Will This Be A Good Carputer

[Pauly33GTS-t]

AOpen mini-comp thingie.

thought this looked alright and I can get them fairly inexpensively...

Want to use it in conjunction with my Greddy Emanage Ultimate plans.

Edited April 23, 2007 by Pauly33GTS-t

[Trust33]

You may get a danger to manifold alerting you..Seriously tho..I wouldnt have a clue.

[LoNg_ShaNks]

possible heating issues...

[Tofu]

Another thing to worry about is voltage spikes.

You pay need to look towards a power converter/regulator as well when running a carputer as well.

Look towards something like this:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Carputer-Car-PC-Sys...VQQcmdZViewItem

Depends on what you're after though. As long as you have something regulating the power and a decent CPU fan go to town.

[mrgilly]

1. You linked to an AOpen, not an ASUS

2. The eBay carputer uses a VIA C3 processor... POS... (literally they're used in point-of-sales machines, but they are simple and suck for anything requiring grunt).

Have a look around the forums at http://www.mp3car.com/ for a range of solutions - in all honest I think the easiest solution is:

- Cheap LCD screen (fold-out, touch screen etc) from eBay

- Laptop (whatever generation, if you already have one like I did then it's great, mount it under the passenger seat and just take it out when you want to use it as a laptop). Laptops are great as A: They don't drop power when you start the car, or turn it off for a few minutes etc B: Make troubleshooting easier when your in-dash screen doesn't display anything and C: have a built-in keyboard etc

- 12V inverter-> whatever laptop requires... these are $50 from supercheapauto, could probably find them even cheaper on eBay etc

Once you've got that, it's time to go nuts with software

[Nav2k]

looks alright.

u wont get heating issues...

ur carputer doesnt run hot at all...all its running is mp3s/gps and a few other things...not very cpu intensive.

that being said, u dont need a powerful cpu at all...and u do need some sort of powersupply. i use a startup/shutdown conroller which turns the pc on when i turn the key, turns it off after 5 seconds when i turn the key off. (soft boot).

other options like inverters can provide more power but is just annoying turning things on and off etc.

u could probably fit the psu i have in that box...opus 150w dc-dc.

[Pauly33GTS-t]

shit sorry, i had been looking at an asus motherboard before i found that on my w/s lists.

[Trav33]

Whats the price on it?

You have to buy an inverter powersupply to convert 12VDC->AC.

I'm building my carputer from scratch, and there are not a lot of components needed.

voompc enclosure with M2 powersupply (DC-DC powersupply)

epia via motherboard, with integrated CPU, video card, etc

stick of RAM

HDD

and need to get a tv/fm tuner device.

[Chris Rogers]

mine consists of:

17" LG monitor

USB mouse

USB keyboard

HP laserjet printer

7port USB hub

3G modem

Acer laptop.

3.5KW inverter.

all in my van

Edited April 24, 2007 by Chris Rogers

[Tofu]

each to their own mate.

[spikeyboy]

Hey guys I have spent a good 3 years in the know with car pc's and the 1 that i find to be one of the best in the world today i belive is the sumicom

http://www.kingyoung.com.tw/

look for the s631 I have one of them and they Kick ass small easy to use and you can plug them into normal car power.

from memory you can get them for the 600-700aus doller price.

as far as screens go. all you need is your basic touch screen fold out. stay away from the LILLIPUT as i have had nothing but problems with them.

happy hunting

[Trav33]

Hey guys I have spent a good 3 years in the know with car pc's and the 1 that i find to be one of the best in the world today i belive is the sumicom

http://www.kingyoung.com.tw/

look for the s631 I have one of them and they Kick ass small easy to use and you can plug them into normal car power.

from memory you can get them for the 600-700aus doller price.

as far as screens go. all you need is your basic touch screen fold out. stay away from the LILLIPUT as i have had nothing but problems with them.

happy hunting

Can you suggest some websites which sell LCD Touch screens?

eg mp3car, digitalww.com, pandainnovations.com, etc

[mrgilly]

Hey guys I have spent a good 3 years in the know with car pc's and the 1 that i find to be one of the best in the world today i belive is the sumicom

http://www.kingyoung.com.tw/

look for the s631 I have one of them and they Kick ass small easy to use and you can plug them into normal car power.

from memory you can get them for the 600-700aus doller price.

as far as screens go. all you need is your basic touch screen fold out. stay away from the LILLIPUT as i have had nothing but problems with them.

happy hunting

True? I've installed 2 lilliputs with no problems so far... just the motorised fold-out touch screen LCD. They are dirt cheap though so not surprised if there are some problems

[Trav33]

True? I've installed 2 lilliputs with no problems so far... just the motorised fold-out touch screen LCD. They are dirt cheap though so not surprised if there are some problems

where did you get your lilliputs from???

[mrgilly]

ebay - the cheapest ones I could find! one's been running for a year and the other for almost 6 months so far...