Hey everyone-
My first post ever here. Found these forums quite by accident and I am really impressed with the work you guys do! I am a little reluctant to post my set-up as it looks very amateurish in comparison but thought some of you all might enjoy it!
Specs:
2003 GMC Sierra 4X4 Full Size P/U
Cappuccino PC SP 320
1.3 Ghz Celeron
128 Mb RAM
40 GB HD
DVD
Xenarc 7" with touch screen option
Wireless IR keyboard/trackball
On to the pics! Please be nice though, I posted this on a car fourm and got flamed so much I took the post down. Jeez some forum people suck. The pics are pretty crappy as I have resized and compressed them to stay as close to forum rules as possible. I have much better higher res images available that I can substitute if anyone is interested.
The first pic shows the Xenarc monitor attached to the dash. It swivels and tilts for best viewing by driver or passenger. Then the Blaupunkt headunit which gets fed audio from the PC into its AUX inputs. And at the bottom is the PC itself suspended below the dash for easy access to the DVD drive. On top of it is the IR reciever for the keyboard and the Magellan GPS unit is attached on the right. Not seen is the DC/DC converter behind the dash set to 13 VDC output. Note the firewire and USB ports on the front of the PC. Oh yeah, if you look in the rearview you can see me behind my Nikon D100.
Next is a shot from the drivers seat (sort of), showing the entire set-up as well as the IR keyboard/trackball, it stays hidden beneath the rear seat for the most part and is only used for inputing point to point driving directions in the iNav Gps software. The software gives verbal instructions on where to turn etc, it's very cool in operation!
Here is a shot of the Xenarc monitor with a DVD cued up and ready to entertain. Not that the driver should ever be watching that while moving down the road!
Finally here is a pic of the system in full security mode. It only takes about 15 seconds to go from fully loaded to this and everything stores neatly in the center console. Also pictured is my security badge from a recent job site. Yep, that's my ugly mug there.
So far it has worked flawlessly and I am having a ton of fun with it. My wife thought it was kind of stupid until she saw it in action and is now enamored with it! So I will putting one together for her Maxima shortly. Although I will use a fold out LCD for her car.
The only problem I have encountered is bad RF from the monitor while trying to get distant FM stations. I'm working on it though!
And the legality of the whole thing is kind of iffy. Although I did have a state trooper and his partner behind the other day for about 15 minutes and they ended up riding my bumper to get a better view of the display which was running my GPS at the time. The kept pointing at it. I was expecting to get stopped at any minute but they finally passed me. So I guess I am safe for the time being. Anyway I hope you enjoyed my set-up. I know I sure do.