Ready to begin....

**SuprchargdMazda** · 03-16-2006, 11:57 PM

So at first I wanted a mini ITX carPC, but then after a bit of thinking I realized I should just get a laptop that I could plug in when I am in the car and then use in the house when I get home from where ever (my current computer is an 8yr old PII 450mhz Dell, 8mb graphics card, 120gb HD, etc.

).

I found buygpsnow and saw that a reciever and software will only cost me around 150 bucks so thats good, gotta read up in that section of the forums to figure out which one is right for me now.

Not still sure what laptop to get, but I do want a dual-core cpu since I want to play a few games (mostly RealTimeStrategy, prolly cant run half-life 2 too well on ~1.8ghz) and a bit of multitasking..

I currently have a Kenwood HU running my car system consisting of 2 10" JL 10w3s powered by a 2channel amp and a 4channel amp powering the 6.5fronts/6x9rears...I want to get a 7 or 8" screen to put in place of the head unit and run the laptop whenever I'm in the car with it laying under the passenger seat (might make a ghetto cradle to hold it in place)..

Now, the difficulty of all this is two things. One, I suck at electrical ****. The best I could do is wire up a head unit and install speakers into the doors, thats the most difficult thing I've done. Second, my Mazda has a wood dash "look" so sanding and fiberglassing is out of the question so I'm just going to have to see about how to mount whatever screen I do get..

**SuprchargdMazda** · 03-17-2006, 12:14 AM

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**SuprchargdMazda** · 03-17-2006, 12:15 AM

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**SuprchargdMazda** · 03-17-2006, 12:21 AM

nevermind the above post, I'm guessing that this is basically my setup: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...pc-audio-5.jpg ?

So I need to go buy 3 Y Adapters and 2 pairs stereo RCA Cables, and what are the cables going to the amp powering the subs cuz I noticed both ends are white?? Does this mean whatever laptop I get has to have a Soundblaster audio card, can't have just built-in audio??

**SuprchargdMazda** · 03-17-2006, 12:30 AM

So this is telling me where to plug in the cables into the sound card, but how am I going to do this since I was just planning on keeping the laptop underneath the seat while driving and taking it out when I am at school or home...Can I wire things up so that there is just one connection from the in-dash screen into the laptop whenever I jump into the car??

I don't want to have to plug in 5+ wires every time I get in the car, itll be tedious plus I don't want wires hanging all over either.

**SuprchargdMazda** · 03-17-2006, 12:53 AM

I'm not sure if my post is clear, but I don't understand what sort of connection is made from the laptop to the indash screen since the laptop will be closed and sitting under the seat while I'm driving?

Also, how do I connect the laptop to the car so that its not running off the laptops battery? I read about DC-DC something vs. inverters but it doesn't make much sense to me.

I'm a biology major, so please hold back with flaming me, but electricity is like black magic to me..

**Fush** · 03-17-2006, 01:01 AM

mate the best way to do it would be to get a 3.5mm plug lead to 2x RCA plugs and plug that into the AUX of your head unit if it has one...otherwise you would need a 5.1 surround card and do similar to that picture.

As for the Touch screens, they connect via the vga port on your laptop and a usb port for the touch screen.

You also need to think how your going to turn the thing on and off...there are a number of ways

1. wake on ring, wake on lan or wake on link depending if you have a built in ethernet skt, modem or serial port. and then your bios

2. Solder wires to your switch on your laptop and connect it to an external push button switch

3. have some sort of machanical switch that will press your power button on demand..

**Fush** · 03-17-2006, 01:04 AM

as for dc-dc converters you can pick them up at most electronic stores..if your in the USA, bestbuy, circitcity or compusa would do fine..
Australia would be jaycar or dicksmith or you can just go to dell and get one off them..its just a standard airline/car dc-dc adaptor which plugs into your cigarette adaptor in your dash or you can hard wire it

**e30_droptop** · 03-17-2006, 01:09 AM

One thing you might consider if you are hell bent on buying a laptop for dual duty (in the car and then in the home) is to buy a "port replicator" that is made for the laptop by the manufacturer. Many laptops have this option , but not all of them. This allows one to make all the connections like Video connections, Audio Connections , and power to the port replicator. Then the laptop just clicks into the port replicator. The laptop is built with a multipurpose plug that is usually in the back or the bottom of the unit that completes all of these connections when the laptop is clicked in. Port replicators are made to provide a physical snap in ,locking connection as well as the electrical connections.

That way you would not have to plug and unlpug 5 + wires everytime you wanted to use the laptop in the car. Just leave the port replicator in the car connected. Another nice thing is that a thief could usually care less about stealing your port replicator as it would be of no use unless they already possessed the same exact model laptop. They are proprietary.

**SuprchargdMazda** · 03-17-2006, 01:21 AM

Originally Posted by Fush

mate the best way to do it would be to get a 3.5mm plug lead to 2x RCA plugs and plug that into the AUX of your head unit if it has one...otherwise you would need a 5.1 surround card and do similar to that picture.

Ok, so since I'm not using my head unit, I am going to have to get an external sound card or a port replicator looks like..That adds a bit $ into the equation that I wasn't planning on...tried searching for headless or HUless but didn't find too many detailed posts other than some regarding what connectors and cables are needed and a few comments on SQ...?