Car pc

[GGX2]

Hello folks, just thought I'd share this project with you guys.

I was originally going to put a gps in the place of the dash speaker vent, until I realized I had all the parts laying around to make a decent Carputer. The speaker area turned out to be the perfect size for a 7" screen.
Everything done in this project is completely reversible, nothing on the car had to be altered in any way (except my radio). Don't mind my cracked windshield, it'll be replaced soon.

The wiring runs right from the battery, with a fuse near the end of the wire. The pc itself is powered by a small DC/DC converter attached to the motherboard.


I was going to stuff the computer in the glove box... but decided to mount it under the passenger side of the dash instead.


Here's the lid to my custom aluminum case.


Here I was testing the screen, and routing the cables. But then I decided not to put it in the glovebox, so I had to re-route them.


The mount for the monitor started out as this piece of aluminum shaped to fit the speaker area.


The two screws are only holding the screen to the mount, they don't touch the dash at all


I glued some foam to the mount so I could wrap some vinyl around it.


It came out a lot puffier than I wanted, so I'll probably redo it later... it looked much sleeker on paper.


Here's the temporary mouse pad, I want to make a nicer one that will take the place of the ashtray. You can also see two extra switches in this picture, one turns on the computer, the other runs to my Monterey SQR-22 to switch from radio to the AUX input I added.


And here it is up and running. Yeah, I put that Ubuntu sticker on the case, but it's actually running XP pro :P


Total cost for this was $0 since I had all this stuff anyway, but I am going to add a $25 usb gps. Hope you guys like it.

-George

[Tom944]

Very cool. At work my guys designed a military computer running Ubuntu that has a CAN bus interface, unfortunately it's no use on a 944 since there is no OBDII.

[Dave Colangelo]

Very Cool!!

Regards
Dave

[GGX2]

Thanks Tom and Dave. Ubuntu was actually installed on this thing first, but XP ran way better on it which surprised me, since I thought it would run slower. This computer while very small, is also pretty weak. It's an old Arcom Olympus develpoment pc, meant for mobility and low power consumption. As long as it can run whatever gps I get, I'll be happy

[Ga 951]

You know, as an old timer, I'm not too impressed with the product...........What DOES impress me is your inventiveness. Good work. I hope it works out as you want it

[nightheart]

Why not use a trackball or laptop touchpad instead of a mouse? It is blasphemy to run windows on something with a ubuntu sticker on it. Very nice setup BTW.

[Ederd]

I thought about converting my dash hole into a mount for my cell phone desk charger. then I realized that its a good hiding place for stuff since I dont have a key to the lock the glovebox. down side is everyone that gets in my cas asks." Whats that?", as they grab it and take the grill right off.

I think you are inviting someone to break in your car. Good idea and good use of ingenuity skills. Practicality may be against you as well as thieves.

[Gawernator]

Very cool! I have to ask what the point is though

[GGX2]

It's mostly for a gps and my Porsche manuals, but this was pretty much a proof of concept type of thing. I want to build something collapsible that will hide in the space under the speaker vent, taking care of anyone trying to steal it, since they won't know it's there.

Sorta like this.


As far as a trackball, I have thought about it but I don't have one, the mouse is good for testing though.
I've never had a car pc before so that's part of why I made it reversible, if I find it totally useless I can just pull it out and put the vent back in.

[Gawernator]

Your engine and intake manifold look really nice and clean! How?

[GGX2]

Had the top half of the engine apart a while back, cleaned/painted everything before I put it back together. I was chasing down a knock that appeared out of nowhere a while back, so I checked the valves and lifters, but they were all fine. Fairly sure it's rod bearings... Hoping there's no real damage though, as the knock developed at idle in the front yard and it hasn't been driven since.

[Catamax944]

I guess since it didn't cost you anything it makes sense but otherwise i would have used a tablet , much more compact ,performs better plus many aplications to go with it.

[flash968]

while i do not condone the use of such a thing in a car, and it would be very illegal here in california, i agree, why not use an ipad and eliminate the mouse altogether?

[GGX2]

Yeah, you could easily use a tablet, I just don't have one with gps capability. The only thing this will be used for while driving is gps, unless I have a passenger that wants to use it or something. But I could see myself using it when waiting in a parking lot for any reason, like picking someone up or something. The 944 has very comfortable seats so I won't mind waiting in it with my pc.