JD1337

Ok so pretty much i want to put a pc in my car, been doing alot of searching etc and have come up with a few ideas, and a few questions i cant seem to find answers for...

First with my questions:

1) currently i have a eurovox factory head unit in a VTII 2000 Holden Berlina. It can manually change the hieght of the arial. I want to be able to keep this functionality on the car pc.. (while keeping the auto up and down too)

2) have volume control buttons connected to the carpc

3) have an on off button seperate to auto on / off of ACC

4) where should a put the optical drive for easiest usability but also neatness??

5) does anyone (in aus) have a broken or unused eurovox double din that i can strip ans use as a box for the carpc?


ok questions out of the way, here are some mockup pics... should be roughly to scale of what im after




The buttons on the left Top to bottom

Arial manual adjustment

Volumla Control

On/Off

Screen is 7" touchscreen, however the blue is only the viewable area of the screen, the actual size goes a little bit bigger, hence the buttons not centred

any input is welcome!

thnx guys

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DarquePervert

1 - You need someting like the Fusion BRain to control the motors. It can be done, but you're going to have to do some creative engineering.

2 - You want physical buttons for volume control? The PC has its own volume control and front-end software makes it very easy to adjust volume with a flick of your finger.

3 - Wire a switch to the ignition-switched line that runs to the DC-DC PSU. It will cut power to the ignition line and the SDC will shut off/startup the PC. In addition,if the switch is off and the car is started, the PC won't power on.

4 - That's up to you, really. You need to determine where you want to mount it, and how much fabrication you're willing to do (or pay do have done) to make it look the way you want.

5 - Don't expect the PC to go into the dash unless you lay hands on PIcoITX hardware (pricey). A miniITX motherboard will barely fit, and the cables connected to the back will make it too deep for most dashes.

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jpinkerton

In your other post you said she won't let you take it apart until you have something to put in its place. While I understand where she's coming from, at the same time you might not be able to have something 100% until you do take it apart.

My install isn't 100% yet and I've removed my trim and stereo several times just to either run a cable or make sure what I'm adding/changing will still fit.

My suggestion would be to get out there early, take a tape measure, some paper, and the camera. Take down dimensions, screw counts, where they go, how you got 'em off, and take lots of pictures. That way you can get an idea of how much space you have behind that area and know what you're up against.

Below where you want the touchscreen, what is in that area? Is it a cup holder section? You might have room to build a system behind the touchscreen. I'm assuming she's attached to whatever's below where you want the touchscreen, so that's pry out of the question to remove and place a computer in.

Some people mount it in the trunk, would you be able to mount it in the trunk?

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FAQ to the FAQ - Great Starting Point

My 1997 Chrysler Concorde Carputer

JD1337

realisitcally with the mobo and lcd im looking at will be connected by an lvds connection... not good over distances of like 30cm , but thats definetly somthing that can change.

for everyone who didnt read my accidental other post, i put some more info in it.. (which iom now putting here)

The screen will be a 7" touchscreen, im currently thinking of using this panel
*sorry link doesnt fit* its on ebay under " 7" LCD Screen- Asus EEEPC "
and then i would purchase the touchscreen conversion kit also on ebay under " 7" inch Touch Screen Panel kit for Asus EEE PC "
In the pic of the unit, it is sized exactly to a double din standard 7"x4" and has the exact viewable screen size for the 7" screen. the reason the buttons are moved over is the the lcd will protrude a lil bit under the cover on all sides

the mobo i am looking at using is VIA NEW MII-12000 LVDS MINIITX MOTHERBOARD/1.2GHZ CPU the reason i want this one is it has a lvds connection to directly connect to the lcd screen


i also apologise, i kind of lied aswell... its true she doesnt want me touching it.. but the biggest reason i cant touch it is currently we are living in sydney (as i am going to uni up here) but our car is about 500km away at our normal home which we go to during the uni holidays... but we dont live near any good audio etc place down there so im hoping to be able to get the majority of thing i need for the project before then :S

tis a big ask...

however i found a pic of the hole without the hu in there - i think its from the model down from my car cause i have a lil slotty thing between the pocket in the picture and the hu


and by looking at this pic.. i know where im putting my optical drive now :P

JD1337

oh, heres a pretty pic with what i think it will look like

(i know this might be a bit of overkill but im hoping to make a full archive of everything i did for this project ion case anyone want to follow in my footsteps later on)



i found the measurements someone took for the factory double din headunit

front the faceback to end of deck is 16 cms
the face is 1.5 cms thick
the width is 17.5 cms
the height is 11 cms

so its def gonna be tight at the back for a mini itx like DarquePervert said... although from the pic i found with the headunit out it seems to have another empty section behind it which it may fit in... maybe a lil cutting to be done behind the dash.. oh it would be lovely to fit it in there

heres a mock up of the size.. green is mobo, grey is case and fascia


in terms of the cords at the back of the board.. hopefully i will be able to find right angled cords to reduce room... the in dash monitor will be connected via the lvds connection which is in the middle of the mobo and ill connect the others via the rca out.. not the vgaso i dont have to worry about that huge chunk of crap hanging out the back

heres a pic of my intended board


and another mockup with updated dimensions

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