Cheapest car pc ever.

pandy · 07-12-2006, 01:52 PM

The other day my wife and I were out at the mall.
It was a week before we were due to go to virginia on vacation.

Anyways the cellphone rang it was my friend Ryan who had just moved to Chesapeake bay MD.
So he says "come over and see me" hey, there goes chincoteague island, same sorta place only free.

So we decided to buy a TV set, 52" projection HDTV.

Anyways this is leading somewhere I promise lmao.gif

On the way out of the store I noticed an MSNTV2 sitting there, open box item for $20.

I grabbed it just for craps n giggles and returned home.

As I suspected you need to pay for a service, even though you may have broadband (like me).

I looked on the net and it seems you can hack the MSNTV2, replace the bios and its boot OS and put linux on it.

Now inside it has a compact flash card, 64mb.. the hack is very easy, basically you need a special serial cable, you flash the bios after pinning this into the motherboard (very easy to do) and then flash the bios, then you put some linux files on the flashcard and let it boot, and then stop the boot replacing some command text stuff.

Its moderately hard to do by the look of it but seems very possible... I have ordered a cable and some stuff and will be putting linux on soon.

Now, this does then require a USB hard drive, but I have a spare 1gb laptop drive laying about and gonna order a USB2IDE adaptor and put the drive in the MSNTV2 (whilst small itll easily take a drive) then mod the back and run the usb loop into the MSNTV2.

My point is this, the MSNTV2 has an ITX mobo in it with the TV out built in, a 733 celeron, 128mb ram, network cable and pretty much everything you need onboard, and, they can be had on ebay for less than $5 LMAO.

They also come with a wireless keyboard AND a TV remote.
Theyre small and sleek (would EASILY fit under the seat of a car) and once linux is on you have a car pc a la mode for less than a total outlay of $40.

An ITX motherboard ALONE is over $180.

Sound good? watch this space.. Mine isnt going in my car (yet) but Ill keep you all posted and updated, Im also going to mod tons of LEDS into it and repaint the shell kameleon.

BTW I have the (at the moment unobtainable) WIKI on *exactly* how to do this along with all the files, some of them very naughty.

The WIKI has a fully documented proceedure on how this is done with photos to match.

I am not going to host them, but if you would like them please let me know VIA PM stating your email address and I will fire them over to you, trust me, it's no more than an hour's work to have a stunningly tidy and pretty car PC ready to be inverted and plugged into your car.

I will do the pms at once, so there will be no timescale preference.

Andy

turbocad6 · 07-12-2006, 02:01 PM

sounds interesting... a friend of mine did something similar with some other internet appliance gone wrong type deal... don't remember the specifics, but it worked pretty good for him....

pandy · 07-12-2006, 02:34 PM

The guy who realised how to do this (after alot of headaches, the MSNTV automatically deletes any OS you add and replaces it with WCE) has a cluster of no less than 10 of them linked up

He paid $10 a unit SHIPPED from ebay

That's what I call a cheap Car PC

tj!2k4 · 07-12-2006, 02:38 PM

neat, might have to look into this

pandy · 07-12-2006, 02:43 PM

emails sent guys, keep em coming

-zip- · 07-12-2006, 03:14 PM

Excellent find!

Wiredwrx · 07-12-2006, 03:28 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by turbocad6

sounds interesting... a friend of mine did something similar with some other internet appliance gone wrong type deal... don't remember the specifics, but it worked pretty good for him....

I used an IOpener for a while YEARS AGO. Worked out well, but was able to get windows onto it.

Good luck.

Check out http://www.linux-hacker.net/ for other hackable netpliances.

Miichael

turbocad6 · 07-12-2006, 03:31 PM

THAT'S what it was.. IOpener... I think I still have one laying around somewhere... they even have a 10.4" lcd on them too from what I remember...

xBrady · 07-12-2006, 03:31 PM

hehe, nice find!

Wiredwrx · 07-12-2006, 03:38 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by turbocad6

THAT'S what it was.. IOpener... I think I still have one laying around somewhere... they even have a 10.4" lcd on them too from what I remember...

Yeap, got a Touchscreen overlay for it, and used it for MP3s quite well. I used WINAMP in double size mode so the buttons were big enough to hit. Can't remember right now what I used for GPS software, but I actually used a Garmin 315 with a home made connector to get the NMEA data to the unit. Wow, those were good times.

Michael

pandy · 07-12-2006, 05:04 PM

There is no reason whatsoever that you cant use windows through VMware once linux is installed.

This uses a x86 cpu so it shouldnt be a problem.. infact looking at it it has a full intel chipset, so the chances are you could even use mac osx x86 on there too (as that uses a x86 kernel).

When mine is linuxfied I will no doubt endeavor to toy with it..

PMs, replied to round #1, round #2 will be replied to later, Im installing seats into a buddy's car right now

pandy · 07-12-2006, 07:47 PM

OK for those who havent requested the stuff here is what you're dealing with here.

front, back and internals

Peoples · 07-12-2006, 07:53 PM

what kinda bogomips ya get on that sucker?

breaker021 · 07-12-2006, 08:26 PM

l0l - nice find man!

on craigslist, early last year, i picked up two HP e-pcs <- these are the HP thin client machines.

specs:
866mhz p3
128mb ram
10gb hard drive
24x cd drive

the best part?!?! I paid $100 FOR BOTH OF THESE BOXES!!!

lol

i had a good deal - but that doesnt beat the $5 you paid. comparing my deal to yours, i got ripped of

l0l - good work, my man!
- sh00k

pandy · 07-12-2006, 09:09 PM

hehe even the woman at msn (you need to phone them to set up msntv if youre using it legally) said that they dont sell for more than $10 because of the subscription fee.

Amazing really how in less than an hour you can convert it into something worth ten times that.