Techwagon! Mark's CarPC/MS/Stereo/etc thread

[Mark]

Just some teaser pics of what I'm up to...



8.4" touchscreen- Excuse the butchery as I'm just mocking it up right now. Missing is the slotload laptop dvd+/-rw drive... It'll live in the jagged hole beneath the LCD. Heater controls and switches will be relocated to where the stereo formerly lived.



This tangle is what's providing the image on the toughscreen image. It's a VIA epia m10000 with 512mb ram, seagate 320 gb drive and an opus 160w car power supply. PC enclosure by rubbermaid

more to come!

M.

[grizlyadams]

Something ive always wanted to do! Carnt wait to see the finishedness!

Griz

[amargill19?]

damn! CarPC!

That's pretty cool Mark, can't wait to see it all finished.

[1stRaven]

Nice! Something that I am looking to do with my car when I get chance. Where you thinking of sitting the componets?

and currently, I think that this thread belongs in the showroom.

[Aoder1]

thats sweet man! cant wait to see it done

[project volvo]

i wonder if there is anyway to make a program/ controls for heat control in the car on the pc!?!?

[kahluaTDI]

redo the entire center console. make it look up to date and flow a little better.

[chree]

Here is an inspirational thread about console/dash mods.

[rom]

jeeze. i always wanted to put a screen in but damn. thats alot of screen. i was always toying with putting a 16x9 small screen up above the tray and rerouting the fans.

[impulse922]

now you need some mad tight fiberglassing skills

[Wes613]

Looks like it'll be tight, what are you planning on using the pc for, besides ****s and giggles?

[BDKR]

Glad to see it. That's awesome. I've considered the same thing as well, but I need to work on other mechanical things at this point in time.

Oh...., and you're using the wrong OS.

[Mark]

Will it ever run again?!?!?!?!?

Part of this project is the installation of my megasquirt and the rewiring of basically everything underhood, which was a monstrousy malicous mangle of miswiring.




here's a "before" shot. The big problem is that Volvos are drivers side battery where most GM stuff is passenger side. The person who wired it used pretty much an extra car worth of wiring to put all the relays on the driver's side rather than move four 12v wires in the Volvo harness. At least I assume that's why. I can't give you a logical reason why they were put on the opposite side of the starter and battery.





and here it is in mid-rewire. Ugh. I've been taking pictures and labelling everything but it's still gonna be a chore getting it all back in one piece. I've been dealing with some "non-wiring" issues too, like the crazy long accelerator cable. I'm thinking I may move half of heater hose through the interior rather than tangled around in knots underhood.

I must have removed 25 yards of wire that went nowhere.

Well, that's where I got to tonight. The uphill battle of putting it back together begins tomorrow.

M.

[BenW]

I see the insanity of this process has driven you to the bottle.

[tequila_gundam_no_chaser]

your not the only mark doing a carputer setup.

[Dauntless]

I really want to see the finished job! Be sure to make a full write-up!

[Matt Dupuis]

Originally Posted by Wes613

what are you planning on using the pc for, besides ****s and giggles?

I'm guessing at the very least: audio/video reproduction and library & Megasquirt monitoring slash extra gauges. Possibly a GPS module as well.

[amargill19?]

Originally Posted by Matt Dupuis

I'm guessing at the very least: audio/video reproduction and library & Megasquirt monitoring slash extra gauges. Possibly a GPS module as well.

I never thought of running the megasquirt apps thru the carpc, that's brilliant!

and if you're not tooning, having the digital display guages would be Awesome! Dude, now I'm even more excited for this project to be finished! If you aint too busy with work, gimme a shout if you need a hand sometime during the week or somethin.

[The Aspirator]

This is awesome man, can't wait to see it all buttoned up!

John

[adrianpike]

Originally Posted by amargill19

I never thought of running the megasquirt apps thru the carpc, that's brilliant!

and if you're not tooning, having the digital display guages would be Awesome! Dude, now I'm even more excited for this project to be finished! If you aint too busy with work, gimme a shout if you need a hand sometime during the week or somethin.

That's the whole point, duh. I'm contemplating getting my palm gauge back in commission, for something or other...

Mark, what OS are you going to run?

[amargill19?]

Originally Posted by adrianpike

That's the whole point, duh.

Yeah, I dunno what I was thinking before, but it just occurred to me after seeing Matt's post. Megasquirt is the sheez, I never knew how awesome it was until me and John were rippin' around while I was "laptop watch the graphs guy."

[Mark]

Sorry I haven't responded much to the carpc questions.

Matt had the right of it as to purpose. It'll be an entertainment/tuning/gps centre for the most part. The parts will live under the glove box area. I'm currently deciding how to mount the carpc, because there'll also be a fuse block, two relays, two amps and a megasquirt under there with it(along with a midbass and a full range speaker for that side). Currently I'm leaning towards a solid hinged piece to replace the cardboard thingy and bolting all the items to it.
It'll be running XP pro Adrian, mainly because I'm comfortable with it and it'll run all the stuff I need without giving me grief. Well any more than is normal for Windows.
As cool as the alien swoopy fibreglass stuff is, I'll be giving it a pass. I want the interior to remain close to stock. The ashtray area below the screen will be filled in and the whole console will be dyed/painted black to match the rest of the dash. If it looks too ugly I may try a more purpose built console.



Tonight's progress- It's not readily visible in the pic but damn does it look neater in real life. Got the engine side harness for the TPS , injectors and IAC pretty much routed. I bought way too much cable for the MS harness- All the stuff already has enough wire on it to get to the firewall easily. I'll probably have seven feet of it left over.

Oh- got the Innovate LC1 body in place too. O2 sensor will wait til I can calibrate it though.

And yeah I'll let you know Amar- I'll be getting to the "need someone to turn the damned key so I can watch the multitester" stage here later in the week.

M.

[adrianpike]

Originally Posted by therealmark

It'll be running XP pro Adrian, mainly because I'm comfortable with it and it'll run all the stuff I need without giving me grief. Well any more than is normal for Windows.

What specific features are you looking at?
I've been kicking around the idea of a CarPC-specific OS for a while, made some interface prototypes, but haven't really had the time nor the inclination to polish it up, and I'd love to hear any input on what specifically those that are using carpc's want in their stuff aside from the usual media center, tuning, and navigation features...

[Mark]

Originally Posted by adrianpike

What specific features are you looking at?
I've been kicking around the idea of a CarPC-specific OS for a while, made some interface prototypes, but haven't really had the time nor the inclination to polish it up, and I'd love to hear any input on what specifically those that are using carpc's want in their stuff aside from the usual media center, tuning, and navigation features...

I installed everything on this PC about six months ago so I'm a little foggy on it now. I have a copy of road runner installed, which, if I remember correctly is an open source frontend that uses winamp for the media part but I really haven't played that much with it. Hell, it still has a little honda symbol rotating in the center of the screen. Gotta get THAT outta there.

The thing I really want is someone to integrate Megatune into a carpc frontend, complete with skinnable gauges. It'd be cool to be able to match my frontend to my existing gauges (My VDO Milleniums are here- woohoo!) and the vintage Volvo switches.

M

[Matt Dupuis]

Originally Posted by therealmark

The thing I really want is someone to integrate Megatune into a carpc frontend, complete with skinnable gauges. It'd be cool to be able to match my frontend to my existing gauges (My VDO Milleniums are here- woohoo!) and the vintage Volvo switches.

You've always been able to change the colours, ranges, and effects of the gauges in Megatune.