Thread: 2004 Mazda 6 Carputer

Finally finished my first carputer. Thanks to everyone who contributed in this forum. I am very happy with the final result

I chose a laptop solution because of the standby feature. It goes from standby to music in 3 seconds and automatically goes to standby mode if it's on battery power for 5 minutes. It also serves as a fully functional and powerful laptop. I can pop it out in seconds, take it with me and use it wherever I want.

Total cost ~$1000.00

here are some pictures
full view, the cigarette lighter is the power on switch

bootup screen. replaced windowsxp's welcome screen

gps receiver

all the wires

carputer goes under the front passenger seat







here's the link to the detail project
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/835692/2

Wish List:
1. Better shock protection for the laptop. So it doesn't disconnect from the docking station when the car goes over a speed bump.
2. The annoying out of range problem for Lilliput.
3. more voice control
4. display chinese characters in FP for my chinese mp3s
5. backup camera
6. Bluetooth. So I can have a true mobile internet connection.
7. Higher contast LCD. It's still difficult to see under bright daylight.
8. Finally. Make the carputer drive my car so I can enjoy all the stuff that's available.