Uraijit

Looking good. Looks like you guys are having fun with it. The cold weather, and other projects have pushed my Hoeputer project to the back burner. It's all installed, I just need to do the finish work, and then install the sound system. I also need a new harddrive -- the one I had in it had to be removed for another project, so it's currently not up and running anymore.

Keep up the good work, it's an awesome feeling once you get everything running correctly.

__________________
Greedy
-Adj.
Anybody who makes significantly more money than you do.

The Hoe-Puter Worklog

Progress (Phase one):

Planning:
[----------] 97.3%
Parts Aquisition:
[----------] 95%
Install:
[----------] 95%

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SentraVIP

Nice work man... But why is the screen facing the passenger instead of the driver?

tonkadawg

I was wondering what happened to you. Hopefully I'll have everything hooked up and running (except the monitor) this weekend. We'll see...

tonkadawg

maybe it's the angle that gives that impression, but the screen is facing straight back - that way both driver and passenger can see fine.

thekl0wn

You're much nicer than I... The passenger will have to practically be in my lap to see my screen... Which will have its advantages with certain passengers!

__________________

tonkadawg

remember I'm married - I'm no longer allowed to have fun like that. Have fun while you're still single!

tonkadawg

more done, but not much in the way of pictures.

Got the dvd finally working - that was a bit tricky. I had to install it on the second IDE port as a slave for it to be recogonized correctly.

Followed this link and got the boot time down to about 20 seconds - http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...1785996,00.asp

Got centrafuse downloaded and installed. Still trying to get dvd play back to work correctly.

got the gps receiver installed and working (I think). Since I'm doing this from the house, it's not receiving a signal - won't know till I get the cpu back in the truck.

New monitor ordered and shipped - hopefully it will be here this week.

So the plan for the rest of this week:
get some painting done and commit to the closest matching color
get the dvd drive to work correctly
final install

rdholtz

I'm interested in that article, but it errors out. Do you have an article title so we can search Extremetech.com for it?

Thanks . . .

P.S. Nice work on this install -- it's very clean, and you've done a terrific job of documenting your work.

__________________
.
If just enough is really good, then too much ought to be perfect.

2006 Scion xB with in-dash Atom & Lilliput 889GL -- Worklog at http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/work...res-links.html
.

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HiJackZX1

Its the way the dash is designed..... it looks like it is angled. The dash starts to raise up as it goes towards the driver, making it looks as though his bezel is angled or shaped wrong. I guess when they designed the car, they cared more about the size then wether the interior has normal lines.

__________________
HiJack ZX1 CFSC
CAR PC ITEMS [35%]
INSTALL OF MULTI PC SYSTEM [35%]
BUG WORKOUT [0%]
INTERIOR MODS [45%]

HiJackZX1 Work Log
HiJackZX1 Website!

Please build up my REP.

tonkadawg

realized I haven't shown you guys the finished DVD drive - sorry about that:



ended up re-painting the bezel after comparing the 2 colors to the rest of the interior:


a mess of wires that needs to be cleaned up:


front end working on my test monitor:




and got the GPS working:


new ts monitor and aux in module should be here tomorrow. With any luck by tomorrow evening it will all be installed and buttoned up.

sorry about the huge pics - photobucket is down and I don't have any resizing software on this computer

tonkadawg

sorry about that - here's the link:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...1785996,00.asp

tonkadawg

last night sucked - couldn't get the screen working - turns out 2 wires to the bulbs had broken off - once I found that out, I had to solder them back:



and now for today - 2 steps forward, 1 step back...
the mess of wires, but the power wires for the screen are soldered in:


getting everything packed in and lined up:


installed in the bezel:


nothing.


swapped out the POS VGA cable that came with the screen for a new one and success!!!


gps receiver installed:


another of the screen closer to it's final location:


cleaned up the wiring quite a bit:

tonkadawg

like I said, 2 steps forward 1 step back. As we were installing the new drivers for the TS and trying to calibrate it, the screen kept flashing on and off. We think what happened is that one of the boards some how touched the screen causing a short. We pulled it all apart again and and taped padding in place and put the boards back in. Tomorrow I am hoping to show up, hook the screen up and everything work as expected.

I do need to get a longer IDE cable for the DVD - will get that this weekend, then will get the DVD drive running.

After that the last thing I need is my AUX in - was sent out yesterday from CA - should have that later next week.

With any luck most of the major stuff will be done tomorrow/later this weekend.

tonkadawg

well guys, hard to believe this but the install is 99% complete. It's been 6 months of hard work, planning and patience along with 6 months of my truck being torn apart. Today I was able to put everything back together:

tonkadawg

the last few remaining items:
adjust the DVD drive so it fits correctly
figure out why when coming out of hibernate, touch screen doesn't work
chase down a hiss in the audio

Overall I couldn't be happier with the install. Looking back over my main goals, I'd say I met each and every one.
Factory Install:
I've had a couple of friends in the car already and they asked where I bought the bezel - they couldn't tell it was hand made. To me, it looks like the whole unit belongs there.

Ability to play DVDs, CDs, and mp3s:
Well, once I'm able to get the DVD drive mounted correctly this will have been accomplished. I'm using the onboard sound from my vai mobo - I've never heard my truck sound that good! Stay tuned for future work as I'm convinced that letting the cpu handle all media is the way to go.

GPS:
Yup and it works really good too!

Quick boot and shutdown time:
Coming out of hibernate, my boot time is under 30 seconds. It's not much more for a cold boot either. I'm pleased with this - I might try to get it faster, but right now it's not a priority.

Ability to remove CPU as need:
There is some work involved to remove the cpu, but hopefully I won't need to do it that often. If I fell short on any of my objectives, this is where I did.

Going forward:
Once I get the DVD working, I plan on just using the system and seeing how it performs. That and I really need a break from this project. However, I already know of some new enhancements for when I decide to come back to this. They are:

additional USB ports - especially one easily accessible
reverse camera
OBDII - just need to get the plug - software is already capable
phone - need an IR port - software is already capable
screens in the headrests

I guess that's about it.

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