In car PC

[NorthantsNick]

Hi, this is something I have been looking at for a while but have limited cash. I was wondering if anyone here has put a pc into their clio?
If so do you have any pics / specs?

 

[cat171]

Can I ask why ??

 

[j6 pkp]

Can I ask why ??

maybe so he can see what people have done themselves for help or ideas for himself? :rasp:

 

[AlexS]

Its like in car dvd players, they are beyond me. Why sit out on your driveway in the pissing rain in a freezing car watching something the size of a mobile phone when you've got a perfectly good television and sofa in your living room!

 

[Galzzly]

I've seen a few projects online where people have built their own in car PC. Seems pretty easy to me, and there are plenty of places to get the gear from.

What you gonna use it for?

 

[leighk18]

people think a in car pc is s**t and not point but they can do lots of stuff think how much music you can store ,flims if u like watching films can be used as sat nav if set up and pluged in to ecu can montior ya car, thoese who like to do vidoes you got endless time really on recording them if out doing pic can store them on it etc

 

[NorthantsNick]

Well, I've been looking and I would want it to do the GPS, bluetooth for phone, play mp3's and dvd's.
So all but gaming (although I might throw that in as my mate had a PS1 in his MR2).

I think it would be a lot better than buying a seperate sat-nav, multi changer amongst other things. I have seen it done in a focus and MR2's but wondered if anyone had done it in their clio. I'm thinking of putting it in the dash where the head unit is and moving the vents, as it looks a perfect square for the tft touchscreen.
Although it will have to wait until the end of the year when I have enough cash for a complete system.

Oh and BTW in car dvd's are great for passengers or when you are waiting for people, or just chilling away from home.

 

[timmmah]

Why don't buy a laptop and create a mount for it?

 

[izard-industries]

just buy a laptop lol

 

[LegoHead]

Check out http://www.mp3car.com/ there is so much info on there.

 

[Galzzly]

If you're willing to build your own here's a few links for you:

http://www.stevieg.org/carpc/
http://www.argyrides.eu/bmw/mods/carputer/carputer.htm

If you do searches you can probably find more, but these are the decent ones that I've seen

 

[GordonD]

Don't you have laws in your country about screens in cars, and about driver distractions?

I have my sat nav running on a Windows CE PDA. But that's all I can do here. I have all my MP3s loaded in it too, but if I do anything but sat nav on a screen that's mounted in the driver's view while the car is moving I'm breaking the law. And given the effect of distractions on driving its appropriate that that's the law. Put a DVD screen on the dash and it has to be off when the car's in motion. Put MP3s on the computer and you have to stop to start and stop and select them.

At this point in time we're seeing phones become computers. They are getting real operating systems and the ability to load and run standard off-the-shelf application software. They'll play MP3s. They'll run sat nav. Some of the OBDII products had versions written for PDAs as well as PCs. Everyone thought PDAs with phone capability would replace phones, but Linux is meaning phones will obsolete PDAs. Now isn't the time to be spending money putting a Windows type computer in your car. Its time to be watching for when a phone running Linux will do everything you want to do in a car.

 

[NorthantsNick]

But using a phone is against the law. If you even touch the phone with 1 hand or hold it to turn it on you are breaking the law.

Phones are great for when you are in an office or train. But when I'm in the luxury of my car I would like to sit and watch things on a 7" or 8" screen where I can actually see things. The PC can also do GPS, and as for stopping and starting everytime you need to change track, silly. There are front ends that do all the work for you so that its just like a cd player. Touch screen controls. Ah the dream. Found a few PCs that are cheap. The pound is still strong against the dollar so might get my pc sooner than expected.

 

[xcore]

just asking to be nicked

 

[Mark One]

i thought about this when i was 17. It's an interesting idea. But the key is a good touch screen, the rest is easy

edit: also, powersupplies are another issue. You'll be hard pushed to find a PC powersuppy that takes 12v DC

 

[jack_davey]

my mate has one of these in his golf, it works very well and it cost him about £300 in total, there is even some specialist software out there available for download.

 

[Galzzly]

i thought about this when i was 17. It's an interesting idea. But the key is a good touch screen, the rest is easy

edit: also, powersupplies are another issue. You'll be hard pushed to find a PC powersuppy that takes 12v DC

There's hardware that can deal with with the DC power supply, purpose build for in car PC's.

 

[NorthantsNick]

my mate has one of these in his golf, it works very well and it cost him about £300 in total, there is even some specialist software out there available for download.

I take it, it didn't include a touchscreen? If it did I want what he's got. I think the problem is finding software at the right price. Its annoying having to spend £400+ on the hardware just to spend £300+ on software to make it work. Still, hopefully when I get kitted out, software will be cheaper.