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i'm trying to hook up a laptop to a touchscreen and set that up as my main music source and for a gps. anyone have a carputer in their vic? any pics? or any DIY??

 
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there are a few people that have done in dash...ill try to get some links

edit here is a thread

http://www.7thgencivic.com/forums/sh...light=carputer

 
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search the site, mp3car.com is a good site to learn, "dannn" had one... lots of people do... search, you'll find a lot of stuff

 
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i had one for about 2 months until i realized it was just way too inconvenient. i barely ever used it. so i sold it, and bought a sony nw-hd5 (20gb ipod but smaller and cooler).

i only used my carputer for music. i went the power inverter-to-pc way..problems problems. if you wanna do a carputer u need to get a dc-to-dc power supplly like the opus. theyre expensive tho...and a bit limited (by their low watt output).

 
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ps- mp3car.com is the only site youll ever need for learning about carputers.

 
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ya i had one to, but i was just sick of it. Its was just never right and at end cost me a lot.

 
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yeah, i've been reading on mp3car.com alot nowadays (i think even more than this site). but i've only seen only 1 civic with a carputer there. i'd like to know where they relocated the AC button to. and they only put pics of bondoing and not the pics of when they are setting up their computers to their cars!!!

 
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check out the thread i linked to...it has pics of a lot of the work

 
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i was trying to make one...bought an older comp, liliput touch screen, inverter...then realized it was gonna cost way to much to play music/GPS in the car. Now i use my PDA w/ Bluetooth GPS to navigate and pretty soon i'm gonna get an Aux connector so i can hook it up to the stereo.

 
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is it still going to cost alot if you already have a laptop?

 
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J187 has one, there's a thread about it. Search please, this has been covered a lot.

 
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The computer is the cheap part. You still need a touchsceen and a DC-DC power supply. Those together will run you atleast $400 total. You can easily half *** it and use a crappy screen with rca inputs but the quality will be terrible. Also you could use an invertor instead of a DC-DC power supply and that would also be a serious mistake. I spent a lot of money buy half-assing it the first time and it is costing me a lot in the end. Make sure you get the right parts the first time around so you wont be replacing them later on.

 
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thats the way I went. I still cant figure out the best way to physically install it (if you come up with an idea, let me know)

still. you have a screen, power adapter, touch overlay, gps device itself, input devices, extensions, the list goes on. Since you want GPS you can't get an el cheapo boss screen and expect to be able to actually read anything, so you are stuck with a high cost there as well.

add all that up, you are looking at a minimum of $600. at least.

GPS is pretty nice though........

 
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How did you install yours that you dont think it is good?

 
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actually a screen and dc to dc power supply will run you more than $400 if you do it right. the fact is that cheap screen are very hard to see in the daylight. even a $300 screen wont cut it. as far as puting a laptop in your car- they sell special mounts for that kind of stuff- like the cops have ( http://www.ram-mount.com ). but you lose cabin space in front, and may be dangerous in an accident.

 
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LOLS THATS GHETTO, having your laptop sitting on one of those mounts.

 
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i'm in the process of engineering/saving up to put one into my car the way it looks i will be spending about $500 for the motorized in-dash screen, $150 for the DC-DC PS, and then about $300 for the computer not to mention the cables and fuses and connectors and prefab work to get it to look nice.. so probably come out around $1,000

 
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I have all the hub and connection equipment running to under the drivers seat. not a problem at all. everything else is where I like it. GPS under the dash (thanks derek!) keyboard in the sun visor, screen in dash and not motorized and impermanent, touchscreen overlay, equilizer controls, laptop power charger, the works.

laptop doesnt fit there. besides, even if it did, that means to hook everything up I would have to open the door, scoot the seat forward, lock the laptop into the docking station, scoot the seat back, THEN get in. And I can't have passengers in that seat, they cant be trusted.

trunk? Id have to open the trunk and open the false floor hatch every time to lock it in and out. and the cable extensions would be ridiculous.

glovebox? pass.

there was simply no place that I could get into the car FAST, then lock the laptop in, have it look good, and not have it accessible for passengers to **** up.

so I have it on a tail right now. I have all the cables I need are bundled in some cable hose so its nice and neat and organized, and then its zip tie mounted to the right seat rail, between the center console and the seat.

when I get in the car, I can jam in, then pull the tail out (about four feet long) and plug in all the connections. then place the laptop anywhere in the car from on anyone's lap to on the rear seat to in the rear seat footwell.

It's not THAT ugly.

but I dont like having to plug in four connectors every time I get into the car. a USB sound card will lower that to three, but I still want the simplicity of a dockingstation. thats the point! but its too cumbersome for in car use, in my car, and requires permanent mounting. I dont have space!

so I gave up that built in feel and perfect aesthetics for semi-better functionality. I dont like it, but I think its (for me, and that is important to say) the best I can get at this time.

any good ideas for locations? I'll tell you (for a laptop) all the pro's and con's. and whether itll be a pain in the **** to get going.

 
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i have a dell latitude d610- it's a small laptop, im thinking of putting it under my drivers seat. i've already put it there (as a test, to see how it looks), if you look from the outside, you can barely see it, but it's still visible).

i am planning on getting an external hd enclosure, mount that somewhere (not sure yet). and wire everything else up as normal. laptop will be in car all the time, won't be getting taken out at all. powering the laptop with a 350watt inverter (which i plan to replace with something else, if i get any problems.)

have a 7" 700tsv that will be in the dash, bondo's into place where the headunit was.

headunit will be in the pocket above the cupholders. almost done with all the planning, now its time to put everything together.

 
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I recommend a retractible in dash model. This lets you pivot and tilt the screen to avoid the sun no matter which way the car faces and the time of day. For the same reason, I prefer mechanical screens rather than motorized. I'm definitely in the minority of that faction, however.

I prefer Tripp Lite power supplies too, if you have access to those. I hate the idea of so much power conversion for the power supply, compared to a dell accessory cigarette lighter power adapter, but I think its the best way to go too. It lets you add a supernintendo in the future with little difficulty.

how do you plan to take care of rear passengers kicking your in car computer?

 
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jus buy a PSP and weld it onto the steering wheel

 
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i was thinking about getitng a indash that'll fold in/out, but i decided against it. i know i will get a lot of glare, but i guess it'll be ok...

i've already got the power supply, if it doesn't work out for me too good, i'll look into an alternative power supply.

as for powering my laptop, i will solder wires to the laptop on/off button, and wire it to a switch, where i'll turn it off/on.

i was thinking putting something over the laptop, like an acrylic box, that i'd have to make that'll fit right on the laptop, snug... w/vented holes to let air circulate.

as for having people not kick the laptop, the acrylic box may be the only thing i can do, if i decide to do that, it will be rare that i have anyone in my back seat anyways, but in case there is someone in my back seat, i'll advise them to take caution.

 
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best idea ever!

 
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arent there ways through the bios or through the OS to turn computers on and off through alternate means? I might check mp3car for that.

the way I see it, if you are taking the trouble to open up the case to solder wires off the power button, you may as well remove the lid and use the larger screen anyways. seems like a ton of trouble just to get a remote power button.

 
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yeah theirs a few ways to turn on the pc by not using the switch. Probably the easiest method is to use the Wake on Lan function in bios. It's been a while since I've actually used that function, so you'll have to research it for more detail.

Whiterabbit, while the gps antenna actually work under the dash?

 
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as long as there is only plastic above the reciever.

 
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good to know. is there a noticable signal degradation versus having it mounted outside of the car?

 
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absolutely. in my car, under the dash is about the same as on the rear deck. (I have dark metal flake tint). I've actually never tried hanging the reciever out of the window, but on the dash I lock about 6-7 satelites. putting the unit below the dash locks me 5-6 satelites and takes a good five seconds longer to get that lock.

the aestehtic value makes it worth it. especially if the alternative is the rear deck and identical performance anyways.

some of the other solutions others have used in the past is putting the reciever in the trunk. add some rubber and a magnet or a suction cup, and they pop the trunk, put the reciever on top of the trunk, then shut hte lid on the cable.

I dont like that at all. but I bet they get fantastic signal and instant satelite locks.

I dunno. all I need is four satelites, so a good 5-6 is good enough for me.

 
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cool, thanks for the info