Nick's Carputer Project Blog Nick's Carputer Project Current Project Blog: 10-21-05 Ahhh ok, time for an update, everything is ordered, received and modded and ready, just need to tear my car apart and wire the stuff up. Will do the amp and laptop 1st, then put the screen in, lots of work left to be done with the dash switches and other crap though. Will take a many pictures for all to see. Here's my new design sketch, enjoy. 09-29-05 Found a docking station for cheap on ebay thankfully. This will allow me to hack into the power button for auto power on. That was my main concern with this project was having to hack up the laptop, no more! Got my front end choice picked out, i tried frodoplayer, and while nice, does not allow me to change resolution. This is a problem b/c the laptop video card does not output 5:3 aspect ratio resolutions. RoadRunner not only does the trick but it has embedded flash support, so the little subie logo when you touch it turns into a clock. The N64 emulator plays internally and kicks ass. Now that's all settled need to format and XPlite it. 09-27-05:Getting all the crap off the laptop to set up for a reformat/reinstall of windows XP pro, then XP lite to trim it down for faster bootup. Found an n64 emulator that actually works well, will be a worthy addition to carputer with the USB gamepads, along with the NES and SNES emulators. Next thing to figure out is shutdown and startup, the best i could muster up was the following: If the laptop has Wake on Ring, which i've yet to look at in the BIOS settings, set up a fake serial modem and apply +5V using a relay to pin 9, this emulates pushing the power button ON. If it doesn't have WOR, and there is no docking station made for your computer, you have to void warranty and solder a few wires to the power button, that would suck, i hope not. For shutoff, there is an auto power off mod which all you do is short two wires on the serial port, and a program utilizes a fake univeral power source (UPS) control driver to hibernate the computer on ignition off. I might just forgo this and have a big shutdown button on my frontend. Will order LCD bezel and amp whenever my laptop is good to go and i solve these powerup issues. 09-26-05: Got the LCD in yesterday, brand spanking new. Messed around with my laptop settings a bit and got the thing to output to the LCD. I've heard things about the lilliput but i'm impressed; i can read small text on the browser, video looks fine. Once the resolution and sync rates are matched appropriately, the screen displays wonderfully. 20% Design Sketch and Material List 35% Stage 1 Materials Gathered 50% LCD screen DIY wiring complete 80% Stage 1 Installed 85% Stage 2 Materials Gathered 90% Stage 2 Installed 95% Stage 3 Materials Gathered 100% Stage 3 Installed This is my project home for the carputer. I hope this will inspire other people to look into this equipment. Materials List: Stage 1: (MP3 + Video functionality) Dell Inspiron 8200 Laptop - Already Have Power Inverter- Purchased Ebay ($20) Lilliput 7" Touchscreen VGA LCD Monitor- Purchased Ebay ($215) LCD Mounting Bezel- Purchashed ($130) ordering link 4ch amp, free from friend at work Wiring, electrical modification components ($50) Stage 2: (FM and Internet Connectivity) USB 2.0 Hub(?) FM Tuner/TV USB Capture Card ($90) Bluetooth Wireless Card(?) Stage 3: (GPS +Camera + Bass) Microsoft S&T 2005 ($125) Night Vision Camera ($20) Ebay Alpine Subwoofer w/enclosure ($140) Best Buy
i'm interested in what kind of HD would be used, if it's a spindle-type (most common) i would imagine that frequent rough roads could lead to a head-crash. and that would suck.
Well, since i can see that this mod that trey posted has a proven fitment, i'm going to go along with that design. The bezel and cradle is a good investment so i dont have to bother trying to mount the LCD myself with dremel in hand as originally planned. Now, i can mount a Blitz DCII turbo timer/boost gauge in place of the clock, get some new speakers and amps, and my interior will be hella pimped out :naughty: Will have the funds worked up in 2 or 3 weeks to start i imagine. I need to post my DIY mod for my radar detector as well.
The M1-ATX is $79, I have it, it works great. From your diagram, it does not seem that you are actually using a mini-itx board and just your laptop, why do you need the M1? Also what is the green color supposed to mean? I get the Ignition, Batt and GND, not the green part (sorry ). You have your battery wired up backwards, you have grounded the +12V. As for GPS, go with MS Streets and Trips 2005. You get it retail Software + USB GPS unit $129.99. The DeLorme Street Atlas will talk to you but the Speech API is not very good yet and not that great. Plus, S&T has a easier to use UI. As for the LCD monitor, do not buy Lilliput or any of the Korean crap. I bought mine on ebay for $199 and it was worked great, the problem is that they run 16-bit color. You want to go with either Xenarc or Dynamix (706 or 805). I got myself the Dynamix and it runs true 32-bit, Divx looks great, not too much reflection and I can read everything off S&T 2K5 @ 800 x 600. http://dynamixcomputers.com/7_dynamix_ultra_bright.html My work is taking a little longer than expected b/c of school and I have do some custom molding work to get my screen into my dash.
The M1-ATX is ... -I wanted a regulated 12V and 5V power supply for the monitor and other components so i didn't fry the LCD on a hard voltage drop on a crank. Might even run the laptop DC power supply through it to take advantage of the deep sleep mode. It was cheaper than $80 bucks on ebay and mp3car forums. Also what is the green color supposed to mean? -Green means 12V component, Maroon means 5V component. It's just a color. You have your battery wired up backwards, you have grounded the +12V. -so it is hnoes: , not like i'm going to do that in real life, dont really care too lazy to get back in cad and change it. As for GPS, go with MS Streets and Trips 2005.... -Any idea of what front end it works best with, i was leaning towards S&T too, but i want a front end that uses the speech API. As for the LCD monitor, do not buy Lilliput or any of the Korean crap. I bought mine on ebay for $199 ... -Well, too late, the Dynamix looks like a pretty nice deal, but i want nothing to do with any custom work. I'd be depressed if i took apart the Dynamix LCD to put in the bezel, it not fit for whatever reason, and void the warranty simultaneously. I'm using the mechatronicks bezel and therefore bought the lilliput 7". The Xenarcs are a bit pricey from what i've seen. But truth be told, who can really tell the difference in 16-bit and 32-bit color in anything but a movie, and how often are you going to be watching DVD's in the car eh? I'm hoping a good tint job will take care of the reflection, if not, i'll make a little visor for it. Thanks for the replies Amol.
Are you sure the M1 has a 12V and 5V ouput? As far as I know, there is a only a remote out (12V) but I would not recommend this to power your monitor. You might want to use a BJT as a switch (driven by REM to power 12V to your screen). As for 5V, there are 5V 1Amp regulators that are about $1.50 at radioshack. Unfortunately for me, I have a DVDRW which runs 2A, so I need to get a 3A 5V reg from national semiconductor. DeLorme Street Atlas 2005 has speech but it is not as easy to use and friendly as S&T. The UI looks like something from Win 3.1. Well I have a Legacy so I have to do custom work to put it in, I think it would be the same for the WRXs. Yep, the Xenarcs and Dynamix are about a $100 above Lilliput but there is a significant diff in pic quality, contrasts and other stuff. But that being said, I have used the Lilliput before and they work great too.
nope, the bezel fits straight in a double DIN socket and flush with the trim in sorbothane and delrin brackets, no dremeling your dash required :bigthumb: Too bad you have to de-solder and solder the touchscreen wires on the board to fit it in the bezel. There's always a trade. I'm more comfortable with that then taking a rotary tool to the plastic on my dash.
When you guys are doing these installs try to get lotso pics. I've been wanting to do this, but I'm waiting to see a few installs first hand to see what I do and don't like. Carputer g2g?
Im pretty curious to see how this will turn out. Brian, we never did get together on building a fiberglass box for our subs. We should try and see if we can finish that.
**moderator- can you please move this thread to Audio Video Security?** bump for pre install and update. I built a momentary relay switch that uses an NPN transistor to control the flow to the relay coil, it ended up being 3 capacitors, 3 diodes, 5 resistors, 1 IC(an inverter),and 1 transistor. Then...after i soldered the thing together, i thought...hey, using transistor logic in this is unneccessary. So i wired up a resistor and capacitor in parallel on the ground end of the relay coil and connected a diode across the coil to protect it from the voltage spike that's generated when the cap is charged. So basically, it turns any constant input into a momentary input based on the time constant of the RC circuit, this simulates a pushbutton press on the laptop power button every time the car starts. There is also a manual pushbutton in parallel with it. i'm gettin excited about this.