Whoring out my homebuilt carputer
Specs:
Via EPIA mainboard
M1-Atx powersupply
256mb DDR ram
80gig 3,5" hdd
Linksys 54mbit WLAN
Gentoo Linux with Giantdisc jukebox software
Palm V PDA

I control everything from the palm it's acting both as user interface and display.
To upload the latest music to the car I just park the car on the driveway and connects to it using 54Mbit WLAN. Had it goin now for a month with no problems what so ever. The M1-atx has a built in startup and shutdown controller so the carputer starts and stops controlled by the ignition lock. Even survives engine cranks.

Some pics of the install:

Turned off



The install with a temporary front panel, going to build a panel in smoked Lexan that covers the whole centerconsole.


Closeup of the PDA in finger touchscreen driving mode:


And when i'm parked I can take the PDA with me and use as a normal Palm:


A buildpic of the rear of the comp.


And finally the ultimate test for the HDD (it is only suspended by some rubber bushings) had the car at a trackday and it survived the curbs no problem :D

 

thats pretty slick

 

nice can you gimme more info on the carputer like how you hook up PDA to computer and stuff did you follow a write up i've worked a little with linux how can I do this myself i might be interested

 

nice.. so is this only for an mp3 player? looks like you're using it for only that.
if so, why not just buy an mp3 player?

 

Is it a mini-itx?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tominos &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">nice.. so is this only for an mp3 player? looks like you're using it for only that.
if so, why not just buy an mp3 player? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Because i can
An mp3 player would have been too easy

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by parasonic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Is it a mini-itx?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yup

 

haha thats an interesting concept... carputer hmm!

 

sweet, I want to see some pix with the new smoked lexan.

 

Paint the civic black and call it Kit. Knight Rider Jr.
Cool idea.

 

Very nice my friend. You might have trouble with the regular 3.5" Hard Drive, as it is not as well geared for the bumps it will incur.

Look into a 2.5" Notebook drive (I know, pricey) but it will serve you better, and take up less space.

Hmm now I have a spot to place my Carputer

Edit: What distro are you running?

 

how do u sleep at nite lol

 

As i wrote the disk is mounted i rubberbushings and the whole computer have some room to flex to stop the worst bumps atleast. So far so good, the day it crashes a notebook drive will take it's place. But surviving the curbs on the racetrack and the bad swedish roads so far indicates that the desktop drive is up to the task.

I'm running gentoo linux