MP3Car.com

Do I even need to build a CarPC?

filmjay — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:33:53 GMT

Okay, so I just got a new car. An '08 C6 Corvette. And of course I'm all excited and am already looking for ways to modify it. :) And being a pretty experienced PC builder already, I'm thinking CarPC. :D

I've got HUD but no factory nav (and an OEM install requires the expensive, hard to find, and difficult to retrofit Bose system).

I've been looking at the aftermarket nav/multimedia stations like the Clarion NX409 and the Pioneer AVIC-Z110BT.
They have everything I want in what I'd build a CarPC for except one thing...as far as I know...the ability to run 3rd party programs (I want to run EFI Live tuning software from the dash via a USB -> OBDII cable.)

Are there any hacks/mods for existing sytems that would allow me to do this? Or for the ability to tune the engine and get OBDII info, am I going to have to build another PC, fit a touchscreen, run cables for antennas, wire, solder, and configure a suite of new software for various things like FM radio, CD/DVD playback, Nav, and browser and figure out how to tie it all together with a front end client?

I wouldn't mind just having a Windows desktop with a touchscreen and using something like Objectdock for each module. But I'm not quite understanding how to incorporate FM radio or Nav into an otherwise standard PC setup.

bidfun SCAM

Woofnstuff — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:12:33 GMT

Avoid this !! ITS A SCAM

it looks like an auction, BUT you prebuy bid options at $1 each bid.

first glance you go WOW that fantastic a BRAND NEW PS3 slim went for $265.92 ($132US), thats a hell of a deal. then OMG another went for ONLY $45.82(22.90US)
($$$changes for local currency)

do the math, they dont want the buy price to go high or the auction to be quick, so a $1 bid = $0.02 increase in buy price, thats sounds fine, the final price will stay nice an low when i win. :) my currency its $0.02 ($0.01us)

re the above PS3 $265.92 / 0.02 = 13296 bids best price is 80c a bid, then that PS3 had about $10,000 in bids spent on it, and the person then paid $265 for it so it only cost them say $300 for that, so that $9700 profit on selling a ps3.

at $45.82 thats still $2000+ for a ps3 all up.

i noticed the same people bidding on all, because there is only one "gamble" or auction for the main items, its not really an auction, really. so they cover all time zones. so waiting toll 1am to place a sneeky bid, means you are bidding against the uk and the usa
http://www.bidfun.co.uk
http://www.bidfun.co.nz
http://www.bidfun.com

lots of sites report that even after bidding finishes, you can get last chance options, so even after you win, you may still be out gambled, and no, money spent on bids is not refundable.

http://www.ripoffreport.com/Miscella...d-re-ef7e4.htm

Slim external and/or laptop slot loading drives...

Tengis — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:37:08 GMT

The one I bought doesnt seem to like much vibration at ALL. I hooked it up to my desktop before we decided to begin mounting/molding in the car and I can hear the disc "scraping" when I move it up/down, tilting, etc.

What drive do you use? Does yours hold the disc securely? Do you have any type of skipping issues in the car?

NOOB: Help with installing a TFT LCD monitor

mgiljum — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:37:45 GMT

I'm not a complete electronics noob, but this screen I bought is very frustrating. It's an RCA 8in TFT LCD screen model #RC80HV.

The manual provides absolutely no info on how to install it.

The monitor has a din connector coming out the back, it comes with three cables:

1. female din to a female S-video cable
2. male s-video to audio/video rca jacks, and what looks like a female
3. very thin gauge (my guess is 20 AWG) red wire with a fuse, and a white wire that I think is a ground connection...both go to 2 male DC jacks (i'm assuming for a second monitor)

I thought the installation looked obvious, so I tried it myself...I hooked up the DIN connector to the female S-Video, hooked the male S-video to that, connected one the male DC jacks to the female one, connected the power to 12V+ switched from my head unit, and connected the white power to a good ground.

when i turned the car on, the screen turned bright white and makes a terrible cracking/flickering noise, accompanied with weird noise from my speakers. for an instant when the screen turns on, I can see a message dialogue, probably from the screen's menu function, but it quickly turns white and the awful noise won't stop. I'm afraid to keep it on to see what happens because it sounds like somethings gonna burn out.

please help, i've tried everything to find some model-specific guides, but rca provides zero support for this model. i don't know how old it is, but I bought it off ebay described as new from a dependable seller.

thanks for your help and patience with my inexperience!

Zotac ION - Why it is awesome

kev000 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:55:24 GMT

I just got my ION yesterday. I got it mainly for the dual video outs, but I'm even more impressed with it now that I have it.

I'm posting this in the LinuxICE forum so I can document how the LinuxICE install goes and also document any issues I run into and workarounds that I find.

Here's a list of reasons why this board kicks butt:

- Dual Channel DDR800
This should be a very nice boost over the intel atom board's single channell 667MHz RAM.

- Dual Video Out
I've got a xenarc which accepts HDMI. I plan on adding a second monitor later. When I do, this board is ready

- DVI out
This board would make an excellent media center box. It's got coax and optical out, hdmi + dvi... mythtv frontend lovefest!

- Much better OpenGL performance
The Intel GMA945 is okay, but it doesn't hold a candle to nvidia in this category. perfect for nghost3.

- Faster bios
I haven't done full test yet, but the testing i did do it went from video on to loading the boot loader in about 1s. This is a big improvement over teh 4-7s on the intel board.

More to come later. I've got a ssd drive coming next week. I'm hoping to shave off 4-7s on boot with the faster ram and the faster bios (as well as a slightly faster drive). We shall see.

What do you think the problem is here?

cjrokke — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:47:08 GMT

Alright so I've had my Kicker S12L7 for a while now. I've had it hooked up on a JBL mono amp and it's had this problem ever since I hooked it up. I had my passenger seat out yesterday to replace the seat cover and decided to mess with the amp (it is under the passenger seat).

The problem is that I can't set the boost all the way up because the sub outputs very fast/loud pulsating bass until I turn it down again. I hooked up my ipod to it with an aux adapter and was able to turn the boost all the way up without this happening.

I've narrowed it down to the head unit or the audio cable. Which do you think is the culprit? What do you think is the easiest/cheapest way to fix it?

Need a Little Help on Setting My System Gain Levels

Greeno2k8 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:32:31 GMT

Hey all, Well I'll keep this as short as I can, hopefully without missing anything.

System:

- Car PC with Creative Audigy NX USB sound
- Stereo O/P from this into Vibe deltabox 3-way line amp
- First O/P goes to 2 channel amp for front components
- Second is split to a 4 channel amp for two sets of 6x9's
- Third is split to two one channel amps for two 12" subs (stereo input, mono output)

So overall 2 x 12" subs, 4 x 6x9's and 2 x components. Everything is up and running and works together really well and now I've come to setting up the gains throughout the system and need a little advice to make sure I'm clear on it.

After a bit of googling, here's what i've done so far:

- Set all amp gains to their minimum, all bass boosts/enhancements off or minimum
- Set vibe deltabox gain to 0 (dial can be set from 0 to 20db) and set all output attenuation dials to 0 (can be set from -20db to 0)

So I figure everything after the carpc was at a base level with a minimum of gain throughout the system. Then setup a 1khz sinewave on the carpc and increased the carpc volume right up to 0db, no distortion, sounded perfect. Was certainly not quiet but I know that the amps/speakers are capable of much more.

Next step was to playing a track on the carpc and adjust the low pass cutoff frequency on one of the sub amps to just about drop out the vocals from the track. Then played a 100hz sinewave and measured the voltage output from that sub amp and took a note of it. Then moved the voltmeter over to the second sub amp and adjusted its LPF to match the output of the first. Finally I attenuated the deltabox outputs to the component and 6x9 amps to balance the system (only roughly for now).

So thats about where I am, all gains set to 0db (or as low as possible) the LPFs set to my liking for the subs and the overall balance pretty much right. Now I need to introduce some gain, just not exactly sure where!

I know I have a few db's to play with at the CarPC. I have 20db's from the deltabox and then there's the various gain dials on the amps. What I've read tells me that if I need gain then I should start from the beginning, i.e. carPC and if thats not enough then move onto the deltabox and then onto the amps if I have to.

Would readers agree with this? I was thinking of starting by increasing the carpc gain and litenning for distortion (distortion from the soundcard I mean, I know there won't be enough gain to trouble the amps/speakers at that stage). If this gets up to its max then moving onto the deltabox.

The deltabox has a little LED gauge that shows the output from its internal gain amp (1v up to 5v then overload). Now with the current output level from the carpc, I know that the delta box can give enough gain to overload its own output so I know that I wont be setting that gain to max. If i get to the point where I have maxed the gain from the carpc without distortion and maxed the gain from the deltabox without overload then its time to move onto the amps (very unlikely given the quick bit of playing around that I did this evening before packing it in for the night).

hhmmmm, not as short as I was trying to make it, lol. Anyway, thats pretty much all the info. Would really appreciate any thoughts or suggestions from the guys out there who know their stuff when it comes to audio.

Thanks, Jon.

Stopping Headlight Flickering

PaulF — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:59:38 GMT

I have a pretty serious sound system, and when the bass hits, the headlights dim. This causes me to go through headlights and a month or two. Both my battery and alternator are fine.

Would it be an awful idea to just get a 12 volt regulator and power the lights through it?

back at it

DracoPCGuy — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:30:38 GMT

So I put my screen mount in then got ready to start again...and...well...we bought a house so everything was put on hold. I have my amp in and I am still running a Zune into that.

I have been watching other installs and catching idea's for little things I want to do.

Now I have a question that is going to be a silly one maybe but i have searched the forums and can't seem to find anyone that has asked it. I see in the FAQ's it says do it this way and basically its better but never says why.

Why is it better to use the amp set up rather than a head unit? I have seen stereo compition videos with people doing mini macs and such but they all have head units. Is there a reson behind going to the amp over having a head unit?

While randomly checking out YouTube I found this guy with 20,000 watts of stereo which he just put in a mini mac with a head unit also...

Here is a video of his install
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd1fH5eHr4Q[/media]

Skin for 1024x600?

Soexcited — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:17:39 GMT

Is there a skin that takes up the whole screen at this resolution? Looking to use a Samsung Q1 or Dell mini 9, both use that rez. The Q1 works great with Centrafuse 2...it drops down to 800x600 and takes the whole screen. I tried all the rez settings for 800x600 and 1024x600 under RRconfig, and they pretty much all take about 60-70% of the screen, that's it.

Make XP think it's running on batteries?

Crispin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:23:48 GMT

Hi Folks,

Been a lurker for a while, this being my first post, be gentle :|

I've had my carputer in for a while now and mostly happy with it. I use a M3-ATX PSU and while it works well, I have a nagging tweak I want to make...

I want to make XP think it is running off a battery and detect when the "ac" is connected and battery state etc.

The above is obviously (maybe not?) to do with ACPI but how do I actually interface with it? I have thought about using the the UPS service but that is pretty limited in the sense that it only tells windows that "I am on battery", "I am on mains" etc. No details battery level etc. Not exactly what I want.
I would _like_ xp / my carputer to think it is a laptop.

I am a dab hand at electronics / arduino etc etc so don't mind delving into the bits. Has anyone done anything like this?

I know it offers little benefit overall, just something I have been pondering...

TIA

Cheers,
Crispin

Problem when trying to create label in skin from variable

sgtpepperaut — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:26:51 GMT

i created a simple variable called "RUNS"

now i try to display this variable as a label in on of my skins....

simply inserting the variable name like this wont work:
L,36,479,711,41,255,255,255,16,"Arial","RUNS","LEF T"

setlabel also wont work..., the variable is correctly set and verified with skinner tool (ie it exists and hold a value)

what the correct syntax? or procedure.... i have been trying to get this to work for a 3 hours now :( frustrating...

thx for any help.

keypad

krillik — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:49:49 GMT

Alright i searched and read alot of threads on this idea. but there were so many pages i didnt read them all >.<. basically... i wanted to see what u guys thought about this.

a keypad from an access control system or one of these with a mobile os such as android or even winblows CE. with a simple app designed for a certain passcode which when entered correctly, would disengage a killswitch(somehow im not sure how i would do this seeing if i used a relay i would need a constant charge from the device , i think) which would in turn let me start my car. do you think its reliable?

like i said before.. yes i did :search:

Shock Version 7

blk02si — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:20:15 GMT

Windows stole my idea!!! LOL

All jokes aside, I am picking back up where I left off almost two years ago when I released Shock V6. I need to learn a lot of the new features and skin commands, since the older skins are lacking a lot of the nice features in the new RR codebase.

For those who have not used any of the shock skin series the philosophy behind the skin is a fast, lightweight, attractive and easy to use interface, designed with the driver in mind. Buttons and labels stay as static as possible, to increase driver attention on the road and not on the screen. Anyway this full version upgrade will be a complete new code base and source artwork. Format is going to be changed from 800x480 to 800x600 for better compatibility with iGO and Garmin GPS. As always, I design my skins to fit my specific needs but I keep it all open source; including the artwork as to not limit the use and development. (look what happened to my original carwings art+code source ;) )

I do not have a finite release date for Shock V7 but here is a teaser screener of the new GDI+ artwork.

Attached Images

FS Via MII 12000 in Opus case, 120W PSU, 120GB Seagate HD

stealinfool — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:45:43 GMT

Here is an EPIA Via MII 12000 (bought new from mp3car store, $200+) in an Opus 70 Mini Case ( $180)

HD is seagate 5200 RPM laptop drive. (120 GB) (bought for $80)

Case has some surface scratches on it, but nothing is broken/damaged in any way. Case is missing 2 screws but still on held firmly with the other 6.

System fully boots in to XP - RR front end, using winamp... <1 min boot time.

You will likely need to reformat drive as I am using OEM key on another machine.

More pics avail - please email if you want to see them.

Selling my stuff b/c baby is coming - priorities and stuff :fear:

Whole kit for $300. Will entertain reasonable offers.

ALSO AVAILABLE: Hippo HiFi's Bloat. Black with all the upgrades available. (RCA jacks). Has been fully broken in - sounds perfect. Asking 150.