laying the groundwork

**Jaimz** · 04-10-2005, 10:21 PM

well, i've got a 2002 ford foxus zx3, and i know that atleast one other person here does ( stevieg ) i think something like that.

I've got alot of CRAZY ideas for my carputer, but first i got to get the stinkin thing built. here's a list of what i plan on doing ( nothing new to you all )

audio / video playback
obdII stats
gps navigation
audio processing/filtering ( for bass competitions )
wireless access

here's what i'm wanting to get:

7" liliput touchscreen
VIA EPIA M10000 Mini-ITX
512 ram
80 gig hard drive, probably just a regulat 3.5 maxtor
slot load dvd-rom
a cool little back lit keyboard i got from newegg.com
winfast tv200 xp expert ( for radio and tv )
wireless lan card w/ a 1 watt amplifer
CMedia CMI9761 6-channel ( excellent cheap 5.1 audio output )
some kinda GPS recever
scantool's OBDII scanner

and here's what i have:
car, subs, amps, caps, ideas, "rigging" ablilities, and i nice wife that will let me spend the money when we have it.

now, my questions:

the m10000 has 1 pci slot, i listed 3 pci cards! anyone know how i can achieve that short of usings a differant motherboard and cpu?

the bass hits are HARD, i mean hard. so i don't think mounting the computer near that would be too smart, yet i can't think of a low heat place to put it elsewhere in the car. any ideas?

and my third question is, can i achieve multiple monitors from my carputer without yet more pci video cards?
i'm replacing the HU with the lilliput 7" for main contol of the whole system.
i'd like to have some in the head rests, so when my new son is a little older he can watch movies with head phones (i can get muiltiple audio streams with the cmedia card with a little simeple programming.. it's 6 channels!)
and i'd like to have a forth monitor mounted in the head liner of the car to show obd stats, computer stats, gps info, and video's.

splitting the video steams and audio streams to multiple output sources is simple, connecting it all the m10000 is my problem :P

what do you all think? maybe a full blown computer?

**DarquePervert** · 04-11-2005, 08:57 AM

Originally Posted by Jaimz

the m10000 has 1 pci slot, i listed 3 pci cards! anyone know how i can achieve that short of usings a differant motherboard and cpu?

A different motherboard/CPU.

the bass hits are HARD, i mean hard. so i don't think mounting the computer near that would be too smart, yet i can't think of a low heat place to put it elsewhere in the car. any ideas?

Under the seat?
Actually a lot of people are putting their PCs in the trunk with subs and have had no ill-effects. You can search on this very topic.

and my third question is, can i achieve multiple monitors from my carputer without yet more pci video cards?

No.

what do you all think? maybe a full blown computer?

Teh M10000 isn't a full-blown computer? It's only a percentage of a computer? A fraction?

**LagunaICE** · 04-11-2005, 09:06 AM

Originally Posted by DarquePervert

A different motherboard/CPU.

Well there is a different solution too - a PCI riser card.

Originally Posted by DarquePervert

No.

I tend to disagree here. You can have Lilliput hooked up to VGA port as you primary display and hook up another cheapish LCD with RCA connectivity to Epia's TV-out, which can only "mirror" picture on VGA output. Moreover, you have a possibility to actually split TV-out signal to clone your primary VGA picture to more then one screen.

BTW, Darque, I am having my divorce court next week

**xBrady** · 04-11-2005, 09:18 AM

Originally Posted by Jaimz

the bass hits are HARD, i mean hard. so i don't think mounting the computer near that would be too smart, yet i can't think of a low heat place to put it elsewhere in the car. any ideas?

I have my carputer sitting next to my Kenwood 12" sub. The other day my carputer reset and my subwoofer now doesn't play (haven't had the time to find out why). I've had my carputer sitting next to a subwoofer for 8 months without a problem with the carputer. This is the second time one of my subs have died (hopefully it is the amp this time).

**Jaimz** · 04-11-2005, 10:40 AM

well when i say hard i mean hard. the bass hits actually rattled the plasic interior parts off my hatch.. i had to put that back, it rattled the bolts out of the rear whipper, i had to put that back. i have to tighten the screws in the subs once a week.

it was tested at 149db so it's a heavy pound.

i'm thinking maybe building it all into the dash, the focus has a huge dashboard thats generally empty if you know where to look. i can probably pack it ina custom box with sound proofing foam and some dynamat that'd probably do the trick.

now, with a full sized mobo i'd have to put it in the trunk.

Also is there a way to make a cd rom's IDE cable reach to the trunk from the hu area. or should i go for USB/ firewire? remember it's gonna be a slot load