Welcome to my new CAR PC homepage. I will include my progress. As well as all the research I have done. I plan on providing everyone with some good information from other sites. One of the best resources is the CAR MP3 Ring. I got my information from a lot of the sites on it.
Here is where everyone can discuss the car pc. I can answer people's questions from what I know.----->
Proposed Project Goals
Build and Install a Powerful Automotive Computer System
Including Large 10.4" LCD Screen with Touch Screen Interface
GPS enabled for Mapping and Directions
Audio Interface to Car Stereo Subsystem.
Keep Price under $1000.
Priority Number one get my >2400 MP3s into my car
Priority Number two full featured GPS received
Priority Number Three connectivity with home network.
Future Goals. On the road internet connectivity
"The poor mans version of Toms Car PC Powerhouse."
HARDWARE
Baby AT Mobo w/K62-450 32 Megs of Ram
27.2Gb Maxtor HD. No CDROM. No Floppy.
DC-DC Converter with Auto-On/OFF
10.4" NEC Active Matrix 640-480 LCD Screen w/ Touch Screen Interface
Trimble Serial GPS Receiver
Sound Card (undecided post suggestions to the board)
Network Card (undecided)
Palm Pilot SynchBay (possibly)
SOFTWARE
I HAVE WINNX and WINNT since I can make them crash at will but
I will use a stripped down version of 95 as my initial OS. I plan on converting to LINUX as soon as I test out the GPS mapping software XMAP.
The other reason for using WIN9X is for WinAmp Plugins. I love Eye Candy.
StreetAtlas
WinAmp with lots of plugins
IRMAN software
Onscreen Keyboard.
For Details go to the INFO section
AUTOMOBILE
Brand New Silver Mettalic 2000 Jetta GLS VR6 2.8L 6 Cylinder
174Hp @5400 RPMs. And from people who know me, I use everyone.
Top Speed ~160mph. Driven Top Speed ~120mph during break-in period.
Monsoon High Fidelity Speaker System
NEWS
10/24/99
Last Friday I finished making my ribbon cable extension. After booting up the LCD it was working great, unitl it changed to a higher resolution. Than the screen had noise lines across it. Even after using heaving shielding the regular ribbon cable will not work. I will have to go with 30 conductive shielded twisted-pair cable. Which is simlar to the parallel/serial port cables. Besides that I am still waiting for the PS and my new mouse remote. I am almost done transferring all my MP3s onto my HD. I did go home this weekend. Did some laundry and ate some kick ass polish food. Thanks babcia.
10/17/99
Spent all night working on my Indepent Study Project. The PCI Bus is a pain in the but. In any case, I did manage to test the big LCD screen with the Cirrus Logic Controller card. Works great, did have 1 bad pixel. But I think Ill live. I have to come up with a solution to extend the ribbon cable around ~8 Feed from the front to the trunk. I think Ill have to make my own cables/connectors. Since I have to extend 30 pins, I am looking into using a shielded parallel+serial cables. The serial will have the power and ground connections, while the parallel will have the colors and controls. I am worried if this will work as some LCD controllers were never ment for this. Still waiting for that darn power supply.
10/14/99
HD Came in. Bare no cables nor instructions. Not really needed but would be good to know where I need to sned it when it breaks. Not much development. Iam working on my school projects. Did find out that there are no WINNT drivers for the LCD graphics card.
10/11/99
Picked up my FedEx package. I wasn't sure what it was at first. I was suprised when it was the LCD Display. It comes attached to the ISA graphics card. Found my first problems or issues. The connector to the LCD is abviously not an analog RGB signal. Its a 18bit RGB Digital. So the connector is a very thin 30 pin cable. The problem is running this cable to the back of the car to the case from the front seat. Solution: The connector comes off and its a simple 30 pin header. I will by an "extension cord" for it. I will also have to extend the power line.. Does anyone think I can get noise or ground bounce from runniing a 10 foot wire inside my car? Ill have to test it.The LCD supports 18 Bit @640x480. But the ISA card is only 8 Bit @640x480. If anyone finds a controller that is 18 Bit or supports this LCD screen, mail me. I will also have to make the panel for the LCD. That will be fun :)
10/8/99
The motherboard came in, nice and small. Will have to make a custom case for it. KAPC project has a reall spiffy one. Just for the heck of it tried to stick in the AMD into my old Dell P166s, obviously it didn't work cause of different core voltages. Dells Mobos aren't very configurable. Oh well.
I also found this all-in one motheboard w/LCD w/TouchScreen w/P200 w/16MB Ram with onboard 24bit LCD and VGA controller. http://www.allelec.com/LCDp5MLB.htm its kind of expensive $879 its kind a expensive. But you do get a lot for it. You might be able to haggle with them. All you would need then is the PS, HD, and sound card.
Before 10/8/99
I have ordered the MOBO, HD through pricewatch. And DC-DC PS from mp3ondemand. Have begin working on the web page. Did a week of research through different web sites on how to go about building the Car PC. I will detail all points to consider. I will also provide alternative hardware that can be used.
INFO on Parts
Motherboard - SOYO SY-5EHM WATTS = ??? have to call SOYO
Memory -
Processor - AMD K6II-450 WATTS = 24.8 Mobo+uP $138
LCD Screen - NL6448AC33-18 WATTS = 6.8 Typical $319
TouchScreen -
LCD CONTROLLER - Cirrus Logic 6200 WATTS = ????? w/LCD
DC-DC PS - mp3ondemand WATTS = 65 Output $149 :(
Justification below.
HD - Maxtor 27.2 GB 6800 WATTS = 11.2 W on Seek $213
30G Shock protection
CASE - Will be making custom.
MouseRemote - X10 RF Remote WATTS = ??? $23
GPS RECEIVER - Trimble Serial. WATTS = ??? (will purchase ~100)
WATTS LEFT = 65 - 24.8 - 6.8 - 11.2 = 22.2 W
BUDGET LEFT = $800 - 138 - 319 - 149 - 213 = $181
Why a $150 Power Supply. Several reasons. Pure DC-DC conversion, DC-AC-DC, which is the case when using an inverter+power supply combo. It creates noice and is inefficient. I want my battery to last. And not be drained completely if I leave my pc on and the car is off. With the Auto OFF/ON feature I don't have to worry about this. (Well this is of course if windows doesn't blow up before hand. I can't wait till I can switch over to Linux.) You can always go with the Ground-loop and power isolator fix when using an inverter. With an inverter at least you can plug in a microwave for on the road popcorn.
The X10 RF Remote is a better solution for several reasons. A you dont need to "point it" at the receiver. This model can be hooked directly to the PS2 (or Serial) port intead of using up one of my serial ports. It has mouse emulation support. It's cheaper than the IRMAN + Remote Combo. Finally the software has an onscreen "Virtual Keyboard" so I can type on the screen :)
= Ordered
= Received
= Tested
What do you think?
-- My mobo can with an AMD K6II-450 @24.8W.. No FAN No Heatsing. I've never had a AMD uP. But Im guessing it needs one or both.???
-- Other Software/Hardware applications I should add to it..?
-- Touchscreen or Keypad or Remote Control with Rubber Nipple?
-- Where can I find onscreen keyboard software like the Palm Pilot I own ??
-- Win9x or LINUX. There are several things to consider.. Linux doesn't support winamp plugins. Linux can boot in ~5 Sec.
How about for gps. www.mayko.com is the linux gps mapper, but it has been down for about a week. Anyone use this software? Does linux even support the Cirrus Logic 6200? Linux will not crash on me in the middle of a car trip. But Linux as of yet does not support a journaling file system. If its not powered down correctly you can corrupt the hd. It happened to my roommate. Thats why I have the AutoShutdown PS. But Linux will not crash.
-- Where can I find a Remote Control with a trackball? Ahh Good News. Two guys in the Embedded Systems Class I'm TAing brought in a remote from Silitek which has what I call the "n-i-p-p-l-e" or a rubber pointer. Its from Silitek, and they got their for $15 of ebay. I added the link on misc. Found It ! The X10 MouseRemote
-- I have heard about IBM developing some sort of SuperQuick Bootup Method where it stores the pc-state in a FLASH Memory when you turn it off, and then when unsuspend it, it loads the state from the memory.. anyone heard of this?
-- If I can get a IRMAN is there any software that will let me synch a palm pilot >=III ? Without a Serial PORT Since both of them will be in use.
-- Stumped yet? How about this one.. Any harware+Software solution that will allow a Cell phone to be interfaced with your pc. Thus the PC is able to use the phone for the internet connection?
Pictures
These we're all taken with the new digital camera my roommate's wife bought. Its awesome, USB auto mount and unmount removable drive. So they're ready to be copied from the flash. That's the reason they're so big. Best quality.
Clear Bright Shot of ISA LCD Card. Large & Bright 497k
Clear Dim Shot of ISA LCD Card. Large and Dim 315k.
Clear and Bright Shot of LCD. Notice the 30 pin interface cable on the left, and the backlight cable on the top. Large and Bright 348k.
The back of the LCD with the power connected to the backlight driver. Large 300kb.
Soyo Motherboard with AMD K6II-450. Large and Clear 474kb.
Packard Bell Remote Picture
My New Remote
Computer Hardware
http://www.pricewatch.com -- This the only place you need. You will get very good deals here ALL the time. But if need stuff fast go to crappy BEST BUY or GOOD GUYS. Best Buy has some really stupid people working for them.
http://www.onlinepcoutlet.com/product/motherboard/at/soyosy5ehm.htm --This is the mobo I bought. It has the AT power connector which was a must and should be powerful enough for GPS and mp3 plugins. The only thing Im worried about is how much power it uses, I can't find that information anywhere. ($138 for mobo plus AMD KII-450)
http://www.ebay.com -- Here you can find LCD screen cheep, power supplies, etc.
Power Supplies and DC-DC Converters and Inverters
http://www.arisecomputer.com/ps/html/index.htm
http://scott.kincaid.net --Scott has a small one for $45.
http://www.arisecomputer.com/ps/html/ace800.htm -- More DC-DCs and Power Supplies.
http://www.statpower.com -- You can find some sweet inverters here.
Touch Screens
http://www.dynadirect.com/dynadirect/monitors.html
http://www.microtouch.com
http://www.touchscreens.com/products.shtml
http://www.magictouch.com/products.htm
http://www.usar.com/prodnser/mousec/screenc.htm -- This is just a chip that can be interfaced with a touch screen surface. This is what I'm using to build my ISA controller with for one of my classes.
http://www.dynapro.com/html/products/2_touchcomp.html -- This is where Ill probably get me 4 wire resistive touch screen from.
http://www.elotouch.com/atsize.html
LCDs
http://www.flat-panel.com --Expensive but lots of sizes. Lots of controllers. Small and large LCDs.
http://www.eio.com -- This is the best place to find great inexpensive LCDs. You can also find lots of technical information from their site and the discussion group
http://www.partsexpress.com -- You might be able to find some here.
http://www.allelec.com/VGALCD.html -- This is my beautiful LCD its large 10.4# Active Matrix 18 Bit display. Comes with the controller. Only $319.. I will eventually add the touch screen to my setup.
http://www.scosche.com/products.htm -- Dash kits and mounting harnesses
Links from MoblieJukebox.com
http://www.angelfire.com/pa/videoandrobots/index.html --Video and Robot Page - 4" LCD Source
http://shark.atcg.com/%7Ejason/electronics/lcd/sharp_6.html -- "Jason's Home Page - LCD Connection info. One of the better sources for info on connection your Color LCD to your PC.
http://www.liquidimage.ca/stufflq4.html --LiquidImage.com - LCD power kits for 4" and 6" LCD's
Liquid Image has several kits available to assist you in connecting your color LCD to your PC/Car
http://home1.gte.net/bs/sharp2.html -- LCD Connection Info - RGB to NTSC Info
A great source for information on connecting your Color LCD to your PC. Most of these LCD's need some type of circuit or tweaking to get the LCD hooked up to a RGB/VGA cable
Miscellaneous
http://www.electronics-pluz.com/electronics-pluz/carsterwirha.html -- Car wireharnesses for VWs and other cars.
http://www.edgeco.com/pages/RC-2510.html?;;29 -- World's smallest universal remote control. This is the one I might buy unless I or SOMEONE hint hint can find a better one.
http://connect.amp.com -- Best site for all kinds of computer connectors.
http://www.futurecase.com -- This place is supposed to make some cool cases.. But Im waiting for them to show some pictures.
http://www.advantech.com -- If you really want a SBC (Single Board Computer) try this place.
http://www.evation.com/irman -- IR Receiver for most infared remotes.
http://www.silitek.com/keyboards/index.htm -- very kewl infared remote control
http://www.x10.com/products/x10_mk19a.htm -- X10 RF MouseRemote. Highly recommended
Other Mp3 and CarPC Pages
http://www.mp3car.com -- Ahh the starting point, here you will find lots of info. Dont forget to post to the Hardware Discussion Group.
http://www.mp-z.com -- This page has a great idea some details.. Im waiting for more.. Their touchscreen LCD interface looks great. Very similar to my project :) Keep up the good work.
http://www.adolfsson.com/KAPC/main.asp -- another similar carpc page, no details though. Love the case
http://scott.kincaid.net/ -- Great site. You can even order a DC-DC converter from Scott.
http://compuvette.mp3car.com
http://3play.mp3car.com -- Updated Often. Excellent information if you're doing inverters and a 20x4 LCD screen. Nice site Alec.
http://members.xoom.com/andrewmuch/MP3.htm -- more great info.
http://www.mp3fiend.com/mp3jeep.html
http://mpjetta.mp3car.com -- What a great name. Im so jealous. :)
http://vw-mpeg.mp3car.com/power.html -- Another sweet Jetta.
http://www.megacar.com -- The most amazing car and web site I have ever seen..
http://mpjetta.mp3car.com/ -- "Can your VW play Mp3s" --soon it will. :)
http://mercedes.mp3car.com/specs.htm -- A sweet Mercedes Mp3 Car.