Car PC

i'm going to attemp a car pc build.

i know the car isnt even running yet but i thought i might aswell start the pc as ive wanted to do it for a while! anyone got any tips, i'll be using a spare laptop i have kicking around, my main stumbling block is going to be the screen and how to mount it to make it look like its supposed to be there, if anyone can post pics of thier pc or any screen they have in the dash console i would be gratefull.

its a p38 but if any others i.e l322 have pics it will help too!

cheers fellas

any 5" or 7" screen from ebay will do providing it takes combined video input - and your laptop will supply combined video output.

i was thinking about one of those lilliput ones, 7 inch touchcreen, obviously i will have to modify the case to fit in the dash, could do with a spare console so i can make a few mistakes.

i think plenty of filler and mould the console to make it look oem but i have no experience with filler and no idea how to use it or what type to use!!

i guess what i'm saying is i'm jumping in the deep end of a very big pool!!!

Have look here Gav. I am sure that there is a guy on the forum who has done a P38. I can remember seeing a detailed photo story of how the screen was fitted to the P38 dash.

Think this is the badger

that looks good, 11.3 inch, now THAT is something i can boast about!!!

next question, has anyone got a sapre console surround, i'm not bothered about switches or clock, just the plastic bit to get the screen into!!

I've started my build a while ago not that great its just an old pc siliconed into a housing that can be removed from the vwhicle when needed. it has a 12 inch touch screen that I finally managed to get working after 2 fresh xp installs. I want it to run memory map and the like but so far have only powered it up a couple of times from the vehicle inverter. Jai

jai_landrover said:

I've started my build a while ago not that great its just an old pc siliconed into a housing that can be removed from the vwhicle when needed. it has a 12 inch touch screen that I finally managed to get working after 2 fresh xp installs. I want it to run memory map and the like but so far have only powered it up a couple of times from the vehicle inverter. Jai

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read up on centrafuse, its quite good for nav but if your gonna use memory map i suspect you want it for off road too. i have a full version of centrafuse. i quite like the look of it so its gonna be on my first build!

Hi mate
Have been running an incar pc for about a year and half..Is a seperate mini unit in the boot running XP.
Have got an email for the guy who built the pc somewhere if any good?
Its around 9"x9" by about 4" deep (similar size to your cd changer..)

Has XP installed, Auto Route with GPS, Win Media player,has a 3G dongle so enables full internet, Wifi,Dvd player,plus loads more etc...Is basically a small 12v full pc..Start up and shut down is around 1 min..Think they fetch around £100..(Is cheap for in built Sat Nav!)..Its also very stable and the vibration of being incar dosent effect it.

It feeds a 7" touch screen that i fitted in center console.(and the 7 other screens if wanted).I alread fitted the screen to play ps3,dvd and reverse cam on, and is easy fit,just means you loose ya coin tray part..I think it looks "factory fit" and not obscene..Theres loads of room in there when you look,and an hour with a dremel will have you sorted...They sell plastic granuals on ebay that you heat with boiling water and mould by hand..when they cool it makes a solid lump,so moulding brackets to hold screen from behind is simple.
.Have also got "micro" 3"x2" keyboard (although xp has on screen if you want) and a small mouse..(neither are needed as its touch screen, but are sometimes easier to use)

If you want any info/help, let me know mate and i'll guide ya best i can,,not always on here so a pm may be better to wake me up..
If i can remeber how to upload pics i will! :doh:

Cheers
LTel

Pics and spec list would be good if you've got em.

Best way to load pics is to upload them to photobucket etc. Then copy and paste the links into here.

Pics and specs are no probs,, lol, is the photobucket bit that stumps me!

Can i use the paperclip attachment icon? Or does it just add a thumbnail?

Here yu are this should help http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f38/picture-posting-dummies-47795.html

photobucket can be a pain in the rear sometimes!

Sorry if i'm a bit late with this, but I'll be building a car PC in the upcoming weeks in my P38. There's LOADS of info on MP3Car.com - Your source for mobile computing solutions! - All Blog Entries, including making it look OEM, etc, and advice on how to do it with a laptop (being able to run it with the lid closed, powering it up with the ignition...), altho i reckon you should ditch the laptop and build a PC - much easier and you can hide the parts in interesting places.

If it helps at all if you go onto www.gtouk.org.uk and do a search there a few of us have installed PC's into GTO's. I did one a few years ago with a mini pc I made up and a lilliput screen. It worked a treat, I used mediacar as the software and then used primenav as the navigation software with a USB gps receiver. Also worth having a look at mp3car.com as they also sell the miniture parts to make it. Using the micro boards its possible to fit the whole thing into the glove box or in the case of a P38 into the cubby box with no problems at all.

As with the other guys who have replied if you want any help with what I used just let me know. Below are a couple pics of it installed into the car.

cheers fellas, its reassuring to know theres a bit of support as its all new.
my build, hopefully wil be as follows but the location is yet to be decided, i have twin lpg tanks in spare wheel well so i cant glean any space from that!


laptop (already have a spare that should be adequate and it runs tiny xp and the centrafuse fine)
powering on (build loopback device to power on lan or use lynksys router with hacked firmware)
power off( shutcontrol, used in conjuction with or the power saving settings of xp to go into hibernate/full off? when power from charger stops)
lillput touchscreen for the control of most if not all functions.
usb gps module
bluetooth usb stick for handsfree phone use.
wifi for sending/recieveing files such as tunes and video from home network.
usb mobile broadband, for on the move internet, weather reports, travel info, tracking car.
usb rear view camera, for going backward!!
tv card, poss usb that i have but not sure yet, for digital and terrestrial tv.

i have all the above except

screen
loopback(i intend to build this as its only 12v relays)
charger for acer aspire
gps mod( i have a bluetooth one at moment but 2 bt stcks)
camera
oh and a mic.

i believe i will also need an amp but i'm unsure of this, does the rr have amps in the door outstations?

i will also need wire and bits and bobs but i cant really include them as i dont know what i need til i find out where the system is going! i was hopeing to put the whole caboodle under drivers seat or behind a panel in the boot!

This is where I'm probably going to install mine.

I really would suggest not using a laptop. One benefit of using a mini itx type board is that you can get 12v supplies designed for car use for them. these supplies run directly from the car battery and have sufficient smoothing to give a controled voltage. They also have features such as auto hibernate and auto on. This means when you turn the ign on and off the PC boots up and shuts down by itself. It will go into hibernate so power up time is less than 10 seconds.

I did try with laptops first but got really fed up with having to power it down before turning the ign off or accidently leaving it on to drain the battery.

As for the GPS you can get USB GPS receivers for very little on places like ebay.

dave_r said:

I really would suggest not using a laptop. One benefit of using a mini itx type board is that you can get 12v supplies designed for car use for them. these supplies run directly from the car battery and have sufficient smoothing to give a controled voltage. They also have features such as auto hibernate and auto on. This means when you turn the ign on and off the PC boots up and shuts down by itself. It will go into hibernate so power up time is less than 10 seconds.

I did try with laptops first but got really fed up with having to power it down before turning the ign off or accidently leaving it on to drain the battery.

As for the GPS you can get USB GPS receivers for very little on places like ebay.

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with the power on/off thing, using a laptop for me has some benefits, chiefly that i have one i no longer need as a lappy and use it just to play with as i have 2 others, also, i have a program called shutcontrol which you can configure to hibernate the laptop upon 'mains' power bieng disconnected. this works well, but you can also configure xp in the power control menu's to do pretty much the same thing. the benefit of shut control is to force the shut down of any hung programs where as windows will wait for it to respond.
now the issue is sorting out the relays that are switched with the ignition to put power to the laptop and the wake on lan feature. i do however supect the laptop battery will be used to keep the system in hibernate mode and allow wake on lan, how succesful this will be i have yet to test and battery must last long enough and not discharge too much during usual non use of system i.e overnight or at work etc

to power the laptop i will have to obtain a dc-dc power supply for the lappy, my worry is that it may just regonise it as battery or in some way not regognise it as a 'mains' lead for the purpose of this project.

also the lappy battery will handle power to the laptop in the event of a power failure or rountine non starts etc in (my) theory preventing the boot sequence start and then bieng interupted and coupled with start control it will then shut down after a predetermined time.

wake on lan(wol) i have tested wol with a simple rj45 plug with wires 1 & 3 conected and wires 2 & 6 connected then plugging it in when the lappy is in hibernate. this wakes the lappy and my frontend loads(got to change boot splash and get rid of password request yet) then if the system is on battery the lappy is shut down via shutcontrol!!
wires 2 & 6 need to be switch and only send a short 'pulse' of power to signal startup. then obviously the mains power needs to be switch also to give full power to the lappy and stave off shut control until power is disconnect!!

the benefits to me( and there are drawbacks to) is that it is quite a simple job to configure all this stuff, the lappy can then be used to set up lpg system and also the centrafuse front end also has obd2 screen but i am unsure what compatibility it will have with landrover, i assume none.

all this will be operated via the in dash touch screen and hopefully the laptop will be pretty much fit and forget!

can anyone spot any flaws in this plan??

Hi
The PC will still think it has power when the car is off as it has the battery. If you run up a pc then just pull the power out it carries on. What you would need is a program to detect the loss of external power and then shut down.

As for DC to DC power you could use the laptop power supply with a mains inverter or you can get car supplies for laptops now.