CarPC!

Ok, so FINALLY i sodl my flipout, so i can order hte screen

im using:
DC inverter to supply power, hacked into the REAR cig lighter outlet (i love my wagon :) )
10ft vga m to f cable to route
DLINK USB FM radio
Lilput 7 inch touchscreen monitor
usb keyboard with built in mouse
usb hub in the glovebox
and a few other items

it will be using Road Runner Frontend system through winamp and a few other items
BUT i might figure something else out, becuas ei want to use I tunes as the audio manager, since i listen to ALOT of podcasts.

main system you ask?
Toshiba laptop
it will be mounted under the driver seat (i have tons of room with the bride seat lol)
im going to mount it on a few inches of foam, with a 1/2 inch of foam on top with with aluminum bent straps holding it down. should be fine

audio will be ran through a 4 channel amp, via the headphone jack, with a splitter, and two 3.5 to RCA adapters, with the RCAs going to the amp

ORRR iwill remount my headunit, and run the audio via IPBus cable. 

keep in touch

i did the carputer thing a while back...was fun while it lasted but not practical when running subs, seperates, etc...
 
i ran a touchscreen vga monitor...it was way bigger than the double din so i had to modify it to fit...
 
(this is what i hard to start with after i cut off the lower portion of the screen)
 
 
[IMG]http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/VIP-Y33/DSCF0033.jpg[/IMG]
 
[IMG]http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/VIP-Y33/Screen4.jpg[/IMG]
 
and this was the complete system i was running (before i sold it)
 
[IMG]http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/VIP-Y33/IMG_0483-1.jpg[/IMG]
 
 
here were the specs:
 
EPIA MII10000 1Ghz CarPC w/Morex 3677 case & 60w Pwr Supply
60 GB 2.5" HDD, 512MB ram
Win XP Home and FrodoPlayer
DVD Rom drive
802.11g wireless PC card
gyration wireless keyboard and mouse (mouse can be used in mid air)
T-View T700-TS 7" VGA Touchscreen monitor 
Carnetix P1260 voltage regulator & startup/shutdown controller
Panasonic slim slotload DVD/CDRW drive in slim USB enclosure
Slim USB enclosure for slim CD/DVD drive

if you run it through the aux port of your headunit, its the SAME as running your headunit.  just gotta have that headunit ":)

Yeah, but that assumes you have enough room to run the headunit as well as the touchscreen.

How are you going to turn the laptop on and off?

no need
i have it set up to stay on all the time.

when the ign. is off, the inverter turns off letting it run on battery mode. at 98% there is a setting to put it into suspend.  i get 13 hours on suspend and 20 on hibernate.  i have soldered wires to the power switch to extend to a momentary on/off in case i do need to boot it

Running power from the cig lighter socket is dangerous when drawing that much power. Better to tap directly from the battery using a 0 guage power wire.

Grant, you can try to tweak the softwares abit. Make it HORM (hybernate once, resume many). Besides from faster bootup (compared to cold boot), it also makes the OS runs more stable.

I almost got a carpc in my ride as well. Ended up I sold it off. Maybe on a later stage I'll give it a go again... LOL

External power switch was what i was getting at..

So if it goes to suspend, does it resume automatically when power is applied?


I still want to replace the power supply in my Xbox with a 12v one, sequenced to turn on with my headunit...

goodluck with the install...my guess is that you'll sell it within a year...

i get bored of my cars in less that time

regardless, it comes out of hibernation via keybaord, or push of the button that is sodlered in.