fastfalcon94

This is my 1st post on the site. I have read through a lot of different forums though. I am planning on putting a car pc in my 93 Mitsubishi 3000gt over the summer. I have looked at different setups but this is what I am planning on doing:

Mini-ITX on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...127909133&rd=1

VGA screen on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...126968047&rd=1

That will cover the majority of the setup. I will remove my ash tray and replace that w/ a touchpad mouse and I can have a small keyboard that can be stored in my glove box. I already have a Co-pilot GPS and a slim DVD drive. I have read about devices that will start your pc and shut it off automatically when the ignition is turned, but I think I will keep it simple w/ a power switch. XP doesn't take long to boot or shut down if you tune it properly.

I would appreciate it if anyone could help answer a few of my questions:

1. I want to mount the lcd where the stock double din HU is, so I will be eliminating my deck. Is it possible to hook my speaker out on the mini-itx computer to my stock amplifier in my car? The 3000gt has a stock amplifier under the center console if I recall correctly. Is this a hard thing to do?


2. The mini-itx computer already has a DC power supply and it comes w/ an AC to DC power adapter as well. Since the car runs off DC, can I eliminate the power adapter and hard wire it as long as I have the bios to not automatically start when it receives power? Will there be any problem w/ the voltage fluxuating? Or is there some kind of power regulator that I would need to keep a constant voltage??

Any other suggestions are also welcome. I have seen a guy w/ a black 3000gt vr-4 w/ a carpc, and I am hoping he will stumble accross

this post as well. Thanks - Charlie

fastfalcon94

Sorry for the double post. It took about 15 minutes for a page with an error to come up after I tried posting. So I clicked back and then tried again and I guess I posted twice. I tried searching for how to delete a thread, but apparently you can't. Please don't be too harsh with a newbie. - Charlie

Bodgy

1. Dunno... I dont have a 3000gt stock amplifier to look at. Does it have standard RCA inputs?

2. search for itps

3. A touchscreen will be a lot easier to use than a touch pad, get one if your budget stretches that far.

4. Sell the 3000gt and buy a GTR skyline.

Bodgy

these links might help with the amp part of your question

http://members.cox.net/erikpetterson...ioFAQ/FAQ.html

http://members.cox.net/erikpetterson...rca/page1.html

Kupop

Sorry to say but you need to sell more than 1 3000gt to get a GTR Skyline....

Anyways, I hope its a VR4

If your stock amps have traditional connections you should be able to hook up directly. You may need to get a special adapter though.

Bodgy

well you see way more GTR's in australia than 3000gt's. An r32 gtr goes for like $30,000 aus.

fastfalcon94

Thanks for the links. But now I have another problem I have to deal with. I had a compaq proliant 5500 server that I wanted to get rid of it. Some guy on our college Campus wanted it so I traded it for his abit MB w/ a 950 mhz processor, and a 512 and a 128 ram chip. My friend has a board almost like it so we put it in his computer. The board started fine and but wouldn't see the hard drive. Then the monitor went dead. So we switched monitors but the same problem occurred so we put my video card in to see if it was his card. About 20 seconds later my video card started smoking. I think the motherboard he traded me is a piece of crap. Now I have to talk to guy who traded it to me about it. Does anyone know a good way to go about it? I am not on my good pc right now since I no longer have a video card and I can't get his email address until I get another video card.

Bodgy

uhhhhmm... with a baseball bat perhaps?

fastfalcon94

When my video card first started smoking, I would have liked to use a baseball bat But it is all right now. I just found out that it has a 5 year warrenty! Go ATI. And the guy called me and we are going to trade back, or I will give him his ****ty abit k7 mb back and he is going to give me some $$$.

Thanks for telling me to search for the ITPS. That is just what I need. Now I won't even need a switch for the PC since it seems really like a really reliable product.

I'm still a little hazy on the whole "getting sound to speakers" idea. Let me know if I understand it or not. Basically, I need a way to go from the speaker out port on my mini-itx into the stock amplifer. Once it is into the stock amplifer, it will send the output to all my speakers, and since I have windows XP Pro I should be able to control all the speakers? ie. fade and balance?

gubon13

Audio control via Windows is correct, but let me say this...

Older stock amplifiers are SELDOM easy to tap into. Often they require specific signals from the HU to turn on and/or produce good, clean audio. Everytime I've done an install in a car with a stock amp, we have ALWAYS taken it out (or simply bypassed it). Not sure how the 3KGT is, but I'd be willing to bet it's going to be similar. I think that there are adapters around for some cars, but I don't know if there is one for your car, and I don't know how they are price-wise. I haven't looked for one in years, but I remember them being expensive.

__________________
"Is Wayne Brady gonna have to choke a b@$#*??!!"

gubon13

Nevermind... You lucky bastard... =)

http://www.installer.com/cars/mitsubishi.html

Towards bottom of page:

MITAH
1990-2002 Mitsubishi built cars with Infinity Systems Direct plug in adapter to replace factory head unit or amp.
one of our most popular parts of all time. $24.95

__________________
"Is Wayne Brady gonna have to choke a b@$#*??!!"

fastfalcon94

Hey thanks for the link. People at mp3car sure are helpful. I think I have everything I need now for it to work. Just one last question. With that amplifier thing that you posted the link on, it will have 4 rca outputs. How do I hook those up to a computer? Do I need a special card or are there even more adapters that I will need to hook it up to the computer. I am pretty sure the mini-itx only has line out, speaker out, and mic in.

gubon13

You will need 2 mini jack to rca cables. The mini to rca male cables are pretty common, but this means you will need gender changers (couplers) for each rca connection, so 4 in total. Other choice is to get 2 mini jack to female rca cables, but these are not so common. Then you can just plug directly into that cable.

Mini to RCA male:
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/hypaudio/ii255045.html

Couplers:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....oryId=cat08054

Mini to RCA female:
http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.proc...d.GRF+3002-AYC

*These links are just to show you what you need. I don't mean to imply that these are the places to shop at. Your best bet to find options would probably be Best Buy or Radioshack.


Yes, the EPIA boards only have Line IN, Speaker OUT, and Mic IN. However, these boards have VIA 6-channel audio chipsets on them. If you enable the 5.1 audio, then you would lose the Line IN and Mic IN. These would turn into audio outputs.

In Smart 5.1 (as it's called) the connections become:
Line IN ---------> Rear Left & Right OUT
Speaker OUT ---> Front Left & Right OUT
Mic IN ----------> Center & Subwoofer OUT

Thus, you would have your 6 channels, but you would lose all audio inputs into the motherboard. This is only a real problem if you're using (A) any kind of voice recognition software, (B) voice commands for GPS, or (C) audio in for external devices, i.e. D-Link External USB Radio.

So the options are all there, and it's not a hard swap equipment-wise.

**Man, I'm knocking down these questions like a champ!

__________________
"Is Wayne Brady gonna have to choke a b@$#*??!!"

fastfalcon94

Ok, I think I have everything all set now.

- mini-itx pc
- vga 7" screen off ebay
- slim DVD usb2 drive
- Co-Pilot GPS
- ps/2 touch pad mouse
- usb mini keyboard
- ITPS
- mitsubishi amplifier to RCA adapter cable
- 2x RCA female to mini-jack cable

I am going to start ordering all the parts needed for my car PC. I can't afford everything right now since I currently have some $$$ tied up. Give me a month and I should have everything on its way. I am going to make a website on it and have lots of pics so anyone w/ a 3000gt or a mini-itx pc can benefit from it. I think it seems like a good setup since it will be around $700. ( <---- I already have the gps) Thanks for your help.

fastfalcon94

I just made the website where my car pc information will be going. Here it is:

http://web.vtc.edu/users/cdoe/carpc/