King of Newbies..

**Fatigue** · 05-10-2004, 11:53 AM

Yeah, so I'm young, living off a College Dinner consisting of Ramon noodles with a touch of pepper. I have or actually I had a decent knowledge of Computers and what not, but when it came down to Carputers.. My mind just completely left me.. I have no Idea where to start, and I feel pathetic to ask someone to hold my hand and baby me on my journey of creating my dream car. ( 97 Ex Accord Sedan, 18" ICW Rims, Blitz Body Kit, Window tint so far ).

So really, What I am asking.. is..
Can someone be so kind to.. Create ( as in write out what I need ) for a decent, not to expensive, but not to cheap, Carputer, that does the works ( GPS, DVD, MUSIC ).

Some how to's would be cool, like How to completely connect your carputer to your car, without burning it up..

As for me, I can upholster and fiberglass everything in my car, but.. I can't even create or put together a soundsystem if my life depended on it..

**mp3z24** · 05-10-2004, 12:16 PM

pretty much everything you need is somewhere on the board...

there is stuff on power supplies, screens, wiring, etc.

i honestly dont think someone is going to sit down and write a reply containing all the subtleties of building and installing a carputer... if you have some specific questions about buying some components or procedures, then im sure you will get a bit more of a reply.

~mike

**samc** · 05-10-2004, 12:18 PM

One thing you learn doing a carputer is never cut corners, I hope you enjoy eating those Ramen + pepper. And yes search the king of newbies

**bankingdom** · 05-10-2004, 12:34 PM

As my bretheren have pointed out...the

is a very usefull tool.

First thing you have to ask yourself is how far you wanna go with this? Do you want something easy, simple and quick...ie laptop, or do you wanna take the time and energy to put together a whole system. Many people have reasons for doing either way.

Then you gotta ask yourself how you want to view your carputer? In dash 7" screen, visor screen, mount a 10"......

Next, how do you want to control it....touch screen seems to be the best option for most, but you can also use a mouse/keyboard and some other interesting things....

How are you going to power it? Opus dc to dc seems to be the top choice for the guys who have the full computers. Laptops are much easier to power using a cig lighter adapter.

I have a 96 accord so i know the interior your dealing with. If your good with bondo and fiberglass stuff you can make a custom in dash screen solution.

Good luck!

**Fatigue** · 05-10-2004, 01:35 PM

Thanks guys, I did some searching before I posted, but didnt get much luck, I'll keep on looking.

**Enforcer** · 05-10-2004, 02:17 PM

Originally Posted by samc

One thing you learn doing a carputer is never cut corners,

On the contrary I think you'll find you may need to cut quite a few corners if you wish to custom install a PC and all the peripherals into your car. Especially if you want to make the screen install look OEM

**SjLucky** · 05-10-2004, 10:22 PM

allways a smart *** enforcer... jesus christ

D00d!!! YOu say you know alot about computers and all that jazz then why is this so damn hard? I mean for the love of christ you just changing a power supply and speakers and that's about it. Everything people are doing is just for personal taste. Nothing is worst than a dumb *** asking for help when he says he knows his stuff. Now thats just bunk.

Lazy Bastard!

Oh yea I forgot

and

**jjh221** · 05-10-2004, 10:31 PM

Bro i would have to agree with all of them and even Sj... I think i know what the prob is in your search. You have yet to figure out what it is you want to do. We know you want to put a computer in your car. You must come up with what you want it to look like. How it will function. Its purpose and how much money you can spend. Basically no one can tell you how to do it college boy.......So hit the books!!!(or the forum hehe)

**gospeed.racer** · 05-10-2004, 10:33 PM

Originally Posted by SjLucky

allways a smart *** enforcer... jesus christ

....Nothing is worst than a dumb *** asking for help when he says he knows his stuff. Now thats just bunk.

Lazy Bastard!

Oh yea I forgot

and

WOW. Harsh man!
We are already known as not being very Newbie-friendly....not helping

The main thing you should consider is what your application will be. Sounds like you want dvd, mp3, the whole works. I like the Via mainboards, mine is a M1000 for example. Buy a board, some memory, and a hard drive, and then consider a screen. There is so much debate, I cant tell you what to purchase without starting another debate, so I wont, but research the lcd more than any other part of your system! It may be molded into your dash for life. You also need to decide on where you want your drive, how your gonna wire it will depend. Think about your input device, a touchscreen is very handy, but how are you going to type...wireless keyboard? virtual keyboard?

Jot down some notes on what you like, and what you have questions about, and we can work with you a little better. The more specific you are, the less the big bad guys around here will pick on you.

**Ricky327** · 05-10-2004, 10:42 PM

On the contrary I think you'll find you may need to cut quite a few corners if you wish to custom install a PC and all the peripherals into your car. Especially if you want to make the screen install look OEM

may I add...you may also need to cut in the middle