Laptop Setup

**Rith** · 05-17-2004, 04:54 PM

Ok guys, after all the advice and days of searching I have come down to this... tell me what you think.

Dell Ins. 1100 Laptop (Broken Screen) (I will take off the screen and put fans or a heat rejecting material around it)
4-port usb 2.0 Hub
Earthmate GPS
D-Link FM radio
Audigy 2 NX
Lilliput VGA TC 7"
Car adapter for the Laptop

The only thing I can see that might be a problem is the power... do you think that the Car adapter can power the laptop fast enough to run 5 usb devices without draining the battery?

Thanks for all your help guys.

**Noctris** · 05-21-2004, 01:51 PM

Normally your car should be able to give enough power for the 5 usb devices.

Draining the battery is something else. The laptop battery will probably take a lot of the load too but your battery will be dead in a couple off days if you do not cut off the power when your engine is not running.

best thing to do with a laptop is probably make sure it charges it's battery during driving from the car power and make it run from battery ( cut power) when not driving. Then you should still be able to run your computer for about 1,5 upto 2 hours on portable battery.

The extra bonus is that you get to have a automatic shutdown solution ;-)

Just setup windows/Linux to hibernate or go to standby when the computer has not been used for 10 minutes running on battery. Getting it to come back is something else, you will have to run some tests for that, could be that tapping the screen of the lilliput is enough, could be you have to figure out an alternative for switching it back on.

My 02 cents anyway

**MoonShiner** · 05-21-2004, 02:07 PM

I use a Dell Lattitude C610 with a C-DOCK II. I use a car adapter for getting power from the car to the docking station/laptop when the car is running. The car adapter only gets power when the key is in the number 2 position. When it's in the number one position, the laptop runs off the laptop battery.

As far as resuming from hybernation/standby and powering the laptop on/off, I soldered two wires from the docking station's power switch and mounted a power button in the center console (along with a power LED and a HDD LED). The setup actually works pretty good. With the C-DOCK II, you have PCI expansion slots as well as an extra multi-bay (which I use for a second HDD or DVD-rom). I also used a seperate car adapter for the USB hub, which also only gets power when the key is in the number two position.

If you don't have a docking station or port replicator (relatively inexpensive on eBay, I got mine for 30 bucks), you can also solder the wires for the power button to the power button on the laptop itself. Using the dock or port, I am able to remove the laptop and take it anywhere (to add new files, etc...).

**eugenen** · 05-25-2004, 06:55 PM

Have you purchased yet. We bought my wife an Inspiron 1100 and it would be a bad carputer choice. Even with a clean install of XP it runs too hot just sitting on a desk doing nothing, the cpu fans (yes it has 2!!) speed up to shop vac mode all the time.

**kandyman676** · 06-03-2004, 08:11 PM

Originally Posted by MoonShiner

I use a Dell Lattitude C610 with a C-DOCK II. I use a car adapter for getting power from the car to the docking station/laptop when the car is running. The car adapter only gets power when the key is in the number 2 position. When it's in the number one position, the laptop runs off the laptop battery.

As far as resuming from hybernation/standby and powering the laptop on/off, I soldered two wires from the docking station's power switch and mounted a power button in the center console (along with a power LED and a HDD LED). The setup actually works pretty good. With the C-DOCK II, you have PCI expansion slots as well as an extra multi-bay (which I use for a second HDD or DVD-rom). I also used a seperate car adapter for the USB hub, which also only gets power when the key is in the number two position.

If you don't have a docking station or port replicator (relatively inexpensive on eBay, I got mine for 30 bucks), you can also solder the wires for the power button to the power button on the laptop itself. Using the dock or port, I am able to remove the laptop and take it anywhere (to add new files, etc...).

What type of car adapter are you using? DC to DC, or DC to AC to DC? I have a C-PORT II, but was thinking of getting the C-DOCK II cause of the PCI slots and extra multi-bay. Please advise.

**MoonShiner** · 06-04-2004, 01:21 AM

Originally Posted by kandyman676

What type of car adapter are you using? DC to DC, or DC to AC to DC? I have a C-PORT II, but was thinking of getting the C-DOCK II cause of the PCI slots and extra multi-bay. Please advise.

I'm using a DC-DC adapter. Didn't make sense to use DC -> AC -> DC. If you do that you'd basically be going from 12v -> 110v --> 20v. That would put an extra load getting the power up to 110v when you only need it up to 20v. DC-DC you are just going from 12v -> 20v.

**kandyman676** · 06-04-2004, 09:47 AM

exactly. unfortunately, there are no C-PORT IIs on ebay, except one seller with them at nearly $300. Dell sells them still for around $275. bit on the pricy side for me. plus then I would still have to obtain the multibay hdd, unless you know so way to jerry rig it for a regular harddrive? :-P

**MoonShiner** · 06-04-2004, 01:32 PM

I'm not familiar with the C-PORT II, is it different from the C-DOCK II?

I searched eBay and saw several of the C-DOCK II for cheap. I got mine for 10 bucks + 20 shipping = $30.

Here's one (not mine):

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...484803384&rd=1

For the 2nd HDD, I searched for a multi-bay HDD adapter and got it for about $20 total.

**kandyman676** · 06-04-2004, 01:45 PM

doh, i ment to say C-DOCK II. I already have a C-PORT II - it basically is just the dock without the PCI slots and multibay extension. you can see one for sale on Ebay here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...485239188&rd=1

I also got a C PORT I, but the thing is buggy as all hell with docking...thus the reason for the C PORT II.

Thanks for the find on ebay! Obviously my search skills were retarded last night to find this:-P I just did on of the BuyNow's to avoid waiting for one:-)

Thanks for the help!

Question: What did you put in your PCI slots? Curious :-)

**MoonShiner** · 06-05-2004, 01:57 AM

Originally Posted by kandyman676

Question: What did you put in your PCI slots? Curious :-)

I added a TV Tuner card that I found on eBay to one of the slots. At first I had issues finding an antenna that would give me reception. I then just used the radio antenna and it actually works really well. I can even watch TV while driving at high speeds on the freeway. If you need info on how to rig the radio antenna to the coax tv tuner input, let me know and I'll find the thread that had the info...it basically uses a motorola Female connector, a BNC coupler and a coax to BNC connector....

Once you get the C-Dock II and open the the two screws under the power/reset/undock buttons, you should be able to figure out how to solder a couple wires to mount an external power switch (I mounted mine in the center console). If you need help on how to do it, let me know.