Thread: Piecing a Carputer... help...

Im a noob to this whole thing. I was googling early and stumbled across this amazing hobby. I've always imagined installing a PC in my car and had planned to make it a project for some time... I couldnt believe to find that it was attempted let alone a popular hobby.

Point is I couldnt of stumbled upon this at greater opertunity. Someone broke into my car not long ago and took just about everything they could get there hands on (including my radio). So ive been on a mission to find a decent head unit and found mp3car.com. I then spent about 5 hours strait in researching the forums/sites alike. I believe i have a rather decent foundation of whats needed. I do computers for a living so I have a good background to work with. Now if I could get some help and maybe get pointed in the right direction that would be great...

This is what I found to work with so far...

-Sharp LQ-9D161 Active Matrix TFT Screen mated with a Microtouch 3M Cleartek Capacitive Touch Screen
http://www.a2zrealty.com/sharp/lq9d161.pdf
http://www.3m.com/3mtouchsystems/Pro...ClearTek.jhtml

-DigitalView ACG-1024 LCD Controller
http://www.digitalview.com/brochures...4-brochure.pdf

-TDK Dual CCFT LCD backlight inverter P/N CXA-M1112-VJ
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...category=26206

-MicroTouch Touchscreen Controller USB 14-205 Rev 2.1
http://www.touchwindow.com/miva/merc...ct_Code=14-205

-Mini-ITX EPIA M10000 “Eden”
http://www.via.com.tw/en/VInternet/mini_itx.jsp

-Opus 150watt PSU
http://www.opussolutions.com/150watt.html

-ITPS Auto Power Sequencer
http://store.ituner.com/ituner/itps.html

-Media Engine Software
http://www.mediaengine.org/

Is this everything I need??

Which is best or can I even use either of them?

Also why is it that everyone uses the Serial Cable version of the Microtouch screen controller for the LQ-9D161?

If I were to use this setup with the Microtouch USB controller, all that i would do is plug in the usb into the mainboards usb ports and install drivers and thats it for touch screen setup? Is the video feed running through the USB cable or do i still need a VGA connector to convert the USB or something?

All of this seems a tad bit expensive from the PSU being 199 bucks and the 200 dollar eipa mini mainboard. What would stop me from simply installing an old mini tower in my trunk with 50 dollars worth of exention cords ran to the front and a basic DC - AC inverter for power?

I was also wondering if there was anyway to wire a head unit (stereo) cd player to the computer so that I can utilize that as my cd-rom for the computer instead of installing another cd player in the dash?

Thank you for your read and your help is appreciated...



If anyone is selling any of the above stuff let me know Im interested