Yet another newb, And yet another string of questions.

j4yj0hn · 01-27-2005, 05:18 PM

As painful as it is to write this rather than do research myself, I keep finding myself re-reading the same information on various corners of the web and have become quite frustrated, and still need confermation on a few things.

Also I appolagise for the length of this post, but don't consider it long, consider it, thorough

Anyways, lets kick it off the deepend, shall we.

First off, the vehicle I will be installing my CarPC in will be a 2004 Nissan Murano AWD, havent decided on which one quite yet due to the amount of research i have been putting in to it has postpned purchase.

As far as the PC goes, i have questions as to what components you would reccomend, and of course the reasoning behind the reccomendation. I am planning on making the pc as hidden as possible, so that requires rewiring switches for the psu, ect, along with a small bit of sacrifice on my component choices, unless you have any suggestions. I have put together a small list of components, as well as what I would require/desire the system to do.

Required PC Funtions:

Mp3 playback (duuuh)
DVD and Video FIle playback
Burning software to cd's on the fly
wireless surfing
eeeeeemail
and syncing with my pda (sharp zaurus sl5500, cause i am 1337)

Wish list:

CF microdrive
easy iPod input/charging (not a hard one to do, but its not officially added to the list quite yet
ability to play xbox on the same tft,
gamecube on same tft,
video capture
TV antenna
Using something other than the windows GUI

Future plans:

2 (or more) aditional screens
Navigation
FM radio (so I can remove the deck, add amps, and such.)
Audio system upgrade and maybe subwoofers.

Components are as follows:

PSU: OPUS SFX-1215 150 watt. Seemed like the communities favorite, and mine as well.

Mobo: VIA EPIA M10000 Mini-ITX Motherboard. I chose this board based on price and users overall happiness with the product. I plan on getting a laptop and would like to interchange pcmcia cards with the carpc as needed, but I also like the idea od a pci orinoco card with antenna that could maybe be routed and incloded within the murano's stock antenna. either way, a High performing Wi-Lan card is a must for me. I would be considering an MII model because of this, but I do not want the backplane of the pc to be exposed and this is where the pcmcia and CF are located, and it appears to be a hefty ammount of soldering to relocate them when i could just buy a USB adapter and put it where i please.

Optical drive: Panasonic CW-8123-B . I chose this drive based on the sole feature of slot loating. It seems pricy at $99, but in order to achieve a truly hidden PC a slot loading CD-RW/DVD combo drive is really the only solution i could think of.

RAM: The cheapest compatible 512Mb stick i can find. What can I say, i am not made of money.

Hard drive: I have a 3.5" WD 120 gig laying around, and thats all i will really need for now.

Wireless: Orinoco baby, Mentioned earlier

Display: Xenarc 700TSV. I chose this because A) i like the feedback B) There will be an xbox riding shotgun to the pc so I like the idea of composite and vga in.

and last but not least,

Cooling: I plan on using 2 120mm fans for intake and exhast, and i am going to duct them to somewhere as hidden as possible. I will wire these directly to the battery, and switch them on as needed, especially before booting on those hot summer days. this seemed to be the best solution I could come up with, but hasn't exactly been pondered for hours like everything else.

Anywho, now that you know what i need/want/plan to do with my carPC, along with the components i have proposed, what do you suggest? Keep in mind I need this to be as hidden as possible, and I am no stranger to a little modification. Unfortuneatly my local Nissan dealership doesnt have any schematics i can take measurements from to determine my space confines, but from what I have determined from measuring a 2004 at the dealership today, I should have ample room for what I want to do.

I will post more questions later, or just theories that require confermation, but for now, I must rest my fingers

dasbell · 01-27-2005, 06:46 PM

I think it would probably be helpful if you asked specific questions...
Sounds like you are on the right path but what do you want to know?

j4yj0hn · 01-27-2005, 09:58 PM

Basically, what I want to know is if there are cheaper options, better solutions, or maybe just something i wasn't thinking of, as well as how to get items on my "wish list" accomplished. I've been spending so much time researching hardware that I havent even scraped the top of the software side, so any reccomended applications to get any of this stuff done would be cool.

Sorry for forgetting to actually ask questions, but its been a LONG day.

*wanders off muttering about car salesmen*

alti · 01-28-2005, 05:21 AM

Seems like you have done some research as to what components you plan on useing. At the point you are at, i think is it's mostly a matter of opinion, i think you have done pretty well.

I would invest in good RAM though, and since you are installing in a SUV I am guessing that the computer is going to be somewhere in the cabin, I personally would go with a seagate HD as they are extremely quite.

good luck on you project.

j4yj0hn · 01-28-2005, 09:05 AM

Heh, i have the habbit of bordering on over-research, making my projects turn from a simple install to massive overhauls just because of discovered funtionality I hadn't thought of initially, so its good to hear that I am on the right track.

Quote:

I would invest in good RAM though, and since you are installing in a SUV I am guessing that the computer is going to be somewhere in the cabin, I personally would go with a seagate HD as they are extremely quite.

As far as this goes, I have an extra stick of Corsair PC-3200 lying around, but I killed my only seagate drive not too long ago and would have to sell my WD in order to consider buying a new hdd, (the ammount of components in my basement is boarderline ridiculous) unless i just bit the bullet and modded my xbox for this project as well.

see what you've done? got me thinking about another project. DAMNIT.

:P ah well, balancing school and projects shouldn't be too hard, its that $ thing i am worried about

xBrady · 01-28-2005, 09:16 AM

As far as your software question goes, it is ALL a matter of opinion. You have to try them all out.

j4yj0hn · 01-28-2005, 10:37 AM

yeah, after some initial research ive decided to go with frodoplayer or mediaengine,

ive been working on modifying djScript's FrodoPlayer skin to better suit the amber lighting inside the murano, and if I am pleased with the result I'll probably either skin what he left off or learn to make my own.

Buuuut, before i can ask questions about that i need to do some research. that and go to class, which i am late for.

until then,

-John