986 Carputer? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

FrayAdjacent · 07-25-2007, 09:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dohertycm

Seems to me you could disassemble a laptop and get the same thing accomplished with less space...

Definitely... Find a decent used Pentium III laptop, free it of it's LCD screen, remove the keyboard and mount it in a box... use a touchscreen LCD in the dash and USB devices for what the unit doesn't have internally.

cmarks20 · 07-26-2007, 06:03 AM

Kirk, do you have a flip-out screen, or are you going to do a flush mount where the AC controls are usually? MP3car.com is missing some links on it's main page for some reason..... I was going to link a Boxster install they had there. They used a completely in-dash configuration, accented in Guards Red. It doesn't look bad at all, but he lost the cubby holes. The lower center dash (right behind the shifter) seems like it would have plenty of room. After all, besides the two pockets there, it's just open space in the back.

I've thought of using the laptop, but can't seem to find a ribbon cable to convert to a new LCD. The ribbon is pinned a bit different from a standard in-dash touch screen. I'll have to look more into it. I've seen some really hacked up carputers, and really don't want that. I love a clean install. An micro-ITX or even a nano-ITX solution seems like it would be efficient, just more expensive. The nano ITX boards are only 4.7" squares....I may be able to make a single DIN box and just live with one less pocket. I'll take some pics when I get a chance.

Rather than using a P3, I think I may go with a Dual Core, assuming I can find a decent ITX board that supports it. Cooling is another issue, but being that close to the battery, I'm sure I can manage to rig some kind of fan or even a water-cooled solution. Those water cooling setups for desktops are really efficient, and use barely any power at all.

fishage · 07-26-2007, 06:45 AM

Don't bother playing around with a laptop. If you're interested in that route... go with a UMPC instead. I have a Samsung Q1 which I love and would make a much better base than the laptop since it has the touch screen already.

cmarks20 · 07-26-2007, 07:11 AM

I thought about that, but I just don't think the processors on those are powerful enough. Another issue is how you would expand one of those in the future. I'm sure most of the circuitry is proprietary; so fixing or expanding anything would be very limited

.

I'm kind of leaning towards a VoomPC2 enclosure with an Aopen i945GMT. Those boards use socket M, so a Core2Duo processor will go nicely; not to mention functionality for 8 USB ports, 4GB of memory, and PCIe for enhanced video. Not bad for a 170mm square board. I just hope there is a riser so that I can stick a PCMCIA slot on there for wifi

FrayAdjacent · 07-26-2007, 08:50 AM

As for the laptop and the ribbon cable for the LCD, don't bother with that - use the VGA port on the back of the laptop!

a UMPC would be neat, but they're not all that cheap.

Would be nice if someone came up with a nice in-dash dual DIN PC with a hard drive and touch screen built in. It would probably be uber expensive, tho...

cmarks20 · 07-26-2007, 09:04 AM

Found the link I was checking into. Double DIN in-dash setup. Very nice.

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/fabrication/69068-just-finished-porsche-install.html

As far as using VGA, I'm honestly considering HD video....so either DVI or S-video most likely. I'm finding a plethura of thing to tinker with =)

Sain0rs · 07-26-2007, 09:06 AM

Don't forget you'll want to make sure you get a transreflective LCD otherwise the display will be washed out (re: unreadable) in the sunlight with the top down.

cmarks20 · 07-26-2007, 10:05 AM

Thanks for reminder. I'll have to see if I can find a double-DIN one. Either that or maybe some kind of "hood" to block the sunlight without blocking visibility of the LCD. $400 or so is still $400.....