newbie with an idea for a mac mini w leopard in a crown vic

kc83 · 10-29-2007, 11:53 AM

Hi, i'm a newbie here and i have a 2000 crown victoria police interceptor. I'm looking to put a mac mini in my car with a 10inch monitor. i'm looking to see with i need to do to complete this task. i'd like to run leopard system with boot camp so i can run mac and windows operating system.

i'd like the computer to start up when i turn the car on and i'd like it to shut down normally when i shut the car off. so it doesnt use up my battery. i'd also like to connect a portable usb hard drive every now and then for road trips so i can have more multimedia on the go. i'd also like to run gps and if possible a OBDII program so i can see whats going on with my car instantly.

my budget for this is around 600. that does not include the purchase of the mac mini and monitor or external hard drive since i have those items already.

thank you.

-casey

Nickwell24 · 10-30-2007, 12:49 AM

I haven't put a carpc in yet, but researched all the details of a mac mini install. Your best bet would be to buy a Carnetix 2140, you can find this in the store under DC-DC converters. With this you will be able to set up a delay start and power down in accordance to your ignition status of the car. Along with that you'll want to buy a Macpac cable to connect your mac mini to the PSU, it will allow you to bypass splicing your power supply block. Depending on where you are installing your mac mini depends on where you can put your mini usb hub. I'm currently trying to figure out that myself to for my 2004 malibu classic. Other than that you should be good to go, as long as you know how to run power cables through your car. Good luck man, I wish i could have done the mac mini. I finally realized it would have been just as good to go with windows base, as much as that pains me seeing i'm typing this on my MBP, but i would use a microsoft based frontend anyways, so why not just bypass the boot camp. Let me know if you need any help man and good luck.

Bankles · 10-30-2007, 05:14 PM

I was thinking to do the same thing.

The only thing i am concerned about is not having the sound going through my speakers.....

Any reason why it shouldn't?

kc83 · 10-30-2007, 08:34 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Bankles

I was thinking to do the same thing.

The only thing i am concerned about is not having the sound going through my speakers.....

Any reason why it shouldn't?

well i would think it depends on your head unit. if you have an aux input you should be able to come out the headphone/speaker jack on the mac mini straight into the head unit aux input.

Nickwell24 · 10-30-2007, 09:45 PM

That's what i was going to do but i found it would be cheaper in the long run to go w/ a PC.