simply amazing!

now just let us all know when you will pay house visits to install...

 

Thanks again to everyone for the props.

I'm using an M2-ATX DC-DC power supply. There are 7 or 8 modes that it can operate in. I have it set to send a hibernate command to the system 5 seconds after the ignition has been turned off. After 45 seconds, it cuts the power to the pc, regardless of whether it has completed shutting down or not. This is to protect the battery.
Here's a link to the specs: http://www.short-circuit.com/details/dcdc/m2atx.html

I could probably be talked into making house calls. For the right price of course


I'm trying to come up with some ideas, any suggestions?

 

Wow... Amazing.... Very nice! Thanks for sharing this with us.

 

Shoot me a PM
:wink:

 

Here's a suggestion. Take the concept of the back up camera and apply a camera in the front to hook up to your CarPC like the cops do when they turn their lights on and it records the action in front. This would come in handy during road rage incidences where the person claim one thing and you'd have proof otherwise. If that is at all possible, I'd like to incorporate that concept into my build.

 

met152 : WOW. That looks fucking amazing. I am speechless.

 

Haha, actually I thought of something very similar.

Since I have internet available through my phone and GPS, I set up a webserver where the PC is setup to send my gps coordinates and speed at a specified interval (5 secs to 5 mins). This is all logged and then can be displayed on a google map.

I had thought about having a front mounted camera, and take a snapshot at the same interval and have that image uploaded with the coordinates and speed.

Some of this information could probably be used against me though :wink:
But I usually only drive a max of 5 over the speed limit anyway

I'll look into this. Thanks!!

 

I would pay to have this done without question...

 

I love how you have utorrent installed on your carpc. Do much torrent downloading while cruising down the freeway?

 

Crazy idea here, and probably one you're dead-set against: Insalling a Mac Mini in the space. It comes with its own built-in power supply (although I suppose you'd need a converter to go down to 12V...), video card, DVD drive, a good amount of RAM, and plenty cpu horsepower and of GB worth of hard drive for anything that you'd ever need for a car. It also comes with a bluetooth module for wireless keyboard/mouse/phone synching. Plus, the design is pretty minimalist and it looks a lot like what you've put in - only white instead of black. Of course it could be painted, too. The cost would be significantly less than your custom built PC; low end Mac Mini is $599.

It's something I've been considering myself, actually.

 

OK, I'm looking at this and am almost 100% convinced I'll do it. So I was wondering how the DVD drive in your cubby-hole works, and what model it was. Is it a USB drive or something? I'll be replacing a DVD player I have in that cubby hole and the Dom nav unit in the back. Or maybe I'll keep the Dom nav for the backup cam... In any case, your project is so awesome, and I gotta do it. I have a feeling I'll be asking you lotsa questions come springtime.

 

haha.. yeah occasionally. I usually wait for a stoplight to start a new d/l though.

 

Well since I've already spent the money and installed a PC, there's no use installing a mac. I'd probably give it about a 0% chance.

As for the other things, PC motherboards run on 12v, the mac is nothing special in that respect. The car battery is 12v also, but you still need a DC-DC converter to stabilize that voltage. A computer wouldn't like a power supply that fluctuated between about 12v and 14v, not to mention much less than that during cranks.

The M2-ATX is good enough to survive engine cranking.

As for pricing, you'll see that I spent less than $599 on all of the same components plus 2 usb hubs, 4 usb cables (6-10ft long), misc other components.

SO in the end, you'd end up spending more on the mac idea. YOu also have to tak into consideration some sort of video converter, aux audio input, and the components for the touchscreen.

For those of you curious, the video converter is required to downsample the VGA scan rate of 31.5 Khz to the LCD's scan rate of 15.7 Khz. The higher scan rate could damage the stock LCD screen. There are software programs that can be installed to output this lower frequncy if your video card supports it. But, this would only be when windows is running. During the system boot up, you'd still be running at the higher, potentially damaging scan rate.

I also think it'd be tough to fit the mac mini in that space in the front compartment. There isnt' a ton of space, especially if you wanted to keep the stock appearance and the door functionality.

 

I got the dvd drive from newegg.
Pioneer Slim DVD Burner With 5X DVD-RAM Write Black IDE Model DVR-K06 - OEM
Item #: N82E16827129003
Price was $71.99

This is the enclosure it's kept in: SLIM DVD ENCLOSURE. Which need to be trimmed on the sides to fit into the space. It was about an 1/8" too wide. It's a 5v powered enclosure. The 5v is coming from the powered usb hub that I put in under the shifter area. The power for that hub is coming directly from the 5V rail inside the PC in the trunk.

Good luck, feel free to ask questions, I'll help out the best that I can.

 

Truly amazing, I love technology and your ingenuity.

You mention having a powered USB hub under the shifter area... you aren't talking about the one taped to the top of the DVD drive right? You have two USB hubs?

And you've played DVDs from that DVD drive and there's no skipping or anything?

Wanted to add:

The mobo you have has a built-in video card I imagine? What res are you outputting at to work with the stock navi screen?

 

To touch on the first sentence, I was actually referring to "new ideas," not necessarily one that you'd would do to your own car. Obviously you wouldn't want to add another computer when you already have one in there. Sorry if that was unclear.

The whole reason for my idea more than anything else was that it would be a potentially easier install than the one you've done because the computer is already built and is complete, and you won't need too many other accessories or wires or any sort of crap running through the car. That's not to knock your mod or to suggest I could do any better; it's just something I thought of that might be a better alternative for those who want to do it themselves and aren't as electronically inclined as you.

Of course you'll still need some sort of converter for the video (DVI to Acura TL screen... my guess is that there aren't too many of those out there! ), and then we're still dealing with the need for the touch screen interface program. So all in all, the expense may actually be greater with my proposal, but it might also be easier. I guess it depends a lot on one's level of connections to computer gurus.

Then again, if the Mac Mini won't fit into that spot, then my whole concept is completely moot.

 

yes, i have 2 hubs. one on the dvd drive is for temp devices. Ie keyboard, usb flash drive.
I wanted to have one easilly accessible but not have a bunch of things that need to be plugged in all the time. thus the reason for the 2nd one. i have my cell phone calbe always in the one underneath for internet. which btw, sorry for all the typos. in the car on my way home from work currnetly.

yes i've played dvds. no problems w/ skipping. one problem is that sometimes the dvd disappears from 'my computer' after returning from hibernate. i haven't really looked into it, because honesly i don;t use the drive that often and a quick reboot will bring it back.


yes, the mobo has a build in video card. i'm running at 640x480 at 32 bit color. it should accept most resolutions though. although i think the limitation is more in the scan converter. it only outputs certain resolutions.
The mobo i'm using is from www.short-circuit.com
I got the package that includes mobo, PSU and enclosure. It's the Versa C7 1.5ghz. I think it's only like $275 for all 3 things. you'll need ram and a HD separately.

Mike

 

am I the only one who read this thread, and has not stopped thinking about whether or not to go forward with it ?

Met-- any plans to make a few of those custom modules for sale, along with some nice schematics.. & a full install guide ??

again, simply amazing !!

 

on shortcircuit .com, it says the mobo along with the others havea RCA out, so could you not just take the RCAs/S-video cable from the mobo to dom's tvnav to go without damaging the naviscreen due to the hertz?

 

Yes, that is true.. there is a TV out on the video card. However, I'm not sure that you'll be completely happy with the video quality going from vga to RCA. There are some trade-offs to consider.
You won't need the scan converter, but you'll have a lower quality picture on the lcd.
Also, the vga from the PC wasn't completely centered on the navi screen, so it required a program called PowerStrip that allows you to change the vertical and horizontal picture location. I don't know if you'd be able to adjust the picture if going through the Tv out. My initial thoughts would be that it wouldn't work.

Feel free to prove me wrong though, it would actually make me jealous to know that I wasted extra time and money to replace my dom's unit with a scan converter that didn't really produce any better picture quality.

Let me know what you decide. If you decide to go w/ a scan converter, I think there are a few Scan Do units available on ebay right now. You just need one with a VGA in and a RGBs out.

 

also newegg took that drive off. i pulled up a few but they already came with enclousres and were 5.2 inches wide. How did you trim off the extra 1/8 inc hon the drive enclousure and would you reccommend one of the higher mobos on short-cirucit.com for better spped and usablitily or wuld it be a waste of money?

 

Any laptop cd/dvd drive should work. I'm pretty sure they're all a standard size. So it's not necessary to get the exact one I had. Actually, I was looking at the specs on the pioneer one, and it's better than the drive I have in my main home pc. It's a DL burner which I didn't realize.

I trimmed the plastic enclosure that the drive is held it. Basically, I only wanted the enclosure for the power supply and usb interface. I used a utility knife to cut off the sides of the enclosure. I then wrapped some black electrical tape around it since it no longer snapped together.

I am completely happy with the mobo that I bought. The other ones are more expensive because of the VIA name.. The versa is basically the cheap, knock-off version of the VIA. But if you're still not sure, do some research at www.mp3car.com and you'll find a ton of great information about all of the motherboards.

 

does the carputer cost alot?
~Jason

 

you can't be serious??!!
Read the F***in thread! there's no excuse for not reading a 3 page thread.

don't be so lazy.

 

met-

so when are you going to open up shop and start doing this custom install?

 

I guess I'd consider it if there was enough interest. What amount of the install would most people want to be done? Just the touchscreen to usb interface? Touchscreen + video? Everything, including PC setup?

Give me some ideas.

 

met, what would be best if you clould make like a PNP version of the touchscreen interface, that would let the computer part be more creative and custom.

 

Absolutely agree with csmeance

 

Looks really good met152. Big props for getting it to work on the navi screen.

I need to get off my butt and finish mine.

 

Aznpersuasion got



See post #28



Mike (King of Pain), I'm still waiting to see your creation man.

 

KOP,

What kind of carputer are you working on? You integrating with Navi?

 

Man i'd pay good money for somethin like this!!! I can handle the pc stuff myself, but the touchscreen stuff, switch and etc, with custom circuits n' stuff like that... its a bit more than i'd want to do to my car

A kit with all the special wires that could basically have a computer plugged in would rock.

You could prob make good money making some sort of easy way for that! I'd be a gunnea pig for you if are interested!

 

It's a non-navi TL.

More details later.

I don't want to hijack this thread. Met152 did some major work to figure out how get the PC on the OEM navi screen. This will help the navi folks who want to add a carpc to their TLs

Met152 did you ever have a chance to compare the OEM screen quality to the aftermarket screens like the xenarcs or lilliputs?

 

well, since i havea bit of free time, i can try to mod my screen to see if i can do it. If it seems easy for me, i'd gladly help out met152 to market this.

 

i like, may have too research this more

 

WOW i have 2 words FUCKING COOL......whell i defentally want this done in my car but i have a qustion. i have a non navi tl and i am getting the Avic-z1 would this be possable to do with the avic-z1 if not i am going to think about saying fuck the avic and getting a screen installed and doing the carputer? please some one help me out with this one

 

wow.. def. speechless. i love the menu w/the spinning acura emblem. the mp3 player looks amazing also. very good. best mod i have seen yet.

 

WOW! that's amazing

 

I did not get a chance to compare the screen quality. However, I will say that the quality of the picture is excellent. The only thing it's not great for is small text. For example on webpages, or when using windows explorer. There is a little bit of flicker due to the scan converter, but this is really only noticeable when there is a mostly white background. Other than that, it's perfect.
Of course, if you can go VGA to VGA you'll be better off, but I wasn't willing to completely rip out the OEM LCD and try to replace that. I think that would be a major effort that probably wouldn't turn out well.


I would love to have a PNP version of this. I think it'd be difficult to do though. I am taking the signals that were meant for the navi pc board to process. For it to be PNP, it would have to plug in at one of the harnesses. By the time the signal gets there, it's going over the IE-Bus, and you'd need a special IC to decode this signal. Like I mentioned somewhere else in this thread, a member named AngryCamel was working on a module, but has since handed off the project and it doesn't look like it's going anywhere.

csmeance, any luck on this mod? Have you decided to go forward with it?

 

Since seeing your work, I have to admit that I'm a little consumed by it. The key is the touch screen interface. I believe I can duplicate pretty much everything else (thinking of macmini route if I can get the communication from the mac to my Blackberry for wireless access) but hacking the touch screen... I WILL NOT GET PERMISSION FROM THE WIFE TO DO THIS
Maybe if there was a plug n play or even step by step with pre assembled modules (she does go away on business trips now and then )...
Man I wish I didn't see what you did