My CarPC Thread..

*** Edit 11/29/09 ***

Uploaded a quick video on page 7

*** Original Post ***

So I figured I would start my thread.. i'll be updating it when I get more things done and more info, i'll try to post some pics of my materials/parts tonight. Apparently I like to write lengthy threads so here it goes.. be prepared!

Objective: To implement a fully featured entertainment/information system into the car while maintaining a completely factory look [if at all possible]. I want AM/FM/CD/iPod/XM/Nav/Bluetooth/Backup Cam, but I don't want it to look like I added any of it.

The problem: Everything I just said above is the frickin' problem.

Solution: CarPC! I know there are double din radio systems out there, but I wanted to maintain the factory look, not draw attention to the car, and i'm not sure how happy I would be being "stuck" in a double din unit.. With a CarPC I can change software and upgrade things as needed, seems like a better platform to build off of.

Purchased Hardware List:

Voom2PC Case

Zotac nVIDIA ION Motherboard (Dual Core Atom, 9400M Gfx, WiFi.n)

2GB DDR2 Kingston Memory (Might bump to 4GB not sure)

M3-ATX Powersupply (Or is it M2? Don't remember.. they are similar)

320GB Seagate Notebook HDD

Slim line notebook DVD+/-R/RW

Lilliput EBY701 Touchscreen w/ autoswitch for backup cam

SiRF III USB GPS Receiver

Bluetooth 2.0 USB Receiver

Leptronix Aux-In

XM to USB

Backup Cam

Hardware Items Still Needed/wanted:

Microphone of some sort.. (Andrea Superbeam maybe? I Dunno.. it's big and cost like $300.. maybe not. Radioshack $2 mic? Maybe!)

OBDII Reader

Software Items:

Windows 7 Home Premium

Centrafuse CarPC Software

Garmin Mobile PC

Screen Mounting Items:

MO-CO-SO EBY-701 Black frame

Subaru Factory Nav Bezel

Misc Stuff:

Aftermarket remote start car alarm that has the ability to smack people in the face

Like I said above I will post pics of what I have so far, still working on the screen fitment but so far i'm thrilled with it!

11/5/2009 Edit:

Thought I would mention that I considered the AVO Double din route, and even the RHD Double Din Cubby and Info relocate kit, but they're not really thrilling me. The biggest issue on those is they are friggin expensive, and if it doesn't work out, or i'm not happy with the fitment, what are my options?

I'll post my screen pics later, but honestly this seems like a great fit and looks [to me] completely factory. I have an idea in mind for my info panel that i'll share with you all if it turns out, the subaru factory nav bezel is a tiny bit smaller than my screen, but I think I can shrink the screen size to fit [couple of MM on the top/bottom], width seems to be dead on but I haven't fired it up behind the bezel yet so I'm not really sure how much screen real estate i'm missing.

Nice. Keep us updated.

FWIW, Centrafuse 3 is supposed to be released relatively soon. If you bought CF2 recently you get a free upgrade. But it also requires a complete wipe of CF, so you might want to wait before completely configuring everything.... assuming you're gonna go to CF3. Oh, I would check out their forums too, I'm not sure about the compatibility between Win7 and CF2 (I think CF3 should be ok!)

I've been searching for a microphone as well (well, not really I'm pretty lazy), but haven't really heard of good solutions. The Andrea is supposed to be one of the best, but it's so big and bulky and I want it to be as near invisible as possible.

Also, I would get a tactrix cable instead of a generic ODB. I run SSMSuite and it's amazing for our cars (http://www.codeplex.com/ssm) and ideal for CarPC situations.

Nice. Keep us updated.

 

FWIW, Centrafuse 3 is supposed to be released relatively soon. If you bought CF2 recently you get a free upgrade. But it also requires a complete wipe of CF, so you might want to wait before completely configuring everything.... assuming you're gonna go to CF3. Oh, I would check out their forums too, I'm not sure about the compatibility between Win7 and CF2 (I think CF3 should be ok!)

 

I've been searching for a microphone as well (well, not really I'm pretty lazy), but haven't really heard of good solutions. The Andrea is supposed to be one of the best, but it's so big and bulky and I want it to be as near invisible as possible.

 

Also, I would get a tactrix cable instead of a generic ODB. I run SSMSuite and it's amazing for our cars (http://www.codeplex.com/ssm) and ideal for CarPC situations.

When CF3 comes out i'll get the upgrade, I actually have to do a full system wipe already because i'm running the 7 Ultimate RC, and while there is a way to go from Ultimate RC to Ultimate Retail, you cannot go from Ultimate to Home Premium Retail.. teh format sux!

CF2 is running fine on Win7, but you'll want to disable Aero for speed.. otherwise when you open CF it changes to Windows Basic; it adds a delay so I just changed it to the classic / gray look to avoid the issue.

Centrafuse has an OBDII section so that's why I was going to go the generic route, does SSM tie into centrafuse at all?

Ahh okay. Just warning you cause I wouldn't want you completely set up your system and then have to redo it all over again with CF3.

Yeah, the OBDII in CF is there, but it kinda sucks. Really sucks compared to SSMSuite. I have SSM set up as an external application and it acts just like any other plugin. Looks like this:

http://forums.fluxmedia.net/attachments/obd-ii-auto-diagnostics/1319d1218106784-ssm-support-temp-solution-1.jpg

That's an older version... the new one looks like this:

http://i3.codeplex.com/Project/Download/FileDownload.aspx?ProjectName=ssm&DownloadId=42822

I leave it full screen so it's got a lot of real estate to work with... and then I still have the bottom control bar there.

Obviously all the parameters are configurable. Colors are customizable, and it's free

If you find a 12v 7-port hub, I want to know about it. I'm using a couple of passive 4-port hubs right now but it's kind of limiting. I'm afraid to hook up my WIFI adaptor and my bluetooth adaptor without an active hub to power them. And I want more ports up front because I'm using all of them now.

Front hub: screen, Tactrix cable, WB02 serial adaptor, and an extension cable that I use for a USB drive to move files on and off the computer.

Rear hub: GPS antenna, and an "I'm already on" signal for the auto-to-turn unit, so it doesn't turn off the laptop when 12v power is interrupted (like when starting the car).

This says 12v.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2917705&SRCCODE=GOOGLEBASE&cm_mmc_o=VRqCjC7BBTkwCjCECjCE

nice.

for updates.

I thought about doing one again but.. no.

ya know I was thinking, looks like you'er using smallish components but not exactly tiny.

what do you think of buying like a $300 netbook or something and using it? SSD, tiny, power efficient, built in wireless broadband, xp home.. seems like a good idea to me.

ya know I was thinking, looks like you'er using smallish components but not exactly tiny.

 

what do you think of buying like a $300 netbook or something and using it? SSD, tiny, power efficient, built in wireless broadband, xp home.. seems like a good idea to me.

That could work but what about getting it to turn on / off with the car?

The Mx-ATX powersupply I have has a ignition wire, when it gets +12v for 5 seconds it fires up, then remains on for 60 seconds incase you turn the car back off right away [allowing the system to completely boot then shut down]. If the ignition is off for more than 5 seconds it sends a shutdown [hibernate] command, and after 60 seconds it kills the +5v USB rail so the system does not eat power and kill the battery while the car is off.

I didn't think I needed a high cosumption Core2Duo or anything; the dual core atom I think will be fine.. so far so good anyways - and minium wattage/heat!

well, when you cut power to a laptop, you can configure onboard power settings to switch to battery, then go to hibernate.

you could cut the case up and wire a remote switch also in the dash/screen bezel to power on/off.

well, when you cut power to a laptop, you can configure onboard power settings to switch to battery, then go to hibernate.

 

you could cut the case up and wire a remote switch also in the dash/screen bezel to power on/off.

Ahh good point.. cut power, goto hibernate!

I mean for anything bigger or more expensive it wouldn't be a good idea, but I mean these netbooks are about as small and as power efficient as you can get.

hell, you may even be able to rig it so that it fits in your glovebox cubby.

So I figured I would start my thread.. i'll be updating it when I get more things done and more info, i'll try to post some pics of my materials/parts tonight. Apparently I like to write lengthy threads so here it goes.. be prepared!

Very nice. Keep us updated.

Did you see the MAIN thread though ?

Keeping things centralized helps people when they search out a solution - it's preferred to search one long thread versus 20 smaller ones (of just 10s of pages) because you may miss it when you do a specific search for some item or some unique solution.

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52252&page=88

Ahh okay. Just warning you cause I wouldn't want you completely set up your system and then have to redo it all over again with CF3.

 

Yeah, the OBDII in CF is there, but it kinda sucks. Really sucks compared to SSMSuite. I have SSM set up as an external application and it acts just like any other plugin. Looks like this:

 

http://forums.fluxmedia.net/attachments/obd-ii-auto-diagnostics/1319d1218106784-ssm-support-temp-solution-1.jpg

 

 

 

Obviously all the parameters are configurable. Colors are customizable, and it's free

Is that what you have displayed ?

I have coolant temp; boost; AFR; engine load; throttle angle and knock

Very nice. Keep us updated.

Did you see the MAIN thread though ?

Keeping things centralized helps people when they search out a solution - it's preferred to search one long thread versus 20 smaller ones (of just 10s of pages) because you may miss it when you do a specific search for some item or some unique solution.

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52252&page=88

I'll throw a link to this thread in there; I didn't want to start my post and get replies, then we change the subject to something else and then go back and forth, etc.. Might be confusing for people reading through it?

Is that what you have displayed ?

I have coolant temp; boost; AFR; engine load; throttle angle and knock

nah i just stole that from somewhere

I forget what I have displayed on the main screen. On the later versions though, there are a bunch of different pages that you can use so it doesn't really matter.

I don't really plan on storing a ton of stuff on the PC.. (I think); will be iPod most of the time!

I'm running 32bit so my max is 3GB; the extra gig may not be needed since I've got most services off and all of the visual stuff disabled.

I really think it's okay. The dual core w/ 2gb should be plenty if you're not planning to really stress the sytem.

i run a pico set that's 1ghz w/ 1gb of RAM and it's plenty.

well, when you cut power to a laptop, you can configure onboard power settings to switch to battery, then go to hibernate.

 

you could cut the case up and wire a remote switch also in the dash/screen bezel to power on/off.

I'm using one of these to turn on my laptop:

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/user-innovations/75071-laptop-auto-power-turn-module.html

It works pretty well. It does require soldering a couple of wires to the laptop's power button though. I had planned to use an IBM T41 for my car, but I couldn't get the wires done. So I got an HP 530, after someone said that laptop's power button lines are easily accessible. Now I can't replace my laptop until someone bumps that thread with news that they've found another laptop with easily accessible power button wires.

Power-down is handled by Windows' built-in power management. It waits for a while, then sleeps for a while, then hibernates.

Alright so here are a few pics of the equipment, ran into my first problem..

The screen is a little bigger than the bezel opening, so when I screw it in, the bezel ends up activating the touchscreen. I might need to get some foam to line the very outside and just mount the screen a tiny bit back so there is no physical problem.

http://www.fuzi0n.com/imgz/cars/subaru/carpc/carpc1.jpg

http://www.fuzi0n.com/imgz/cars/subaru/carpc/carpc2.jpg

http://www.fuzi0n.com/imgz/cars/subaru/carpc/carpc3.jpg

http://www.fuzi0n.com/imgz/cars/subaru/carpc/carpc4.jpg

http://www.fuzi0n.com/imgz/cars/subaru/carpc/carpc5.jpg

http://www.fuzi0n.com/imgz/cars/subaru/carpc/carpc6.jpg

http://www.fuzi0n.com/imgz/cars/subaru/carpc/carpc7.jpg

pics of how you held the screen into the oem nav bezel pls?

I really want to see the back of that as this was my project as well.

what do you plan to do with the hole?

my idea was to buy a broken screen from salvage and use oem buttons and assign them, via serial/usb to specific functions in the system.

that coupled with a serial/usb adapted version of the info center, and I'd have an oem looking aftermarket system.

but.. it never got anywhere near that far. The first iteration was ok, the 2nd was so expensive I gave up. now the car's too old.

oh and btw

you rproblem with the touchscreen? EXACTLY what I ran into... do NOT bypass any fuses or leave it likie that too long.. or you will be buying a new touch controller when it starts smoking on you.

what I would suggest is gapping it out a micron on a non-touch area of the screen itself with some plastic so that the bezel will never touch the screen. Foam wont do what you want. It wont tolerate excessively bumpy roads if oyu use too little, and will stick out if you use too much.