1) I was going to built my own desktop and mount it in the back trunk,
PC- components
Lite-on drive atapi/e-ide- 25.99
Athenatech A100bb.270 Black Steel mini Tower 270w power supply- 44.99
Western Digital Caviar 250 GB (7200rmp) SATA 3.0 Harddrive- 69.99
Nvidia Geforce 6100 Micro ATX AMB motherboard-69.99
1GB 184- Pin DDR Sdram Memory-82.99
AMD athlon 64 3200 2.0 ghz processor- 59.99
Total- $352.95

2) GPS live time to the PC USB ported


3) I wanted to know if there was any way of having built in boost gauges that would display on the headunit, or is there any software that would do that, and would it have to be connected to the ECU?

4) Suggestions on head units? just a basic flip out tv? Cheap?

5) and anything else i can't think of that i would need in order to do the install?

6) should i built a better computer to set up the whole unit?

7) and mounting area? I was thinking trunk because air flow, and not under the seat because the heater in the winter?

8) or is there a better head unit out there that does live time GPS that i should just get instead of all of this?

 

wont the vibration from the car mess with the hard drive and cd-rom??

 

CdROM - YES
Hard Drive - NO

 

CDROM - NO
Hard Drive - NO

There is a link in my sig.

BTW BlackonBlack2, I got your PM questions all answered. Should be in your box.

 

Uhh most HDD's are able to sustain many times the G's often experienced in a automobile. I've used laptops and PC's in cars for many years for stereo use.

 

weird

 

Ok, what I am saying here is this: I have both a Hard Drive and a CDROM installed in my car right now. Both of which have had 0 (zero) problems. I even run the PC for Evoscan while I am drag racing at the track.

Your statement here:
answering:
seems to indicate that installing a CDROM in the vehicle will cause damage to the CDROM. That is not correct. Evidenced by the fact that I have had a CDROM running in a vehicle for close to 2 years with no problems.

 

I have a friend that has a car-puter in his car. He uses it to tune actually. keyboard and everything. uses it as dvd player.. everything a comp can do. He plays it through a 7" lcd display.

 

Ahhh sorry I misunderstood you! Yes the hard drive will work without question. However I think that many CDROM's still skip if they encounter "car-bump" like vibrations. Maybe they have improved since the last time I had a "car-pc" =)

 

As far as I know as long as the hard drive is mounted good and solid and parallel to the ground then it should be fine. Same with the cd player. The car suspension should absorb most of shock.

1. That is a huge system. Try to make something smaller.

2. GPS I currently use I guidance working with a usb gps receiver by HOLUX

3. I think HKS Makes gauge setup software. But once EVOSCAN has gauge functionality in it you can use it.

4. Well I am eliminating a headunit completely to get a full 7 inch screen in front. Just depends on what you wanna do.

5. Instead of getting a ac power supply get a dc to dc power supply that will allow the computer to boot up and shut down properly based on ignition status.

6. Most people who put computers in there car front end software like Road Runner(Open Source) Has MP3, OBD2, GPS, MPEGS, BLUE TOOTH PHONE, Traffic updates, weather updates, DVD, Radio and Satellite radio capability, tv. Of course there are more items available. And some of these items will require other things to work properly.


Im currently working on mine here is a pic its all in dash though. I made this case from scratch. I am almost finished I am just molding the screen into the bezel right now.

This is what I started the case from



Pic of my dash emptied no cutting or removing anything except ac hvac controls.



pc



pc close up. drive mounted at an angle to make up for the way the pc sits inside the dash that way it the drive will stay parallel to the ground.



Here is just a test fit. Brackets have been made and I am able to bolt it in but havent posted new pics yet. Still waiting on power supply and slot load dvd drive. Have to also install my compustar alarm this weekend.



All Pics for now. Will post pics later. I could have made the entire pc just one bolt in piece, but I like the idea of being able to seperate the screen from the mother board casing while leaving the casing in the car bolted in.

 

We have had good luck with xenarc mobile pc's, they are built into a case about the size of a cd rom, a little longer.

If you want to read a lot of text make sure the screen is VGA input instead of regular RCA.

 

Greetings All,

My HD and 2 CDRW + DVD's made it through a 50+ mph frontal accident. In fact, the music that was playing never even skipped during the impact.

Be sure to purchase a high quality touch screen display. The unit that I had was 800x600 which made all the factory units look silly since they all run 400x240 or so.

I also have a custom shelf available for the EVO trunk that is all setup for PC duty if anyone is interested.

Cheers,

OS

Old EVO: http://www.olisim.com/evo/myevo.html

 

The reason i was thinking about going with a little bigger case is because i was thinking about dynamating the hard drive and the interior of the the case, and also putting dynamate where i was going to screw it down so that takes away the vibrations from the car. Would that help or is that just a waste of money?

 

I guess you could do that, but I would try and use a 2.5 notebook hard drive vs a 3.5 desktop hard drive. I spoke with western digital and was told that the notebook hard drive has a higher shock rating, which seems logical since you carry a notebook around and sometimes enduce shock to it while it is running.

 

I am in the process of building one myself...