Just lettin you all know i have installed a pentium 3 laptop under the passenger seat of my BA fairmont ghia, i also installed a lcd 5' screen next to the power output and tapped in to its power supply to fire the screen.
i installed the connection for the sterio input (thanks fordmods) and wired that to the laptop. the laptop is programed to fire up win amp when turned on and i use a x-box remote (via a joybox usb converter) to run through the playlists. it is also used as a dvd player and ultimatly a gps unit will run off i

Hey Mate,

Great to see some more people getting into it.

I'm in the middle of doing a similar thing. I've got everything I need, except my screen is with FedEx in Alexandria at the moment, just waiting for it to be cleared by customs

I'm using an IBM Netvista PC. Its a Small Form Factor PC (8.5cm high) and its a perfect fit to go under the seat. Its 2.2Ghz, 512MB Ram, 40GB HDD, 6x USB and a 16x DVD.

The original idea was to use it to tune and monitor the MoTeC ECU, but the project expanded to being able to watch DVD's, Satelite Navigation, Full time Internet via GPRS and maybe play some MP3's/mpegs/Divx.

GPRS is a no brainer these days. Vodafone offers ~$79/mo 'unlimited data' GPRS. Their idea of unlimited is 500mb.. but thats plenty for using while u drive

Sat Nav will be done with a USB GPS Receiver (erm.. Holux is the brand, can't recall the model number) and i'll be using NavRoute's software called Co-Pilot Laptop 7. It is VERY well featured and has regular map updates based on UBD/Whereis/Sensis data and includes maps for all of Australia. It has all the usual stuff, like voice prompting, Places of interest, etc.

It will be powered using a 12V 150W DC-DC power supply and a Power Regulator/Power Logic device to ensure the PC 'sleeps' when the car is 'armed' via the smartlock keyfob, and power back up when i hit the IGN.

The screen is a full custom job. Xenarc 7" TFT, Touchscreen with VGA inputs and best of all - motorised in-dash.

Cheeeers !

yeah your setup is going to be sweet brad.
i think im going to go down a similar line once i get my new car sorted out
as usual you can be the test bunny

Touch screen!!


Thats a great idea, but i am no computer wiz myself, i am more of a elec person!! the setup you have sounds great, you will have to post some pics when you are all done. another thing mine has is a wireless lan link in it so i can download all the new music and stuff straght in it of my home pc, works well.

Good luck with it,

Rossco

Waggin's such a G33K!!!

I'm looking forward to playing with his toys though

ermmm...not the motorised variety...(except the motorised screen )

Ah yeh.. I forgot wireless. USB 802.11g. For the same reason - so i can upload/download software from home, or from laptops in my car, or even laptops and in-car PC's in OTHER cars that may be travelling in convoy. Imagine a convoy of a few cars travelling interstate, all being able to share music, chat online, do Voice over IP, play head to head games.

Another thing which i'm looking into is multiple Ethernet or USB camera's so I can record from several locations in and around the car. Front bumper, rear bumper and looking forward from the center rear vision mirror Get footage of youre runs at the local drag strip, or capture footage of accidents to prove that youre innocent!

There are sooo many cool things which can be done. Alot of fun to be had.

Im just disappointed that I don't actually drive the car its going into that often

Just drive it more once you've sorted the MoTeC of course....
Driving it like it is now would bankrupt you

I pulled into the Mobil the other night, after getting a huge 170KM out of 75L.. and saw the $1.27/L price on Mobil8000. I turned around and headed to Daves place to swap back to the Ghia. Long life LPG!

Capture cards are cheap as chips these days !
It means that you can use standard Composite Cameras that run off 12V, and off the shelf DVR software to record video....

Just a thought, as a Colour 320 TV Line Pal CCD Camera can be bought for less than $100
and a 4 Channel capture card can be bought for as cheap $20 - $40

And another bonus, the DVR Software supports Remote Viewing over IP, using either a web browser, or dedicated remote viewing software....

Would be very interesting for others to watch an car footage of you from their car, whilst you drive ?!?!?!?!

Oh P.S.

Please anyone with Incar Computer Systems PLEASE post up pics and details !

The company that I am working for is seriously looking at fitting out its fleet of EF/EL cars with P.C.s for GPS monitoring, and back to base data comms, and I need some ideas, and rough pricing of LCD Screens, and power supply set-ups.

For a company GPS tracking system use PocketPCs not full blown systems. s**t for the price of stuff you guys are putting in get an iPAQ hx4700 or Dell X50v. Bit of playing with those, fleshing them out with a couple of expansion cards and you're set plus they already have car chargers, VGA touch screens and with the X50v it has video out. The hx4700 has a USB port - grab a maxtor 300Gb external drive and inverter and that's more songs/dvds than you could use on any trip

Both those come with bluetooth/802.11b/SDIO/CFII the only thing you miss out on is 5.1+ sound

Yeah, we have been playing with Viewsonic V37's and SDIO Wifi Cards.
(This solution costs us roughly $250 a pop, but we have cradles that hold em in a nice position, and we use nokia car charges to power em / charge em up)
Our first problem with Pocket PC's is that we want to run software on the things that update a backend database (MySQL on Linux).

I have been doing a fair bit of vb.net programming in the last 6 months, so the code for PPC2003 isnt a problem, but syncing to the database is proving to be a headache.

We can store data on the Pocket PCs as XML (Slow), Access (Yeuch), or run MS-SQL Ce server (Prolly the way to go).
MS-SQL CE will replicate changed data with MS-SQL Server, but it also requires MS IIS Server, as it pa.rses the data as XML...
This is what is causing us problems at the moment, as there is no nice way to replicate the data from MS-SQL to Mysql.

The second problem that we have is that the SDIO Wifi Cards suck.
I still havent got a wifi connection to last more than a minute or so with the damm things, and they chew the Viewsonic batteries up in a couple of hours, even with the card shut down via software....

I think the Ipaqs would be 1000% better than the SDIO Wifi / Viewsonic crap we are running at the moment, But I still dont have an easy solution for the Database Replication yet.

Apart from that, its a real pity, as Pocket PCs would have allowed us to go fully mobile, and create reports and enter data outside of the patrol car.
We are even exploring PocketPC's with an in car PC with no display, and using the incar PC purely as a datastore / Net Access Machine, which saves us $$$$ on an LCD Monitor, and Keyboard / Mouse solution.

I read something quite a while back about desktop power suplys that run of 12 V so you can plug straight into the cars power.
Does anyone know where i could buy one of these?

xyphoid:

The company I work for does a lot of data replication with PPCs. We do exactly what you are trying to do and have been doing it since the greyscale models Our replication engine is very powerful and fully customizable. If you want any more info go to www.syncit.com.au or PM me and I'll give you contact details.

Think i've covered it before a few times but i'm running a carputer in the boot of the EF.

6.5" TFT sits up front, audio wired through AUX input on deck.

So far running MP3 and DVD ok. Will be going to GPS and wireless internet, in similar manner to Brad.

Pretty basic setup. AMD Athlon, full-size mobo, power inverter etc.

Have a few pics if anyone wants to host.