Hi. n00b here :P

PHoeNiX · 09-22-2003, 03:36 AM

Hi guys, I just thought Id Introduce myself, tell u my plans ect and see if u guys have any advice/suggestions.
Im 22 and im in Melbourne Australia. I drive a 1992 EB Fairmont V8. Few engine Mods, Kenwood Head unit and Audioline amp and Sub. I toyed with the Idea of an In Car PC when I first for my licence but at the time it just wasnt practical!
A few weeks ago pcman put his car on Ford Australia Forums and when I saw what hed done it inspired me once again. I have ****loads of old computer parts lying around so i can basically mess around without too much cost.

MK1 (pretty much complete and built with junk lying around.
Im not actually going to install this in the car. Ill run it from the Floor behind the Passenger seat as a test unit. Screen wedges nicely in the Glovebox when its open.
Originaly this was a Celleron 433 but I cant get my crap screen workin on that Board and I tried 2 of em

-Pentium 2 266. (Running 98)
-2 gig and 8 gig IDE Hdds.
-32 meg ram (been too lazy to rip a 128 out one of the server machines)
-Sound Balster AWE32 sound card.
-6xDVD rom + Decoder Card.
-Keycory 10inch LCD exbank Screen. (Only 1 meg ISA card)

Will have to buy better screen for higher Resoloution. Only 640x480 @ 256 colors! Anyone got a win98 or higher driver PM me

-75W inverter. <---- too small? Dont want to buy one!
-Old Mouse and keyboard!

Works Fine on the Desktop, yet to run in the car. DVD playback is a bit choppy sometimes and in 256 color mode it looks a bit dodgy! Old School games work Fine. Duke3d, Quake 1, Road Rash Need For Speed ect but anything newer starts to go a bit slow.

If all goes well then Ill build Mk2

MK2 (Unfortunatly i will have to buy **** for this one)
-VGA screen 10 inch or under. Any suggestions? I was thinking of a PSone screen but I have since decided not to use one for the main screen. I will probly put one in the Lid of the center console where it can fold up as a small screen for the back seat.
-Video Card GeForce4 440. Cheep ($80 AUST) and Does the Job well in my Games PC.
-526meg RAM (Have Spare)
-120gig IDE HDD
-Sound Blaster Live 128 (Have spare)
-IR mini Keyboard and Mouse
-Wireless Network Card
-USB GPS device <--recomendations?
-Athlon 1.4 running on MSI micro ATX motherboard. (Already have)

I will use a customised minitower in the boot as the case. Whats the best way to power this system? Inverter or buy a (Bloody expensive) power supply? Anyone got the scematics for one so i can build it myself? I will eventually run a Dual battery system.
I would like to mount the DVD rom where the ash tay is? Can U run an IDE cabel this far?

Thats about all i can think of for now. Any comments (nice ones :P) and suggestions will be appreciated..

Cheers
PHoeNiX_

bosstone74 · 09-22-2003, 12:02 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by PHoeNiX

Hi guys, I just thought Id Introduce myself, tell u my plans ect and see if u guys have any advice/suggestions.
Im 22 and im in Melbourne Australia. I drive a 1992 EB Fairmont V8. Few engine Mods, Kenwood Head unit and Audioline amp and Sub. I toyed with the Idea of an In Car PC when I first for my licence but at the time it just wasnt practical!
A few weeks ago pcman put his car on Ford Australia Forums and when I saw what hed done it inspired me once again. I have ****loads of old computer parts lying around so i can basically mess around without too much cost.

MK1 (pretty much complete and built with junk lying around.
Im not actually going to install this in the car. Ill run it from the Floor behind the Passenger seat as a test unit. Screen wedges nicely in the Glovebox when its open.
Originaly this was a Celleron 433 but I cant get my crap screen workin on that Board and I tried 2 of em

-Pentium 2 266. (Running 98)
-2 gig and 8 gig IDE Hdds.
-32 meg ram (been too lazy to rip a 128 out one of the server machines)
-Sound Balster AWE32 sound card.
-6xDVD rom + Decoder Card.
-Keycory 10inch LCD exbank Screen. (Only 1 meg ISA card)

Will have to buy better screen for higher Resoloution. Only 640x480 @ 256 colors! Anyone got a win98 or higher driver PM me

-75W inverter. <---- too small? Dont want to buy one!
-Old Mouse and keyboard!

Works Fine on the Desktop, yet to run in the car. DVD playback is a bit choppy sometimes and in 256 color mode it looks a bit dodgy! Old School games work Fine. Duke3d, Quake 1, Road Rash Need For Speed ect but anything newer starts to go a bit slow.

If all goes well then Ill build Mk2

MK2 (Unfortunatly i will have to buy **** for this one)
-VGA screen 10 inch or under. Any suggestions? I was thinking of a PSone screen but I have since decided not to use one for the main screen. I will probly put one in the Lid of the center console where it can fold up as a small screen for the back seat.
-Video Card GeForce4 440. Cheep ($80 AUST) and Does the Job well in my Games PC.
-526meg RAM (Have Spare)
-120gig IDE HDD
-Sound Blaster Live 128 (Have spare)
-IR mini Keyboard and Mouse
-Wireless Network Card
-USB GPS device <--recomendations?
-Athlon 1.4 running on MSI micro ATX motherboard. (Already have)

I will use a customised minitower in the boot as the case. Whats the best way to power this system? Inverter or buy a (Bloody expensive) power supply? Anyone got the scematics for one so i can build it myself? I will eventually run a Dual battery system.
I would like to mount the DVD rom where the ash tay is? Can U run an IDE cabel this far?

Thats about all i can think of for now. Any comments (nice ones :P) and suggestions will be appreciated..

Cheers
PHoeNiX_

You'll need probably a 400 watt inverter...
IDE can be run that far, but it doesn't alway work
Copilot for GPS
SAVE YOUR Pennies! or whatever kind of Australian $ you folks have.