PC in your C

[insomniak 0]

Posted a while ago about the Mini motherboards - and that it might be ideal for a car PC.

 

well.....

 

http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/bmwpc/

 

Looks big enough to fit in the space under the armrest thingy in the back.

[dinkus 10]

Holy thread resurrections, Batman! :lol:

 

So I have recently installed a huge load of Audioscape gear and as I now have a laptop that's tertiary to requirements as well as a very high-end soundcard for it, that it's time to get rid of that Pioneer thing, replace it with a touch screen and get this beauty rolling.

 

I've already got plans for the software side of things and will probably write my own interface for my DJ software, so not a problem there.

 

I've decided that I'll mount the laptop in the spare wheel well in the boot (the spare doesn't fit over my front wheels anyway!) and I'll run a KVM to the dash to run the screen. Will probably run USB down to the glovebox too so I can plug extra drives/wotnot in there.

 

I can wire up a COM port to control the amp and switch it on/off as it's needed.

 

The problem comes with regards to power. My initial plan was to wire the laptop charger into ignition-live, so it only charges the battery when the ignition is on.

 

The best way to run the laptop when you're not using it is in Hibernate, and I can probably trigger that from the ignition-live, via the aforementioned COM port (suggestions as to what kind of protection the COM port will need here - voltage regulator and/or resistor?).

 

My main issue though, is how you get the bugger to start up again. At the moment, you have to push the power button in order to get it to start up again after being in hibernation. I guess I could re-wire that button to something, but er what and, does anyone know if there a neater way of doing things?

 

In the mean time, I'll mostly be buying a car charger for my laptop to trial it on the Karmann trip 8)

 

*awaits Henny's arrival* :lol:

[Trig 0]

Sounds awesome. I want to do it as well! I'll have a spare laptop in a couple so make sure you compile a huuuage wiki article dinkus! :)

[dinkus 10]

TBH, I don't think the hardware is that hard, the main issue is getting the software to work on a touchscreen.

 

It's looking like I'll definitely be taking my laptop in the car for the Karmann trip tho, so I'll let you know how that goes and start looking into costs from there.

[G60Jet 1]

Some of the Seat guys are doing them too

http://www.seatcupra.net/users/pabs/dashconversion.htm

http://www.seatcupra.net/users/pabs/carPCboot.htm

[destructiv dave 0]

Dinkus,

 

Have a look at this site.

 

Even has a forum.

[dinkus 10]

Cheers for the link Dave - I've been looking on there already, but not found what I need yet...

 

Hmm, the Xenarc screens seem to be the ones to go for, but they're about £250...

[CraiG60 0]

if youve got a kenwood headunit they do a hard drive unit i got one off ebay for a £100

[Trig 0]

The mobile VAG-COM really apeals to me... :norty:

[dinkus 10]

if youve got a kenwood headunit they do a hard drive unit i got one off ebay for a £100

 

Aye, and I think Sony do them too, but where's the fun in that? :lol:

[Henny 0]

Right, power wise, use a feed from the electric windows via a relay... that way, it's and ignition live but, also allows you to keep the PC on after you've stopped the car until you open and close the drivers door... ;)

 

Hybernate's easy. Set the powersaving options in the bios to hybernate after a minute (or however you want) when not powered from mains... that way when your ignition (or window!) power cuts, the lappy powers itself for a minute and then hybernates itself... ;) I've rigged up a second power switch to mine (don't ask, it's not pretty! :lol: :twisted: ) which I've added into the dash so that I can simply tap it to un-hybernate the pc when I get back in the car... takes about the same amount of time as starting up my current car stereo! :lol:

 

I've got a lilliput screen (same as the one in the dutch Corrado earlier in this thread only in black) which I got off Ebay from the US for about £130 delivered... it's not the best TFT monitor I've ever seen, but it's perfectly good for use in a car! :lol: It also has a remote which you can program to do odd things too... ;)

 

If you've any other questions, pop 'em in this thread and I'll see if I can answer 'em... 8)

[Stan 24v 0]

Pics Henny ;)

[Trig 0]

Rig the power up to the window... sneaky. :)

 

So basically all you need to do is install a laptop in your boot with power from the leccy windows then connect a TFT display in the dash up to it?

[Henny 0]

Stan 24v, I will post some when I actually fit the thing... at the moment, it's a pile of components and wiring sat in my old bedroom at my parents while I try and work out WTF is wrong with the engine... :(

 

triggermyson, yup... use the laptop's powersaving to do the tricky bit of getting it to turn off after you switch off the ignition/leave the car for you... ;) Don't forget to relay the power feed from the 'leccy window brain else you'll pop the fuse when you're listening to your tunes and open the window! :lol:

[dinkus 10]

Blimey, that sounds a bit complicated - why don't you just take a feed off the current head unit wiring? That way the PC and screen will turn on/off at the same time... (i.e. it still runs with the ignition off, until you remove the key)

 

So the answer is - no way you know of to bring it back to life without some internal surgery to the laptop...bugger :(

 

The Lilliput screens sound alright, the Xernac ones sound a bit better (and indeed, a bit more expensive too), but I've asked Audioscape for their recommendation too...

 

Will have a look at the BIOS settings this evening and see if there's anything in there I may be able to use. I was thinking if it had something like WOL, I could find a hardware box that could send the WOL packet to the laptop when it senses power. Bit of a roundabout way of doing things tho, and I'm not entirely sure a hardware WOL box exists :lol:

 

Otherwise, I made a start on the touchscreen interface using http://www.autohotkey.com today - it's a piece of cake to use 8)

 

 

Edit: Hmm, it would appear that Wake on USB may be the answer... will have to see if my laptop supports it!

[Henny 0]

which head unit Dinkus? That's the whole point of the system I'm building... there is NO head unit.... ;) Why have a head unit when there's an amp in the boot anyway and the current head unit I'm using is just a HDD with a simple MP3 playing interface on it.... ;) :lol: Sounds time to lob in a touch screen and laptop and do the job properly... ;)

 

Oh, and my laptop needed internal surgery anyway to remove the smashed screen, so adding in 2 solder blobs onto the switch wasn't exactly a problem... ;)

 

There is a way to make it wake on LAN or modem in most bios's, so there's almost certainly a way of doing it over the serial port, or bodging up some electronics to the LAN port to make it wake up again without actually opening up the lappy...

[dinkus 10]

Er yeah, sorry, that's what I meant - there's gonna be a 7" Lilliput or similar touchscreen in the DIN hole in the dash, then laptop in boot that's hooked into the amp - so no head unit in the conventional sense.

 

But if you take the power from the head unit connector in the dash and run it to the laptop, you'll get both the screen in the dash and the laptop powering up at the same time (would that need to be on a relay?).

[Henny 0]

ah,you're assuming that my car HAS the original wiring for the headunit to stay on with the key in the ignition switch... :roll:

 

It doesn't... :oops: so I don't have that option....

[Trig 0]

I just had a cool thought of attaching a small keyboard to the sunvisor and running the cable through the headlining and into the boot for some flip down forum action in wifi hotspots ;)

 

...how geeky is this thread? :)

[dinkus 10]

Ahhhhh ok, *now* it becomes clear :lol:

 

Apparently the remote control signal to the amp is just an ignition live signal, so I have 2 options:

 

Either take a branch off my ign-live feed to the boot that will trigger the amp to turn it on/off with the ignition

 

Find out the specs needed on the signal and wire up a pin on the COM port to turn the amp on/off when needed.

 

Hmm, decisions, decisions...

 

 

Edit: Yeah, I'm not sure what to do about keyboard action at the moment - the standard Windows on-screen keyboard isn't going to be big enough to use on a touch-screen, so might have to write my own one. Either that, or have a sneaky keyboard somewhere.

 

The other cool thing is, because the touchscreen is USB, I can mount a USB hub in the glovebox and then you can run all kinds of USB devices up to it. Running wires into the sun visors would be a right PITA tho :?

 

I can't afford to buy VAG-COM at the moment either, but it'll be a bit of a waste if it's permenantly wired into my car anyway, but again, as you can get a USB version, it can be plugged in as/when it's needed 8)

 

Edit edit: And err extremely... :lol:

[Henny 0]

:oops: got the internal laptop aerial hooked upto an external aerial and got Netstumbler and GPS installed to tell me where all the wi-fi hotspots are... oh, and one of my dash blanks will have a keyboard/mouse connector AND USB connectors built into it... :oops:

 

Geeky? Yup... :lol:

 

I'm also considering putting some web-cams into my car for track day action videos... would that take it to uber-geekdom? :oops:

[dinkus 10]

Yeah, I was thinking of hooking up webcams too, but...

 

a) they're generally crap

b) they need to run off a powered hub, which means fudging up another power source

 

I've got built-in 11b wifi and Bluetooth on the lappy, but it's pretty wussy, so not sure if it'd connect with a GPS unit in the front of the car and/or an external wifi network in the house.

 

One way to find out tho... :D

[Lippy 0]

ive been avoiding this thread... I've got too many ideas as it is never mind trying to this.

 

I'll :drinking: to being a nerd!

 

I think it a pen and paper job for me to list all the cool ideas I have (add some more from this thread!)

[Henny 0]

right, the GPS thing is so that I can have sat-nav and will be either a USB or an internal PCMCIA card jobbie, not bluetooth (as it's not very good)

The 802.11G card that's in my lappy is purely for war-driving internet access at wi-fi hotspots.

 

The missile launcher was a thought, but was deemed to be a little too silly, so a HUB may be installed instead to allow more control and better access...

 

Webcam wise, I was considering building in a mount for my fujifilm camera which can be used as a 12Mega pix webcam which, I think, will be reasonable for videos... ;) :lol:

 

I'm also considering re-casing the lappy and building it into my glovebox seeing as most of the casing is largely useless due to it not having a screen anymore...

 

Oh, and I have a USB2 TV card for the lappy too so I can watch TV on the move! :lol:

 

Dunno, I'm still playing with ideas at the moment.... ;)

[dinkus 10]

The missile launcher was a thought, but was deemed to be a little too silly, so a HUB may be installed instead to allow more control and better access...

 

*snigger* - should wire that up to the Electric Recaros :lol: