Ok so I finally took the plunge and decided to go carputer. I upgraded my moms computer for christmas so I had the computer, then, I purchased an 8" touchscreen LCD off ebay. Here's my story....
Parts:
177.00 - Computer (177.00 to upgrade my moms)
168.00 - Touchscreen LCD
20.00 - Power Inverter (from a friend)
40.00 - Various extension cables (USB, VGA, Audio, etc.)
Details:
240 watt power inverter hard wired to distro block w/amp
Athlon XP 1800+ CPU
ESC K7S5A mobo
256 MB DDR
20 Gig HD (will be adding a VERY large HD soon)
Geforce MX4 64MB video
Lite-On 24X cd burner
Mid Tower ATX case
Audio sub-system:
JVC 707 (?) head unit with mini-jack aux input
Visonik 1000watt 4-channel amp
2 Pioneer Preimer 400watt RMS 12" subs
Infinity 1000cs components (5 1/4")
Here's how I did it all...
I started with the LCD. Mounted it under the heater controls on my 99 Buick Regal. In order to do this I had to remove the little flip door that covers the ashtray. However, this hole is covered with the LCD which sits slighty inside, just enough to clear the shifter when its in park. Then, I ran all the wires. I ran the VGA cord, audio cable and the usb cable all down my drivers side under the carpet and kick panels. All the wires are hidden nicely and don't catch any interferance with my amplifier wires ran down the opposite side of the car. Because my head unit has a mini-jack plug on the front face, it made it easy to just use a single, and simple wire to have my sound input set up. After I ran the wires and plugged everything in on the monitor and head unit side, I installed my power inverter to my distro block (hard wired) and organized all the wire mess in the trunk. Now I had my power wire, audio wire, vga wire, and usb wire (for the touchscreen) all in the trunk and organized neatly. Next, I simply too my mid tower case and laid it on its side in the trunk. Since my trunk is massive, there is plenty of room for my amp, inverter and the case in the front half. The subs take up the back half, still leaving enough room to work around/on any of the components. Next, I plugged all my wires into my computer and gave it a test run. Power inverter on, LCD on, head unit on, then computer on.... all is go! It worked like a charm... for a minute. Then I decided to get fancy. I took the power button off the front panel of the case and ran it up to the dash. I mounted it hidden under the dash and pressed the button.... nothing. I then pulled the whole PC out and took it in the house. At this point I was freezing because its MI and its like 5 degrees out (and snowing). Well it took me about a half hour to realize that I had in fact extended the RESET switch instead of the power switch. Therefore when I was pressing the switch under the dash... it was resseting a computer that wasn't even on.... freakin smart. After a few minor problems and some freezing cold weather, all is well again. Power under the dash works, and everything runs silky smooth. This is probably one of the best install's I've ever done and I plan on doing it in every car I own. It's just great to have people say... why??!?! then when they see it... WOW!! Not to mention having unlimted storage possibilities and RIDICULOUS flexibility are a great thing to possess in your car. My next plan is to add a wireless NIC to connect to my network at my apartment when I pull into the lot. It will allow me to keep my MP3's and movies up to date with my home PC and also let me do various internet tasks without leaving the car or physically removing the hard drive. Well, I realize this is about a book, but I feel pretty good about my work and wanted to share it with people who understand. It's soooo damn cool to have a windows desktop in your car with full touchscreen capability.... priceless
Lates,
Ron
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