"ZPC" - Car Computer Install (No 56k)
10-30-2006, 06:50 PM
#1
"ZPC" - Car Computer Install (No 56k)
After a few weeks I'm finally done with the physical install of the car computer. Of course there will always be tweaks but it's definitely where I want it to be!
Here are the specs and details followed by pictures.
Audio
-Alpine CDA 9857 with full speed iPod hookup
-SIR-ALP1 Sirius tuner
-Infiniti Kappa Perfect 6.1
-JL 10w6v2 Subwoofer (10")
-Kicker KX500.2 and KX300.2
The Computer
-Vista (Jetway) board with Via C7 processor 1.5 GHZ
-M2-ATX Power Supply
-512MB Ram
-120GB 3.5" 7200RPM HD
-Onboard sound and video
-Custom enclosure from Ikea
-Combo DVD/CDRW drive
-D Link 7 port USB Hub
-BU-355 GPS receiver with serial interface
-Xenarc 700TSV 7" Touchscreen
-USB Gamepad for Project 64
-D Link Wireless USB Adapter with Super G or something
-About $100 in cables from Newegg it seems haha
The Software
-Windows XP Home SP2
-Road Runner with Freedom v2.1 skin
-Project 64 N64 Emulator with a crap load of ROMS
-iGuidance v3.0 North America
-XPort3 Com port splitter
-Wifi Hopper (still working with this thing)
Goals for the project
I had a few goals when setting about this project. I did alot of research on these boards and I have to say - this is such a great resource of knowledge. I can't believe how many 30+ page threads I read through to get help. It seems any problem I've encountered someone else has. Anyway, I wanted to keep a factory look without too much hanging out. I hate, hate, hate wires everywhere. I was hoping to keep this around $800. Software needs were: Music, Video and Navigation. Fast switching between them an all features available while moving. Lastly, I wanted to be able to move files from my Power Mac in my house to the car PC while it's in the driveway.
How it ended up
I messed around with StreetDeck and while it is a great peice of software and very polished it was a little too constricting in how and when you could use it. Also, I saw that people were doing some phenomenal things with Road Runner. Free? Sign me up. I have to say - Roadrunner with the Freedom skin is more than I could ever ask for. I'm waiting for Sirius support and GPS Gas Finder in Freedom and I'll be set! As for price, I came in a little under $1000 without having to purchase a hard drive but including the LCD and a $75 navigation pocket out of a 2003 which works better with the LCD. I currently have around 40 GB of music and 20 GB of DIVX movies (full DVD comes in around 700 MB). I'm always updated and changing stuff from my computer in the house wirelessly. Works great.
Anyway... on to the pictures!
Here are the specs and details followed by pictures.
Audio
-Alpine CDA 9857 with full speed iPod hookup
-SIR-ALP1 Sirius tuner
-Infiniti Kappa Perfect 6.1
-JL 10w6v2 Subwoofer (10")
-Kicker KX500.2 and KX300.2
The Computer
-Vista (Jetway) board with Via C7 processor 1.5 GHZ
-M2-ATX Power Supply
-512MB Ram
-120GB 3.5" 7200RPM HD
-Onboard sound and video
-Custom enclosure from Ikea
-Combo DVD/CDRW drive
-D Link 7 port USB Hub
-BU-355 GPS receiver with serial interface
-Xenarc 700TSV 7" Touchscreen
-USB Gamepad for Project 64
-D Link Wireless USB Adapter with Super G or something
-About $100 in cables from Newegg it seems haha
The Software
-Windows XP Home SP2
-Road Runner with Freedom v2.1 skin
-Project 64 N64 Emulator with a crap load of ROMS
-iGuidance v3.0 North America
-XPort3 Com port splitter
-Wifi Hopper (still working with this thing)
Goals for the project
I had a few goals when setting about this project. I did alot of research on these boards and I have to say - this is such a great resource of knowledge. I can't believe how many 30+ page threads I read through to get help. It seems any problem I've encountered someone else has. Anyway, I wanted to keep a factory look without too much hanging out. I hate, hate, hate wires everywhere. I was hoping to keep this around $800. Software needs were: Music, Video and Navigation. Fast switching between them an all features available while moving. Lastly, I wanted to be able to move files from my Power Mac in my house to the car PC while it's in the driveway.
How it ended up
I messed around with StreetDeck and while it is a great peice of software and very polished it was a little too constricting in how and when you could use it. Also, I saw that people were doing some phenomenal things with Road Runner. Free? Sign me up. I have to say - Roadrunner with the Freedom skin is more than I could ever ask for. I'm waiting for Sirius support and GPS Gas Finder in Freedom and I'll be set! As for price, I came in a little under $1000 without having to purchase a hard drive but including the LCD and a $75 navigation pocket out of a 2003 which works better with the LCD. I currently have around 40 GB of music and 20 GB of DIVX movies (full DVD comes in around 700 MB). I'm always updated and changing stuff from my computer in the house wirelessly. Works great.
Anyway... on to the pictures!
Last edited by ckny; 10-30-2006 at 07:02 PM.
10-30-2006, 06:51 PM
#2
The buildup
The case I used is actually a key box from Ikea. I got the idea from a member on these boards who has a thread about it in the fabrication forum. The board works great with a epia/jetway sized board for the Via processors and fits both the mobo and the M2-ATX perfectly. It's not much larger than a hard cover book and cost $8. I painted it blue to match the car and cut it up with a dremel. Couldn't be happier with this bad boy. I will say though - finding a key box in Ikea on your lunch break from work is not recommended.
The cut out for the mobo ports
Benchtesting the setup. You can see the LCD mounted into the 2003 navigation pocket. The door closes over the LCD (you can see more below). Getting the lcd in there was not easy and I resorted to dremeling the sides off the front half of the case and leaving the back half off.
This is the top of the keybox. I dremeled out an area for a good case fan to circulate air around (and look all pretty with it's blue led's!) and also mounting holes for the hard drive.
The guts all put together
Here it is all closed up with the fan and hard drive mounted to the case.
The case I used is actually a key box from Ikea. I got the idea from a member on these boards who has a thread about it in the fabrication forum. The board works great with a epia/jetway sized board for the Via processors and fits both the mobo and the M2-ATX perfectly. It's not much larger than a hard cover book and cost $8. I painted it blue to match the car and cut it up with a dremel. Couldn't be happier with this bad boy. I will say though - finding a key box in Ikea on your lunch break from work is not recommended.
The cut out for the mobo ports
Benchtesting the setup. You can see the LCD mounted into the 2003 navigation pocket. The door closes over the LCD (you can see more below). Getting the lcd in there was not easy and I resorted to dremeling the sides off the front half of the case and leaving the back half off.
This is the top of the keybox. I dremeled out an area for a good case fan to circulate air around (and look all pretty with it's blue led's!) and also mounting holes for the hard drive.
The guts all put together
Here it is all closed up with the fan and hard drive mounted to the case.
Last edited by ckny; 10-30-2006 at 07:03 PM.
10-30-2006, 06:52 PM
#3
In the car
The PC is installed in the glove box. The third and fourth pictures are it in there with the USB hub, all wires hooked up and the game pad.
The slim DVD drive will go in one of the slot pockets above the glove box. Unfortunately, I didn't realize it used a mini usb connector when I got all my wires (the original wire it came with is like 6") so for now it's not in there. It'll be nice when it is though - easy access to it, although it won't get much use.
Here's the D Link USB wifi adapter. The GPS and Sirius receivers are mounted behind the plastic panel this wifi adapter is on. You can't see them.
Here's the cover over the LCD. Looks good when parked.
The PC is installed in the glove box. The third and fourth pictures are it in there with the USB hub, all wires hooked up and the game pad.
The slim DVD drive will go in one of the slot pockets above the glove box. Unfortunately, I didn't realize it used a mini usb connector when I got all my wires (the original wire it came with is like 6") so for now it's not in there. It'll be nice when it is though - easy access to it, although it won't get much use.
Here's the D Link USB wifi adapter. The GPS and Sirius receivers are mounted behind the plastic panel this wifi adapter is on. You can't see them.
Here's the cover over the LCD. Looks good when parked.
Last edited by ckny; 10-30-2006 at 06:54 PM.
10-30-2006, 06:53 PM
#5
Here's what the computer currently is capable of:
-Plays Music, Video and a great navigation system (I've owned a Z with the stock nav and this one kicks it's ***)
-Bluetooth Phone capabilities. Unfortunately it's not hooked up yet because my Treo 700P is a ***** and won't send bluetooth properly. I'm going to look to get rid of it for the windows version soon. Although I hate windows at least it goes works well with bluetooth.
-Plays N64 emulator. WCW vs NWO is the bomb
Here's a few screen shots from the system.
-Plays Music, Video and a great navigation system (I've owned a Z with the stock nav and this one kicks it's ***)
-Bluetooth Phone capabilities. Unfortunately it's not hooked up yet because my Treo 700P is a ***** and won't send bluetooth properly. I'm going to look to get rid of it for the windows version soon. Although I hate windows at least it goes works well with bluetooth.
-Plays N64 emulator. WCW vs NWO is the bomb
Here's a few screen shots from the system.
Last edited by ckny; 10-30-2006 at 07:03 PM.
10-30-2006, 08:33 PM
#7
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Zpc
Hahaha. That's exactly what I named my carpc as well =P
You ever think about ditching the head unit? RR is awesome so I figure why use a headunit when you can have one device handle everything you need.
Tactile volume control is a must for me though
so I'm playing around with a griffin powermate right now and trying to mount that and an external drive in the stock radio location. Thought about going dual touchscreen but decided i'd wait on it till I can get transflective screens for both locations.
You ever think about ditching the head unit? RR is awesome so I figure why use a headunit when you can have one device handle everything you need.
Tactile volume control is a must for me though
so I'm playing around with a griffin powermate right now and trying to mount that and an external drive in the stock radio location. Thought about going dual touchscreen but decided i'd wait on it till I can get transflective screens for both locations.
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10-30-2006, 08:36 PM
#8
I've definately thought about ditching the head unit altogether. Id love to run a dual monitor set up with the nav always up top and road runner where the radio is. The problems are 1. I need rotary volume control. Power mate is interesting though... 2. I dont think the via motherboard is powerful enough to output both at the same time even with another video card. If I have to run another computer it's not a big deal but can get kind of expensive. As it is, the Alpine is probably the most expensive volume controller in the world for what I'm using it for haha. We'll see... for now I just want to enjoy it. =)
10-30-2006, 09:07 PM
#9
i tried the Griffin but had all kinds of trouble with it coming out of hibernate. Also I have the silver one that is far to big for the Z.
I saw a black one today at central computer that would be better.
I also saw this
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Contour%20Design/SXPRS/
I like the extra buttons, it would be nice to have a few extra controls I can use without looking at the screen.
Chris
I saw a black one today at central computer that would be better.
I also saw this
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Contour%20Design/SXPRS/
I like the extra buttons, it would be nice to have a few extra controls I can use without looking at the screen.
Chris
10-31-2006, 07:05 AM
#15
Yeah I thought about it but I decided against it. Storage space is pretty low now that I've installd the LCD and taken up some space in the glove box. I can use that pocket for stupid little stuff. The real reason i'm not putting it there is because I hardly use it. All music is installed wirelessly from my home computer. If I buy a new CD I rip it into itunes on my mac and shoot it over to the car wirelessly. Same with videos and movies. The dvd drive is just there in case I want to rip a cd from a friend or play a dvd that the girl wants to watch that I don't have hehe. It's also good for installing software. As such, it's good tucked away.
If I used it more it would definately be up front though.
If I used it more it would definately be up front though.
10-31-2006, 07:16 AM
#16
just curious, how difficult did you find this project as a whole? Most of the people that i have enountered with CarPC's have built computers in the past, but I have never undertaken something like that. Did you have any of that type of experience before, or did you learn just from this board, and from mp3car.com?
10-31-2006, 08:12 PM
#17
I found it moderate. Here's what helped out - I have experience installing audio equipment in a car but that experience is only having done it alot. I have no formal training, just dove in one day and have done it often (I bore of head units haha). Also, I have alot of computer/programming experience but honestly have been away from building and programming Windows for a few years. I have never built a computer from scratch but found this one to be easy.
I will say this - it takes alot of time and research figuring out the parts and putting it all together but it is a lot of fun. What everyone says is that its a great mod because you can always tinker with it and improve it.
mp3car.com is a fantastic resource and just about any problem you've ever encountered can be found there. If you can't find the answer the guys on that board are usually ready to answer your question or point you to it.
I spent a lot of time reading on mp3car.com before deciding which way I wanted to go. If you do decide that you want to undertake a project like this I'd be more than happy to help out through PMs or AIM or whatever - and with mp3car as a resource you should be fine.
I will say this - it takes alot of time and research figuring out the parts and putting it all together but it is a lot of fun. What everyone says is that its a great mod because you can always tinker with it and improve it.
mp3car.com is a fantastic resource and just about any problem you've ever encountered can be found there. If you can't find the answer the guys on that board are usually ready to answer your question or point you to it.
I spent a lot of time reading on mp3car.com before deciding which way I wanted to go. If you do decide that you want to undertake a project like this I'd be more than happy to help out through PMs or AIM or whatever - and with mp3car as a resource you should be fine.
10-31-2006, 08:25 PM
#18
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Did you ever consider the mac mini with Intel processor? Now with "boot camp" you can run windows on it so software wouldn't be a big issue... And install would be easy... Just wondering because I'm looking at that option now...
10-31-2006, 08:35 PM
#19
Yea, I was actually going to buy a g4 mini off a member here but decided i wasn't ready to the carpc at the time (this was in the spring). The mini is an expensive option though. One question I have is can it auto boot into Windows? I'm running bootcamp on my macbook and if I want to get into Windows I have to hold down option every time I boot up. That would be a pain in the *** if you can't set windows as the default. The other problem is price. Intel Mini's are at least $500 right? My computer parts came to around $290 + case ($10 in my build). Then you still need a power supply. Front Row would be tight though. You'd need Windows for the Nav + front end. Last I checked there were no good front end options including Navigation for OSX.
