53 replies to this topic

[drummerian]

sounds good, its a really useful community and everyone is great with helping out!!!

[MiNi2iNFiNiTi]

I've big plans for this mini i'm gonna buy, but unfortunately can't afford to build another CarPC. But like I said i'd be happy to help others with their projects.

[zeroasylum]

pics anyone?

These kits are ok but yoy dont need to go the mini itx route. I have done one and based the system around a micro atx board which is 25cm by 25cm. It is much cheeper as you can use standard components maybe even an old system . I have used a modified electrical box as the case drilling and cutting it to fit fans and the board mounts. Also get yourself a 220w car pc powersupply from linitx and one of their 8 inch touch screen monitors. I am going to mount mine in the booth on a board bolted to the booth sides of the back seats. the cable for the monitor is long enough to reach the dash on front.

Any more advice jusk ask.

Zeroasylum

[Fevmeister]

Do you mean the pcs like pimp my ride sometimes put in cars, with a harddrive for songs, ipod connection (usb), live tv steaming capability, tyre pressure, oil level, petrol level, speed etc... and loads of other options??? because they are the ones with a solid harddrive.

[lil'jack]

http://cgi.ebay.co.u...1QQcmdZViewItem

have a look here. this can be used with a compact flash card to create a solid state harddrive although the biggest card i believe is only 8gb you can install windows to it and also as you can have 4 ide devices connected there is no reason that you can't have 4 x 8gb cards running, im thinking about going down this route with mine as it would help keep down the heat an not take up much room in a case. other than that you can try a laptop harddrive as they are quite robust.

[Fevmeister]

http://cgi.ebay.co.u...1QQcmdZViewItem

have a look here. this can be used with a compact flash card to create a solid state harddrive although the biggest card i believe is only 8gb you can install windows to it and also as you can have 4 ide devices connected there is no reason that you can't have 4 x 8gb cards running, im thinking about going down this route with mine as it would help keep down the heat an not take up much room in a case. other than that you can try a laptop harddrive as they are quite robust.

Buying 4 different memory cards would be just silly. Using even just a 40gb harddrive from a laptop would be alot better. Why not take all the casing off a laptop, take the processor/s out, the harddrive, ram cartridge, everything like that. Get rid of the fans, cd tray and other unneccesary things, wire up to the car battery for a power source and use the laptop for a in-car pc. Use a motorised flip-out screen like halfords advertise for the display. That would be a good idea. Use the USB ports and I'm sure there are USB themometers so you could get engine temp, oil temp. Also you could use a media program such as iTunes for your music and you could play that from your speakers. There are endless possibilities. You could use the cd tray on the headunit as a cd tray for the computer aswell.

Hope the idea helps, Rob.

Edited by Fevmeister, 23 March 2008 - 10:48 PM.

[drummerian]

that was one of my ideas

[Fevmeister]

doooooooo itttttttttttttttttttttt


its easy

[BadgerBaiter]

They sell 32GB and 64GB solid state drives as well you know...

they are rather pricey though

[MiNi2iNFiNiTi]

Solid state uses less power than a laptop hdd too, and is more likely to work in the colder months. You need to use the enhanced write filter though otherwise windows will be writing to it millions of times a second and compact flash can only withstand so many writes (it is literally hundreds of thousands of times) but Windows does 'write hundreds of thousands of times' to your everyday computer harddrive in a very short amount of time.

Good idea to use extra CF IDE adapters, also comes in handy for keeping your music seperate from your video.

Many people build custom enclosures for their CarPC's, so you could maybe squeeze them into any location on your car.

[BadgerBaiter]

I'm not talking about a Compact Flash cards.. There are 32 and 64GB solid state drives available. . .

[MiNi2iNFiNiTi]

Sorry I was responding to lil'jacks post about the CF cards.

Those solid state hdds seem cool, found this link about buying them. 16gb is more expensive than 32gb, must be because of the slower R/W rates.

Edited by MiNi2iNFiNiTi, 24 March 2008 - 01:19 AM.

[BadgerBaiter]

Ah sorry!

These were the badboys I was talking about... almost got the 64Gb when I was building my home PC, but in the end opted for other stuff!

http://www.overclock.......&subcat=910

http://www.overclock.......&subcat=910

[drummerian]

would love those but this is a low budget project

[MiNi2iNFiNiTi]

A CF IDE adapter with a 4gb card for windows, and a laptop hard drive for your media is a cheap root to go and will be reliable.

I've got a used 30gb 2.5" hdd if your interested? It'll need a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter though, which are pennies on eBay.