Hi y'all, im bored so im planning to put a computer in my jeep underneath the backseat i havn't measured anything out yet to see how mutch room i have but basicly if i can't fit a case underthere im going to drill everything into wood plates, preferbly pine, i started getting info for the storage systems avialable, that thread is http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1028654667#post1028654667 however im pretty solid ongetting some sata to cfflash adapters and using them, putting 2 in the rear under the seat one for the linux distro and one for media storage and then going to run a usb to cf flash adapter wire underneath the carpet and put it inside the ashtray since i dont use it and everyone else just ash's out the window. now to make a long story short: ill log and take pictures here but i have 2 questions before i even worry bout what i can fit: one. anyone here using the via epia stuff? basicly i need enough power to run internet/webbrowser, media player and possibly a touch screen interface.. this makes me believe honestly that it wont be powerful enough but i was hoping for some exterior input before i just brush it off, and two, anyone know if there are psu's for computers that instead of running off ac will run off of 12v dc? i rather not convert dc to ac just to go back to dc
![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
-
Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.
SFF for vehicle
- Thread starter Rasha
- Start date
I did this in my jetta. Heres some tips:
Dont try to save money, it will only land you with cheap shitty parts and problems.
BUY a touchscreen, it will save you time and energy. Mice in the car suck and you need to look at the screen for the pointer, with touch you only need to poke it. I strongly advise against mouse/kb combos trust me.
Dont use anything besides a low power mATX or a miniITX solution (P4 Celery Mini's, P-M Minis, VIA EPIA's) Reason for this is you can use an automatic OPUS psu with the system and the car ignition turns the computer on and off safely without you doing it. These PSU's only go up to 150w so you need a small but quality system.
DONT use inverters, they are nothing but trouble.
Dont try to get FM Radio on the carputer, too much hassle, keep your head unit.
With that in mind, I recommend:
MiniITX Case w/ built in PSU (Or buy an OPUS PSU with built in ignition on/off)
VIA M1000/EPIA Series
Touchscreen monitor (Make sure it supports at least 640x480 or 800x600 or it wont work right!)
Relay Switch for the ignition if you dont buy the OPUS PSU
Big hard drive, 100GB+
Slim optical DVD+-RW or CDROM/DVD Rom
Dont try to save money, it will only land you with cheap shitty parts and problems.
BUY a touchscreen, it will save you time and energy. Mice in the car suck and you need to look at the screen for the pointer, with touch you only need to poke it. I strongly advise against mouse/kb combos trust me.
Dont use anything besides a low power mATX or a miniITX solution (P4 Celery Mini's, P-M Minis, VIA EPIA's) Reason for this is you can use an automatic OPUS psu with the system and the car ignition turns the computer on and off safely without you doing it. These PSU's only go up to 150w so you need a small but quality system.
DONT use inverters, they are nothing but trouble.
Dont try to get FM Radio on the carputer, too much hassle, keep your head unit.
With that in mind, I recommend:
MiniITX Case w/ built in PSU (Or buy an OPUS PSU with built in ignition on/off)
VIA M1000/EPIA Series
Touchscreen monitor (Make sure it supports at least 640x480 or 800x600 or it wont work right!)
Relay Switch for the ignition if you dont buy the OPUS PSU
Big hard drive, 100GB+
Slim optical DVD+-RW or CDROM/DVD Rom
My budget is technicaly unlimited the more it costs the longer it takes primarly: do you think via epia can run small linux distro, internet webbrowser, email and telnet, and media player plus the touch screen? or should i throw in a matx with an athlon64 in it? ALSO: the power supply.. what i want to run is a gig of ram, 1 dvd drive, 2x sata to compact flash drives, and 1 usb flash card reader. im going to run a ps2 port for a keyboard upfront just for setting things up not for daily use, touchscreen is defently the way to go.
Rasha said:
I set up a CarPC in my mustang, here's my setup:
Lilliput 7" 619GL-70NP Touchscreen (About $200)
Shuttle SN41G2B (About $230)
512MB GeIL DDR400 (About $60)
20GB 5400RPM Laptop IDE ($60) **SEE NOTE!**
Laptop IDE to Desktop IDE adapter ($5)
Athlon XP-M 2600+ @ 600Mhz (I got mine for free, but they go for like $50)
400W Car Inverter to power it / M1-ATX PSU = $90
Optional:
BU-353 GPS Reciever ($68)
Sirius Sattelite Radio Reciever ($50)
**SLOWER IS BETTER WITH A CARPC HDD, LESS CHANCE OF HEAD CRASHES!!!
Also, be certain to get a laptop HDD if you need the space, but make sure your boot drive is flash! HDDs hate hot and cold
Also, how do you plan to get audio? Does your head unit have aux in? Or are you going to bypass it and go to the amp?be sure to check out www.mp3car.com/vbulletin , they helped me alot
ya i've decided im going 100% compact flash, gona get a 2 gig for the system files, a 4 gig for media and then ill get a couple of smaller ones to flip out like cd's upfront, does anyone know how bad it would be to not have any grounding screws in the mb?
-Why do you need all that power? Vias aren't exactly speedy, but they can easily do everything you are asking of it. Think of it as equivalent to about a PII 300 in processing. Main reason I did not go VIA is because they do not do high end DivX well.Rasha said:
-512MB RAM is probably ideal. The more RAM you have, the more has to be loaded to your hard drive to hibernate and that means longer startups. Mainly it's overkill.
-M1-ATX has been a pretty solid PSU for me, powering a 1.2GHz Tualitin (P3). Features are wonderful! I didn't even have to think about it after installing. The remote on pin is dodgy on them though. M2-ATX is due out soon, if you need more power.
-Xenarc 700TSV is a pricy, but excellent looking screen. Alternative is some eBay ones and Lilliputs. Alot of people have Lilliputs, but all it takes is one look at the thread on mp3car asking "How many people have had problems with them?" and you would probably change your mind. Literally it looked like the majority of people had the right side of the screen fail, LCD fail altogether or some other problem within the first year. Someone asked "What about Xenarcs?" and no there were no responses. The Lillis may be half the price, but assuming your first one fails, you are already paying the same price as a Xenarc for a lesser screen - not worth it.
-Mine setup is in a Jeep too! '98 (aka ZJ). If you have the '99-'02 model, they have nearly the same space, just a little less headroom. mATX will fit fine. Not having grounding screws is probably not a big deal.
it aint really that i need a whole lot of speed as far as a cpu is concerned its just i have doubts about the via setup. the whole point of this exersize for me is more internet than mp3's so i just worry about it doing all at once with no problems and so i default to what i know which is athlon64's. i appreciate your input: question have you seen those overhead bin's they make to hold cb radio's? if so do you think it has enough angle for that xenarc to pop down and out? ill try to take some pictures of what im doing soon as i start im still in the information/planning stage right now, hell im still debating screwing everything down into a piece of pine or trying to get a thin enough case