Hey there, This is the begining of my 1st carputer. I have been searching for a new Head Unit and I am very dissapointed with what is out their. I have a Gateway 7415GX Laptop that I want to use as the core of my carputer. The case has a crack in it and its pretty heavy but It should be a gem. Please feel free to interject your ideas, concerns, worries and compliments when even they may come. I have been involved in car audio for nearly 20 years. I have been into computers for about the same time however they were not laptops. This should be fun. Like I see most people do, I plan to mock this system up outside the car to an extent. The Touchscreen and its position is still up in the air. I have done some glass/fill work but not this detailed so I can pull a favor out of a friend to help. Till we decide what size we can do, we will work with a regular monitor. So here is a backbone of the system:
The Gateway 7415GX Laptop has the following specs:
AMD Athlon™ 64-bit 3200+ Mobile Processor (1.8 GHz)
1 MB L2 Cache
512 MB of PC2700 DDR Ram (would make 1GB)
ATI® Mobility RADEON™ 9600 w/64 MB memory -(Supports dual display/dual view)
PC2001 compliant AC' 97 audio (External Sound Card?)
Windows® XP SP3
Four USB version 2.0 - powered and non power hubs if needed
External monitor maximum resolution: 2048 × 1538
802.11g wireless Mini-PCI card type III-B
PC Card socket (one Type II)
60 GB 4200 RPM 2.5" (surely would upgrade BIGTIME)
DVD/CD-RW Combo (Thinking about gutting. Problems with it now. Who needs optical drive?)
IVT Corp Bluethooth USB adapter.
Maybe and, really, just maybe and optical drive in the dash where HU is now or in center console...connected via usb.
This laptop saw some heavy action. I was a wholesale rep for a Mortgage company and was on the road quite a bit. This laptop has been dropped, punched, spilled coke on and then sat unused for over a year. I fired it up a few weeks ago and it ran great. There are some cracks in the case and the laptop gets really hot. So, deconstructing the case is no big deal. I have built several desktops from parts to boot with no problems so I think I can handle it.
I basically want to run a 7-10 in touch screen up front Like this one.
http://www.gooddeals18.com/product/S...reen__VGA.html
The laptop has a dedicated Radeon 9600 with 64MB so it should be fine for a carputer. I have ran it in two monitor mode several times using ATI's Catalyst Center. Should work nifty. Once the laptop is semi stripped down I have several places in my Explorer when I can put it. Under my back seat makes the most sense since I will be alble to "float" the setup by making a rack of the seat brackets thuse getting it out of the way and giving it plenty of air. Their just happens to be an air our let there and I can run "rear air only" on low just for the little fella when he is working hard.
I already have a solid car audio system with Panasonic HU (going bye bye), 2 Avionixx amps (4ch & Mono), and Arc Audio XEQ 7 band EQ/Line driver that is really nice. With or without an external Sound Blaster type unit I can use the Arc XEQ to take the computers stereo output and split it into front, rear and sub out with up to 9 volts output. For those not familiar with Arc, check it out here.
http://www.arcaudio.com/productdescr...lizers/xeq.asp
I am running CDT CL-61a's up front and some old but still rocking Kenwood Excelon 6.75 coax's. The sub is a Elemental Designs E10O which is an SQ sub stuffed in a Q-logic vehicle specific box that fits where the junk factory sub went. Heck, how about some pics.
Possible monitor locations:
Amps
Tucked ED Sub
Laptop
Things I want to incorporate into this carputer besides the normal audio/video:
*I am totally undescided about which front end to use. Only looked at Road, er, RideRunner and it seems cool. Need to look at others. Will search but if you have and idea let me know.
*Better audio than onboard laptop chip. Something with 24bit Dacs? Soundblaster audigy? My Jetta has a competition grade audio system in it. Its Alpine, Arc Audio and Rainbow. I need this carputer to sound good which means starting with a clean signal. Probably run lossless audio through Mediamonkey.
*GPS with good program. Streets and Trips? Garmin XT?
*OBD-II via bluetooth? OBDKEY? Reliable via BT? Have to replace trip computer. Dash Command Light looks really good if its accurate.
*Bluetooth calling, streaming, OBD-II and file xfers at home (or wifi). I can park that close.
*Sirius Satellite Radio - How do you get Sirius data onto a touch screen? Wifi? 3G Cell? I have two external Serious units (Starmate and Sportster). Something tells me I will need sprint cell wifi to get Sirius with all the data.
*HD Radio. Have not investigated this. I assume there are computer based tuners. Low on this list since we don't have HD here yet.
*TV/HDTV -Hauppauge WinTV Express Card.
*Proper DC-DC adapter for power.
*Rear view camera.
Any other suggestions welcome here, PM or email
Answered questions:
GPS - USGlobalSat BU-353 Weather-proof USB GPS Receiver with Garmin Mobile PC or Microsoft Street & Trips 2009
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