Thread: CarPC Power Problems

Originally Posted by rabbitman007

I am looking into placing a computer in my car. I am caught between an ATX or ITX chassis. I want to include either a 15" touchscreen or regular 15" LCD in the car. The computer can be powered DC through the special power suppliy, but how do i power the screen? any suggestions. The same goes for an external DVD burner. What are my options?

Your first option is the FAQ Emporium, which has answers to 99% of questions you might have about a vehicle PC.
For the LCD, look for model that has a transformer-style power brick, as you can likely produce the voltage needed with a DC-DC PSU. And 15" screen is HUGE for a vehicle, unless you drive a bus.
External slim DVD burner can be powered off the firewire or USB bus, although USB would require two USB connections (one for power, one for data)

Also, with my car I am looking for a patch to monitor all of the guages (speed, tach, odometer, fuel, oil, water, etc) through the computer. However the car is an 83, with no ECU (car computer). Any ideas on what to do?

Get a newer engine or a relay board, software and sensors, then be prepared to do some coding. The newer engine option is a lot easier.

Linux or Windows?

You need to make that decision.

good god man - both of your posts on this forum have been bassically asking people to spoon feed you. Take this as a hint and start reading before you post again.

The practical reason people want you to do research before posting questions is for organizational reasons. This forum is for development and storage of knowledge and ideas. The knowledge is developed and stored through posts. Think of a post as a page of an encyclopedia. Imagine opening an encyclopedia that contained 1,000 pages of the same trivial. It would be very frusterating and difficult to find any useful information. This is why people get so frusterated at newbs who just post and want information without doing at least some research. It's like opening an encyclopedia, not reading it, and asking the author to give you a page to write in it. That would be kind of silly if you ask me. The point is to contribute to the community by posting.