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So, I've always wanted to do an in-car PC. A few things that are keeping me from it now:

1. Cost
2. Relocation of headunit (I've got an 04 and I wan't to keep my cupholders)
3. Finding the right touch screen

If anyone has ideas for the cheapest possible way to do this, I might actually do it once I sell one of my cars. Any good suggestions.

 
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try here. http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/

 
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Why keep the head unit? Just get an FM tuner if you listen to the radio a lot, and copy all your cd's on to the hard drive

 
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Because sound cards don't have 4 volt preouts

No worries though. Since this post

I've relocated the HU
http://www.7thgencivic.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=185491

I've found a viable cost solution

I've found the right screen.

 
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Well, post up what you're looking at getting for the setup...

 
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I know I'm getting the Liliput 7" touch. I'm thinking about going shuttle instead of Micro-Itx. I really don't have a need to go that small, and I'd like to save some $ on it. I'll put the shuttle case in the trunk, behind my baffle with good ventilation and fans, and I'll run an external USB notebook dvd drive which I'll mount in the dash.

 
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what does it matter if your deck has 4 volt preouts, if the preout from your sound card to your deck aux in isnt 4 volts? you will already lose the signal there and won't gain it back by having 4v deck preouts

if you want to save your amps gain, get a line driver and just adjust that so you can put your gain as low as possible

 
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Hmm, I'm thinking of doing the same thing, but having a docking station for my laptop under the drivers seat, and running the scren in the glovebox for shows. Since I tune from my laptop with a passenger running emanage/zeitronix anyways, I think this will be a cheaper alternative route for people to take, if you have a spare laptop =) Just offering other suggestions =) You could also get a kenwood screen (I have a 6.5 inch) that plays dvds and such and dosent fold out but is always viewable (double din) then hook the carputer to that =) You prob saw my setup on the "lcd gauge cluster" thread

 
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I dont know how far youve gone with this, but I personally would find it a pain in the **** to have to scootch my seat forward every time I took the laptop out to the car and brought it back.

I would suggest if you havent installed it yet to go for the trunk. its the easiest solution thats highly functional. I would make a box with a piano hinge out of 1/2 inch MDF. even better, I would build a compartment under the spare tire well. whichever suited my aesthetic/functional fancy. popping the trunk is a breeze, and I dont have to torso turn my lazy self or scootch seats around when I wanted to run the computer!

But I definitely agree that the best best budget in car computer is a laptop/docking solution

 
Rep Power: 310

Mega, true I won't keep my preout voltage from an aux in from a sound card. But I'm not looking for sound quality there. It's when i play CDs from my HU that I'll care about SQ. For instance, I'm showing off my system to someone or I just feel like hearing my Quarts sing to me, I'll pop in a CD. If I just wanna shuffle through the 10,000+ songs on my PC, I'll deal with the SQ loss.


Laptop is a good budget car-computer, only if you've got one already. If not, it would be more expensive to buy one to use. Also, The laptop is the least versatile. you can only add external USB devices and I thinks it's a PITB to take a laptop out of the car when I stop as well - I'm too lazy to take off my frigign face plate.

BTW Scoootch is an awesome word.

 
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I meant use the laptop only for tlike shows LOL, my laptop sits in the passengers lap when were doing tunning and readouts =)

 
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Fine. That doesnt' change the fact that scootch is an awesome word. LOL

 
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aight, i was going to do the same thing, after i worked a lil with Tang a member here (which has a carputer) i decided to op for a mod'd xbox, it will do anything that the carputer will do and then some. the hardest thing about the mod'd xbox is that it is soooo big, and as of now the only way to get a touch screen to work with it is to load it with linux. but thats no biggie, i have it wired to a fold out in dash screen and use the dvd remote to navigate around. I have a 200 gig hd in it so i can store all the movies, games (xbox and other formats), music, pictures, and other things on it.

it cost the price of an xbox, and the price of the hd and the chip. Overall i paid 150 for a referb xbox, 60 for installation of everything and the chip, and 70 for the harddrive, ohh yah and 9 bucks for a cable extention and 12 for a dvd remote. it beats a carputer.....hands down

 
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That's not much cheaper than a carputer. You could get a Micro Mobo for 60 and a CPU for 50. Add some memory for 50, a HDD for 70. the big difference is that you aren't working with a refurb. Tell me a little more about the XBOX thing, I haven't heard about using a Modded one. What chip are we talking about. How fast does it process? How upgradable is it? Can it wardrive to access wifi? Network with home PCs? Nav? Phone tools?

 
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Meh, I'd still rather have an actual pc setup than a modded xdox. widelss keyboard/mouse own dvd remote LOL

 
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what about a power supply? An opus isnt that cheap, and going dc-aci nverter-back to computer powersupply isnt power efficient. It creates heat and induces noise into your system.

 
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True, Opus' are expensive. But how do you power a modded XBox? No one has stepped forward with any info yet.

 
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im guessin use an ac inventer? I've never seen an xvox before, does the power cable have an invertor outside of the xbox itself, or does the power cable just supply 110v to the unit?

 
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True, soundcards and stuff don't have 4v preouts, but there's not much in terms of a negative effect, at least not that I can hear. I've had an amp and a pair of 6 1/2" speakers running off my laptop for a while now, I only change it when I'm watching a movie and want surround sound. I had to pack everything up, but I can have it all hooked back up in no time flat, and if I can find my microphone, I can record how it sounds tomorrow. Trust me on this, it works, and it works damn good for all the little inconsistencies that people stress over with a good setup. As soon as I get another car, this is gonna be my setup....hopefully I can find a car soon.

 
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ac invertor, after turn on it takes appx 10-20 sec to load the programs from the start screen and then u select what u want. Check out www.xbox-scene.com for a ton of information. As for a keyboard and mouse owning a remote.......u cant drive and use a keyboard.....but if u want u can hook those up to an xbox.......there are many things out there for an xbox, and possibilites are endless. u can even put windows on it if u want......i wouldnt, but it can be done.......


and why put a pc in it if the xbox does more(copy games and play any xbox game, as well as emulators and such), i mean unless u are going to type a paper in ur car.....ohh btw u can check the weather and websites if u get a wireless connector......

 
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ohh yah if u go to mp3car.com and search for xbox install there is a guy that compares an in car pc to an xbox right down to size.........he went with an xbox!

 
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Cool, I'll do that. Good info guys.

 
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Yeah true, but I already have a 6.5 inch kenwood screen for movies and such in my dash, I'm only making the other carputer in my glove box for show, I'll only use it like once every mon th mabeh lol.. also I already have a laptop, so it IS cheraper than the exbox, smaller also =)