Sc300 - Carputer Almost done
Lexus Champion
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 2,328
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From: PHX
I was looking into this, but I think I'll hold off until Via rolls out their new Nano-ITX form factor -- 120MM x 120MM motherboard with VIA 6 Channel Audio, SATA, USB 2.0, VGA (S3 Unicrome or something), DDR SODIMM, and a miniPCI slot. /me drools
I was thinking I'd mount it under the passenger seat so I could still use my glove box and run the VGA & USB cable to the touch screen via the center console. This would allow me to quickly disconnect the actual computer and bring it inside for safe keeping & maintenance/upgrades/weight reduction :-).
I'm also planning on using it as my stereo system -- Surround sound anyone? This would also solve the conundrum of the ugly looking head unit upgrade. I have yet to see an aftermarket head unit in a SC that looks OEM & flows with the dash. 1 DIN is silly, and 2 DINs never have the same style buttons or interface.
Big Monkey, props on the interface -- it looks really clean and easy to use.
My one question is why a seagate 160? Isn't that a 7200 RPM drive? I'd think something spinning that fast would generate some heat (I've heard of seagates cooking themselves off). With a 1 GHz Via CPU, you're not screaming anyways. That all said, I'd still be tempted to do RAID-0 if the mobo supported it :-)
Hmmm.. thinking of RAID-0. Why not try for an Athlon64 mATX? bah... power problems galore.
Anyway, very sweet -- can't wait to see the finished product.
if you're looking and wondering what the heck this ITX stuff is, check out www.mini-itx.com/ they've got a list of inane and crazy m-ITX installs. Along with some nano-ITX teasers!
John
(Former
) IT Director
Lexus & Toyota of Watertown
I was thinking I'd mount it under the passenger seat so I could still use my glove box and run the VGA & USB cable to the touch screen via the center console. This would allow me to quickly disconnect the actual computer and bring it inside for safe keeping & maintenance/upgrades/weight reduction :-).
I'm also planning on using it as my stereo system -- Surround sound anyone? This would also solve the conundrum of the ugly looking head unit upgrade. I have yet to see an aftermarket head unit in a SC that looks OEM & flows with the dash. 1 DIN is silly, and 2 DINs never have the same style buttons or interface.
Big Monkey, props on the interface -- it looks really clean and easy to use.
My one question is why a seagate 160? Isn't that a 7200 RPM drive? I'd think something spinning that fast would generate some heat (I've heard of seagates cooking themselves off). With a 1 GHz Via CPU, you're not screaming anyways. That all said, I'd still be tempted to do RAID-0 if the mobo supported it :-)
Hmmm.. thinking of RAID-0. Why not try for an Athlon64 mATX? bah... power problems galore.
Anyway, very sweet -- can't wait to see the finished product.
if you're looking and wondering what the heck this ITX stuff is, check out www.mini-itx.com/ they've got a list of inane and crazy m-ITX installs. Along with some nano-ITX teasers!
John
(Former
) IT DirectorLexus & Toyota of Watertown
Lexus Champion
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 1,729
Likes: 2
From: California
Originally posted by SupraCoup3
I was looking into this, but I think I'll hold off until Via rolls out their new Nano-ITX form factor -- 120MM x 120MM motherboard with VIA 6 Channel Audio, SATA, USB 2.0, VGA (S3 Unicrome or something), DDR SODIMM, and a miniPCI slot. /me drools
I was looking into this, but I think I'll hold off until Via rolls out their new Nano-ITX form factor -- 120MM x 120MM motherboard with VIA 6 Channel Audio, SATA, USB 2.0, VGA (S3 Unicrome or something), DDR SODIMM, and a miniPCI slot. /me drools
Lexus Champion
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 2,328
Likes: 2
From: PHX
oh crap, why'd you have to tell me that?
Where'd you get it? I thought via hadn't rolled them out yet? (the n-ITX & m-ITX equipment isn't as easy to find as the regular stuff -- THG doesn't devote much to it, and newegg doesn't do jack!)
C'mon, spill the goods! :-)
JT
Where'd you get it? I thought via hadn't rolled them out yet? (the n-ITX & m-ITX equipment isn't as easy to find as the regular stuff -- THG doesn't devote much to it, and newegg doesn't do jack!)
C'mon, spill the goods! :-)
JT
Thread Starter
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Joined: Jun 2002
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From: New Jersey
Hermosa: You can get Mediacar and those skins on mp3car.com.
John: Why 160GB seagate? Because its cost only $80. I mounted the drive externally away from the glove compartment so the heat that drive generate isn't an issue for me. I use carputer mainly for mp3 and GPS, so i figure a faster transfer rate drive will help reduce the skipping. At home I tested both the 5400 and 7200RPM and the 5400 does skip once in a while. I looked at the 2.5mm drives and that might be my next upgrade.
LOL I know about the ITX stuffs... My MB is a mini-ITX... I read alot about the new nano-itx but didn't know that Hermosa beat me to one ....
John: Why 160GB seagate? Because its cost only $80. I mounted the drive externally away from the glove compartment so the heat that drive generate isn't an issue for me. I use carputer mainly for mp3 and GPS, so i figure a faster transfer rate drive will help reduce the skipping. At home I tested both the 5400 and 7200RPM and the 5400 does skip once in a while. I looked at the 2.5mm drives and that might be my next upgrade.
LOL I know about the ITX stuffs... My MB is a mini-ITX... I read alot about the new nano-itx but didn't know that Hermosa beat me to one ....
Lexus Champion
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 2,328
Likes: 2
From: PHX
hmm...well... 80 bucks for a seagate 160 is a hard deal to pass by! I posted that link not for you, but for other people looking at your setup and thinking "how is that possible?" Seeing as how you have an ITX mobo I'm sure you visited all those sites long ago.
2.5 HDDs spin at 4200 RPMs some at 5400
but the big thing about the rotational speed: It's got nothing to do with throughput. It's seek time.
10,000 RPM = 5.x ms seek time
7200 = ~8.5 ms seek time.
5400 = 12 ms or so
I can't see how a 5400 RPM ATA 100 drive can't sustain a ~34-75 K/S transfer rate needed to decode a mp3. If it really was the rotational speed that causes skipping, then laptops wouldn't be able to play mp3s, because most of the HDDs in laptops are 4200 RPM, with newer laptops having 5400 RPM drives.
Unless you buy a laptop from voodoopc -- then it'll have a 7200 RPM laptop drive, but an hour of battery life!
I think the skipping is due to CPU cycles getting sucked up -- some service or application running in the background that consumes all your resources.
just my .02
John
2.5 HDDs spin at 4200 RPMs some at 5400
but the big thing about the rotational speed: It's got nothing to do with throughput. It's seek time.
10,000 RPM = 5.x ms seek time
7200 = ~8.5 ms seek time.
5400 = 12 ms or so
I can't see how a 5400 RPM ATA 100 drive can't sustain a ~34-75 K/S transfer rate needed to decode a mp3. If it really was the rotational speed that causes skipping, then laptops wouldn't be able to play mp3s, because most of the HDDs in laptops are 4200 RPM, with newer laptops having 5400 RPM drives.
Unless you buy a laptop from voodoopc -- then it'll have a 7200 RPM laptop drive, but an hour of battery life!
I think the skipping is due to CPU cycles getting sucked up -- some service or application running in the background that consumes all your resources.
just my .02
John
Last edited by SupraCoup3; Apr 9, 2004 at 06:35 AM.
Pole Position
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 269
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From: California
Re: Carputer
Originally posted by mikeloc24
Bigmonkey70, that's hot! I love it...makes me think of the batmobile! That's so much more useful than a TV to have in your car. I started to get a tv in mine and then said to myself "dude, you watch tv at home, not on the road...you don't need that, it won't get you anymore punannie" Ha ha ha, but seriously that's hot. I give a thumbs up!
Bigmonkey70, that's hot! I love it...makes me think of the batmobile! That's so much more useful than a TV to have in your car. I started to get a tv in mine and then said to myself "dude, you watch tv at home, not on the road...you don't need that, it won't get you anymore punannie" Ha ha ha, but seriously that's hot. I give a thumbs up!
and sitcoms could always calm you down in the heat of traffic or during road rage.
Last edited by Suprast4R; Apr 9, 2004 at 05:12 PM.
Lexus Champion
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 2,328
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From: PHX
I'd say monty python's "always look on the bright side of life" is the best song for those days when a soccer mom screaming at her brat whilst driving a H2 nearly runs over you and your baby.
A close second could be the sign for route 1.
A close second could be the sign for route 1.
Bluegr*** Performance
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 1,532
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From: North Kentuckarolinay
Is there anything available on the market in a complet package that would do all this and engine management? Or is this all custom period? Really cool stuff.
Nevermind - found it.
Nevermind - found it.
Last edited by awj; Apr 11, 2004 at 07:03 AM.
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From: Maryland
Engine management might be a little tricky, but what you can do is "Engine viewing".
The 96 and after have the OBD-II sockets, which can easily be interfaced via a PC's serial port (or through the USB port with some converters). This provides data such as speed, rpm's and whatnot, which you could then write a program to display some cool gauges or just record data.
I want to say that the port updates itself at most once or twice every second, so getting a completly accuracte 1/4 mile time isn't really feasible, but theres lots of possibilities.
I have found with playing around with the car computers and stereos is that it is nice to still have a normal head unit vice just plugging the outputs of your computer straight into the amps. Having immediate access to a hard-wired volume control is nothing to take for granted (and before anybody says anything about Griffin Powermates and stuff, don't forget that a program needs to be running on a computer that is not in the middle of locking up in order for that volume control to work.
Sorry for the long post. Check out www.mp3car.com for lots of cool project ideas.
The 96 and after have the OBD-II sockets, which can easily be interfaced via a PC's serial port (or through the USB port with some converters). This provides data such as speed, rpm's and whatnot, which you could then write a program to display some cool gauges or just record data.
I want to say that the port updates itself at most once or twice every second, so getting a completly accuracte 1/4 mile time isn't really feasible, but theres lots of possibilities.
I have found with playing around with the car computers and stereos is that it is nice to still have a normal head unit vice just plugging the outputs of your computer straight into the amps. Having immediate access to a hard-wired volume control is nothing to take for granted (and before anybody says anything about Griffin Powermates and stuff, don't forget that a program needs to be running on a computer that is not in the middle of locking up in order for that volume control to work.
Sorry for the long post. Check out www.mp3car.com for lots of cool project ideas.
saw something in a paper ad the other day:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...1043&CatId=110
its the size of a ballpoint pen; only downside is 128mb RAM, its SODIMM, so toss in a 512 stick instead... and run a external usb harddrive under the passenger seat for your mp3s
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...1043&CatId=110
its the size of a ballpoint pen; only downside is 128mb RAM, its SODIMM, so toss in a 512 stick instead... and run a external usb harddrive under the passenger seat for your mp3s
You guys are awesome - props for the work!! I wish I had the ingenuity to come up with that!! I'm still trying to come up with an idea to fill a gap I have - if anyone feels like helping me with ideas I will send a pic of what I need to fill.
Thx and props once again,
Peace
Jonny
Drinkdontdrive@aol.com
Thx and props once again,
Peace
Jonny
Drinkdontdrive@aol.com
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