The final product actually looked a little different from this because it wouldn't fit so I ended up taking one of the metal pieces out and made it into a holding shelf for the back of the PC instead of the inserting type like you see in the picture. Worked out perfectly. That picture later.
In case anyone was wondering how I do my stereo wirings: a technique I learned from when I installed my underbody neons which is hook them both and twist around itself making a totally locked connection and then of course tape it up.
yeah...no way my connections are coming lose.
Had me a visitor (on the car's roof) while installing this contraption in my car: :shock:
The button and the USB plug turned to this:
Also under this very section is the AC adapter and the MyScanTool module. There's a mess of wires under there...I hope I never have to take them out
Kinda looks like the back of my desk here :shock:
Putting in the computer under my seat was a lot harder than I thought...at least the first time. I may have damaged my GPS module in the process...ordering another one (Holux CF-type) which I have been meaning to do anyways. I had to take the laptop out a few times to re-align the bends in the metal plates but in the end I got:
I like the fact that it's under my seat because, as you can see, the DVD drive is still easily accessible to watch movies or install some software.
This is the wireless keyboard USB receiver which turned out to be a nifty accessory because of the power LED which turns on with the computer thus letting me know that it's on:
I actually only connected this set of wires to easily do a future system add-on like my soon-to-be-obsolete-and-replaced-by-the-Wii GameCube.
so they're just hiding out in the glove box.
Once it's all said and done I powered that sucker up and had MediaEngine boot up and got
The Suzuki logo is an add-on to the skin I chose. I like this skin mostly because of that.
Used
MediaEngine for the front end.
ProScan is the software used by
www.myscantool.com which I had purchased the hardware a while back. I actually selected this laptop with the fact in mind that it has a serial port. Works flawlessly:
Picture of iGuidance software:
And finally KING OF QUEENS ON UPN!!!
YES...this head unit has a TV tunner function (VHF, UHF, etc.) although I'm yet to find a connector or antenna to fit the weird plug that it has for this (round with a smal cylinder in the middle that looks like something else would fit in it...never seen this before). It's the most riddiculous head unit I've ever had or seen. Also has AM/FM stereo as well as Video 1 and 2 inputs (2nd is for reverse camera...no I didn't get that!) plus it's self-powered (45Wx4 I think) which was great because I didn't want to have to buy another amp.
This has been the biggest project I've ever done to a car and I have to say that I'm very pleased with the results. I had ripped all my CDs to mp3s and they are all sitting on the hard drive of this computer so no more carrying around music CDs and if I get the wireless repeater I plan on getting I should be able to synchronize my music lists on both the car computer and the computer I'm on right now.
This didn't go off without problems though. After plugging everything in and taping everything together I started to notice that the laptop and the extra outlet weren't powering on. Turns out I wired all of that to the antenna cable from the head unit's wiring harness. Works great when the radio is on but once I turn on the VGA option it all turns off. Had to rewire that to the red power button. After that the XMPCR wouldn't turn on. Seemed to be a configuration issue and was taken care of (still have to call them to activate the radio). I managed to bang the GPS card a few times so I'm affraid it's not able to get a position fix anymore :cry: it just sits there trying to get one but can't and will no longer go at 9600 baud. Ordering a new card. :
: Also the speakers were doing that interference noise and the scren was flickering. Tried grounding the head unit to the same spot I grounded the AC adapter but it didn't help. So I went out to walmart and bought a ground loop eliminator and that took care of the noise but not the screen distortion. Then I remembered I had to use a VGA extension cable since the one that came with the stereo wasn't long enough. I grounded the connection and the screen distortion is almost completely gone now. Pretty happy about these results so far and I'm still in awe that I was able to do this all. I cut my hands and fingers and lost sleep in the process but it was well worth it
Questions or comments welcome
Soldering it to the power board was a real pain in the arse especially since I suck at soldering but I got it done 8)
so I attempted to fix the misshap
Linear Mode
