Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

CarPC Update

Collapse
X
Collapse
Who has read this thread:
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • CarPC Update

    Well, most of you saw the bezel or have heard the talk when we get together. I planned to put a 10.5" touchscreen in my custom bezel. If you hadn't heard of this project before, about two years ago in April I acquired a 10.5" touchscreen Kiosk PC that was out of Madison Square Garden. It was being used as an electronic ticketbooth, I believe, as it had card reader software on it, but also had tons of promo sports clips that look like it would've randomly played as screen savers. I stripped the case away from it, bought power supplies and such to put it in a car, and went to install it -- only to find out the motherboard for the unit was TOO BIG! D'oh, that should've been the first thing I tried. Earlier this year, since it was all too big, I bought a new motherboard. A Via Epia Mini-ITX board, it's roughly 6.5" by 6.5" -- the motherboard was SMALLER than the screen! I figured I'd just use the new motherboard and keep the LCD and touchscreen components from the Kiosk PC. I found out the hardway, you can't just expect to plug something in to something else and expect it to work. In my case, none of the plugs for the LCD or touchscreen would plug into the motherboard -- I'd have to take apart the plugs and then rewire them into new, standard plugs. That's where I stopped working on it. Well, a good 9 months later and here I am working on it again.

    Well, the 10.5" screen is out of the question. Way too much would have to go into it, including hiring an electrical engineer to reverse engineer the plug's connections to create a different plug to make it work. I decided to ditch all of the components of the Kiosk PC and just start fresh with the new motherboard, and use a larger standard desktop harddrive rather than the 2gig laptop harddrive that the kiosk PC came with. So I grabbed one of the harddrives I had laying around in the basement, this one was a 20gig. Plugged it in, loaded it with Windows XP, and transfered all my mp3s over to that computer. Went onto the site that started this whole mess -- mp3car.com -- and I had a private message. Received it at 9:30pm, and it was the first time I visited the site in like 6 months. So I read it, and a guy was interested in buying my Kiosk PC because he cracked the LCD on the one he bought (the guy I bought mine from was selling them in the mp3car classifieds section, the thread was a good 50 pages long before they closed it). Anyway, by 11pm I had 80 bucks in my paypal account and the kiosk PC all boxed up.

    Well, this got long, so here's the real update part. All I need to do now is purchase a new LCD touchscreen, and possibly a new power supply if I can't make what I have work. Thankfully, this new LCD touchscreen that I have my eye on has a single plug-in which either plugs into a standard monitor's vga plug, or USB. Makes me VERY happy. Only down part is being unemployed, can't exactly get anywhere with that until I get some $$$. But, here's some cool pics of it all running on my desk here next to my normal comp.




    Media Engine Frontend:



    FrodoPlayer Frontend:



    Road Runner FrontEnd:



    - Brian Meissen
    Owner, MiFBody.com
    Administrator, LTxTech.com


    1994 Camaro LT1 Transplant - 357ci LT1, cammed, stalled, and driven.
    2022 Camaro LT1 - "Cherry Bomb 2"
    Michigan FBody Meet & Greet Car Show 2022
    June 4th, 2022 - 9am to 3pm!!!
    The HUB Stadium, Auburn Hills, MI

  • #2
    That loosk so bad ass, I want one too.
    Doing less with more


    Comment


    • #3
      Give me a grand and I'll do one for you too.

      (Sadly enough, that price really isn't inflated more than $100...)
      - Brian Meissen
      Owner, MiFBody.com
      Administrator, LTxTech.com


      1994 Camaro LT1 Transplant - 357ci LT1, cammed, stalled, and driven.
      2022 Camaro LT1 - "Cherry Bomb 2"
      Michigan FBody Meet & Greet Car Show 2022
      June 4th, 2022 - 9am to 3pm!!!
      The HUB Stadium, Auburn Hills, MI

      Comment


      • #4
        thats awesome! looking forward to seeing the final product.

        Im curious about how your power supply is going to be setup. do they make special DC powersupplies that can be hardwired in, or do you plan to hardwire an inverter?
        -Joel
        1995 Z28 M6 - AI226/234 - autocross ricer
        1984 Scottsdale K10 - 305/4bbl/4spd


        WTB List:Midwest Chasis DS Loop

        Comment


        • #5
          They do have a few products that are made specifically for carPC's in cars, it's a very popular thing right now (hell, visit mp3car.com and just look at all the information there lol) but those products are usually higher priced. I bought a converter from Radio Shack awhile ago that was for the *old* kiosk PC so that I could plug it right into a cig lighter (read: I'd actually hardwire it) and would power the old comp, but this new one is different so I am not entirely sure yet.
          - Brian Meissen
          Owner, MiFBody.com
          Administrator, LTxTech.com


          1994 Camaro LT1 Transplant - 357ci LT1, cammed, stalled, and driven.
          2022 Camaro LT1 - "Cherry Bomb 2"
          Michigan FBody Meet & Greet Car Show 2022
          June 4th, 2022 - 9am to 3pm!!!
          The HUB Stadium, Auburn Hills, MI

          Comment


          • #6
            Well, I'm officially spoiled. My dad bought me a 7" Liliput screen (the common screen used for these carPC applications) it plugs in via VGA or USB, don't know which, but in any case it's a STANDARD plug that I don't have to MAKE. Should be here sometime within the next 10 days. I have the GPS mouse and some iGuidance software installed. This software is straight up pimpin'. Check it out:

            - Brian Meissen
            Owner, MiFBody.com
            Administrator, LTxTech.com


            1994 Camaro LT1 Transplant - 357ci LT1, cammed, stalled, and driven.
            2022 Camaro LT1 - "Cherry Bomb 2"
            Michigan FBody Meet & Greet Car Show 2022
            June 4th, 2022 - 9am to 3pm!!!
            The HUB Stadium, Auburn Hills, MI

            Comment


            • #7
              Damn it, now I want one!!...and I'm broke!!

              Comment


              • #8
                just another sweet view...


                This also TALKS to you as you drive, if you set directions up it will tell you where to turn and everything.
                - Brian Meissen
                Owner, MiFBody.com
                Administrator, LTxTech.com


                1994 Camaro LT1 Transplant - 357ci LT1, cammed, stalled, and driven.
                2022 Camaro LT1 - "Cherry Bomb 2"
                Michigan FBody Meet & Greet Car Show 2022
                June 4th, 2022 - 9am to 3pm!!!
                The HUB Stadium, Auburn Hills, MI

                Comment


                • #9
                  Rub it in brian, rub it in

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Aight, embedded it into my frontend.. here's some screenies.

                    Main screen:


                    GPS:


                    Default Audio Player view:


                    Browse Audio files (To make playlists):
                    - Brian Meissen
                    Owner, MiFBody.com
                    Administrator, LTxTech.com


                    1994 Camaro LT1 Transplant - 357ci LT1, cammed, stalled, and driven.
                    2022 Camaro LT1 - "Cherry Bomb 2"
                    Michigan FBody Meet & Greet Car Show 2022
                    June 4th, 2022 - 9am to 3pm!!!
                    The HUB Stadium, Auburn Hills, MI

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      hot damn. i might have to get something like this for my next truck
                      -Joel
                      1995 Z28 M6 - AI226/234 - autocross ricer
                      1984 Scottsdale K10 - 305/4bbl/4spd


                      WTB List:Midwest Chasis DS Loop

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        I just need to get a black with red accent theme now.
                        - Brian Meissen
                        Owner, MiFBody.com
                        Administrator, LTxTech.com


                        1994 Camaro LT1 Transplant - 357ci LT1, cammed, stalled, and driven.
                        2022 Camaro LT1 - "Cherry Bomb 2"
                        Michigan FBody Meet & Greet Car Show 2022
                        June 4th, 2022 - 9am to 3pm!!!
                        The HUB Stadium, Auburn Hills, MI

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Aight, I know the screen shots are only so interesting, but I changed skins all together, this one's a lot better.

                          Menu Views:







                          Music View, normal:


                          Music View with Visuals Enabled:


                          System Monitor (I don't have the software for this yet):


                          Weather Channel Integrated:



                          And of course, the GPS:
                          - Brian Meissen
                          Owner, MiFBody.com
                          Administrator, LTxTech.com


                          1994 Camaro LT1 Transplant - 357ci LT1, cammed, stalled, and driven.
                          2022 Camaro LT1 - "Cherry Bomb 2"
                          Michigan FBody Meet & Greet Car Show 2022
                          June 4th, 2022 - 9am to 3pm!!!
                          The HUB Stadium, Auburn Hills, MI

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            nice, but the new "screensaver" u have in ur "carPC" slot right now will be missed

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              I was going to make that pic as well as some of the recent modelling pics with Autumn into a screensaver slideshow.
                              - Brian Meissen
                              Owner, MiFBody.com
                              Administrator, LTxTech.com


                              1994 Camaro LT1 Transplant - 357ci LT1, cammed, stalled, and driven.
                              2022 Camaro LT1 - "Cherry Bomb 2"
                              Michigan FBody Meet & Greet Car Show 2022
                              June 4th, 2022 - 9am to 3pm!!!
                              The HUB Stadium, Auburn Hills, MI

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X