SupraCoup3

well, it would depend on what you're building.

There's two processors for ITX computers. The C3 and the Eden. The edens are slower, but don't use a fan... the C3s are faster, but they need one.

The C3s are cheaper. a $100 800 Mhz C3 mobo will more than do the job. You can choose to go with a USB 6 channel sound card (they've gotten better since USB sound cars were first introduced a while back) and have surround sound DVD action for far less than an alpine.

If the noise of the C3 bothers you, you have two options:

1) buy a more expensive and slow Eden
2) Remove the stock (crappy) heatsink and install a pentium 3 copper heatsink that will do a much better job.

http://www.essencompu.com/icywebstor...12&ob=0&bImg=1

Essential Computers in NY has been pretty good -- they pickup the phone when I call (doesn't happen that often with online vendors) and their RMA process is painless.

The VIA motherboards have built in mpeg-2 decoder, so DVDs aren't decoded by the CPU -- it's offloaded to another chip... a pretty cool feature that PC makers ditched once the 400-500 Mhz barrier was broken.

For a machine that's on a relatively light duty cycle, DDR ram isn't a real need, and a super fast desktop hard drive isn't either... infact that small form factor (2.5") of a laptop HDD is quite an asset, as well as the quiet operation and lower power consumption (really important when you're running off of your battery!)

Ahh... time for bed. Big meet tmr at my house... and I'll be the only SC that shows up.

nextlevelcoupe

iTrader: (1)

i've been keeping an eye on this project for some time now and i must say that audi install is the best so far. i was told of someone in my area who is a software engineer from the e46 forums that has internet access,full multimedia capabilities,on screen keyboard,navigation,etc-all in a very clean installation for his bimmer(all for under $2000k). i will contact this person, evaluate it for myself and take plenty pics...till then, here is some more info: http://www.carcpu.com/

SupraCoup3

Internet access: wireless USB card: less than $50 (or a PCS card for 80 bucks a month and have it anywhere)
onscreen keyboard: built into windows XP
Navigation software: ??
Multimedia: 40 GB laptop HDD, DVD drive, soundcard (as mentioned before)


There is NOTHING magic about what these guys are doing. Carputer interfaces are floating around the web -- ones that are voice activated (using MSAgent -- free) and all sorts of fun stuff.

It's just a computer, don't be scared

nextlevelcoupe

iTrader: (1)

well, let's explore this further and come up with a nice, clean package! quick idea:
maybe a 160 gb hh unit with ample cooling in a protective casing to be placed in the trunk -all wiring extended to a flush mounted touch screen monitor and all usb ports,dvd rw/cd rw drive nicely placed in center console... the possibilities are endless.... it MUST look stock though,i'm all for it-if it is an extremely clean install!!!!!

AutoCoutureSC

iTrader: (8)

exactly!

aliga

iTrader: (147)

i agree not scary, but there are so many options to choose from! just want to make the purchase once, and not make any mistakes.

jrj102

Interesting coincidence...

I'm a software developer, and I've been working on a full software package for my own "carputer" that I was planning on building. Alas, I won't be done anytime soon (I'm not currently expecting to hit beta for another 3-4 months, since this is being done in my free time) but I'll post information as the system starts getting closer to done.

The screenshots below are actually from a "working version" although the spectrum analyzer is only an image-- I haven't implemented it yet.





After about a month and a half of work, I've already implemented most of the music and video functionality (which automatically grabs videos, music, and television shows from the Media Center PC in my living room via a wi-fi connection) and simple traffic and weather reports (via wi-fi or blutooth phone, whichever is available) but still need to work out what software I can use for navigation. (It must be something that has an application programmer interface so I can make it fully integrated.)

I also plan on implementing some integration with the car, although that will probably be in the next version. (there are serial interfaces to the onboard computer and engine management systems.)

Should be fun. I'll be watching the folks doing the work on the hardware side with interest! That Audi looked so perfectly implemented...

nk1983

WOW jrj 102

If and when you do complete it Ill be one of the first in line wanting it!!

keep up the good work. And I vote for a bump up in priorities for this project.

EUROJulian

Very interesting thread.
Car comp is the only one thing I would like to do in media department. I`m perfectly happy with improved Pioneer system Lexus instaled, and I do not want to make any permanent changes to the dashboard.

This is my thinking on the subject:

First what do I want comp to do:
-navigation
-internet
-DVD
-security cameras (I want cop camera on the dash with standard half hour recording time memory, I would appreciate input on how to set it up software/hardware wise...)

CPU. There are mini comps aviable starting as low as $400 I belive, why to build ugly box for? Natural place to put comp is glove box. It is kinda small on my `92 SC4. I hope I can find mini comp that fit there. If not there is enough room under arm rest. Would be even easier to change DVDs in that location

Monitor placement. Folding cupholder slot on the dash is a natural spot to mount monitor. Custom bracket would have o be made that use cup holder slot.
What are your thoughts on monitor size?

Ctrl device. Track ball placed in front of the armrest in the cupholder hole. There is also phone microswitch on the steering wheel. It would be nice to incorporate it into multimedia. Ideas?

GPS. Wireless GPS receiver on the dashboard.

Cameras. one on the dash, one on the trunk.

jrj102

Well, let me walk through some of the features I had planned, but in a more generic way so that it is applicable to any car computer... (If anyone else built a system that did all these things I would gladly buy IT instead of spending all this time and energy building my own software!)

MUSIC
Obviously, the system needs to be able to play MP3/WMA/AAC files. It should have a reasonably easy to use browse metaphor, as well as the ability to create and play playlists. It should display the album cover art, track name, album name, etc. persistently regardless of the action being performed. (in other words, if I am in the navigation screen, I still want to see what song is playing.) (I've got this working already.)

VIDEOS
Similar browse functionality to the music... I want to be able to store a bunch of TV shows, movies, etc. on the hard drive, and watch them full screen on demand. Pretty simple functionality. (I've got this working already.)

TRAFFIC
Where I live, there is a web page that you can go to and view the current traffic conditions on the various freeways and bridges. Here's a link System needs to be able to pull this up on demand. (I have this working already.)

NAVIGATION
This is pretty much the second most important functionality-- GPS-based navigation and mapping. I haven't quite selected the software here, but I've narrowed the choices. The key (at least for me) is that I need to be able to integrate it into the rest of the system-- I don't want to ever leave my "environment" and make it feel like a standard Windows box.

CALENDAR
The system should be able to sync up with my calendar and show me my next few appointments in a non-intrusive way. (I have this working already, but it is buggy.)

AUDIO MEMOS
I should be able to use the device as an audio recorder. These notes should sync up with my Outlook install, similar conceptually to the way a PocketPC works. This would be really handy for the occsaional "note to self" without diverting your attention from the road. It also gives me a reason to add a good microphone, which will be needed by some future feature implementations.

NEWS
I want to be able to pull up news stories (via RSS) when the car has connectivity, but then when I'm stuck in traffic have the system read them to me. (I've already built the part that grabs and organizes the news stories, haven't set up the speach yet.)

REAR VIEW MIRROR CAMERA
I plan on eventually adding the ability to view a rear-view-mirror-camera. Ideally, it would trigger when the car goes into reverse, although this might not be possible. I like EUROJulian's idea of multiple cameras-- I may integrate this. However, this is defintely a "version 2.0" feature.

SYNC/CONNECTION
Here's the plan, although I'm nowhere near getting this done yet. (Currently, the system is just running on a standard Windows machine that's always connected to the network.) The car pc should have WiFi connectivity. When you put the car in Park and turn off the ignition, the PC would get a "shutdown" message. (I'd use the built-in UPS functionality in Windows for this.) The shutdown message would initiate the following:

Check to see if it has a local area connection. (Meaning it is in the garage, within WiFi range of the house.) If so, grab any new videos and/or music from the file server. Do a full sync of traffic, weather, news, and calendar information. When the sync is done, go into hibernation mode. (This means it will draw zero power, and not drain the battery.)

If it doesn't have local area connection, simply go into "hibernation" mode.

When the car is started (if WiFi is available), the system would come out of hybernation, and do a sync of traffic, weather, and news. This should happen VERY fast-- before I get out of the garage.

Any time the car is running, the system would be scanning for open wi-fi connections. If it finds one, it would use it to do a sync of traffic, news, and calendar information via the Internet. I'd also like to implement it so that if WiFi is unavaiable it could do these things through the phone's connectivity. (We're only talking about a very small amount of data-- well under 100K.) I'm also thinking about having it log the access points it finds to a database, including Lat/Long coordinates from the GPS... Automatic war driving whereever I go!

Now... a couple of things that I'm thinking about for future versions:

FULL PHONE INTEGRATION
I'd love it if I could figure out how to make the car computer act as a hands-free device for any nearby bluetooth phone. I'd like to be able to dial, talk, answer calls, etc. I'd also like to be able to browse the contacts list on the phone, recent call log, etc. This is a pretty big undertaking, though-- not sure if I'll ever get to this.

CAR SYSTEM INTEGRATION
Although I'd never want to get to the point of the computer CONTROLLING the systems in the car, I'd love for it to consume the information that is available. There's a TON of (read-only) data that you can get from the diagnostic computer via serial... I think it would be neat to be able to call this up on the screen. However, this is just a "neat to have" fun feature, not something that I absolutely need, so it is way on the back burner.

FULL SPEACH COMMAND
Since the Lex is so quiet, I think it would be possible to do a good job of speach command. I'd love to be able to say "Lexus, bring up traffic report." We'll see... I haven't really looked at the Microsoft Speach APIs yet-- when I'm doing the news text to speach I'll see how practical this is.

EMAIL
I considered maybe adding a simple email client to the system-- perhaps it could download your email when you get in the car... and then you could have it read your email to you. However, without the ability to respond I don't know how useful this would be... I'll think about this more in depth as version 1.0 is closer to being done.

Anyway... that's the stuff I had been thinking about. I'd love to hear any suggestions on how I could improve the system.

nk1983

Honestly I think you have most of your bases covered pretty well already.
It seems like you have alot of your stuff already working as well which is great!.

I would like video recording ability as well ...that would definitely be nice. Of course I would also like complete audio video control of all other screens in my car. It would be cool if the software could work like a video switcher and have my other screens play video while I have nav up etc. ( dont know if thats possible but dont see why not? other than that the voice activation seems key for maximum james bond appeal.

Keep up the good work man ( although im sure its a pain in the pants)

Bean

iTrader: (1)

just wondering why you guys are so stuck on cramming it in the glovebox?

put it under the driver or passenger seat... they make plenty of ITX cases that can easily fit under there... you can also easily run the video and usb wires to a lcd screen with touchscreen input under the center console to the radio area, etc...

most people will probably use a larger hd, but the smallest cases are made for laptop drives only... they are far far smaller, and they have to use special power supplies... the laptop drive also puts off much less heat and consumes less power...
one solution is to use a external usb drive when you want to port your mp3s around, since it'd be easy to unplug and take into your home to download more mp3s

silversprucesc3

I am all over this thread as well... With all the technology and software available I think a carputer is the way to go. It would be great if our technical guys can coordinate a functional and cost effective set-up for easier installation in our SC's.

my 2 cents.... Is it worth considering using a laptop as the cpu with wiring to a seperate monitor located in the console? Could that monitor then be set-up to fully funciton the laptop which could be located under the passenger seat? Maybe that resolves the issus with heat and allows the laptop to function as a dvd/mps/cdr/navi player etc. I thought this may not be a bad idea for those with laptops and would only require wiring, flatscreen and adapters?
Blktiger

ACleanSC4

iTrader: (7)

JRJ: There are already some carputer interfaces such as Media Car, Media Engine, Frodoplayer, AutoTouch, etc...they offer a lot of the things you mentioned and they are freeware!

Having stock front seats might be a pain to put an ITX case under there because of the enormous motors there...once I put my Recaro seats in, I might be able to utilize those areas.

I will be working on a custom spoiler with built in reverse camera like the Soarers and an interior camera (still looking for a good spot)...

Doing this carputer is like modding your car, there are endless things to do and everyone's will be different. I can tell this will be very popular in the near future...

EUROJulian

In my case I want mini comp with CDROM driver build in. Why to have separate driver for? You still have to place that separate driver somwhere for easy axcess...

Next I live in semi tropical climate, with street flooding. I do not want no electronics on the floor of the car. One can always dry his carpet, but no computer.

Lastly take look on those ready made mini mobile comps at http://www.logisysus.com/product/mobile.htm