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f1anatic

Car PC Survey  

258 members have voted

  1. 1. Car PC Survey

    • I have a Car PC and I love it
    • I want a Car PC but I lack the know-how or the money for it
    • I gave up on Car PC: too much time/money/effort
    • Interesting concept but I chose a brand name aftermarket infotainment unit
    • A windshield mount GPS navi and an I-POd will serve me just as fine
    • FTMW: This thread delivers !


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EEEPC with solid state 8 Gb memory - 350 dollars. CANNOT go wrong and it is almost the size of a DVD case from blockbuster. That is what i would buy. You can have the music on a USB drive of many Gb but the solid drive will make boot times a breeze and 8 Gb is more than enough for the Windows; front end and Navi software.

 

+1 you know you can get usb memory keys in the 8GB now for around $50 so thats no big deal either.

 

Or if you already have an ipod you CAN use it as music storage but it puts a bunch of F01 F02 folders in that can be hard to make playlists with via winamp. usb is easier but I take the addage that existing equipment saves money. :p

"The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." - Plato
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Using a laptop is cheaper. Way cheaper. Even if you have to buy a used laptop or one of these EEEPCs - it still offsets you 400 bucks or so...OR LESS. If you have an old laptop (or like I had - one with a bad screen but good internals); the project is already off to a good start.

 

By far, if I am to tell you which 2 operations will be the hardest: wiring up a power button (which involves fine soldering and some ingenious re-routing of wires) - LOOK UP MY INSTALL FOR DETAILS - and the fitting of the screen.

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hey before you buy anything, list your setup here...we can look into it ourselves and tell you what or if you are overpaying.

 

Yeah Centrafuse is downloadable upon paying (actually you donwload the version that works 30 days and then input the licence. Road Runner is freeware. I advise you to get all your stuff running on the PC outside of the car then put everything in.

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hey before you buy anything, list your setup here...we can look into it ourselves and tell you what or if you are overpaying.

 

Yeah Centrafuse is downloadable upon paying (actually you donwload the version that works 30 days and then input the licence. Road Runner is freeware. I advise you to get all your stuff running on the PC outside of the car then put everything in.

 

Thanks man.

It's really overwhelming for me to see everything required of these set-ups. I want to undertake this project myself but I have a terrible feeling I will be smashing it with a hammer after weeks of not being able to figure certain things out...

 

I need a car before I do anything I guess.

 

Thanks for helping a clueless brotha out.

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hey before you buy anything, list your setup here...we can look into it ourselves and tell you what or if you are overpaying.

 

Yeah Centrafuse is downloadable upon paying (actually you donwload the version that works 30 days and then input the licence. Road Runner is freeware. I advise you to get all your stuff running on the PC outside of the car then put everything in.

 

One of the nice things about laptops is you can do almost all of the setup from the comfort of your couch. :)

 

My cost breakdown, to the best of my recollection:

 

$500 laptop

$400 screen

$250 bezel fabrication

$40 120v inverter (will toss this and use a 12v power supply some day)

$35 auto-on module

$50 (?) for a very long VGA cable (10ft or 12ft I forgot)

$130 for iGuidance software w/ USB GPS

$80 Tactrix OpenPort 1.3 OBD2 cable (no longer available, the 2.0 cable is $130ish)

Plus a couple of USB hubs ($15ish each) and a couple USB extension cables

 

I am not using the CarPC for music yet, only for GPS and engine monitoring.

Edited by NSFW
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NSFW you are wasting your CarPC then.

 

My cost breakdown:

 

Xenarc 700 TSV touchscreen monitor $400

Toshiba Staellite 3005 (with bad monitor) 1 GHz, 512 Mb RAM; 60 Gb hard drive $0

BU-353 GPS receiver $80

Front end Software: Centrafuse build 4.5 © 2006 $120

Navigation: iGuidance v.3 North America © 2006 $0

plenty of USB cables; one long VGA cable $50

Serial to USB adapter (for OBD-2)

Hauppauge USB TV tuner $0

Carnetix smart startup-shutdown controller $100

Tactrix Open Port for engine monitoring $120

Jazzy MT aux input to the OEM headunit $80

Adesso USB touchpad with programmable buttons $50

 

If the cost is $0 it means I already had the unit or the software purchased prior to starting the CarPC project.

 

At a minimum, you need to budget about 1300 dollars.

- Screen $400

- Computer $500

- Power Inverter $100

- GPS $100

- Software (front end & navigation - together or separately) $200

 

The prices are just to form an idea. At the time of print (29 December 2008) you can buy a BU-353 GPS from MP3CAR.com for $55

dollars. The screen that most of us have: Xenarc 700TSV is nowadays $365 and the Carnetix Power Inverter precisely $100. Most of us have an older laptop somewhere around or can get either a new one like this EEEPC can be had for as little as 220 dollars on Newegg but you surely can go overboard and spend a lot more. Navigation and front end software is another choice: there is the free Road Runner or the elegant, OEM-like Centrafuse which can be had from 125-250 dollars.

 

As you can see there is a lot of room for savings or spending when building a CarPC. You can easily overspend but you can certainly do it for 600 dollars. Listed above is just the price of the parts - tools and or custom labor performed by others is a different matter.

I wish you Great Success !

 

Edited by f1anatic
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if I do one again its going to be VERY expensive.. $900 or so for the factory screen and button assembly, then god knows how much to take it apart and scrap the internals to use my own screen, fabircate a serial adapter and software to use the factory buttons for the navi system.. I'd have over $1400 in just the screen assembly.

 

 

:(

"The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." - Plato
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NSFW you are wasting your CarPC then.

 

I wouldn't go that far. :) I put in an MP3 head unit, and 6 discs of MP3s (or 5 + whatever regular CD I last bought) makes me pretty happy.

 

GPS alone made the whole thing worthwhile. I am probably going to use the CarPC for music, but it's pretty far down on my list of priorities.

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I would really not use a laptop unless you are planning on installing/removing it constantly. It's much easier and faster to just install a CarPC case that has all the wiring and everything setup to install the system.

 

The major parts that hit the budget on a CarPC is the screen, but it's the most important piece of the unit. A screen that you cannot see or use during the day is useless. I would never get rid of my Transflective screen.

 

Alot of the money for the CarPC also goes for paying for the software licenses. Licence for XP, licence for iGuidance, license for Centrafuse...

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I would really not use a laptop unless you are planning on installing/removing it constantly. It's much easier and faster to just install a CarPC case that has all the wiring and everything setup to install the system.

 

I gotta disagree with this one. There is not a single CarPC case that fits under the seats - unless you go with the tiniest of micro-ATX boards. all the manistream cases like VOOM do not fit under the seat hence it means trunk installation - hence routing a lot of wires.

 

In my opinion, it is far easier and cheaper to go with EEEPC route and mount that under a seat, having less wires to route and taking advantage of the proximity of the center console and of the seat.

 

We both speak from experience. Having a laptop - a package already assembled, tested and tried is invaluable. First off - it if it malfunctions - you have the warranty - assuming you do not maim the laptop in the process. Second, it also makes financial sense: an EEEPC comes already with a windows license. You are just not able to put together a CarPC with an XP license for the price of an EEEPC. And it will work just as well - with one consideration: the ON/OFF button.

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I gotta disagree with this one. There is not a single CarPC case that fits under the seats - unless you go with the tiniest of micro-ATX boards. all the manistream cases like VOOM do not fit under the seat hence it means trunk installation - hence routing a lot of wires.

 

In my opinion, it is far easier and cheaper to go with EEEPC route and mount that under a seat, having less wires to route and taking advantage of the proximity of the center console and of the seat.

 

We both speak from experience. Having a laptop - a package already assembled, tested and tried is invaluable. First off - it if it malfunctions - you have the warranty - assuming you do not maim the laptop in the process. Second, it also makes financial sense: an EEEPC comes already with a windows license. You are just not able to put together a CarPC with an XP license for the price of an EEEPC. And it will work just as well - with one consideration: the ON/OFF button.

 

 

Mine fit under the seat just fine in my WRX... It would fit perfect under the drivers seat in my LGT.. Passenger seat is another story

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Warlordzpb/05%20Rex/Resize0580.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Warlordzpb/05%20Rex/Resize0575.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Warlordzpb/05%20Rex/Resize0574.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Warlordzpb/05%20Rex/Resize0571.jpg

http://www.tunernetwork.com/forum/gallery/data/563/IMGP1092.JPG

Edited by TNPaparazzi
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It would fit under the driver's seat because that one can be adjusted height wise. But you see, you never know when you valet your car or you take it back to service it...or you let your friend drive it...and he needs to readjust the seat by pushing it lower to the floor. For instance I find the most comfortable position with it lowered all the way and I tell you that the clearance is at most 2 inches. You also need ventilation and air flow - espec when you think that the HVAC vents are there as well. Not to mention that the rear passengers would be hitting it all the time with their feet.

 

To me, mounting under the seat is not an option with the typical cases that you can buy at MP3CAR.com. An EEEPC that I can mount in a hacked...radar detector box (you should see the jewelry case that my STI driver RD came in) - and mounted close to the front end of the passenger seat is the only way to go. But what do I know...

 

This CarPC business is just as much about cutting edge technology (we were years ahead of OEM who just now start putting hardrive based Navi systems) as is about creativity and personal choices that fit your own application at that particular time.

 

I would like to know how you mounted it under the seat though.

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Personally I would go for a laptop just because I have so many older ones that its just easier. Plus one of them uses a docking station so I could even use that and have everything permanently in the car minus the actual laptop if I needed to bring it inside to do some work on it.
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Personally I would go for a laptop just because I have so many older ones that its just easier. Plus one of them uses a docking station so I could even use that and have everything permanently in the car minus the actual laptop if I needed to bring it inside to do some work on it.

 

Then, like me, you are set. Now just get fancy with the trunk mount and share. Take pictures; create the story and I will add your install on the front page.

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Then, like me, you are set. Now just get fancy with the trunk mount and share. Take pictures; create the story and I will add your install on the front page.

 

 

lol I will once my warranty runs out in about a year. I've slowly started collecting the pieces I need though.

 

Laptop and docking station

keyboard/mouse combo

gps receiver

XP Professional license

 

Now I need the screen, bezel, and power converter.

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F1: I was at bestbuy today looking at some of the mini laptops they have out there. They are a bit more pricey than an e-box but they seem more practical when you think about having to make adjustments to the system with ease.

 

What do you think about these compared to the eeebox?

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The trickiest thing about laptops, like F1 said, is the power button.

My HP 530 was a piece of cake, my IBM T41 was a no-go.

 

Unfortunately it's impossible to tell without opening the laptop, unless you can find someone who has already tried it with whatever laptop you're interested in (that's what steered me to the HP 530). It's worth asking on mp3car.com in the laptop subforum before you buy one.

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