The CarPC thread

[trent from punchy]

so the wrong thread

[Zac]

How long do you have to wait for the computer to boot up before you can turn the key?
Or is the ECU COM only an input for data logging?

[jampac]

data logging zac

[piss98]

What does it all weigh?

PS - very cool.

[Peter...]

What I was thinking, was mounting the lappie motherboard in the boot/under the passenger seat, then running the kb out to where-ever, (it still needs a keyboard IMHO) perhaps mounting it in the floor of the glovebox. Then I guess VGA out to an indash monitor. Could probably mount a trackball somewhere, it'd be like a primitive I-Drive.

One thing I've always wondered though, how long would a laptop Hard Drive stand up to the constant shaking and jarring of bumps in the road?

[jampac]

Probably weights 4-5kg all up. I'm using a 2.5" drive, but mounted on rubber, and i'll mount the whole case on rubber as well, so should last.

[Peter...]

Have you considered using foam? As in the soft, spongy packing foam that computer bits are usually packed in? Would probably transmit less shock than rubber, I'd guess.

[23Kev]

does it just use a std OS, win xp etc or something suited to a touchscreen?? i know you could setup shortcuts on a desktop or something and organise it so you don't need much other input....but surely it would be better if there was something specific....or is it just me?

[jampac]

Have you considered using foam? As in the soft, spongy packing foam that computer bits are usually packed in? Would probably transmit less shock than rubber, I'd guess.

Nah, rubber man. Foam is more for sound deadening, or large size cushioning. The mounts on a 2.5" HD are tiny.

[jampac]

does it just use a std OS, win xp etc or something suited to a touchscreen?? i know you could setup shortcuts on a desktop or something and organise it so you don't need much other input....but surely it would be better if there was something specific....or is it just me?

I'll be using winxp, but its this hacked edition called beast edition cause it came out on 6/6/06. It was 343mb fully installed, compared to like 1500meg of regular xp. Has no IE or outlook express, as well as a host of other shit has gone.

I'll be using frodoplayer as my shell.

[Stix Zadinia]

wouldn't linux be 10x better on those transmeta/via emulated CPU's? it'd run alot faster.

[pisana]

i mean you can shove the laptop under the car seat or whatever and run a vga cable out and a usb kbd with touchpad/trackball?

you can also get car chargers for laptops

why not just build a car pc then?

you'd need a decent laptop to run movies, dvds, gps and any other junk aswell..that would cos well over a grand, plus the touch screen and other things..

makes little sense.
________
SashaBusty

[jampac]

wouldn't linux be 10x better on those transmeta/via emulated CPU's? it'd run alot faster.

Then you need to find the right applications to do the job. Windows xp can be booted within 7-10 seconds from hibinate mode, and there is crap loads of applications available to help with software to perform the functions you want.

[crossam]

look at micro ITX motherboard solutions, these are designed to run on 12volt supplies, can withstand extreme temperatures -70 - 100 degrees. These often take notebook ram and hdd's. Great little systems.

MSI australia bring in a number of ITX solutions, 1 based on a VIA microprocessor and another based on the AMD geode processor. My company will be distributing these Micro ITX solutions shortly.

[phreeky]

Then you need to find the right applications to do the job. Windows xp can be booted within 7-10 seconds from hibinate mode, and there is crap loads of applications available to help with software to perform the functions you want.

media playback is easy, boot time reduction is a piece of p*ss, interfacing is as easy as it can get (far easier to write an app to control it all just as you like with linux)....the only issue i see is software for whatever ecu you are using.

i used to run a linux system as a multimedia system at home with my own software controlling via an IR game pad, mostly just mapping button/combo presses to the required keystrokes so had all the coding done in no time (i.e. not some uber geek thousands of line app).