i'm a computer science major, so of course i have a fascination with computers, and im on this site so i also have an interest in cars. i was wondering if anyone had successfully installed a computer into their car. ive got some old computers lying around, and i was thinking it would be cool to have a hard drive filled with music and stuff, and an accessible usb port to add songs via flash drive. does anyone have any suggestions/stories/pictures about how to do this? thanks a lot.

 

Depends on what you want to do. Running Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 you could run the monitor to a LCD panel (aka stereo deck w/ lcd) and then use the touch screen functionality to interact with the machine from the monitor. Just stuff the laptor or low profile computer under the passenger seat or modify the glovebox to house the computer.

The tricky part would be wiring up something to turn the computer on and off based on the state of the motor. That is unless you want to shutdown and startup the computer everything you start the car.

 

well i was thinking about extending the switch to somewhere on my dash so i can turn it on and off when ever i want to. i was also thinking about just having my logitech media mouse in the car to control stuff, however i dont have any lcd panel, but if i used a laptop, i could use that screen, but then i'd need to solder on new wires to extend the video output. also, would i have to power this through an inverter, or is there any other way? thanks

 

Not my car. Taken from a thread on pgmfi.org.

http://forum.pgmfi.org/viewtopic.php?t=764

I think you have to register to view the thread.















Also, lots of info here:

http://www.mp3car.com

 

wow that's awesome. especially for me because i own a crx

 

Never saw that before

 

You could get a 5" PSone LCD screen from ebay for about $15 + shipping. Cheap way to put a touch screen in your car.

 

really? would that work?

 

take it to West Coast Customs and have X-to-da-Z Exzibit "PIMP YO RIDE". Lol, j/k, that's the first thing that came into my mind...

 

Actually let me rephrase that, more of a display screen with easy to read layout and then you can use a remote to scroll through the options.

Converting it to a touch screen would require a bit of work.

 

It isnt cheap, but it sure as hell looks cool. Something that comes to mind though if you have an iPod. It does pretty much the same thing and you can take it with you. All you need is a head unit with an aux in and a patch cable. I have this setup and it works just as well. And its cheaper.

 

well i have an old laptop that i might consider parting for this, but the screen is probably to big to use. also, i would need to solder on new wires to extend the distance of the screen

 

Thats quite true if you're just looking to listen to music. Having a computer on the other hand would allow you to watch movies, play games, wardrive, surf the internet, listen to music with visualizations, and a bunch of other fun things.

 

if u wanna play music, just hook up an ipod to ur cd player

but adding a computer to ur car is like spraypainting your windshield saying, STEAL ME!!!!

cuz i mean ****, people will steal completely stock civics with maybe a zc swap or soemthing, but the exterior and interior will be stock. what do ya think they will do when they see a laptop in there?

but eh, other than that it doesnt sound like a bad idea, just loooking at those pictures, it sais steal me

 

well wouldnt it be though? if i have a full laptop in my security box, i could put a wifi card in there, and wireless mouse and keyboard, and i have a full computer

 

well in crx's, there's a "security box" and that's what the person put it into, so even if you looked into it, you wouldnt see any computer parts or anything

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tippyman98 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">take it to West Coast Customs and have X-to-da-Z Exzibit "PIMP YO RIDE". Lol, j/k, that's the first thing that came into my mind...</TD></TR></TABLE>

ditto, if i werent using the comp to tune my vehicle it just wouldnt feel right, not that it matters though.