Whats needed to hook up laptop to touchscreen?

towlett · 06-06-2006, 09:34 PM

Here is what I'm looking to do. I am a traveling sales representative. I use a laptop for GPS (currently us Street Atlas USA with their branded USB, GPS receiver), and intering sales call notes and such while I'm on the road.

I want to be able to take the laptop to and from the car at the begining and end of the end of the day since I use it in my home office in the evenings. But when in the car I want to hook it up to a touch screen LCD so that I have easier access and better forward vision while using it than I do when I have the laptop out on the passenger seat beside me. I'm thinking some sort of "docking station" in the car hooked up to the touch screen and stuff.

It would be an addittional benifit if I could figure out how to wire it into my car stereo for playing MP3's and stuff.

I have an IBM Thinkpad T43.

Is this plausable? How would I go about getting started?

Thanks in advance for any and all help-advice.

RedGTiVR6 · 06-06-2006, 09:39 PM

man - I'm really sorry - but you REALLY need to do some searching before you post such a basic question on this board.

There are HUNDREDS of us who have spent thousands of hours researching, reading, and learning on our own. You are essentially asking us to spoon feed you the information, when all you have to do is read through the umpteen jillion posts and get an answer to all of the questions you just asked.

Sorry if it sounds harsh, but I think I've been pretty gentle compared to some of the other guys on here...

PURDooM · 06-06-2006, 10:52 PM

No kidding, this seems pretty obvious. I mean even someone who didn't know anything specifically about carputers could guess this one.

Have you tried, IDK, looking at a instalation guide for one of these touchscreens to see what is nessesary?

I did a search for laptop touchscreen carpc and one of the results were:

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/show...pc+touchscreen

b8bboi · 06-06-2006, 11:01 PM

yeah, learning and researching is the #1 skill when it comes to this hobby. No one is gonna spoonfeed you the basic stuff. People are more willing to help if you show them you've done your homework.

towlett · 06-07-2006, 09:16 PM

Okay, okay, I hear you guys, that is why I posted in the NEWBIE section.My actual question was "Is this plausable and how do I get started?" I guess the answer to my question is yes, and start reading... b8bboi, if nobody is willing to help with the "basic stuff", even in the newbie section, how does someone get STARTED in this hobby? I will try making a better post but here I will do a little explaining.

I did read the spoon feed thread before posting and spent about 3 hours reading some FAQ’s and other stuff on the site before posting the question. I know everything needed is on these forums but it is a bit overwhelming. Where do I start? I’m not techy; I have built my own desktop PC’s but only because they are cheap to build and I had a friend show me how the first time around. And I don’t consider it a hobby as I’m sure many on this site do. Computer USE is a hobby of mine and my budget requires me to build my own. That in part is why I was looking for a bit of “spoon feeding”. If you don’t want to share your knowledge because you feel I haven’t worked hard enough then please don’t share. I’m only asking for, not demanding help.

I also don’t see how my post is so different from the one that PURDooM provided a link to except that I didn’t give any details on what I believe I need so far. And that post got many responses. I will try again.

RedGTiVR6 · 06-07-2006, 09:23 PM

he probably got more responses because he made it APPARENT that he had at least done some research, and that he gave us something to work with.

Compared to...here's what I have, tell me how to do the rest...when it's all written out in these forums.

Sure, it's overwhelming, but if you spend the time to read, it will come to you.

The deal is that when YOU read on YOUR own, you tend to learn A LOT more things. Else chances are you will have people spoon feed you and you will continue to ask questions that could have easily have been answered if you had actually done the research initially.

3 hours hu?

man - I guess all of those who have been on here monte and even years before getting started are just stupid then...

you are more than welcome on these boards, no question there, however, generally, we don't take well to those who essentially want everything we have, but want to take the easy way to get there.

DarquePervert · 06-07-2006, 09:38 PM

If you know how to build a desktop PC, then I think you can comprehend what would be required to use a touchscreen with that desktop PC, right?

It's no different than a laptop. A laptop is just another computer. A carputer is just another computer in your car.

You get started in this hobby just like you do other hobby. Just do it (apologies to the Nike marketing staff).
Teh way I see it, there are three phases to this hobby:
1 - Learning & planning.
This is the longest and dullest phase of this hobby. I spent a hear and a half at this stage, partly due to lack of funds and partly because I wanted something a little different than what everyone else was doing.
2 - Assembly, testing & configuration
The meat and potatoes of the hobby. This is wiring the car, building the PC, loading software, installing in the car, trying new setups, and so on. This is the fun part, but it's also the most short-lived.
3 - Tweaking & improvement
This is never-ending. There's always some new functionality or some new software or something else that you're going to do to the computer in your ride.

So. You're about to embark, so start learning and planning.
I suggest reading anything/everything in the FAQ Emporium that you think has even the most remote chance of becoming a part of your vehicle computer. Not everything is going to apply, but you're not going to O.D. on information.
At the same time you learn, you formulate a plan. Ask yourself what functionality you want and think about how you would achieve that. Consider hardware, software, etc.

Putting a PC in your ride isn't sorcery, as another forum member recently posted. It's simply building a computer that will function in an environment that it wasn't designed for. It's a challenge, to be certain.

The long-time forum participants (myself included) encourage new members to read and learn as much as they can before opening up their wallets. Why? So they aren't going to be blowing needless amounts of money on products that aren't going to work for their circumstances, making them frustrated and angry.

I have likened these forums to a library many times in these forums. Search the forums for LIBRARY and you'll see what I've written. You probably won't like it all that much, but it illustrates the point. REmember that many people have put forth a lot of effort to compile as much information as possible in one liocation for people to learn from, especially newbies like yourself.

So go forth and search for what you want to know. Read the FAQs and learn as much as you can. And check out the Show Off Your Project forum for inspiration and ideas.

Hopefully, you'll heed our words of wisdom, get involved in the hobby and have a working computer in your ride in the very near future. It's what you want. It's what we want.
You could also think we're a bunch of self-righteous arrogant assholes and ignore anything we have to say. Then you're on your own.
Best of luck to you either way.

towlett · 06-07-2006, 10:16 PM

THANKS. I've just spent another evening reading on this site, found some more FAQ's I didn't read before, seemed redundant FAQ to FAQ's but that is what I needed most. Nice job getting everything linked from that one post.

No I don't think anyone here is arrogant, and certainly not an *******. Thanks for the kick in the pants. I think I will build my first system in my 300ZX for fun since it is my play car not my daily driver. Unfortunately I need to keep my van looking presentable in case I'm taking a customer out to lunch or something along those lines so I can't have an "ongoing" project in it. Hopefully after doing the install for fun on the ZX I will have enough know how to do a weekend install on the Van from start to finish.

If I knew of anyone doing these type of things professionally near Rochester, NY I would consider using them, I don't think there are any though. I got the inspiration to check all this out after seeing a college kids install on his SAAB-WRX while attending a local cruise night. And his computer was loose components in a plastic basket under his seat hooked up to a touch screen which he had nicely installed in the dash. He had GPS, cool looking full screen mp3 player, Nintendo Emulation on the PC, and live engine managment software, all very cool.

double-0-newb · 06-07-2006, 10:33 PM

If I may, from one noob to another....

I would think the most likely route in your case would be to consider a docking station for your laptop; that way the touchscreen (and mouse and kb and GPS and anything else you want) would be connected to it, and you would simply connect your laptop to it at the end of the day.

I would suggest browsing some of the excellent worklogs and show-off threads for ideas and inspiration, but keep it at the macro level for now (how do I power this thing? Will it survive cranking the engine? etc).

In all fairness, this has to be one of the easiest "hobbies" to get sidetracked and distracted while doing; every link and thread leads one to ponder "Holy crap, I could do that then this then some of that and look at that...!". Good luck.

DarquePervert · 06-07-2006, 10:40 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by towlett

THANKS. I've just spent another evening reading on this site, found some more FAQ's I didn't read before, seemed redundant FAQ to FAQ's but that is what I needed most. Nice job getting everything linked from that one post.

This evening will be the second of many, I promise.
This hobby is like a drug. It sucks you in and takes over your life, all while costing you a small fortune, alienating friends and family and bringing you brief moments of joy and long periods of extreme frustration.

Damn is this **** fun!

Quote:

No I don't think anyone here is arrogant, and certainly not an *******. Thanks for the kick in the pants. I think I will build my first system in my 300ZX for fun since it is my play car not my daily driver. Unfortunately I need to keep my van looking presentable in case I'm taking a customer out to lunch or something along those lines so I can't have an "ongoing" project in it. Hopefully after doing the install for fun on the ZX I will have enough know how to do a weekend install on the Van from start to finish.

I'm here to help. Sometimes the help is interpreted as harsh.
Trust me when I say that my response to you was one of my gentler ones.

towlett · 06-07-2006, 11:47 PM

I'm here to help. Sometimes the help is interpreted as harsh.
Trust me when I say that my response to you was one of my gentler ones.

[/quote]

I have since read a few of those.

RedGTiVR6 · 06-08-2006, 08:52 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by towlett

I got the inspiration to check all this out after seeing a college kids install on his SAAB-WRX while attending a local cruise night.

What's a SAAB WRX?

Is it the SAAB station waggon that looks like a WRX waggon?

MatrixPC · 06-08-2006, 10:48 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Red GTi VR6

What's a SAAB WRX?

Is it the SAAB station waggon that looks like a WRX waggon?

GM took the Subaru WRX station waggon and rebadge it as a Saab 92x
http://www.saabusa.com/saabjsp/92x/index.jsp
Sometime people refer to it as a SAAB WRX

Un_discovered · 06-08-2006, 10:54 AM

This is a double thread... o.O

MatrixPC · 06-08-2006, 10:56 AM

To the OP.
Spend sometime read the FAQs.
Is there a docking station available for your laptop? Not the universal one from Targus, but the one from the IMB/Lenovo that you can turn the laptop on/off from the docking station. If there is one, buy it.
Next step is buy a shutdown controller (SDC). Modify the docking station's power button and hook up the SDC to handle the auto on/off process for you.
Connect a TS monitor to the laptop? It is the same as hooking up a big *** CRT/LCD monitor at home to the desktop. Just hook up that 15Pins D-sub to the laptop vga output and the USB to the laptop USB port.

Now you have to to some reading on how to fab/install the screen on your car, running cables, crack open the docking to modify the power button ......