94 Ford Explorer | Griz's Mod with OpenMobile Frontend

**UnusuallyGenius** · 07-07-2009, 05:02 PM

This is the beginning of my worklog for my 94 Ford Explorer.
I plan integrating the new frontend OpenMobile into my system. I have been helping develop the interface for this frontend, and I am very happy with it.
Now I believe it is time to begin the project on my truck.
First, here are some products I have that I am going to integrate in:

iomega SuperSlim DVD Burner:

This is a very nice, slim DVD Drive that runs off of two USB ports. It works very well. I havent decided where to put anything in my truck yet. But I am thinking i will need to come up with a shock-resistant mounting option for this drive, to protect it from the bumps of the road, and keep it accessible.

Seagate 1TB External Hard Drive.

I use this drive to store all my music and ripped DVD's on. More than enough space for anything I decide to throw at it. I also believe this will need a shock mount. If anyone has any suggestions for this, it would be much appreciated. This is powered by a 12v 2a DC input, so that shouldnt be to hard to power.

Going to take some more pics...

Stay Tuned for Updates

**UnusuallyGenius** · 09-04-2009, 01:26 PM

Okay, here are some more pics, these are the inside of my truck before:

Dash: Center

This is the center of my dash, i have a nice Pioneer Stereo in there, with both front USB and AUX In. It also has two RCA Amp Outs on the back.

Dash: Left

This is the left half of my dash, not thinking much modding will go on here, [HL]although i would like a little two line display that will tell me currently playing information.[/HL]

Dash: Side View

You can see i have this little shelf on the right side of my dash in front of the passenger seat. There is also a glove box there, which i will put a dock for my ipod touch. No pic of the glove box at the moment.

Center Console

There is a cheap plastic console in between the front seats, it comes out easily. I have painted it black. It used to be gray and black, now it is all black. I have installed a 12v power outlet inside of the center console which currently powers my inverter.

Floor

This pic just shows that there is plenty of room to play with in the front. Very nice for modding.

Power Inverter

This is just a cheap 120Watt Power Inverter I picked up on newegg. Works for powering the laptop at the moment.

Two More External Drive

This one is a 3.5" enclosure with an 80GB HDD in it. Also 12v powered.

This one is a 80GB WD HDD that is solely USB powered.
I know, you are thinking external drive overkill. Dont worry, just showing all that I have, havent figured out all what to throw in yet. I will be using a laptop to run my system, what I would like to do is have a copy of windows or linux(not sure which yet) that will be stripped down to run just what is needed for OpenMobile. I want it installed on an external drive, so that when i bring my laptop and put it in the truck, it will boot up to the external hdd, to OpenMobile. And then I shut it down, and take the laptop out, and boot up the laptop at work or home, and be back to windows. Keeping the systems separate, and giving OpenMobile the cleanest, fastest environment possible to run in.

Powered 7 Port USB Hub

[HL]This is a powered USB Hub, but it is powered by a 5.3v input, so i dont know how to power that yet. Any input? If it cant be done cheaply, i will just get a 12v powered on.[/HL]

Acer Aspire One

This is the brains of the outfit. 1.6ghz Intel Atom, 1GB Mem, 100GB HDD, 8.9" Screen. I want to use this to power my system, and what is nice is that all the needed external ports are on one side of the laptop:

Power, VGA, Network, and USB all on one side.
I want to make a dock that will have all four of those connectors on it, so that all i have to do is slide the laptop under the seat in the truck, and it is connected. I will also have to figure out how to turn on the laptop when it is under the seat, because I can not press the power button, and quickly shove it under the seat so that it can recognize the external HDD and then boot from it. [HL]So i will have to come up with a wakeOn USB function, somehow. Input please, cause I dont know how to do that.[/HL]

USB Audio Adapter

This supplies the audio, so even though the audio port is missing on that one side of the laptop, audio is still available.
[HL]
So that is where i am at. Input please.[/HL]

**UnusuallyGenius** · 10-20-2009, 11:17 PM

Update: 3 months later, and I am still no closer to putting stuff in my truck. Winter is almost here, so not much will be done to it until spring.
But I will create a list of stuff to go in it, more for personal reference than anything else.

Space Nav PE $45

Antec Veris Multimedia Controller $55