Hello from SW Virginia

DougPuckett · 11-22-2007, 11:01 PM

Boy Im glad I found this place. I have a 2002 Dodge Ram Quad Cab I plan on installing a Compaq Presario r3000 in. It will be 100% dedicated to my truck. All that will be done with the notebook is to run GPS, play and store MP3s and DVD movies for the long family trips.I plan on using the AUX input on my stock stereo to hook to the PC to play the sound thru the truck stereo.

So far, I cleaned the HDD and installed XP with all updates and uninstalled everything I didnt need from XP.The only basic thing I left in was Windows Media Player for MP3 and DVD playing. I installed Delorme Street Atlas 2008 to run my GPS. With a 60G HDD I am left about 50G of space to store MP3s which will be MORE than sufficient.

Here is what I am trying to figure out how to do (Needless to say, I will be searching this forum for a while!!)

-Do I want to use existing screen on NB or search for smaller touchscreen. If I use TS, I would need alternate mounting location since Im using stock head unit.

-Will I want a nother media player for MP3/DVD playback? Something that handles playlists easily would be great if I can find recommendations.

-I have an inverter already installed but I also have the power cord for the NB that uses cig lighter power. Should I simply plug the regular cord into the inverter or maybe hard wire the other cord directly to the truck.

-How to get NB to power up automatically when start truck and shut down when cut off. (Im just guessing this would be REAL tough to accomplish)

-I have many many other ideas that depend on what route I want to go with on the screen thing.

It looks like I have 90% of the things I need to get my project up and running. Im sure I will be asking a blue million question in the forums and I hope I might be able to help others as I learn more.

Thats enough ramblings for now. I look forward to chatting with everyone.

Doug Puckett

Redian · 11-23-2007, 12:12 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by DougPuckett

-Do I want to use existing screen on NB or search for smaller touchscreen. If I use TS, I would need alternate mounting location since Im using stock head unit.

you will want to use a touchscreen, it is almost impossible to run a good setup without one (cuz.. you are also driving a car). i would move the HU into the glove compartment, and then put the touchscreen in the HU location. or get a pop-out HU (but i dont recommend those)

-Will I want a nother media player for MP3/DVD playback? Something that handles playlists easily would be great if I can find recommendations.

thats why people created frontends, they work amazingly good. imho centrafuse is a work of art and probably one of the best, if not the best frontend. unfortunately now it costs money, so if you are wanting to be cheap.. you have to look elsewhere.

you can always use roadrunner, but it is a little more annoying than centrafuse to get it running perfectly..

-I have an inverter already installed but I also have the power cord for the NB that uses cig lighter power. Should I simply plug the regular cord into the inverter or maybe hard wire the other cord directly to the truck.

i would wire the computer directly to the truck and get a DC-DC power supply for the computer.. however, seeing how it is a laptop, if you want to keep the laptop functionality, just use the inverter

-How to get NB to power up automatically when start truck and shut down when cut off. (Im just guessing this would be REAL tough to accomplish)

it depends on how you decide to setup your computer, if you go all out and mod it to hell, its quite simple to solder the on button as a button you press on your dash, or wire it to a shutdown controller or igition or whatever you want. its your choice

Doug Puckett

responses in bold.