al256

Howdy y’all, this is my 93 Grand Wagoneer carputer, or just a MacJeep. Hours after first seeing the Mac Mini I began to dream about putting that little computer in car. After months of dreaming, fund raising, waiting, and installing I’ve come to a point where I want to share my installation of my Mac Mini. I hope y’all enjoy.

This is the vehicle, my Grand Wagoneer this was the last year they made Grand Wagoneers. Truly a luxury SUV for its time; it is very comfortable and responsive. You can read more here: http://research.cars.com/go/crp/revi...3&aff=national



One of my most treasured parts of this installation my main switches. The red is the so-called “Valet Switch,” which controls the computer. The blue switch is lovingly referred to as “The Sister Switch,” which controls the subwoofer; in a split second I can kill the heavy bass for a certain sibling or preserve my battery power for other uses.




My secondary switches are located in my overhead console. The red one is fully functional but albeit controls nothing at the moment. The blue switch is for my Gamecube.





Now for one of the more regrettable parts of my installation, my screen. After many nights I finally decided to take the easier and quicker route and just install my screen with a hinge. I wanted to keep my nice Pioneer P6600 deck with its OLED screen. This decision did cost me greatly when it comes to aesthetics though… and as such, one day in the future I will consider getting an amp for the speakers and remove my deck for the screen. If anyone has any great ideas of how to keep both and maintain clean look please let me know.





A picture of the Gamecube running.



I originally dreamt of putting the Mac Mini in the dash but just couldn’t find a feasible way that let me play DVDs and burn CDs while inside the dash so I put the computer in my center console. This involved a lot of cutting using a soldiering iron to make it fit. Also in the center console are two hard drive fans and also the CNX-P1900 power supply.




The hidden location of the Gamecube. The wires for it run under the carpet and also through the roof but I’m happy with the result. With the flip of a switch and a push of a button I (or someone else while I’m driving) can play with the wireless Wavebird controller.



My subwoofer, it’s a 12” Street Edge powered by my Street Edge amp. I’m sure a lot of people have brand name subs and amps but I’m able to shake my car with just this one sub with the help of my invention.



My “invention,” aka my “strike plate.” Before I made this I suffered from limited vibrations but now my sub feels almost as great as my friends Firebird with his sub. I guess having a hatch gives your sub an amazing “echo chamber” (not my words).



My final picture, this is the wire from my power button kit. Instead of the way Mike H did it (through the bottom) I ran it through my vents on the back. This makes it much easier to connect and also unplug. I doubt I’m the first one to do it this way though…



SPECS: 1.42 GHz, 80 GB, 512 MB, Combo Drive, Airport+Bluetooth, Xenarc 700tsv, and CNX-P1900/CNX-PV5.

MP3Car.com

 

EsKALad

why dont you get rid of the information center? and just put your headunit down there in place underneath your ac controls. than bondo in your screen up top and than repaint the whole woodgrain peice a nice color of your choice

shizzle

I think you just have to add [img] tags around those links to display pics here...
eg [IMG]http//gallery~=1[ /IMG] <- WITHOUT THE SPACE BETWEEN [ / IN [/IMG]

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Carputer status: [-*---------]
Im thinking laptop...

al256

I did. I spend like ten minutes trying to make them work. I just now even tried to show a sample of my code but the code display won't show the tags. The tags are there.

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My Mac Jeep

al256

I like my info center but also the info center isn't deep enough for the deck.

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My Mac Jeep

shizzle

Nice install! So what are you doing with it? Do you use any 3rd party software? Just probing for ideas from a fellow mac user!
Peace
Shizzle

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Carputer status: [-*---------]
Im thinking laptop...

shizzle

LOL. Ya, My first try at an example just looked like a dead link, just an x. I would think if there were IMG tags that is what we would see? Oh well, I saw the pics, just tryin to help out.

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Carputer status: [-*---------]
Im thinking laptop...

al256

Thanx, I got tired of just plugging my iPod into my car and the Mac Mini came out so I decided to make a carputer. So mostly it's just for music but I want GPS down the road and also just to impress people.

BTW, I appreciate everyone's help.

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My Mac Jeep

shizzle

Same here... For the time being when people ask what it is (it sits in the back seat with wires visible everywhere) I say it's my oversized Ipod, the prototype with an external screen.
It's gonna be awesome when a good front end and gps software hit the streets! (literally!)

__________________
Carputer status: [-*---------]
Im thinking laptop...

al256

Our new holy grail. I remember when we needed a way to power the mini but thanks to Mike we have that covered. I think I may just buy route 66 just for show. Also, I think if we start a cash prize for anyone who creates a good frontend for the Mac by the end of August we'll have one. I'd put in 30 dollars and if everyone just gives something there will be a nice incentive for programers to start or speed up their efforts. What you think?

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My Mac Jeep

jzgt

Not bad - I like the idea of the hinged screen... I think if you 'boxed in' the silver part of the hinge that is to the left of the screen with some balsa foam and fiberglass or even sandwich it between 2 pieces of wood and fiberglassed or epoxied them together and painted them black like the housing and painted the barrel of the hinge black, it'd look cool. Then if you could get one of those push closed/push open (inside) cabinet latches and mounted one end to the back of the lcd and the other to the dash (unless it happens to fall right over the HU).

Just a thought...but I don't think, if you made those mods, you'd see the screen install as not asthetically pleasing.

- Jeff

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robiewp

if you disect the dash, you'll find that there's enough space to shift your head unit up an inch or so. This combined with the removal of the center vents (who needs them, there's another one 3 inches to the right) will give you more than enough space for the screen.

I'm a week or so away from getting my 8" lilliput all into my grand cherokee.
this was my first generation install:


my next install will have a quickly removable, slightly smaller, 4x3 screen... not that i didn't love that 10.4" 500NIT er

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car computer rev 3: 8" lilliput and usual suspects

EsKALad

move the ac controls down to where the information center is...drop a headunit where the ac controls were than fab your screen in! done!

robiewp

the angle of the AC control housing (as it would accomidate a DIN sized HU) is a little to steep for my tastes with a headunit. Additionally, if you move the AC controls to where the information center is, you need to modify the AC control housing to fit in the space, most likely taking up the space you would have had for a headunit where the AC controls were originally. Maybe you're thinking of the manual AC controls- the automatic ones, atleast, as he has, go quite deep.

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Use the source, Luke.
car computer rev 3: 8" lilliput and usual suspects

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