Car Computer Project

[KraftyPg]

Hey biscuits was thinking of an in dash sat nav unit but then I remembered this and decided to do a bit of a compare so a couple of questions if I may.

Why is the sky blue?
Where does rain come from?

Ok sorry I had a senior member moment just then.

Where did you get the FitPC from and how much (you can PM me these details if you want to keep it hush hush)

Why did you choose the the PC2 over the PC2i which according to the main website has 2GB ram, the aussie supplier with a price on their website doesn't show 2GB option though. Surely a bit of extra memory would suit win7 better.

Why win7 over XP when you can install any software you like but XP is still a more stable and less resource hungry system than 7. Don't get me wrong I prefer 7 to XP but just wonder if maybe XP is better suited to such applications.

What did you end up doing to make the wifi better from inside the car does the antenna go outside at all or did you just get a higher gain antenna?

How did you keep you build to $1200ish that you stated half way through this thread when a quick tally up of prices I've seen for the pc, screen and mouse easily get past $1300.

I was toying with the idea of a Pioneer AVICHD3 if it fits (which it probably does) because it does most of this stuff and has a 10Gb drive which is probably expandable if one is game to pull it apart. But I do see some advantages to a car pc, the one major advantage of the in dash unit though is that it will take a fraction of the time to install.

 

[Biscuits]

Ok one at a time and i will PM also.

Q. Where did you get the FitPC from.

A. Bought it direct from the website, sorked out significantly cheap than aust resellers.

Q. Why did you choose the the PC2 over the PC2i which according to the main website has 2GB ram, the aussie supplier with a price on their website doesn't show 2GB option though. Surely a bit of extra memory would suit win7 better

A. FitPc2, had 6 USB as opposed to 4 on I. didn't need 2 x ethernet on i. FitPC2 now comes with 2gb option anyway. Main reason was it has Auto on feature, meaning as soon as it gets power it boots up.

Q. Why win7 over XP when you can install any software you like but XP is still a more stable and less resource hungry system than 7.

A. Lazyness, my screen is touch so no need for mouse, Win 7 is fully touchscreen compliant.

Q. What did you end up doing to make the wifi better from inside the car does the antenna go outside at all or did you just get a higher gain antenna

A. Got a higher gain antenna that is currently sitting on top of stereo, just need to make a cut out for dash tray.

Q. How did you keep you build to $1200ish that you stated half way through this thread when a quick tally up of prices I've seen for the pc, screen and mouse easily get past $1300

A. It is just over that mark at the moment, but close to it. I will PM prices to your.

I was toying with the idea of a Pioneer AVICHD3 if it fits (which it probably does) because it does most of this stuff and has a 10Gb drive which is probably expandable if one is game to pull it apart. But I do see some advantages to a car pc, the one major advantage of the in dash unit though is that it will take a fraction of the time to install.


A. I looked at it aswell, but it didn't suit my needs, i wanted OBD-II for a start for diagnostic readouts. PC has 160GB, i have my entire itunes library on there and a lot of movies. Install was not that hard, in the end i would say if i had done it on the weekend and had all my part before starting it would be 4-5 hours, with brew breaks.

 

[Biscuits]

Will show you the finished product when i charge the camera and have some daylight tomorrow. Had changed it around a bit and cleaned it up.

 

[KraftyPg]

Thanks biscuits, I'll get around to reading all this properly (and the pm) later. Your reasoning is quite sound. I'm waiting on a few suppliers to contact me about some gear which may work but this sort of set up does have the most potential right now

 

[Barnzey]

Bluetooth

Have you got bluetooth on your car pc
I think it is a great idea to have a car pc but the one thing I would like is being able to answer my phone through the car pc
I ahve not been able to find any software to do this have you?

Like the all in one car head units

Thanks

 

[Biscuits]

Yes, i had bluetooth. I blew up my little dingle in a failed usb hub experiment. But for a while there i had bluetooth. The biggest problem i had was getting a microphone for the pc that was good enough.

Centrafuse is the software that i run on car PC, it has bluerooth phone option.

I have recently upgraded to iphone, if you can call it an upgrade? So not sure how that will go?

 

[Barnzey]

Yes, i had bluetooth. I blew up my little dingle in a failed usb hub experiment. But for a while there i had bluetooth. The biggest problem i had was getting a microphone for the pc that was good enough.

Centrafuse is the software that i run on car PC, it has bluerooth phone option.

I have recently upgraded to iphone, if you can call it an upgrade? So not sure how that will go?

HI
Thanks for that
The usb hub was my next thorght Did the usb hub work?
As I have now counted up to 6 deviced that I shall need to plug in
Reverce Cam,BT Dongle,GPS antenna,Next G adapter,Mic,Sound
Is the Line out and Mic sockets on the PC any good

Thanks

 

[Biscuits]

You can get specialist usb hub to go with the power supply i used. I tried a cheap one and it died. Will get a proper one next shop.

Mic seems ok and output seems fine. I plugged it into a belkin autocast. Does the job over FM as i don't have AUX.

I would recommend getting a noise canceling mic if you plan on using it for phone.

 

[Barnzey]

carputer

Ok I have tracked the parts down. Before I order I have a couple of question
If you could answer would be great
1 hooking up power from the car To regulator. I notice in the forum thead you use 2 power sources why is this
2 Does the PC go into hibenation when car is off or does it turn off completely
meaning you have to do a full boot up every time you start the car.
3 As I am looking at replacing the stereo unit totally with the car pc could I use some of the exsisting stereo wiring loom IE power Both constint and ignition,speakers,anntena into the fm receive etc

I am looking at same pc unit as you
1 Fit pc2
2 Preassembled Double Din LCD Frame with 7" Lilliput 669GL-70NP/C/T-HB-RV HDMI DVI
3 CarNetix CNX-P2140 185W Dual Output Intelligent DC-DC Regulator
4 Centrafuse Auto Navigation
5 Win7 Ultimate
6 plus BT Dongle ,Next g Dongle, etc
Hope you dont mind helping
Thanks
Have PMed you as well

 

[KraftyPg]

I'm fairly sure he's answered 1 and 2 in this thread when I asked him the same question. However I may just re-think this idea again, I'm went looking for a different model of PC but was moved away from the idea because of the separate screen but for some reason I never considered the idea of replacing the head unit with a suitable screen. That would definitely keep it out of the way and make it a little less obvious. I might have to re-re-re-re-visit this idea again instead of my alternative option which I've been floating for about 3 weeks. Dammit more thinking to do.

 

[Barnzey]

I'm fairly sure he's answered 1 and 2 in this thread when I asked him the same question. However I may just re-think this idea again, I'm went looking for a different model of PC but was moved away from the idea because of the separate screen but for some reason I never considered the idea of replacing the head unit with a suitable screen. That would definitely keep it out of the way and make it a little less obvious. I might have to re-re-re-re-visit this idea again instead of my alternative option which I've been floating for about 3 weeks. Dammit more thinking to do.

Hi
I have fighting with my self over a Head unit with gps etc in it and a car pc fro some time to both got pros and cons
PS I have read thread from top to bottom 3 or 4 time and just want to clarify things. There is nothing more painfull than anwsering the same question

 

[Leprechaun]

I'm fairly sure he's answered 1 and 2 in this thread when I asked him the same question. However I may just re-think this idea again, I'm went looking for a different model of PC but was moved away from the idea because of the separate screen but for some reason I never considered the idea of replacing the head unit with a suitable screen. That would definitely keep it out of the way and make it a little less obvious. I might have to re-re-re-re-visit this idea again instead of my alternative option which I've been floating for about 3 weeks. Dammit more thinking to do.

A problem with a full replacement of the car head unit with a carpc touch screen is the loss of a decent radio, pc based FM receivers don't really cut in automotive use.
It was a couple of years ago when I built mine so there may be digital receiver alternatives out now.

 

[KraftyPg]

Yeah you're right, I don't listen to the radio much but it is a worthwhile tool to have especially when traveling in bush fire prone areas and away from news broadcasts. Digital ones are not worth crap once you leave the CBD however I do have several decent battery operated ones and the idea of the carPC is to utilise the 160GB hard disc and fill it full of CD's. Decision Decisions Bloody Decisions.

 

[KraftyPg]

Hi
I have fighting with my self over a Head unit with gps etc in it and a car pc fro some time to both got pros and cons
PS I have read thread from top to bottom 3 or 4 time and just want to clarify things. There is nothing more painfull than anwsering the same question

I'm not a huge fan of the PC on a stand like bikky has, which is why I'm looking for alternatives but I'm still not convinced any alternative I've found is what I want yet.

I understand on the reading and re-reading I've done the same thing, and now I think about I seem to remember him saying something about using the factory head unit and the AUX but I could be wrong (more bloody re-reading), anyway he might be a tad busy with the new bub and all so re-reading might be all we have for a while.

 

[Biscuits]

I have had the carpc for a while now.

My assessment is, unless you have a lot of time to fiddle around and can get access to good software. Then i would suggest getting an all in one unit.

The main reasons i tried this project was, On board Diagnostics, GPS, Bluetooth and to have all my music in one place.

The cheap OBDII adapters don't work properly with the D40, then don't display all info and good software is hard to find. The PC based bluetooth is useless without an expensive microphone. GPS is ok, but you need good software and maps which cot much $$$$$ on PC

The problem with using the PC as a music/radio source is that even with the fltered power supply you get break through from engine noise. the harder you rev the louder the hum.

GPS software for PC's is pretty crap and the centrafuse maps are rather outdated.

Eventually i will remove the PC from car and use it as an internet terminal in my shed. and run it throug a stereo for music.

Will most likely go down the path of Pioneer AVIC-F20BT for Nav/Music/Bluetooth (as i have an iphone with my entire music library on it), Scangauge II (for OBDII).

If you still want to go down this path, i will help you all i can, but as i said, unless you have a lot of time, good knowledge of PC's and time and money to spend finding good software, i wouldn't bother.

 

[Barnzey]

Hi
Thanks for your trueful thourghts I shall put them in my mixing and see what spills out
Thanks again

 

[KraftyPg]

OBDII reading was one of the reasons I considered this and I was going to run it with ProScan but realistically having on the fly OBD info isn't really that important given that technically you're not allowed to play with such toys while driving and while SG can report codes you'll usually be on the side of the road or in the garage when you want to do something with it so having a laptop with a bit more grunt is probably beneficial.

I'm still open to this as an idea, although like bikky says time will be a consideration, however I am looking at a different path which is based around GPS mapping and music storage more than anything else and one day I'll eventually find time to do more research.

 

[Foxbat]

All, Thanks everyone for the info in this thread so far. This is my first post on this forum so a big Hi from me. I have recently purchased a Nav late 2010 STX and the first mod was a carpc. I have used a VMOD which uses a 40G Toshiba vehicle rated hardrive and runs windows XP. I have loaded a version of Garman PC for street maps with text to speach and I run Ozzie Explorer (full version) and Memory Maps. These are driven via a GPS mouse ($50, don't you just love ebay). I have loaded (but don't always use) 'Streeteck' front end. I currently have about a hundred albums and a dozen or so movies for the kids which they watch via their 9" headrest monitor DVD palyers. I am playing with voice activation software, which is not overly successful yet. I have bluetooth and wifi interface and can surf the net with a 3G compatable phone when in range. I intend to add Digital Tv and maybe vehicle diagnostic software in the near future. I use a 7" Liliput touch screen (with the auto switch fro reverse camera) and a usb floppy keypad. Happy, hell yeh. But the screen is a little small, would suggest a 9" minimum but since mine hangs from the sunglassess holder in the roof, a larger screen will block all of my rear view mirror. Still the usb cameras are a bonus and can be used for front and rear parking. If I can be of any assistance to people installing a system by all means please ask. I have also been down the road of the all in one head unit and would recommend the 'Caska' units but be aware that the windows CE software is very limmited. If you do go this way, check out some of the 'MIO' software as it rocks.
Regards, Keith.

 

[Barnzey]

Hi foxbat
Where did you get the vmod system and what are the specs like

 

[Foxbat]

Hey Barnzey,
I bought the system from a guy in the states on ebay for $450US and the screen was about $200AUD. Here's the specs:
Hardware:
• 1GHz Intel Celeron
• 512MB of RAM
• Intel 855 Chipset
• Bluetooth 2.0
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
• 5 Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Ports
• Composite Video Output – Compatible with most car video systems
(Excl. Certain OEM Installs with no video input)
• 48KHz 16-bit Stereo Sound
• Shock-Mounted Automotive-Grade Toshiba 40GB Hard Drive
• Wired Ethernet Port for installation in vehicles with a wired network such
as RVs & Busses
• Line Input connection for external audio sources
• Custom 12V Automotive Power Supply
• Remote-Mounted power switch for convenience
Here is their website: VMOD in-car computer and media management server || Incorporating your home life into your mobile life || SUPPORT: SPECIFICATIONS
regards