2005 Volkswagen GTI

**NeckPayne** · 08-10-2005, 06:43 PM

I know you have a double-din....I can easily remove my single din using the metal inserts from a hanging folder. Best part...$0.

Originally Posted by kbyrd

Got my radio removal keys yesterday from http://www.42draftdesigns.com/ These guys rock. They're active on the MkIV forum at vwvortex. When looking for keys I ran into a lot of sketchy sites that didn't make it clear they keys would actually fit my year radio. Also lots of places wanted $20 for a set and I had to buy two sets (VW double din radio takes four keys). The 42 Draft Design guys charged me $8, shipping included for all four keys. They look nice too, there's a rubber coated loop for a handle and everything.

**kbyrd** · 08-10-2005, 07:17 PM

Originally Posted by NeckPayne

I know you have a double-din....I can easily remove my single din using the metal inserts from a hanging folder. Best part...$0.

I tried a few things like that, nick'd my headunit a bit, and felt like I was breaking something. Besides....my removal keys are prettier than yours.

Damn...I'm one post shy of you (78 to 79). I'll beat you yet NeckPayne!!!

**NeckPayne** · 08-10-2005, 10:10 PM

Originally Posted by kbyrd

Damn...I'm one post shy of you (78 to 79). I'll beat you yet NeckPayne!!!

heh heh....I was kind of thinking about that actually. Its only because you've started your install log

P.S. - now you're two behind (80 to 78)

**kbyrd** · 08-15-2005, 11:59 AM

It's true, I suck.

To quote a conversation I had with NoPistonPC (hey I just got the "rotary engine" reference, man am I slow) from here:

Originally Posted by NoPistonPC

Originally Posted by kbyrd

Hmmm, what to do, what to do... Maybe I'll go back to Windows just to see everything work, then tinker with a Linux partion or run Linux under VMware.

Sounds like the right thing to do. Anyway, let me know if you ever do decide to externd headunit. I may be able to help here and there. Good luck with your setup!

As much as I want to use Linux on this project, I also want to have a working install. Doing all the integration (screen looking OEM in the dash, finding a location for the carPC itself, power, wiring, everything about putting the PC in the car) is enough for me right now, I don't want to add software into that mix. I'm sure I'll come back to headunit after figuring out what bothers me most about the software. The simple fact that the Windows front ends are more mature means that's one less variable I have to deal with. I really would enjoy helping out on one of the Linux projects, I just don't need yet another software project to jump into right now.

So, I spent some time trying out the various Windows front ends. I didn't try every single one, but I pretty much went down the list of subforums in the "front ends forums", taking notes as I went.

I came out liking frodoplayer, centrafuse, and roadrunner (suprise). For some reason, it's very important to me to browse by id3 tags and not files, even though my music is all organized by artist/album directories anyway. I guess I'm too used to the iTunes/iPod paradigm. I know I can skin all of these, they're all have active development, and a large following. I didn't love any skin, I liked a few. Most are just way to flashy for my taste. Even brushed metal is a bit too busy for my tastes.

One thing that sucked was that all three took some time getting used to their own browsing paradigm. It took me a while to get used to fordoplayer's 'all music, artist, video, directory' switching. I had no idea what those buttons did at first. It still seems like the playlist browser in frodo has a blank section that should be filled with something, not sure what goes there. Centrafuse was the easiest in this respect, maybe that means it matches my personal tastes closely. RoadRunner only does id3 library browsing if you fill up winamp's library, that works ok, but it's clearly a file browser.

I need to play with all of them a bit more. It's not like I have the screen, power supply, or bezel anyway.

What I would really like is something that used (and updated!) my itunes music library. I've gotten used to doing playlist based on "last played", "play count", and/or "rating". I suppose I'll have to write that.

**Yonen_** · 08-21-2005, 03:11 PM

Hey kbyrd, I'm one of the people NoPistonPC talked about. I worked headunit, if you get the CVS version and compare it to ver 0.3, you will see some differences.
I do have write access to the cvs and to the forums but I can't change anything else. Having a version 0.4 with a more recent date might encourage more people to help and to show that we are not totally dead, but this is out of my control.

As for a distro, once we get something decent going, we could create our own Distro using LFS(http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/) or a lightweight Package oriented distro like Slackware(http://www.slackware.com).

I'm using Slack and the install scripts are easy to customize.

One thing that made me slow down my involvement with HeadUnit is that I don't have a car yet...

--Yonen

**kbyrd** · 08-21-2005, 06:02 PM

Count me out of this for now. I went back to Windows and either FrodoPlayer, Centrafuse, or RoadRunner. I just don't need a another software project on top of a hardware and (maybe) fabrication project (the carPC). Also, I think I'll know a lot more about what I want it to do after having a system installed.

**Viscouse** · 08-21-2005, 06:14 PM

Amen brother. Besides, there's always v2.0.

(I struggled with the same thing. I wanted & was encouraged to do Linux, but I know next to nothing about it. I just have to get past all the hardware & other software projects before I tackle something like an OS).

**kbyrd** · 08-22-2005, 08:23 AM

Originally Posted by Viscouse

Amen brother. Besides, there's always v2.0.

(I struggled with the same thing. I wanted & was encouraged to do Linux, but I know next to nothing about it. I just have to get past all the hardware & other software projects before I tackle something like an OS).

I'm in a slightly different position. I wanted to use Linux because I'm very comfortable with it, and I figured all the little "glue" scripts (things like auto syncing music files via wifi, recording GPS data, etc) would be easier in that environment for me. But, the front end is the kicker. All the guys who publish front ends have done quite a bit of work there just isn't a well supported front end for Linux right now. I'd rather have one less thing to worry about on my initial install.

**kbyrd** · 09-02-2005, 10:00 AM

I've been distracted by work (VMware Workstation 5.5 beta coming soon to a theater near you). I've stalled on the carPC project. But I'm ready to pick it up again. I posted a newbie thread asking what I still need and got a few responses. Here's my shopping list and some notes for each item.

Lilliput screen
As I'm sure most people do, I debated about this, the xenarc, or the TFT/LinITX. The Lili seems to have some support when it comes to bezels and chassis that fit in VW double din slot. I've been staring at that spot in the dash during various times of day, and I don't think I'll have a sun problem.

PSU
M1-ATX. I thought about more capacity but as Viscouse's post in this thread said, "there's always v2.0". For now, I'm running the m10000, 2.5" HDD and (maybe) a screen. 90W is enough.

Electrical Wiring
I need 4 or 8 ga from the battery to the PSU (and a 15-20amp fuse here). I guess I'll put it in the hatch for now, probably mounted to some some plywood or MDF. For wiring the screen, I can do:
- Directly from the car. See this about why that might be bad.
- From the PSU in the hatch (maybe just more 4 or 8 even though it'd be overkill for 1a at 12V).
- A point of load regulator in the dash. (more cost).

Computer wiring
I need a VGA a USB cable from hatch to dash, for the video and touchscreen.
I gotta start hunting for a long VGA cable.

**Bugbyte** · 09-02-2005, 11:10 AM

8 gauge is enough for the M10000. That's what I'm using.

I've used a 6' VGA extender along with the screen's cable and it has worked fine.

Give some consideration to buying the cables online. There's a thread in the forums about where to buy cheap cables. Otherwise, you get hit with $12-$19 apiece and before you know it, you've spent $100 just on freaking cables.

BTW, at the meet earlier this month, Zip-lock and Fibreoptic both said that the new Lilli's are of much higher quality and they thought they were better than the Xenarcs.