2000 Pontiac GrandAM GT Carputer Project

**lburton** · 04-07-2008, 06:18 PM

So here I go again...

I have finally started work on my newest carputer (i've been around since the dark ages, but never have had a permanent working unit) and will document the progress on it here (to keep myself in check)

Updated 05-03-2009

Already have:
Case: Maxspeed Thin Client Mini-ITX chassis
Mainboard: Via Eden Mini-ITX
RAM: 512mb PC-133
Power Supply: M3-ATX, 125w DC-DC Wide Input PSU
Boot Device: 4GB CompactFlash and CF-IDE Adapter
GPS: Pharos iGPS-360 USB NMEA Compliant GPS Reciever (MS branded)
LCD: AUO G065VN01 connected to Promate VGA/S-Video/RCA controller
Control Device: Sony PS2 Gamepad connected through USB adapter

**lburton** · 04-07-2008, 06:24 PM

The following took place on April 7th, events occur in real time...

Performed a uber ghetto road-test with the motherboard today.. stuffed it in a cardboard box with a vent hole and taped a power supply to the top and ran it headless off an inverter... not good, but I expected no less.

The boot times are ungodly as the temporary hard disk is an old 10gb Maxtor I had lying around and dont care if I crash it, and its running XP Pro without any of the nifty EWF or Minlogon mods, and then autolaunching a play list in WMP.

Taking about 90 seconds to start playback, and the keypad plugin I setup to control it while headless takes another 15-20 seconds before it responds.

The worst part is that the FM transmitter is picking up ALL the interference from the 500w inverter so its pretty much worthless until I get my DC supply and have power run to the trunk.

**Area3** · 04-07-2008, 06:33 PM

I own a Pontiac Grand Am Also And I am Interested In how your Project Turns out!

Best Of Luck!

**lburton** · 04-15-2008, 12:05 PM

The following took place on April 15th, events occur in real time... <cue 24 style beeps... heh>

Okay, so I finally got some more of the parts for the rig, so maybe I can start doing some -real- bench testing.

Got my M3-ATX 125w DC Supply on Friday and on Monday I picked up my SYBA SD-CF-IDE-A IDE to Compact Flash Adapter and 4GB Kingston 266X Compact Flash Module.

I have been experimenting with Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PC's as my main board/CPU is a bit slower than I'd prefer but given my strained budget, I might be able to work with it.

Next step will be to install WinFLP onto a hard disk, setup my apps and some kind of frontend (given how many use .NET, Java, and things... this part could get hairy) and then test my USB GPS with Streets and Trips 2006 (it's all i have at the moment)

Once i've got everything working to my liking I will ghost the image onto the CF and cross my fingers. Then I kick in with the EWF modifications (if they work on WinFLP) and I should be set.

We'll see how it goes...

**lburton** · 04-15-2008, 12:07 PM

Ooh, almost forgot.. found this KICK-*** Headunit mounting kit designed for Grand AM's that I think I will use to mount the DWW-750FM LCD (if and when I get it)

http://maptechenterprises.netfirms.c...products_id=34

So, should I get the LCD backlight one?

**lburton** · 05-16-2009, 10:55 PM

Well, the shakedown cruise (to the New England meet) of the newest version has more or less **** the bed. I lost a power supply and the hard drive... but learned a lot from seeing the working rigs at the meet. Now to fix it...