what is the better option, laptop or regular computer? - Page 2

Big Zack · 10-21-2004, 11:04 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by PapaSmurf

I have a few questions about using an extra laptop I have lying around...

1 - If you use an inverter for power, does this constantly drain from the battery? I know if I plug my cell in my car lighter in the morning and come back later it is fully charged, won't this routine keep the laptop fully charged?

Some vehicles power the lighter outlet all the time, and some only when the car is on (or in accessory mode). Yours seems to keep the power on all the time, so yes... it will keep your laptop fully charged. (It will also drain your car battery sooner or later!) You would need to rewire the outlet to use the switched power feed to your radio or some other device.

Quote:

2 - Wake on ring... how do you give the laptop a RING without having to do anything other than tun the car on?

If I remember correct on my old Dell laptop all i had to do was provide +5v to pin 5 (or 6?) of the com port to activate WOR. Google for WOR or 'wake on ring' and see what you can find for your laptop.

Quote:

3 - Does anyone know if it is possible (specifically on DELL 500 Latitude) to either remove the screen or keep the computer on while the screen is shut? Mine seems to hibernate everytime I close the cover no matter what XP settings I use.

some older Dells have a sleep switch around the hinge that has to be disconnected to keep that from happening. Try setting the sleep button press action to nothing in XP and see if that helps - if not, look for a little pin activated switch around the hinges.

- Z

zankster · 10-21-2004, 10:06 PM

I have a dell latitude in my truck. I have 2 drives in it...on internally one in the select bay. 160 gigs. I have it in a mini docking station under the front drivers seat. I have the power switch on the docking station wired to a stitch up front to turn it on, I thought about WOR but this is just as easy and if for some reason it locks up I can hit the switch and reset it. I picked up an automobile power adapter for it off ebay for it to supply power, I wired it straight to the fuse box and there is a disconnect switch in line so I could switch off car battery and run off laptop battery if I wanted to. I run a display and use IRman to control it. I can shut it down completely with IRman and dont have to hack into the system to shut it down. Dell uses a small magnet in the lower bezel to send to off if you start it with the screen closed and no external VGA hooked to it. I removed the magnet...pretty simple...and went into power management and have the screen blank after a minute. runs perfect. CPI's are cheap and work really good and are bombproof. I have 19,000 songs and I use palm amp on a m515 to manage the play lists and search for a song. I am adding a xenarc for the GPS functions and to manage the music as well. I suppose there are cons to a laptop but none that I can find. I can add a PCI card to the docking station if need be...have built in lan USB serial etc. I can pop it out and take it with for portable music/media, it is quiet runs for about an hour with both drives on its own power. For me it is the way to go.

ChilliPepper · 10-22-2004, 05:09 PM

Okay, I'm as newbie as it gets (first post!).

I have been researching Carputers for about a week now and inevitably mosts sites directed me here, so here I am to stay!

After looking at both sides of this issue I'm leaning towards a laptop solution. I think I understand the WOR wiring. I'm guessing I can just splice a wire from the switched line in my radio harness and wire it directly to the +5v pin of my laptop modem, yes? And maybe I need to wire a ground? Or, by relay, do you mean a separate device?

As for wiring the switched line for main power to laptop, I don't even have a guess at this point. Can it be wired to one of the pins on one of the ports or does it need to be solderd to some point on the mother board. Or (even better) is there an adapter I can buy to do this and maybe cut one side and wire it to the switched line.

Please help. Thanks! Jim

ChilliPepper · 10-25-2004, 04:48 AM

DISREGARD! (actually, you were anyways

) I've decided to go in a new direction with an ITX PC instead of a laptop.

autopilot747 · 03-23-2005, 09:43 PM

Dos anybody just make some kind of USB push button power switch?

BlindWilly · 03-24-2005, 10:11 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Big Zack

Some vehicles power the lighter outlet all the time, and some only when the car is on (or in accessory mode). Yours seems to keep the power on all the time, so yes... it will keep your laptop fully charged. (It will also drain your car battery sooner or later!) You would need to rewire the outlet to use the switched power feed to your radio or some other device.

If I remember correct on my old Dell laptop all i had to do was provide +5v to pin 5 (or 6?) of the com port to activate WOR. Google for WOR or 'wake on ring' and see what you can find for your laptop.

some older Dells have a sleep switch around the hinge that has to be disconnected to keep that from happening. Try setting the sleep button press action to nothing in XP and see if that helps - if not, look for a little pin activated switch around the hinges.

- Z

My Toshiba has a setting that can disable the hibernate on close feature. Might look at the bios or "set up" feature when you boot up. Dell's are typicaly F2 when the dell splash screen comes up at first boot.

First day, second post here.
I've been thinking about doing this for awhile and discovered this site last night. I guess that makes my progress status a big fat 0% so far too, lol.

gqmd · 03-24-2005, 10:30 AM

For me laptop definitely worked better. Initially I tried the motherboard in the truck with a psu thing, just too many problems. I've had the carputer (laptop) in my car for about 6 years now, so i guess things have changed since then. I have a thinkpad mounted vertically on the side of my truck slid onto a port replicator (select-a-port) connected to an IBM DC car adapter. With the switch mounted to one of the momentary channels on my alarm remote and also to a auto turn on/shut down circuit. Being most of my time in NYC, only IBM quality and durability can survice those massive potholes, without my carputer even skipping a beat.

...

yalpngulp · 01-17-2007, 01:35 AM

i just came up with an idea for you guys. i tested just now and it works.

it does require soldering 2 wires inside the laptop to the lid open/close switch

once done, hook up a relay to your ignition that closes the circuit when ign is off

then set windows to standby when lid is closed, it will automatically resume when circuit opens

Ruffy · 01-17-2007, 02:30 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by yalpngulp

i just came up with an idea for you guys. i tested just now and it works.

it does require soldering 2 wires inside the laptop to the lid open/close switch

once done, hook up a relay to your ignition that closes the circuit when ign is off

then set windows to standby when lid is closed, it will automatically resume when circuit opens

you do know that there is already a solution for powering on laptops with 2 wires soldered and a relay circuit, so your idea isn't new.

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=75071

and the best setup is to set it so that the lid does nothing, you tap into the power button instead. Both can be used technically. But power button is easier to get to on most laptops. Usually involves removing ONE panel only

Personally I prefer a laptop install for several reasons.

1: Smaller Footprint
2: Built in battery
3: Tuned support for hibernate/suspend features
4: Shock resistant harddrive already encased
5: Wifi Already built in. Can add on if you want greater coverage, or just tape into the antenna.
6: Less induced noise issues. PCI sound cards tend to pick up everything
7: Lower power draw
8: Better bang for your buck when counting power, a Cheap 300-400 dollar used(or new) laptop will outperform a via system.

As for the upgradability concerns. Everythings coming in usb now. And there always IS pmcia cards/express cards. Then theres laptops that actually support full size PCI cards if you connect them to a docking station.

and as for closing the screen forcing your ocmputer to hibernate/sleep. Goto Start - Settings - Control Panel- Power Options - Advanced Tab.

In the middle where it says "When I close the lid to my portable computer"
Change the drop down to "do nothing"

yalpngulp · 01-21-2007, 04:52 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Ruffy

you do know that there is already a solution for powering on laptops with 2 wires soldered and a relay circuit, so your idea isn't new.

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=75071

and the best setup is to set it so that the lid does nothing, you tap into the power button instead. Both can be used technically. But power button is easier to get to on most laptops. Usually involves removing ONE panel only

i wasn't talking about shutting down, i was talking about automatically going in and out of standby with ignition. sure you can set your power switch to go to standby, but it requires more than a relay to operate that way as you only want to push the power switch momentarily. for people such as myself that don't shut down their laptop ever, this is a decent solution.

Thelgord · 01-21-2007, 09:28 AM

Has anyone seen this?

Seems like it would solve just about all the problems discussed here for power anyway. Plus it has the added feature of programable powerdown after the ign is off.

Of course, that would meen using an ITX mother board rather than a laptop.