sagekoala

well I'm sure at least a few of you guys read the other mac flame i got into, and at first i thought maybe this guy would be different and i guess to some extent he is. to mac guru i pose these questions.

1) what about your system makes it the ultimate? without any screenshots one can only assume that not only is every feature you list implimented on pc, but it probably does a better job of it. especially when you don't have anysort of ui (please no bs, i want a solid answer.)
2) why is a mac a "more suitable multi-media computer" than an epia or for that matter any other board?
3) you say that your mac can "run any software on ANY playform" (i assume you mean platform) can your mac make my athlon 64 run OS9?
4) i would also like to see numbers stating that a system similar to yours runs more efficently or has better power management.

overall to the mac users and lovers of the world, please stop making random claims that your machines are better. unless you show us that they are better with some sort of concrete evidence that that they are in fact better, you will be met with nothing but messages like this one in a pc ran world. if you would have told me a decade ago that a mac would make a better multimedia machine a freaking decade ago i would probably listen, but we are simply tired of hearing this after 10 freaking years.

i do however admire you for stating that everyone has an opinion (perhaps the first mac user to ever state so.)

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paradoxni

i admire him for having one damn gorgeous car!

aoLhaTer

nice car but youre a dork lol

youre running xp and os x?

gutterslide

jesus what a bunch of ******* retards. this forum gets less helpful, less innovative, and less friendly by the minute.



nice car, nice setup. congrats on doing something different.

paradoxni

its YOUR car mate, so YOU put wot ever YOU want into it and YOU enjoy it

CustomZ02

How about an apple IIe

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GWRedDragon

EVERYONE knows Macs are better for multimedia. Mp3=multimedia.

But seriously folks.

Macs look cool. The OS has neat buttons, and it comes with cool backgrounds. Macs are designed to be super simple, yet with OSX also powerful in the ability to compile and run UNIX programs. I respect that. What I look for in an OS is simplicity as long as it is not at the cost of manipulatability. OSX seems to have struck a nice balance.

That being said, nobody can claim with a straight face that a Mac running PC programs in an emulator can come anywhere close to the capability of a P4. The overlying claim that Macs are better for multimedia is based in the past, on the fact that Macs indeed used to be vastly superior to x86 machines in processor speed. It might have made some sense to make those claims in the late 80s or early 90s, but now every machine has the capability to play Mp3s just as well as any other machine.

PCs, with their native serial ports, parallel ports, and piles of expansion slots, are better suited for customization from a hardware standpoint. This is exactly the kind of customization that is done with CarPCs.

I've never owned a Mac. The open standards of the IBM PC cinched the deal before I ever got my first computer.

Avalerion

SAScooby

Well I think its pretty cool and the end result is what counts, whether its a mac / ipaq / via board or whatever so your individualism is recognised and that I think is cool, however, please show us an interior shot or two, at least the screen running xp and osx and how you hid the G4 in the 350z, that should be shared as I am sure it took a lot of effort, and I also didnt know the Opus power supply would "just" connect to the GA mobo and work

I do really like the diagrams and wish more of us could / would spend the time creating them, hats off on that

So come on now, haul out the digicam and show us the rest of the pics



(who cares what platform makes it work as long as its a carputer ?)

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tejesh83

I looked over your schematic. I have 2 concerns.

1. <IGNORE>Xenarc requires you hook the screen upto a regulated 12V source. Wiring it directly to your car, the 12V will actually range from about 10V - 14+V and could spike and damage your screen. You can use the 12V output (yellow wire on the 4 pin HD connector) from the Opus as a regulated source. This may or may not work because of your reverse cam.</IGNORE>

god_of_cpu says this is not neccessary. Sorry, it must have changed since I bought mine.

2. 14 guage wire may be too small, but check with Opus to confirm. Walmart sells amp wiring kits with fuse and wire for a good price. Pick up a 10 or 8 gauge kit.

IntellaWorks

Ok, I can see your argument. But mac has to be able to run any software from any platform in order to stay competetive. I can't agree with your hardware claims though, especially when you say that mac runs more efficiently when compared to EPIA boards.. Have you ever looked at the G5 towers heatsink ?? (that thing creates a LOT of heat) It needs two power supplies 1 for the 7 40mm+ cooling fans and the 2nd to power the system.

Afterthought::
I might be comparing APPLES to ORagnes (HA) putting a g5 next to a EPIA systemboard.

I can however see that mac, has significantly decreased the size of thier computers before the pc world has even thought about it and maybe you are onto something as far as new kinds of hardware to look at.

I don't see wonderful software applications being designed specifically for OSX and being supported as fully as these forums though, why is this ? Because M$ has made it very easy for us to write our own code and PC's are generally more popular with computer geeks I guess.


Thank you for your opinion though and I apologize for sounding harsh originally, I would like to keep these forums as unbiast as possible (because we can all keep learning that way) Instead of fighting over who's stick is bigger.

sdashiki

BLOW IT UP YO!

Ok so im another mac person. But the way this 350Z is going about it, is all wrong. VPC? CMon that sucks a big one. I believe like everyone else here using PC software emulation, cuz there is no mac equiv. (not true mostly) is just plain being careless of being a mac car.

Its been sad, by me a few times, there needs to be someone who has as much ambition as this guy, but also with coding skills. A simple GUI front end like frodo or the like would be great. Opensource and a little shove and im sure alot more mac peeple would sign on. MP3car isnt PC only its computers in cars for entertainment. In my day to day anyone i tell of this website is fascinated and in awe cuz they never really thought of that. I dont know why but they dont.

TO put a mac in a car u need to write some software. Using a touchscreen as a pointer in OSX would suck no matter how bubbly the interface is. However XCODE is object and thread based so its alot easier to use core functions to play music, dvds etc etc. NO one, besides that guy in Czech, has made a GUI frontend. And the Czech guys was so ugly and so specific, i dont know why he spent so much time on something so blaise.

As for power consumption, just like everything else Mac it costs more than PCs. Pcs got a flooded market for parts, apple has 1 supplier really, itself. So things just cost more. With that in mind, yea macs suck more power in sleep vs hibernate cuz if you notice hibernate takes how long to get back to usability? Macs take at most, even a slow G3 blue and white, 5-10s. My new G5 in about 2s. So the power consumption is worth it to me. But now back to the cost thing, youll have to get another battery with an isolator. BIg deal, now while u sleep in bed and yer mac sleeps in the trunk, it sucks its measly wattage from your 2nd battery and would never drain it completely if you drive once a week at least. Even when I wanted to put a PC in my car, i knew that would be the way to go just to be safer than sorry.

My thing with regards to macs in cars is not MACS SUCK AND PCS ROOOOL. Its that PC people got a larger following and that brings with it alot more programming skill. Look at frodo. Macs got programmers but they too busy to even realize the potential of writing a freeware carputer program. Sheesh why the hell not, the OS itself uses images and animations and cool looking carputer stuff at its core that any cocoa program can tap. IMO an apple front end done the right way would look better and be easier to tweak and use than a pc counterpart.

OH and ODB2, the 350Z uses that. But with VPC. So thats crap. Again it needs a programmer, a friend of mine was gonna take up the challenge but got busy with a career instead. Buy the controller card for the USB to serial to ODB2. Write some drivers for it in OSX and wow now u got ODB2 data to integrate into yoour frontend however you see fit. I talk alot for a guy who cant program, but at least i think. :P

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god_of_cpu

Xenarc does not require you to hook the screen up to a regulated 12 volt source, it regulates itself. This is why it comes with a cigarette lighter adaptor to tap into the cars unregulated supply.

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Tidder

I like mac.

I just only can program VB, so mac is no fun for me.

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Rest in peace ol' buddy!

Tracer is dead, check out the new ride

MatrixPC

It's nice to see a Mac as CarPC, but also bad to use VPC to run Window$ apps.
But if there is no app available and VPC is the only alternative. What can you do.

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