are in a vertically mounted position. I used a 2.5" LAPTOP hard drive, and it crashed on me 1 day later... I reverted to an extra regular size IDE drive that I have, and it's been working flawlessly since... As for the case, I made it out of MDF wood, and simply took apart a case and used the hardware that was inside to secure everything --- makes for a much better and cleaner JOB. I tried making my own PCI card rack a while back and it was a disaster. No need to re-invent the wheel.

In what language did you write your custom GUI? I'm thinking of doing a custom GUI for the GPS program that I'm using...

As for money, it's not THAT expensive. The only expensive parts were the screen and GPS... You can build the foundation and then when cash comes rolling in, you get the rest. I used a spare computer that I wasn't using. Too slow in a home environment, perfect for in-car applications!

Dooney

dajuice27

Me and the fellow engineers here at FOX News in DC bow down to you. That is a nice idea and piece of work. If you could:

1 - Clean it up a bit
2 - Combine your box into one unit in your trunk
3 - Match or better prepare your dash display for a cleaner look
4 - Document your designs

You could sell your idea to a major manufacturer and make some serious cash, especially since you have a working prototype in your vehicle now. People would buy it.

Very original, very thoughtful - way to go man!

Loseit

iTrader: (1)

I love it! It is a great idea. I am trying to think of a way to make everything smaller. You have done a great job. Finishing touches are always pending.

imgoof02

oh... that reminds me, i have an old 5 1/4 HDD i havnt used in ages. is that what u are using? damn... forgot all about that thing. its only 8GB, so i really dont care if it gets messed up if that lasts a while w/o messing up, il put some of my other old 20GB ones in there.

Quote:

In what language did you write your custom GUI? I'm thinking of doing a custom GUI for the GPS program that I'm using...

Mine is in VB. I wrote this a WHILE back... now they have many other GUIs available to use... im just gonna use one of those. wow, i didnt think the trend would catch on.

Quote:

As for money, it's not THAT expensive. The only expensive parts were the screen and GPS... You can build the foundation and then when cash comes rolling in, you get the rest. I used a spare computer that I wasn't using. Too slow in a home environment, perfect for in-car applications!

well, the reason that im low on money is cus im building a TiVo-like PVR for my TV... running either Linux Mandrake or XP, not sure yet. Heh. Im having it networked to my pc with all the damn storage i have.

oh, and if you want a new idea (i see you have an external HD in the case) ...im gonna put a WiFi card in mine, and set it to sync all my mew music/movies when i pull up at my garage easier that removable media! (well.. i think im also gonna take my external firewire case, and run a CD/RW/DVD drive to my center storage... if i ever feel like popping in a new dvd or whatever while on the road)

hmmmm... something else i just remembered. I have SprintPCS w/ Vision and a USB cable (letting u have wireless internet) ... im gonna run a USB hub up front, so i can plug my phone in and have wireless internet while driving! hahah im soooo gonna get pulled over. Not to mention playing games on console/arcade emulators.

do u think i would get good reception if u had a TV tuner card, and ran a small, descreet antenna in my trunk? hmmm... i need to look into that.

ahh... im so tempted to do this, i think i really might. hell, i already started researching where im gonna buy my lcd screen. heh. damn, i spend too much money on useless stuff... its cutting away from my alcohol funds lol

Cconnj

I am also in the process of building one. Mine However is going to be small enough to fit in my dash and include fuel management control, electronic adjustment of the Vtech, ODB2 controller, Gps, and whatever else I can think of. So far $400 in and about another 300 to go. Also I am not using an Inverter the entire Pc is DC powered. Motherboard is done. MontrealCL you can get an IRMAN for like $35 and program it to work with any remote to do whatever you want!! Just a little something I found. Have anymore questions I'll be happy to answer been working on the development for 8 months now.

MontrealCL

Cconjj:

Good stuff! Glad to see someone else building a computer for their CLs. I could have went the small way also, but it would end up too costly. I opted for the easy way which allows me to use off the shelf components which are usually much cheaper. What I like about having a bigger box as well is that there is lots of room left for whatever it is that I might be wanting to add, and heat issues are not as big a problem.

But if money wasn't an object, I would definately go for the smallest possible components. Just make sure that your audio is good enough with whatever motherboard you're using, because I heard that in most cases, integrated audio is not the best.

As for building a DC-DC power supply, it's in the works, just have to get some time to get around to doing that. I don't quite like the power inverter either, but it's a fast and easy solution, and I had it lying around.

What kind of screen are you planning on using? A XENARC? As for the IRman I'm still debating if I should use it or not. I like the idea of using RF. (less wires)

imgoof02:

Yes, using a 5 1/4 HD, so far it's been working flawlessly. I might end up just getting a very large hard drive with a 3 year warranty, that way I'll be covered for 3 years.

I have a CISCO wireless card and was thinking of integrating it as well. But then I realized a few things:

1) It's a car computer, not a home computer, therefore different needs. And the more components you add the equation, the more things that can go wrong. My design philosphy is to keep it as simple as possible.

2) If I need to add anything, I just burn a CD and slap it in, doesn't take too long. Or even better, I can get one of these portable 128MB USB memory stick in order to transfer my info.

But it would be sweet, to simply drive up next to my house and have the computer get updated automatically! For the times that I will be using that feature though, I don't know if it's worth it.

As for software, yes, there's lots of great software. Media Engine is in my opinion the best, and is still under development, so more goodies will be available in the future...

Bitchin' CL

hey, i know this is kinda late on the bandwagon, but could you explain how you hooked it all up to your speakers? I have the bose system in my car, and you talked about hooking it up to your amp; is there a direct connection to the BOSE amp, or do you have to do the hardwiring yourself?

I'm asking this becazuse i want to hook up my ipod to play in my car, and the sound quality is shit on those tape adapters.

MontrealCL

At first I used an FM modulator... and was pretty impressed with the quality, but there was a slight hiss when no sound was playing and it was driving me crazy. So I decided to hook up the sound directly to my amp. At first I tried with the regular BOSE amp to tap into the input wires, but it didn't work, so I ended up buying a new 4CH amp, a SONY XPLOD 444 (about 110W per channel, which is pretty good for me). I then simply connected the output of my sound card to the AMP, and voila, crystal clear sound!

Bitchin' CL

man, you must have put a lot of extra research into this project. Props. Well, just a quick question. Did you have to lose your two front tweeters, or did you just connect 'em to the extra outlets on your subwoofer's AMP? (can you even do that?)

97Acura3.0CL

Nice work man. this is a porject i have been working on for a while, i have stopped my process of doing mine, i did exactly what you did with using an old computer. i have a 10 aqnd a 8 gb hd to use so..........

but anyways i would like details on what stuff you used, like the screen, how you hooked up the sound to the computer, i would like to keep my stock head unit for the radio but i was wondering how you hooked it up the the amp for sound? also i would like to know how big of a screen did you use and how did you get the computer to hook up to the screen? is there any specific screen you need to use, cause i dont know which one to buy or get in order for the setup to work properly.

if you can post all the stuff you bought to build this project for us to see what we need to do something like this. i would like to compare notes with you sometime online if you are free. hit me up on aol im, my name is jgiguere17, im on 24/7 cause the computer never goes off but leave me a msg and i will get back to you. we should get together and exchange ideas and thoughts on how to better finely tune this project and get a final picture of what you need to get it done right.

ps is that a 5" screen? what type of screen do you need? does it need to be special screen or can it be any screen? let me know

thanks