Laptops in car

**Lance123654** · 08-13-2005, 06:58 PM

could all the people with laptop installs please explain what they actually did or have to do? do you need a docking station? how about hibernation? wakeup? etc... any in depth detail would be great

also any such this as a universal docking station???

**rsd212** · 08-13-2005, 07:39 PM

I carry mine out, plug in a VGA, two USBs, sound, and power. Then I turn it on and cram the laptop between the passenger seat and the console. Its set to hibernate when battery is low. If its hibernating, I un-wedge it from between the seats, press power, and shove it back in there.

Im sooo waiting for the cash to buy me an Opus and an MII board....

**viguera** · 08-13-2005, 07:45 PM

I used a port replicator for my X31 that I got from ebay for cheap. The port replicator is secured to the floor of the trunk, and it takes care of all the connections (audio, vga, usb, etc).

I can either leave the whole thing in the car if I want to, or undock the laptop and take it in the house if I have to work on it or something.

I took care of the power button by hard-wiring a switch to the port replicator and running it to the front of the cabin along with the rest of the cables. That way I can turn the thing on remotely, and usually whatever front-end I'm using has an option for hibernate/stand by.

**kickercivic1** · 08-13-2005, 10:35 PM

I just got doing my laptop install. I am using sell c840 with a docking station..

**LostCosmos** · 08-16-2005, 12:46 PM

I went with a docking station option just because I did not want to mod the laptop itself for power on, etc.. You can see my laptop install here:
http://www.perhamresearch.com/carputer.html

**jusatry** · 08-17-2005, 05:51 PM

dell docking stations just have a little plastic screw panel behind the power button setup. I unscrewed that, played with my multimeter till i found the wires which shorted when you push the on button, and wired my remote power button to them. Then with the help of a glue gun i put it back together so my docking station has pigtails.....

**kiltjim** · 08-17-2005, 06:08 PM

No docking station, I just plug everything into the back. Opened the case, soldered a small connector to the power button. I rarely have use for the laptop, so it doesn't matter that it takes me a few minutes to get everything disconnected. A docking station would just make it much easier.

Hibernation is handled through software, mostly I just put it into standby. My motherboard doesn't have on power-on settings, so its only handled through the switch.