MayhemOfHell
Banned
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2009
- Messages
- 79
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- Location
- Adelaide, South Australia
- Members Ride
- 2004 WL Caprice V8 LS1
How far would you go to have the ultimate in car entertainment system that would be he envy of any expert in the industry with your home built system….
For some people, when it comes to their vehicles. They like to have the luxury of home or just something to kill the background noises. In my case, I like to being my projects and hobbies on the road.. sort of… so for a few years I have been playing around with what is commonly known as a Carputer .. Or Car Computer
So what is a Carputer
A car computer is more or less the same as the computer you are most likely using to read post at the moment. It is a normal computer adapted to run in a automotive environment.. in the easiest case this is just finding a place mount the screen and adapting the power input to run from a 12volt setup. Anything more is the fun part.
What can you do with a Carputer
Why do people build them and how?
First of, for me its more about the ability to have certain features which will be useful for the vehicle or the general style of the vehicle… and also the challenge of trying to get anything working at one stage..
As for building them, well its fairly easy and the cost depending on your set up and existing parts that you may already have or can obtain from someone. for a new system you can easily estimate the costs to be around that of a desktop pc.
Your one stop website and place to shop for all of this, building advise and help with plenty of guides… Mp3Car
What do they look like?
Well they can look like anything really, Depending on your vehicle and or your level fabrication work. You can either have the install looking really nice or really bad.. Some times things will start to look really incomplete, usually 2am in the morning.
A small box containing a motherboard or a modified console or any other computer system that can be used, or perhaps you would like to just have your mobile phone in its holder and use that otherwise in my case i like to use a 7inch touch screen lcd running on a windows os on a mini itx motherboard.
So you decided you want one! Where to start!.
When it comes to building a car computer, Make sure you have one thing before anything else and it should work out just nicely if applied right… TIME!!!
The first thing you will want to do is research a few things to help you along the way, I would personally suggest the following key topics.
Existing vehicles like the one you will be doing this to for ideas / plans
Pre made expansion parts for your vehicle (less fabrication = more costs)
Base required components / hardware / tools / software
When doing your research, I suggest your first place to go should be Mp3Car. Checkout their forum and online shop for most of your needs and idea’s.
So what do I use in my car and why!
Firstly the set up in my car changes often due to always wanting something different and exploring various options just to know if it was possible and how well it worked. So firstly the hardware and software as of the moment.
Okay so the above is how the system is most of the time, But one major change is always the Front End.. Or simply the application that is open all the time with the features to allow things like navigation, video & audio player and so on.
Now as to why I use this set up, Well this was built with a budget in mind and also to not give it more power and heat than it should require.. Well at least for this level of its operations. The main thing here you will want to also note is the Mini-ITX as this is what makes a very efficient change to your car’s battery and electrical system.
A Mini-ITX motherboard (170 × 170mm) is a bit smaller than a standard computer ATX board (305 × 244mm). So this helps on space and requires less power to operate. Now the next stage to using a Mini-ITX board is to use a Mini-ITX power supply as these are designed to run directly from your vehicles car battery / alternator.
This was a copy from my blog, but figured it might make a read for someone or maybe convert a few people as well
For some people, when it comes to their vehicles. They like to have the luxury of home or just something to kill the background noises. In my case, I like to being my projects and hobbies on the road.. sort of… so for a few years I have been playing around with what is commonly known as a Carputer .. Or Car Computer
So what is a Carputer
A car computer is more or less the same as the computer you are most likely using to read post at the moment. It is a normal computer adapted to run in a automotive environment.. in the easiest case this is just finding a place mount the screen and adapting the power input to run from a 12volt setup. Anything more is the fun part.
What can you do with a Carputer
- Audio & Music – Listen to your cds, your mp3′s, the radio, audio books
- Video & Visual – Watch movies, web feeds, video calls, multiple displays
- Navigation – GPS tracking & directions, Route efficiency
- Assistance - Parking sensors, reverse camera, automation, profiling
- Security - Camera recording, tracking, alarm, disable, remote control
- Internet – Pre-paid, remote access, browsing, chat, hosting, reporting
- Tuning - OBD2, BUS CAN, live tuning, monitoring, mechanical control
- Evidence - take your recording to court if your in a accident
- Communications – Phone calls, sms, video calls, emails, social
- Interfacing - custom controls like (locks, suspension, windows, seats)
- User Inputs - wireless, microphone, game pads, keyboards, mice, existing
- Office Work - printing, wifi access point, job logging, notifications, log books
Why do people build them and how?
First of, for me its more about the ability to have certain features which will be useful for the vehicle or the general style of the vehicle… and also the challenge of trying to get anything working at one stage..
As for building them, well its fairly easy and the cost depending on your set up and existing parts that you may already have or can obtain from someone. for a new system you can easily estimate the costs to be around that of a desktop pc.
Your one stop website and place to shop for all of this, building advise and help with plenty of guides… Mp3Car
What do they look like?
Well they can look like anything really, Depending on your vehicle and or your level fabrication work. You can either have the install looking really nice or really bad.. Some times things will start to look really incomplete, usually 2am in the morning.
A small box containing a motherboard or a modified console or any other computer system that can be used, or perhaps you would like to just have your mobile phone in its holder and use that otherwise in my case i like to use a 7inch touch screen lcd running on a windows os on a mini itx motherboard.
So you decided you want one! Where to start!.
When it comes to building a car computer, Make sure you have one thing before anything else and it should work out just nicely if applied right… TIME!!!
The first thing you will want to do is research a few things to help you along the way, I would personally suggest the following key topics.
Existing vehicles like the one you will be doing this to for ideas / plans
Pre made expansion parts for your vehicle (less fabrication = more costs)
Base required components / hardware / tools / software
When doing your research, I suggest your first place to go should be Mp3Car. Checkout their forum and online shop for most of your needs and idea’s.
So what do I use in my car and why!
Firstly the set up in my car changes often due to always wanting something different and exploring various options just to know if it was possible and how well it worked. So firstly the hardware and software as of the moment.
- 1.8 Ghz Intel® Dual-Core Atom D525 - Mini-ITX Motherboard
- 160W 8V-28V Mini-ITX M2 – Power Supply Unit
- 1333MHz Corsair VS2GB1333D3 2GB – System Memory
- 320GB 5600rpm Laptop Drive – Main Hard Drive
- Some brand 7inch Touch Screen VGA LCD – Main Display
- Windows 7 32bit – Main Operating System
- Centrafuse – Main Application / Front End
Okay so the above is how the system is most of the time, But one major change is always the Front End.. Or simply the application that is open all the time with the features to allow things like navigation, video & audio player and so on.
Now as to why I use this set up, Well this was built with a budget in mind and also to not give it more power and heat than it should require.. Well at least for this level of its operations. The main thing here you will want to also note is the Mini-ITX as this is what makes a very efficient change to your car’s battery and electrical system.
A Mini-ITX motherboard (170 × 170mm) is a bit smaller than a standard computer ATX board (305 × 244mm). So this helps on space and requires less power to operate. Now the next stage to using a Mini-ITX board is to use a Mini-ITX power supply as these are designed to run directly from your vehicles car battery / alternator.
This was a copy from my blog, but figured it might make a read for someone or maybe convert a few people as well