MERK350Z

well guys here is my project i just got all my parts in for my 05 350zr with bose system with out navi
1. 7 inch touch screen
2. aux adapter for stearo
3. IBM x21 P3 900mhz 512 megs of ram and 40gig drive 3lb laptop really thin(willbe placed in glove box)
4. 802.11 wifi usb adapter
5. bluetooth usb adabter (will communcate with blackberry for unlimted wireless date )
6. on order GPS software and adapter
7. 300 watt power inverter (hard wired to car battery on right hand side through firewall)
8. on order xmpc (xm on laptop will be able to listen to xm using the laptop and controle it from screen)
9. wireless keyboard (behind passanger seat)
10. usb tocuh pad the size of the ash tray will be placed right where the ashtray.

project should be done by the end of next week will post detailed pics and how everything is done and if anyone need more info pm me. tell me what u think hope i did not forget anything.

Swiffer

iTrader: (8)

Just an idea. I have heard of some people using an operation system loaded on a flash device. This allowed the system to boot up very quickly compared to an actual PC.

MERK350Z

thats a good idea i was thinking about it because my laptop has a buildin CF card slot so i might be able to us a 4gig cf card and run everything else on the 40gig hard drive i will see how it goes once evereything is in. if i see its takeing more then a min or two then i will try the flash drive.

Alang

iTrader: (1)

How are you going to deal with power on and off issues? What will the PC do when you turn the key off?

With just an inverter to power it, and no UPS, won't it be just like unplugging the PC? I have a DC-DC power supply that automatically handles this buy issuing a hibernate command when the power is shut off. Just curious if you had thought about this.

MERK350Z

the laptop has a battery the batter will take over for the shut down. so when i am ready to turn off the car all i have to do is click on start shutdown tap ok and then i shut down the sec i turn off the car the laptop battery kick on for a min to shut down the system with no problem. thats why i picked a laptop then a full mini pc set up. plus i got my laptop a year and half ago for $300 and im really not using it that much anymore so i might as well make it my entertainment system in the car it has a docking station which will also be in the car so evet night if i need to take it into my house i can update my music movies and what ever else i want. it is as simple as click on a button to undock the laptop. i think people should us laptops to be honest better the mini pc , think about it do u really need all that power of a a all out pc in your car are you going to spend that much time in your car the u need a full pc. laptop has 40 gig if i need more then that in my car then i need a life

SimonD

Have you decided on a front end?
Have you been over to mp3car.com and had a look over there?
How much ventilation is there in the glove box (apologies, my Z is on order atm but been looking into both carpc and Z for a while)? the reason I ask is that the laptop will certainly heat up and the more space you have the better to dispel the heat (perhaps the larger sub area?).
There is some great info on mp3car about the whole cf booting thing, the one thing to know is that you would have to move all disk intensive activity off it.

Actually, the cost for an incar pc (if you're building it yourself) needn't cost a fortune, you don't generally need to worry about power inverters, you won't have a spare 14" screen sat in the cubby hole. You can replace items that aren't upto spec with ones that are. You can go sata if you want to (sure, 2" disks are upto I think 160-180gb now??). I just think that the whole in carpc thing is the way forward (certainly for me anyway).

Good luck with the whole project, I will be interested in how it turns out for you long term.

kelementz

ive had a carpc on my accord.. and a aux adapter isnt as good as getting a headunit with aux output/input... ive had a fm modulator, dat was horrible.. then got a soundgate aux, and i didnt really get a real good sound out of it... so i bought a cheap headunit that has a aux out/in... and mine was done on a labtop too, and i manually shut it down.. hehe.. yes ghetto but works... hope your project turns out good...

myzhi

The AAI-NIS2 (http://www.pac-audio.com/products/pr...Input#AAI-NIS2 connects directly to Bose HU which allows 2 sound inputs. The sound is no different than what you hear from the HU, and in no way like sh*tty fm modulators.

Here's link to my 350z install if you need some ideas: http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=76992

MERK350Z

well the 350z has a glove box with a door what i am doing is the door shape is the same exact shape of the sub thats behind the driver seat so i am going to get a grill cover thats for the sub and take off the door for the glove box and the holes in the grill should be enough ventliation and i would be able to take the cover off with velcro strip on the inside of the glove box. that why i went with a laptop they do not make as much heat as some of these full blown mini pc's people are making. as for cf boot i am still doing some reasearch on that i can always do that later on being that the laptop has a builtin cf slot. also the front end i have no clue i am still looking for some decent programs. i have looked at the mp3car.com site and they had some decent ones have to down load them and test them out once the installation is done. i might have to do some custom programming or hire someone to do it for me

MERK350Z

the AAI-NIS2 adapter is great have used them many time and never had an issue with audio check your connections or make sure its hooked up right because i have had one in all my cars and i have had like 5-6 cars already worked great

myzhi

Confusion somewhere. I have no problems with the sound through the AAI-NIS2. I was saying the sound is just like what you hear from the HU itself, while playing CD/radio/etc, and not like what you hear through a FM modulator.

HyperSprite

iTrader: (6)

My carpc runs a mobile chip and HD so it's not running hot at all. The neat place to get colder air is to suck it in from under the glove box, that space down there is pretty well insulated from the rest of the car.
To vent the glove box door and keep the lock, just take the latch striker bar off and add 1/4" of washers to space it. Then you can still lock it if you like and your PC should stay nice and cool.

You may be wasting your time on the CF boot. It's doable but probably not worth your time, at least not yet. If you slim down your system and don't install a bunch of slow loading utilities, it should boot pretty fast. Mine will cold boot to RoadRunner from the time I turn the key to the time I am ready to back out of the driveway (seatbelt, radar, radio face), so it's not a huge issue. To go a bit faster you can hibernate it instead.

The one issue I had back when I was running a laptop that you may run into is screen priority. Sometimes, when it booted up it would not send video to the external screen and I would have to open it up and hit Fn + F8. hopefully your video drivers/ bios settings work better than mine did.

Chris

zrausch

Ive always liked this install

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...D%26safe%3Doff

MERK350Z

thanks for the info chris. i was wondering i need an interface; what i mean by that is i dont want to hit an icon everytime i want to load something i want a menu where there are 4-6 buttons on desktop and one says stero one will say files and so on. once i click on that button it would launch a pler and i can scroll through my music files . i am also adding a usb touchpad right where the ashtray is right before the stick shift. i saw this set up on someones car on mp3car.com it looked nice this will make navagation easy

lilaznxboi08

iTrader: (6)

sounds awesome i wana see some pics.

MERK350Z

pics will be posted in about a week or less i want to document the whole installation and with each pic i want to do a little write up so if anyone wants to it they can buy just doing what i did and then if the can make it better then they can just adjust what i did but i am so excited going to start work on the install this weekend should be done sunday

HyperSprite

iTrader: (6)

You want a front end, RoadRunner is what I use but there are many to choose from. Check under the software section of mp3car. They let you make your own images and put the buttons anywhere you like (or you can use the default skins). They also make things more touch screen friendly. Your music, radio, DVD ect can all be done by default and adding other apps is not that bad either.

For the most part, pointing devices like touch pads and trackballs are great for precise desktop type stuff but they are terible in a moving car. The problem is the time it takes to find the pointer, then you need to move it accross the screen to your target and click a button (or double tap). Remember, you are supposed to be driving. With the touch screen, your finger goes right to the target and clicks it and your done. After a while, you know where the targets are without really looking. I have a touch pad I got for my carpc and am glad I did not waste a lot of time molding it in or anything. It has not been in my car for over a year.

Here is a link to my original system, the hardware is all the same but I have been upgrading the software over time have it pretty well dialed in.
http://www.hypersprite.com/auto/tech-z-007/default.asp

Chris

MERK350Z

hey chris thanks for the info i will think twice about the touch pad i too a look at the RRdownload.net site the frontend software looks awsome i am really excited its not even funny. i dont know i think i might need to upgrade my HD toa 80gig or 100gig with all the crap i am downloading. i have 15 gigs of music alone and about 20gigs of shows and movies; but if everything works out this should be an awsome setup. hey do u recommend any GPS software i was looking at the one microsoft makes i dont if its good. what gps are u using.? and will the gps work as fast as the ones in a car which came with gps or will the laptop be faster

Alang

iTrader: (1)

Roadrunner is great. I am working on a skin right now that matches the factory head unit. Its a slow and tedious process, but it keeps me off the street.

Don't mean to hijack, but it was mentioned above:
Can anyone point me to a site that details how to pare down an XP pro install? I have a standard install that comes out of hibernation pretty fast, but want to try to maximize my resources. I am adding a bunch of new stuff with the new roadrunner skin, and want to insure I am not going to start hitting limits.

MERK350Z, post pics of you install when its done!!!

L337350

iTrader: (19)

i use roadrunner too and it works perfectly fine.

as far as startup/shutdown for my laptop, i set the power settings so that the laptop goes to hibernate after it has been running on batteries for x amount of minutes. and to start it back up i had to wire the power button to my dash. works ok for me but i would like to be able to have it start up when i turn the car on