Thread: Scion xB '06, in-dash Atom 330, Lilliput 889GL; details, pictures, links. Index: pg 1

Cooling Fan Change -- Already

Josh pointed out that the cooling fans, which are from an unused hard drive cooler, are two-wire type, so they provide no information to the PC, and would not be controlled by it; they'd go on and off with PC power. He recommended that I change one of them to a three-wire fan and connect it to the open fan-power port on the motherboard. Then I read the manual on the M4-ATX (it should arrive Friday ), and found it has a fan power port, too.

I could change one or both to three-wire fans. I'm inclined to change only one, and to leave the other blowing all the time. That provides a constant flow of air past the touchscreen, keeping it cooler, and extra cooling as needed. I'd probably use the PSU fan-power port to control the second fan, because it will get much of the heat from the mainboard, plus its own, so it's more likely to have heat issues. The mainboard already has a fan directly on the heatsink, so I'm less concerned with it.

Lookin' very nice rd!

Originally Posted by jpinkerton

Lookin' very nice rd!

Thanks -- it's getting close, now. Here's evidence:

Assembled Chassis

Here's the chassis all together and looking like it's done:

Click image to enlarge.

Although you can't tell from this picture, the system isn't complete. It needs hard drives, a power supply, and wiring. Then, it will actually be a carPC.

And one final comment: I discovered after assembling this that I can't reach the lower chassis mount fasteners that hold it into the dash, because the screen is in the way. I'm going to try installing it and actually screwing it down before I change anything. It could well be that the two upper fasteners will be plenty adequate, because it fits in pretty nicely -- and stays in place -- without any fasteners at all. The bezel would really lock it down, so two screws may be all I need.

My other option would be to revise the screen mount and use something on the order of the Sketchup design. But that will delay things. It's taken so long already that I'm really anxious to see it running, so I think I'll stick with the current system, at least until I get the carPC running.

I've been using the EeePC with Mobile PC a lot as I learn my way around Atlanta, and I'm really anxious to get the touchscreen going. Mousing is okay, but I've used Josh's touchscreen, and it's a whole different world.

The Last Piece -- the PSU -- Is Here

The M4-ATX power supply unit came in today, as promised, from Logic Supply.

After I make some space for it by modifying the mainboard mounting system, I'll be installing it this weekend. And that means I should be able to fire the system up and start installing software. Oh boy oh boy oh boy . . .

Trusting your entire worklog to the gremlins in the M4? Have the issues been worked out with this power supply?

Originally Posted by Maheriano

Trusting your entire worklog to the gremlins in the M4? Have the issues been worked out with this power supply?

Seeing that his setup isnt power hungry, I know with major systems, this PSU will over heat. I do know that because he bought it from Logic Supply, he will have tons of customer support.

Originally Posted by Maheriano

Trusting your entire worklog to the gremlins in the M4? Have the issues been worked out with this power supply?

Originally Posted by HiJackZX1

Seeing that his setup isnt power hungry, I know with major systems, this PSU will over heat. I do know that because he bought it from Logic Supply, he will have tons of customer support.

It appears that I've failed to do adequate research. I didn't pick up on complaints about the M4-ATX. I guess I get to be a guinea pig. Drat! I may well wish I'd put out the money for a little DSATX, but I'll give this a chance.

Modified Mainboard Mounts

Because I've changed from the M2-ATX to the M4-ATX, I need a little more room above the mainboard. I got that by lowering the mainboard another 5/16 inch (8mm) or so, but that meant abandoning the original rails and using small tabs instead of full brackets. The tabs and standoffs are above the board now, with the mounting screws coming up from the bottom. This lets the board ride as low as possible in the chassis.

I made the tabs from more 1/2 inch (12.5mm) aluminum angle. I cut off 1/2-inch lengths of it, and made holes for both standoffs and mounting screws. Then I attached them to the board to be sure they'd work. I like to locate the holes by calculation first, and then check physically to be sure I'm right. Using the calculations as the primary system helps keep everything aligned.

Pics are coming up as soon as I retrieve the camera from work.

Choosing the Drive System

A while back, HiJackZX1 said,

Originally Posted by HiJackZX1

. . . The reason they use 2.5 drives are because of their durability. If you are still concerned, buy a SSD.

I considered the Solid State Disk idea. The 4GB SSD in the EeePC works great, and a similar device could work just as well in this installation, too. The EeePC boot has been fast and stable, and it appears that SSDs are a lot less likely to fail suddenly in operation. I see two problems with SSDs: (1) cost -- way more than a hard disk, and (2) reusability: we only get so many fast writes on an SSD and then they get fragmented and slower. It looks to me like SSDs are best used -- right now, anyway -- as boot disks; it's not a good idea to use them as day-to-day drives that get a lot of re-write action.

That changes with drives that are basically big boxes of DRAM and that can take all the writes we throw at them. But those drives are volatile; they need some power to them all the time. If the system dies from battery failure or long disuse, all the information on that drive is gone. For mobile solutions, where power can be dicey, that's a big negative, and non-volatile disks are probably best.

I was originally planning to use both SATA and IDE drives. I planned to boot from the 2.5-inch 60GB SATA drive I built for my original installation over a year ago, and use the 2.5-inch 60GB IDE music hard drive alongside it, since the Atom board has both IDE and SATA interfaces. But . . .

Oh, Wait a Minute . . .
Then I realized I have a 120GB 2.5-inch SATA drive from a crushed laptop, and I can use it in the system, too (assuming it works -- I haven't tested it since salvaging it, but the damage was to the screen and mainboard, not the drives). It's a Hitachi drive that runs at 5400 rpm; for a laptop drive, that's pretty fast. Realistically, 120GB is vastly more space than I need. I'll probably use the 120GB drive as the main drive, and use the smaller SATA drive for a full-time backup system in case of primary drive failure. It would have a duplicate installation of everything on the first drive.

Although the cabling on SATA drives is much cleaner, my experience with them -- at least with SATA I drives -- indicates they're also more prone to failure, and when they fail, it's with little or no warning. I've had two go out on me, and there was no time to do a last-minute pre-mortem backup; they died all of a sudden and stayed dead. That means loss of the SATA drive would kill the carPC. If I were in the middle of a trip, that would be ugly, since I probably wouldn't have a chance to reinstall the system while traveling.

The secondary drive would handle that issue. And I'll keep the 60GB laptop IDE drive as is, in its USB chassis, for file portability.

The SSD might come in later, but I'll run with the SATA drives I have for now.