Build a carputer?

[jmc]

probably wrong place to look.....

but i'm looking to build a carputer in my new car.

Majority of the car forums I have checked, dont go into detail on how to build one.

So........... here I am, hoping someone here knows what the hell i'm talking about! lol

[Kohan]

For starters, what do you want this computer to be capable of? Basically, what will you be using it for?

[Jotaru]

1) Put hardware of your choosing in dash, glovebox, wherever you choose
2) Power converter = success
3) Monitor wherever you want it. Most likely flip up fancy thing you saw in a movie because they look cool, and probably the most important part to you, so spend all your time here!
4) ???
5) Profit!

Quite seriously though, what Kohan said. There's not much difference in a 'carputer'(?) than a regular computer... you could sit a regular PC in your trunk with a power converter hooked to power outlet and a 17" CRT riding shotgun, if you wanted. Decide first what you want it to do, with what hardware, what you want it to look like, then just figure out where you want it, its not any more difficult than that really

[levish]

netbook + inverter + external vga touchscreen and call it a day?

[hagun]

Batmobile or bust.

[Purrrfect]

Car PC, 12V Vehicle Computers, the makers of VoomPC and stuff
There is another big one but I can't think of it atm.

Personally, I'm working on making one as well, but I don't know why every one I've seen uses a desktop as the base design. I got a busted laptop off ebay that I have pulled the parts from and and making my own casing and monitor arm for my particular car. I'm also going to try out running a usb drive for the hard drive to see if it works ok, but I have a regular hd for it as well. With a notebook you already have to power adapters made for 12v and they are considerably smaller than most inverters, and notebooks usually run on less power (you're not rendering fluid dynamics simulations for nasa in your car hopefully). The tricky part by far is finding a place for the monitor and a bracket for it with very limited space.

[aalryn]

MP3Car.com - Your source for mobile computing solutions! - All Blog Entries is THE resource for building a car-pc.

[Kohan]

I have not clicked any of the above links, but one of my personal recommendations is to use an SSD, unless you need a lot of space for whatever it is you'll be doing: Newegg.com - Computer Hardware,Flash Memory & Readers,Solid State Disks,16GB,

Of course, you can just use a USB/Firewire -- or ideally (for speed), SATA -- external HDD of much larger capacity for file storage, and an SSD for the operating system you use. Pretty much the carputer equivalent of burning CDs for your CD changer in the trunk. Just hook up your HDD at home, put whatever you want on it, connect it to your car PC, and be on your way.

[jmc]

Sorry for not checking in on this, was at some funerals in Pitt.

Anyways,

I'm looking to build a carputer for:

1) Music off a HDD, pretty much was looking at a 16gb or 32gb SSD.

2) More in depth, customizable navigation

3) Video playback (again, via HDD/thumbdrive)

4) Possible bluetooth connectivity for cellphones? (if possible)


Was looking to throw something together myself, instead of actually shelling out $700+ for a good pioneer unit.

I thank you all for the links, gonna start digging through them now.


*edit* Was actually looking to have the touchscreen in the double-din radio section of my dash. I have a not too old laptop, with a busted screen I could use for parts....but was thinking about picking up a $200 netbook and using that.