Bugbyte's 2001 New Beetle -Mac Mini Install - Page 5

NeckPayne · 07-17-2005, 08:50 PM

That sucks....I've been following this and can't wait to see your final product!!

I'm in the same boat as you about the monsuck system. If you ever figure this out, please let me know. Its the only thing keeping me from moving forward with my own carputer.

keep it up!

Bugbyte · 07-25-2005, 08:38 PM

A smidge of progress today and one more minor setback.

I've essentially fixed the problem with the heater ductwork not fitting the connectors. I chopped the front of the box off and made it wider. Now the connectors fit through.

Here's a photo of the box installed in the car.

The white goo is silicon caulk. The two oval holes are where the hot exhaust from the Mini go down and then towards you, then out either side of that off center plexi box. It's off center because of that metal bracket on the left.

The dock will sit on top of the white caulk if all goes well.

Minor setback is that I trimmed my VGA cable down to a minimum and must have cut one of the wires in it as when I went to test it, got no signal to the monitor. I tried it on my desktop PC and got the same results. I'll check it with my multimeter and see if it can be fixed. Otherwise, I'm going to make my own. That cable cost $20 &$%!ng dollars and it's my second one.

I should have gone with my instincts and ordered a DVI-VGA cable right away, but I didn't and now it's too late.

Otherwise, the Mini docked up beautifully again and IF I can ever get the install right, it's gonna work great!

NeckPayne · 07-25-2005, 10:17 PM

Just looked at your original install log on your website. That was awesome. You really achieved that good a look with painted plexiglass? Did you have to prep the plexiglass first somehow? Was it just a regular flat black paint that you could get from any auto store?

Bugbyte · 07-25-2005, 10:31 PM

I think I used flat black Krylon. The dash is flat black, so it wasn't difficult to match.

Prep on the plexi was to clean it thoroughly, make sure it was dry, and spray away. A few light/medium coats.

It's not quite as clean as it appears on the photos. I really didn't think the mechanism would last this long, but it has! On the housing, there are a few seam lines that could use some filler and paint, but I've never gotten around to it and usually run the system with the screen closed, opening it if I need to make an adjustment.

Wordbiker · 07-26-2005, 04:43 PM

Howdy,
Just thought I'd add something from my own experience:
Vinyl dye works great on acrylic, and bonds to it better than paint.

EDIT: Although I just commented on your worklog here, I just finished looking over the iBug webpage, and....WOW! Excellent work!
My wife has a 2000 Beetle that I have (with excruciating frustration) worked on only a few times. I have no plans to add a carputer to it though as it's for sale, but it does give me appreciation for what you've accomplished.

I'm skimming the forums here, researching for an electric bicycle computer project. It's still in the chassis/parts collection stage, but I would love to post in the forums here once I move on to the electronics. I have no doubts I will get the answers and input I need. If you'd like to check it out so far, I have a worklog here.

Bugbyte · 08-01-2005, 12:51 AM

Electric bike...cool. I have a fantasy to convert the iBug to electric drive someday in the future when it's really old and the engine gives it up.

Tiny steps this weekend towards the big switch to Mac Mini, but important ones nonetheless.

First, I realized that in order to successfully install the docking mechanism, I'll need to be able to install the dock first, then the main console over top of it. Currently, it is designed to bolt the dock to the console, then somehow magically it will mate properly to the right location inside the dash.

Not anymore. I reconfigured the dock to allow me to insert the screws and secure the dock without having to bolt it into the main console first. This allows me to seat the dock, ensure there are no air leaks, THEN put the console over it and bolt it in.

In order to do this, I had to build countersinks into the dock to allow the bolt heads to sink below the surface of the dock plastic. Using a dremel (the most indispensible tool in your installation arsenal), I carved out a circular area slight larger than the head of the bolt and deep enough to keep it from sticking up above the surface.

On the console, I glued a piece of 1/4 plastic on the outside of the console. I used the dremel to carve out a circular area that could contain the bolt. When I glued the plastic to the console, I "captured" the bolt between the plastic and the console. That means it's lined up properly to receive the screw when I install the dock and console together.

Basically, I can install the dock after I bolt the console in place. That's all.

Second, I extended the length of my head unit harness. This is necessary to allow me to remote mount the HU. I still don't know where I'm going to put it, but right now I can put it on the floor if I want. The main thing is to get it out of the center console. I'm thinking maybe in the glovebox but there may not be enough room.

Main thing left is to either fabricate a VGA cable or get a right angle connector as the final piece to the puzzle.

I've been helping my father-in-law with some home improvement stuff so I haven't had the time I've wanted to work on the system, but I'm getting much closer. My estimate is about 2 weeks before I switch over. Might be longer, but we'll see.

Bugbyte · 08-02-2005, 12:39 AM

I fashioned a home-made VGA cable from the ruins of one of the two that I accidentally hacked into worthlessness. I was, ah, too agressive with the X-acto knife, as it were. It looks like the Frankenstein cable from hell but I took my time, was very careful with the soldering, and checked, and rechecked to make sure the right wires went to the right pins. I used my digital multimeter (hint: I'm spelling this out so those who don't know what one is will get that they are indispensible) to check continuity for each wire and pin.

Then I dripped hot glue onto the connector to freeze the ever so fragile wires into place and tried it out by installing it into the dock for the Mini.

Whaddya know? It worked! I guess I salvaged half of my cable costs. This picture shows the Mini running full up for the first time in the dock with the P1900 power supply operating it, with the VGA cable installed. A successful system test, if you will.

I also tested the startup/shutdown time from sleep and it clocked in at just under 6 seconds! This is a vast improvement over my current 45 second resume from hibernate of my Epia. Yes, I know I could go with standby on the Epia but I'm now on the Mac track and beginning to visualize what software I'll have to write, how the system will work, etc. and am moving away from the XP system -at least in my head.

Until I make the switch over, my XP system is still my daily ride.

n2k · 08-04-2005, 10:05 PM

Have you seen this one ?
http://minidock.jp/intro.html

.n2k

Bugbyte · 08-05-2005, 12:37 AM

Yep. Very expensive. Mini dock

Bugbyte · 08-06-2005, 10:49 PM

A bit of progress today. I've decided to relocate the headunit to the glove compartment. It's a temporary measure basically to save me money and allow me to make the installation quicker. The freaking monsoon amp idiocy complicates everything. My choice was to purchase an amp, figure out how to deal with all of the crossovers and various different speaker resistances -OR- relocate my existing and working headunit.

That was free, so that's what I've chosen to do. It saves me both time and money and if the results are unsatisfactory, I'll go the route of figuring that all out.

I needed to get behind the glove compartment to rig the wiring.

I also removed the covers over part of the dash so I could look for space to put some of the components.

Under the cover on the driver's side, there's not so much room as that appears to be the main computer for the car. At least I think so.

The passenger's side has more room and I think I'll put the P1900 power supply here. It's easy to run power through to the battery, too.

I got a little farther than these pics show. I've installed two L brackets to hold the HU and it will be a simple matter to bolt it in place tomorrow.

It better be. I need the car for work on Monday!

TxMazda3 · 08-06-2005, 11:29 PM

Do you have the P1900 yet? It is amazingly smaller than I expected. About 1/4th the size of the Mac Mini- I was able to put mine between the firewall and the back of the glove compartment in my Mazda3 near the interior fuse box. Good work so far, my initial install in my Mazda3 will be done tomorrow after I install my new speakers.

Bugbyte · 08-07-2005, 01:30 AM

I do have the P1900 onhand and I agree that it's pretty small. I sat it on top of a CD and it fits within the diameter with just the corners hanging off.

Read your blog and it looks like you're nearly done. I didn't see any pics of the screen install, though!

Bugbyte · 08-07-2005, 10:30 PM

Good progress today! I managed to move the head unit to the glovebox and actually got the dock itself into the main console.

To begin the day, I finished installing the HU in the glove compartment. Here's the bracket I built for the HU.

Here's the HU in position

And checking for clearance...

Installing the dock

I expected the installation of the dock to be the most difficult part due to the tight quarters in the console. Here's a picture of the dock and the exhaust ductwork (see my earlier posts about the ductwork requirement) prior to installation.

It probably looks confusing but you're looking at the dock from the bottom, as if you were on the floor of the car. Picture the two parts as like an open book that will fold together. I had to do it this way to thread all the cables through the exhaust ductwork.

Below are the two pieces with the ductwork already in it's final resting place. the near side of the ductwork is on the outside of the heater/AC (HVAC) riser. The far side with the white silicon on it is inside the HVAC. The dock, which I'm holding in the pic, will go all the way back and sit on top of the white silicon. The challenge is to pull the cables through and get it to fit into the opening without busting everything and still making it air tight so heat doesn't leak into the Mini.

Here (below), the dock is in its nearly final position. I used both silicon and some of that "Great Stuff" goop to fill all of the gaps, plus I did a little reconstruction on the sides with plexiglass to fill the spaces.

Here is the dock with the console in place. I just realized I forgot to put the screws through the sides while typing this. I hope they line up because everything is in there really tightly. It may not even be necessary to put the screws in place.

Next steps are to install the power supply and run the audio cables to the stereo inputs. At the moment, I'm without a car PC! Or rather, the old PC is still in the car but the audio cables aren't connected anymore so I have no sound output from either the front end or the XM radio.

That ought to motivate me.

Bugbyte · 08-10-2005, 12:30 AM

Getting close to the final install of the Mini. Tonight I ran the RCA audio cable from the dock to the head unit in the glove compartment.

I also put the screws through the sides of the dock to secure it. They fit nearly perfectly with no adjustment needed. I ran the fan to see if the air leaks into the Mini enclosure. If it does, it's not very much. However, it leaks a lot along the very top of the dock. Some silicone will fix that.

I also had an interesting inspiration. It was killing me that I don't have my carputer working for the moment and have to listen to FM. It actually makes me nauseous to listen to it. All I can think is "This sucks. This sucks. This sucks." I can tell you I'm an XM customer for life.

Anyhow, while running the Mini cables over to the HU, I decided to run the existing Windows PC cables over there too and they reach just fine. Since the Windows PC is completely located in the back, it occurs to me that I can just run an RCA 'Y' cable into the back of my HU and have audio from both systems. The only thing I would lack is a display for both computers.

Then it hit me - this could be the near term solution for ****ty navigation on the Mac! I could install VNC on both machines and fire up the PC when I want to run nav apps. If I connect via VNC using the wireless in my PC and the wireless in my Mac Mini, I ought to be able to display the nav on the Mac.

I've never used VNC before, so somebody correct me if that's not true but I think I can do it. I don't need high update rates for a GPS app.

I had sort of planned on removing the Windows PC from the car so I could switch cold turkey to the Mac, spurring me on to solve the problems that much quicker but that also meant having to buy crappy nav software and perhaps replacing my GPS. This way I don't need to do that. At least I don't think so.

Am I missing anything here?

shizzle · 08-10-2005, 12:33 AM

Hmmm... you clever devil.
As long as pc's and macs get along better than their respective users do.... you should be fine.

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