19 replies to this topic

[wansuen]

Yeah I was thinking about doing this too because I had wanted to have a GPS in my car, and also I think a big reason for doing this is just for the cool factor of it or geeky factor of it haha. I used to know this website that had a lot of information about it... sorry I can't remember what it was, but yeah a lot of people have already done it and there are even things you can buy that will start up and shut down the computer whenever the car gets turned on and off. If you still want to do it and want to find a way to get the computer parts cheap I would suggest maybe looking at ebay and buying a used laptop with a broken screen because as long as the computer still works you really wont need the laptop screen anyway because you would have the laptop hidden somewhere and have a separate screen placed somewhere on the dash.

[believer]

oh yeah this is possible and have been done already, this is an example of the finish product, the pc is based on aopen mini pc, the link is in chinese but there's a lot of pictures on the setup so there should be no problem checking and understanding on how this was done, the card is honda accord.

http://www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php?f=...943&last=904055

look at those touch screens, extension mini lcds at the back, GPS guide, isn't that sweet?

now just remember dont browse and drive lol!

[Panzer]

Lol nice idea, only one word.....

WEST COAST CUSTOMS! lol

I suggest getting some sort of laptop, removing middle seat, part between seat and boot, pad it up, put a slidable tray in there and chuck your laptop onto that, with straps on of course. Youll be able to take it out, watch movies etc...

[myrmidon]

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[Plenoptic]

Well isn't that sort of what they created laptops for? Why don't you bring one into your car and use a mouse it will save you a ton of money. You can get a really nice laptop for the price you would pay to integrate a computer into the car itself. I think it would be easier as well.

As for GPS you don't need a whole computer for that just take out part of the console and put in a GPS system instead of a whole computer. You don't want to get distracted while driving. Cell phones are bad enough.

[msabas]

Actually its not all that dificult, a buddy of mine and i were searching for some ideas and found this site here, just to get an idea. http://www.jpstewart...es/2004_10.html

So once we got strarted we did everything almost as if we were going to to build a custom sub box, and doing a stereo install. I will try to get photo if possible.

Total cost for the build was around 2,500. which is actually not to bad. This pc build went into a 99 GMC Truck.

We becan building a box for the pc. We took the metal mounting brakets from inside the pc, so we can have something to ground it to since the box was going to be made of wood.. but we made the box to fit under nead the rear back seats . mounted it directly behind the passenger side. with enough to be able to mount some brackets to keep it in place, and keep it from moving much.

Once we had the fit we needed was a difficult portion because we needed to mount he brackets into the inside of the box. Becasue th ebox as smaller than hte original frame of the pcs case, we needed to cut down the moutning brackets, and by doing so, we also had to eliminate the bracket as well as the cd-drive. We gain some more space also by getting rid of the floppy.

Once we had the frame where whe wanted it, we fit all pieces to see if we could get good fitment., Mother board fit well harddrive went in good, but we had a bit of a problem with the cooling fans. So we had to mod a a few sections of the new box. what he also did since we new we had to keep it cool, he ran a snorkel type of plastic tubing from one of the rear air vents to the exhaust fan. so when he ran his ac, he cooled the pc. which was prety cool, except it looks like crap, and you can tell its home mad.. bigtime.

Once we had ll other items in place came a pretty cool install. He purchased an external dvd/r/rw drive and also purchased a 13 monitor flat panel. He spent good money on the external cd drive, but the panel he got pretty cheap at a swapmeet. Im thinking less than 300 for it.

So next came installing the hard drive. We also had to go purchase some cables. We bought 3 rolls of 5 ft of usb canle, witht hte connectors already attached. at the ends. we used that for the cd drive, the mouse and the keyboard, I think he should have used a wirless kepad and mouse tho.

But he next made a custom mount for his cd drive and stereo. that was actually prety easy, and mounted them on and the cd drive actually sits under neath his stereo, looks good too. Also he mounted the poer button for the pc on this new panel. and then had to wire the switch back to the pc.

after all the he mounted his monitor screen on his head board where the passenger side visor goes. Unfortunaelty the cables where not long enough, so this took him a while to find some extensions for it, but he got it done,

other than that all it took was some few extra wiring he needed to run, and he also had to install a power inverter, which he already had, to run the pc.

overall it was a great sucess, everything works halthou he doesnt habe any internet connection, he can play pc games, and his main thing is he plays his movies and all his audio tracks.

but it was pretty good.

[Watermonkey]

A neighbor of mine did it so he can edit video more easily in his "mobile office". I'm not sure why he didn't just get a laptop, but maybe at the time the laptops weren't powerful enough. He installed a Mac mini and added a car stereo with a screen like what you can find at any car audio store. It wasn't much to do I don't think, if you're interested, I could ask him for more details.

[megabytemb]

haven't some cars like holden allreaddy got thiss???????????????????????????????????????????????????????

[iGuest]

Yes you can get a laptop, as has been said over fifty freakin times in the thread.

The joy is actually building a computer for car entertainment, where a laptop couldn't really supply neither a PDA. Reason being an integrated computer could end up managing sound / audio visual / OBD stats / rear view cam etc etc. I know that other technology exists to do these things, but just an example.. 

-reply by Angus McDowell