PaulDePimp

Hey Guys,
I love this Forum, its been a great help so far. I just bought a 2004 Toyota Corolla S type last weekend actually on SuperBowl Sunday. Anyways heres what Ive got so far. A 1.0 ghz Compaq Evo N180 laptop w/ 30 gig hdd, USB Delorme Earthmate GPS, Packard Bell Infa-Red Reciever (its serial I gotta get a new one since my laptop doesnt have a serial port), and Im thinking of purchasing a Xenarc 7 inch touchscreen for this *****. Problem is, the install is going to cost me... a ****load of money... my dash blows basically... Its kind of in a V neck shape (larger at the top than it is at the bottom. Ive got room down by my shifter its about the size of a double din, but its narrow.. I dunno if I yank out the compartments down there that i can fit a 7 inch screen, my other option is to pull my double-din radio out, purchase a 1-din motorized 7inch touchscreen (does this exist?) and install an aftermarket headunit (which wouldnt be a bad idea to be honest). My plans include mounting the laptop in the trunk, in a custom box with exhaust fans at the top (kinda like a bandpass speakerbox.. which actually might work real well with some extra fans), cutting a whole by the rear speakers and mounting the GPS antenna there, and then somehow getting a USB infared reciever mounted to the front of the car. I wanna use VGA for the monitor screen, and xenarc seems to be best for native resolutions like 800x600 instead of some crazy widescreen **** which my videocard might not support. My big question is, what the **** do I need to buy in order to get this thing to shutdown when I turn the car off? I know you can do it with those Opus things for ATX boards, but this is a laptop, its got a ******* battery, how do you shut it down automatically? and better yet, start-up too?... any ideas? I live in the MD area (willing to drive anywhere so someone can take a look at it) this car only has 400 miles on, it but Im willing to pay someone to tear it apart. I wanna get a blown fiberglass mount for the screen just so that it has resale value when its all said and done, and to be honest i wanna keep my factory head unit. I guess the best way to make the carputer play through the speakers is an FM modulator.. but I could be wrong. If anyone has some insight let me know, I notice not many people here use laptops (probably because of the expense of just throwing one in your trunk) but its my extra one, and I wanna get some use out of it. Im thinking of using either MediaEngine, or better yet MediaCar. Also I dont feel like using the Delorme Streets Atlas 2004 for this thing (too small of icons for touchscreen use), does anyone know of a good software proggie that works with the earthmate GPS? if you know the answers to any of these questions please let me know and it will be greatly appreciated, or even suggestions on screens. Thanks a lot guys.
-Paul
mrpimps@comcast.net