wren57

iTrader: (34)

hey all, lately ive been thinking about getting the kenwood music keg, a dvd player and a gps system for my Z, and the in-car pc solves all those needs cheaply! my only real questions are:

1. How does the power hook up to the case?

2. How does the farenheit screen hook up to the pc?

3. Where can I get a sideways case? (non-tower style)

I can't wait to get this project rolling, hopefully at the same time as my stereo install . Thanks.

ares

iTrader: (2)

either an DC/AC inverter. or use a DC/DC power supply, oddly they are more expensive(youd think DC/DC would be easy, but I guess they arent as common, so more $$$)

there are also some that are "smart" they can control the on/off functions based on the car, and do all sorts of cool stuff. DC/DC is limited to how many watts they provide.

2 ways, not sure on that screen but some screen are VGA, this is standard computer hookup, plugs in just like your monitor. others are AV cable only, in this case, most vid cards today have AV out, plays out of the computer as tho you were playing to a TV. resolution is the same as if you compared TV to a monitor, a AV hookup might have difficulty with small text and whatnot. VGA screens are more expensive of course, much more.(think twice or so)

I believe the name you need is "epia" or "via" its a type of motherboard, that is VERY small. somewhat limited in its abilities and expandability. cases for this are typicly flat, as the system was designed to control a entertainment system, thus taking up space as a VCR or stereo would, horizontal, not vertical.

kid-z

http://www.swooby.com/z/navpc/

this site answers all your questions

rocker_lx

Hi ares
It's actually more difficult to change DC voltage to an other voltage as for AC.
That's the main reason because it's more expensive. Most of the time the DC is changed to AC, the voltage is increased and then changed back to DC. You need high performance electronics to make this without loosing too much power.

BTW has anyone tried one of the Xenarc car-pc's? They seem perfect for an in-car pc as they are prepared to be connected to 12V DC of the car. Problem is those compact PC often use exotic chipsets which are not completely supported by some windows OS versions. So does it run with XP?

Rocker

Still 4 month until I get my Z and already planning car PC.

NissanCar

The link doesn't seem to work. Please repost.

ares

iTrader: (2)

yeah I looked at the xenarc computer, its not too cheap, and very low on features. the high end model atleast gets you a pentium chip, but only P3, at 1.2ghz. only one memory slot with 256, and it has 4mb graphics shared(ouch! what GPS is that gonna run?)
and 20gig HD.

its just a little lacking at 840$ for that alone.

want a dvd drive? add 135$, combo dvd cdrw? 265$

then you need operating system, 110 for XP home, 190 for professional... your well over 1000$ at this point, and you still need a monitor, and everything else. for comparison, I paid 500$ for all the stuff listed there, and my PC is 10x what this is, of course mine takes way more space, so bad comparison.

but chazz's PC doesnt take up too much more space and his is still packed with more features I believe. and cheaper as well i think.

bshockley

Not saying that this is a good computer or anything, but it's got plenty of power to run mp3 player, DVD, and GPS. 4mb graphics RAM is plenty for GPS software. It's true if you want to play some kick *** 3D rendering computer games, it'll suck.