hi guys just a quick question any reason you are going laptop and not a small box pc insted

you can get some fairly nifty small box pc that will hold a quad core intell and cards that will distribute your monitors nicely
uhh what i mean by that is 4 monitors of one card
whilst reading your thread it has given me ideas on doing exactly that however im looking at putting lcd's in the back of my seats and a small box pc behind the back seat only issue i can see atm is cooling but that can be solved by a couple of fans in the right place

would realy like to see some shots if you have any on how the dash would look with an lcd in it
as i would like to do it but im worried about losing radio and temp controls (well visability to see what station/track i am on)

again sorry for butting in

I'm not going to use a notebook. I'm going to use a Mini-ITX CarPC case as you suggest.

The Mini-bookk was only for proof-of-concept since it has the same chipset.

And talking of chipset, the little fella has turned up and is currently being built with WinXP MCE right now. Maybe I'll use the media components, maybe not. But I have an MCE at home with a Microsoft IR keyboard so I might be tempted to use that as a setu-backup from time to time. (I'll look into using the ICC IR receiver too.)

 

 

Attachments:

File comment: Checkout how small it is! That's a CDRom drive next to the MoBo. IMG_4706_WEB2.jpg [ 117.04 KiB | Viewed 259 times ]

ahh nice well on option that im looking into
maily for multiple monitors is a unit by Matrox
it allows up to 4 mointors on one card and each a seperat monitor (as i said im veri interested in your design mainly for the lcd screen in the dash i want to put a sat nav unit but still be able to read my radio controlls)

im not to cluey on how to do this but im willing to give it a shot not sure what Icc is so im looking it up now:P

as i said i will watch this thread everyday for updates as i realy want this sort of system in my Ba would look snazy i think

great work once i know what everything means and how i can get it together without stuffing things up i will do similar

great work you are very knowlegable in cars as this is my first real atempt i tend to know nothing

**edit never mind im such a noob lol Infrared Components Corp **
and if you are interested about the multi display adapter i hope i dont get flamed for posting link but here it is
http://cgi.ebay.com/Matrox-G450-4-Monit ... 0312358495

website
http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/solut ... _creation/

Well, the next thing I discovered that looks cool is Nlite - a Windows install SlipStream utility. I am currently adding all the i945 drivers to it, SP3, hotfixed up until today - and removing a shed load of stuff to cut it down , like Help Files, Tools, Disk and Display drivers, AMD CPU support, heaps of processes I just don't need, and lots more.

It was built yesterday with full MCE 2005 setup media, but will probably get rebuilt tonight with this new NLite build I made.

http://www.nliteos.com/


Lukeyson

Last edited by Lukeyson on Fri Jan 30, 2009 2:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Good work on your CarPC luke. I've been doing a bit of research on this since October last year and I had a similar stumbling block as you, the arcade VGA card. I have been looking for a way around this and am glad that you have found a solution.

I've been playing with the software on my Dell Inspiron 700m which is pretty small. I have Centrafuse 2.0 running with Destinator 6 but running on the Dell version of XP. I have TinyXP for the when the time comes.

Will you be using your factory AM-FM in your ICC or will you be going for a radio card in the PC? I look forward to further updates!!

I'll probably stick with the factory radio. I hadn't thought too much about the ancillaries to be honest. I even thought about Digital TV for a little while, but that was ages ago - and was why I chose to build it on XP MCE underneath. Funny how things evolve.

There's a place in Australia selling Mobile Digital TV solutions, including antennas, so I'll try and dig that up.

I do know I was always going to do 802.11 wireless, Bluetooth for Internet through my HTC PDA, and GPS. I plan on using my USB ELM tool for Dash Command stuff - and have been told that the next version will be adding a shyte load of stuff, include accelerometer displays, so might take advantage of that.

By the way, I've put in a feature request for Dash Command to be able to access and display custom parameters - I had a few ideas on some of the screens I wanted to display.

I've just re-read this thread and notice i haven't mentioned Dash Command before. At the moment it is quite limited, but the new release is due out shortly. i found a Video of it that appeals - the multi-page feature isn't yet available, and currently it only does j1979 or J2190 diagnostics from the PCM. But with the feature request for custom pids, if it is considered, I would access quite a few other items for vieweing.

Video: http://vimeo.com/2266621

The younger guy is Brian Palmer, and I know he has popped in here once or twice and scanned our 'BA Scantool Fun' thread.

Feature Request: http://www.palmerperformance.com/forum/ ... pic=1187.0

Note: If any of you are interested in some of the features I mention in the thread, feel free to register and say 'hey yeah, I want that too...!'


Lukeyson

Brashimports, that was it.

Well, they still have Antenna's for TV tuning, but I remember they used to stock and sell all sorts of mobile digital tv receivers. I'd heard that watching digital TV while moving was very problemtaic though, maybe that's why they dropped a lot of stuff.

http://www.brashimports.com.au/

Lukeyson

Grr. Struggle Street.

I can get the chipset to output OK with VGA only, but I'm kinda keen to make sure the S-Video is working so I can get Headrest Screens playing in the future. It's not a huge thing right now, but it could have been.

I have just emailed Intel support to clarify whether the 945GC chipset is fully supported in the Intel IEGD 9.0.2 driver software.

In this custom-driver IEGD software, TV-Out is not available on the Standard 945G configuration. I tried enabling the SDVO-B Port, but for some reason it became the primary display and the VGA the secondary. Not at all what I want either.

TV-Out IS available in the 945GM/GME configuration, which is what was in the Fujitsu Minibook and is what I did the proof-of-concept with, but that's not really the chipset I have now is it.

I'll report back in a day or two when/if I get a response.

But in the meantime I got myself a nice sheet of 1.5mm steel finally to start making the Parcel Shelf mount for the case thaht I don't yet have.......I hope to play with that on the weekend and will take a bunch of measurements and snapshots.


Lukeyson

Some pictures of a GPS DVD bracket that I've found useful...

Thanks go to the user 'PeteandBren' on eBay for these. They didn't have to take pictures for me, but they did, and I appreciate it.


Lukeyson

 

 

Attachments:

P1030493.JPG [ 23.07 KiB | Viewed 240 times ]

P1030489.JPG [ 27.79 KiB | Viewed 245 times ]

P1030491.JPG [ 42.89 KiB | Viewed 275 times ]

P1030483.JPG [ 35.81 KiB | Viewed 223 times ]

thanks for your thread man helps out heaps ....

Bastards!

I got a reply back from Intel

-------
We confirm IEGD 9.0.2 is not intended for the Intel(R) 945GC, which is the chipset your Intel(R) Desktop Board D945GCLF2 features (see http://tinyurl.com/c8ck2e); see the following URL: http://tinyurl.com/d43tlu

The correct graphics driver for the Intel(R) Desktop Board D945GCLF2 is posted here:

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Product ... uctID=2926
-------

So I emailed back how I was quite unhappy about the situation, how the D945GCLF2 is an ideal 'Embedded' system for a CarPC or an Arcade Console and I was boggled that the 'Intel Embedded' drivers do not support it. Is support for the 945GC coming in the future? Could support for the 945GC please be added? Intel is such an excellent company... yada yada yada

I can get the custom resolution to work if I configure the system as a 945G, but then I lose TV-Out functionality in order to play Movies on any rear headrests (Zone2) that I might install. I guess I'll be losing that feature for now then.....


Luke

Bugger.

Less than ideal for your future plans but hopefully your chipset may be supported by the appropriate drivers down the track. At least someone is communicating with you. There are plenty of hardware manufacturers who don't give a rats about the end user.

Looking forward to your updates...

Ive always found Intel to be good in that regard. Few years ago we had some issues with Intel NICs, took some time and involved Microsoft as well, but it got sorted.

OK, I still haven't made much progress on getting VGA and sVideo to work at the same time. I tried a few permutations and combinations today, with varying degrees of success. I'll have to be a bit more scientific in my collection of results because with so many different options I got myself all twisted up and started to forgot what worked and what didin't...

Anyway, in lieu of progress there, I decided to make some progress on checking the dimensions of the GPS/Sat Nav cavity under the right rear parcel shelf to see what would fit. It's a bit smaller than I would have liked, but the good news is that the area isi a little bit flexible when it comes to the parcel-shelf-underside-liner.

Keep in mind that some common mini-itx carpc enclosures have these dimensions in mm:

Mini-box VoomPC: 210(W) x 254(L) x 56(H)
Mini-box VoomPC2: 210(W) x 265(L) x 66(H)

MCS 4th Gen Mini-ITX: 235(W) x 254(L) x 80(H)
MCS 4th Gen Mini-ITX with PCI(New!): 235(W) x 254(L) x 80(H)

The new PCI case is worthy of a link: http://store.mo-co-so.com/index.php?mai ... cts_id=193

So here are some pics to show what I discovered.








Lukeyson

You dimensions are looking tight.

My question is, do you need it IN a case. Just use the motherboard mount, keep the top (bottom when mounted I guess?) open - will give you more room for cables and such?

There's also plenty of cabling options, right angle adaptors and such. Or DIY cables.