2007 Nissan Altima - Open Source Ride

fiXXXerMet · 09-29-2009, 12:24 PM

So right now this is mostly a placeholder and a place to speak my mind and ask questions about what I plan to do.

My head unit is on the fritz and instead of spending a couple hundred to replace it, I'd like to setup a car PC like I have wanted to for a number of years now.

Here is the hardware that I plan on using thus far:

AOpen Digital Engine DE-945CD Mini PC w/ 2GB RAM, Core2Duo, 16gb SLC SSD
External 2.5" HDD for MP3 / Map / DVD storage
Creative X-Fi USB Sound
OBDPro USB Scantool
Either a Xenarc 700IDT or Xenarc 702STV...

My OS of choice will of course be linux.

I will use a transflective touchscreen LCD in my dash but will need to figure out a way to cover it up while I am not in the car, as I do not want it to be stolen. A motorized 1-din mount probably be sufficient, but I will have to research this further.

So that is all that I have for now, but I will be updating this as I progress.

obstacleman · 09-29-2009, 12:30 PM

Hiding the screen with a cover is not completely needed, you can make it look stock or essentially blacked out with a little work and make it less "stealable" The group of guys that meet up once a month off GW parkway have been a big help getting mine moving along.

Out of curiosity why the transflective screen? That is alot of cost in a coupe that will probably not need it. I have a convertible and use one of the LED backlit ones and only rarely have glare problems.

fiXXXerMet · 09-29-2009, 12:33 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by obstacleman

Hiding the screen with a cover is not completely needed, you can make it look stock or essentially blacked out with a little work and make it less "stealable" The group of guys that meet up once a month off GW parkway have been a big help getting mine moving along.

Out of curiosity why the transflective screen? That is alot of cost in a coupe that will probably not need it. I have a convertible and use one of the LED backlit ones and only rarely have glare problems.

Well the main reason for going transflective is to possibly save money down the line. I could buy a normal screen and not be happy with it, or buy a transflective screen and definitely be happy with it. Looking at http://www.cartft.com/community/Story/death_valley/ was pretty convincing too.

Maybe if you have time you could take a picture of your LED backlit screen in direct sunlight for me to compare against?

obstacleman · 09-29-2009, 12:36 PM

I can try, not sure how soon but I will try to drop the top on it and see if I can show it. I can understand the cost, I spent a little extra on screens as do most when first finding what they want.

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