Thread: Building A Carputer....help please

I think you missed out the toaster in your list above, but maybe it comes free with that rig

anyway - what you need is patience to read through the posts on this site. What you want is quite achievable and has been done before. However I would suggest you really go through the things you want the computer to do (there are nice to haves, and there are things that are "theres no point in making the car pc if it cant do this")
you could possible use stuff from your old pc, but dont start with that. i have found the best way is to start fresh, list out what you need and then see what you can salvage - rather than patch an old computer to make it do things.

Im a newbie too but just trying to help...

Theres a couple of programs you can use as a front end to the System, RoadRunner, Digital Dash.. these are mainly just front end application launchers, I made my own using VB. These control and work with other software for things you would normally use in the car, eg Winamp for sound... Theres a few sat nav programs out there for PC's but in my opinion they are not as good as standalone or PDA based systems such as TomTom. U can use Destinator which is for a PDA for sat nav you can use a front end for this on your PC such as FreeDrive www.x-digital.addr.com or Map Monkey www.mapmonkey.net they are both free but you need Destinator first, Freedrive menus look a little like TomTom.

You can have wireless lan on the PC however these have a range, eg you can park in your garage or drive/carport and connect to your home network... These are ok if you want to transfer music blah blah... The easiest method for internet on the go though is using a mobile phone as a modem connected to the PC through Bluetooth, you can get usb bluetooth dongles with a range of 10m most Nokia phones with Bluetooth will work with their free PCSuite software and work as a modem through bluetooth, thus step into the car and have internet connectivity on the PC wherever u are...
Advantages: Internet on the Go, wherever you need it for quick surfing
Disadvantages: Slow connection speeds, expensive most mobile networks charge extra for dialing ISP phone numbers...

You can use a cut down version of WindowsXP you can make this using an XP CD and a free program called NLite, however just using a standard XP installation should be ok if you close all non essential services (use TweakXP) eg Messenger, Norton Firewall... anything you dont need to start in the car you can disable or uninstall...

Which Computer, What type of computer???
There are several small form factor motherboards out there and lots of small systems already available for the Home such as the Shuttle systems, these are relatively cheap and you can add to them or you can use a laptop, both have advantages and disadvantages... been covered lots on here...

Anyway hope that helps in some way... My person opinion is most the features you required would come in a standard PC anyway so you can use them in the car as standard such as Mpeg, DVD etc... I wouldnt spend much money on an over the top graphics card would concentrate on building a more stable fast booting system, remeber the graphics card may be super duper but it is going to be restricted by the screen you have in the car, they have limited resolutions and touch screen game play aint too great neither lol... Maybe solitaire???

lol.......thank you guys thankz a bunch! all of ur advice has helped me in some way.....thankz again!......

Cris,
what two power supplies do i need and how can i get them?



surfatwork,
lol oh yea my toster too! lol jk, thankz for advice! im gonna find the parts first then see what i can use from my old comp. nice advice ty



c9679,
thank you for all the info but i have another question....so theres no way to have a fast lan or lan like connection in ur car with out being in the drive way or garage?...and what is this verizon wireless unlimited internet 70 bucks a month i hear about? is it dial up too? what if i dont have a phone with blue tooth? do i have to buy 1? can i jus get the internet conection from a supplier like sprint or cingular?...oh and on 1 forum ive heard of hackin in sprint or cingular to get the net? is this tru? if so how?

Im sorry mate im from the UK so I havent actually heard of Verizon, Local Area Networks, usually work in Local areas you require a server and some connection to the other computers, wireless or wired... You could have a wide area network using satalite techonology however $70 a month for internet connectivity for your car does sound a little expensive, would u use it that much??? I do use my laptop with my phone to connect to the net however this is very rare and only use it for short periods... Its upto you really but remember it is a car puter Im making my one mainly for entertainment purposes, it can already do quite a lot do you need high speed net access on a small screen without a keyboard???

Bluetooth connection with the phone was just an idea as thats what i use and I could get into the car with the phone in my pocket and have it connected to my pc straight away you could also use a datacable with most mobile phones... If you have a car kit in the car you can use a datacable extend the leads and connect it to the car kit directly e.g I have a 6310i car kit in my car, it has the same connectors at the bottom of the kit as a datacable would, using an old datacable its really simple to wire this up allowing me to use the car kit as a data connection to my PC... anyway just a thought...

HI everyone!
well I have ed and ed some more and well I was wondering if it would be easier and alot more cheaper just to repair my gateway computer and use it as my carputer....what do you think?...the only repair i would need to do is update, maybe a new graphics card, my usb in the front are messed up and if anyone knows how, can tell me what to do to fix that...please...and i would but another cd drive to make it dvd-rw. I have some pics of it so you all can take a look at it and see if it would work and if its even worth the time... thankz again