i posted in the newbie forum and didnt get any bites.

[midnight08]

sooo, im posting in here. I have been into vehicle modding for quite some time now. but I have not been into the whole world of computer building. I believe that I am capable of building a "truckputer" for my 2008 F150. I have looked into the options for double DIN headunits for my truck and its pretty much a sacrifice one thing for another situation. I believe that a "truckputer" would be the best solution for me. With that being said. I absolutely love Garmin navigation. I would like to run a garmin GPS system in my truckputer. I have been looking through the forum all day long and have seen people use anything from Mac Mini's and various VGA screens to self made systems running windows.. The requirements for my system would be as follows.

1. Ease of use while driving

2. able to play AM/FM

3. able to play all kinds of media sources. (CD's, Flash drive, DVD's etc...)

4. prefibly run Garmin based navigation.

5. power my sound system and future upgrades extremely well.

6. be able to run external switches to run various things like lighting, "door poppers" for my tailgate, etc....

7. be able to be expandable to satisfy my gadget cravings.

what do you guys think? mac mini?? or my build my own system and run Windows?

I have seen videos on Youtube with people running Mac Mini's with the AMP frontend and that Frontend is very appealing to me.

Thanks in advance.

[keland44]

there are a lot of different ways that you could go with your project but for flexiblity i would say build your own given all the information in this forum you shouldn't have any problems finding the answer that your looking for
so i would suggest going with windows but then again i might be a bit bias since my windows experience out weighs my apple and linux experience
one suggestion for number 6. i would suggest the fusion brain that sounds like a perfect solution for what your trying to do there
as far as 7 i would say don't get an all in one solution that's just in the dash more so have the lcd and run the truckputer to another location (console, under a seat, glove box, behind seat, or any other place you could think of) where it's easy to access so in case you wanted to make upgrades it's easy to take out
but i would highly suggest taking a look at the show off your project and the worklogs to try and start gathering idea's for your project and then go from there

[galvitron]

I agree with the fusion brain comment. I might also suggest that you be flexible with regards to the Garmin nav stuff. You would have to either have a separate Garmin unit or use their PC app, which does not seem to lend itself to carPCs so well (from what I understand). But there is a lot of info.

If I were in your position, I would mount an LCD inthe dash and connect to an external PC box behind the seat or somewhere like that. That way you can have a full media player with USB stick/DVD/CD/mp3files, etc support. You can also connect easily to an external amp using standard stereo RCA connections.

So you will need to fugure out which way to go first, then narrow down to specific parts/features/software

[midnight08]

thanks for the replies guys. so far i think i may go with the lilliput screen with the transreflective coating. in the dash. i have a spot under the middle seat that would be a good home for the computer. i am looking forward to building this thing and im glad i found this place to help me out.

Thanks guys.

[1000101]

Mo-Co-So.com really nice start-up pc's