just a wild idea...
any of u haf PC inbuilt in the car?
it would rock, if go wireless and stuff
loads of music and movies for passengers

watch pimp my ride...
xzibit sumtime will load pc in the car with high speed internet... ..

"pimp my ride" in MTV channel...i love their customization ...it was cool

Where do they get the high speed internet from huh?

---

Added on February 1, 2007, 8:43 amNeed to spend alot of money on high end batteries, need probably at least 3 huge batteries.

Pimp My Ride, they over-doing it lare. Bumper also got LCD screen, gila sial.

This post has been edited by zeist: Feb 1 2007, 08:43 AM

Pimp my ride chun ler. I like the episode put in MTX JackHammer. That is really great.

If can put in a PC in our car, it will be very great. But, In Malaysia, better don't. Sound system in car also can get stole and what if inside the car have a pc? Hehe. And last time i saw a thread in automotive garage sales that a forummer selling a mini computer for car. But the thread i dunno go where liao.

This post has been edited by singchaii: Feb 1 2007, 09:35 AM

yealah....always kena steal one,...

Unless you are some Datuk, tint all windows 100% black. Nobody can see you.

There is this BMW always appear around my area damn ganas all windows 100% tinted black, with 3 plates infront, 1 of it is PDRM plate. Some big shot fella.

This post has been edited by zeist: Feb 1 2007, 01:16 PM

it can be done... but prepare a huge load of cash for your car charging system and PC's maintanance...

cheers...

Haha. But, those plate easily can get at Taman Melati. Hehe.. But, to have pc in car wat is the purpose? For listen song or watch dvd, in market already have selling dvd player. Unless, you wan play game while driving. Haha.

done before....do a search in zerotohundred.com and you can find a few....

someone was selling his setup about 2 months ago in automotive garage...

if i am not mistaken its coldfusiontech

http://www.coldfusiontech.com/carpc.html

he is one great DIY guy......

charging system does not cost that much.....a good one will set you back about rm150......

www.mp3car.com
click on forum
there is a whole forum dedicated towards pc in cars..

aiya those americans r crazy ma.$$$ is nothing 4 them.ever imagine 8800GTX 2 them is like buying peanuts only.here we r change 100% tax on any item n 300% 4 cars.

This post has been edited by skylinegtr34rule4life: Feb 2 2007, 02:51 PM

pc in the car?? remind me of our malaysia police waja!! sony VAIO!!!

I still have no idea how those Pimp My Ride guys earn money, modifying others ride for FREE.

To Pimp one car also damn bloody expensive.

Ever heard of sponsorship? As long they promote a particular item on the show, vendors will pay... a lot!

PC in car?
i thinking on Knight Rider movie... love tat car a lot when i still young...
highly believe if the car fully computerized, not 1 will able to steal tat car if the computer smart enough

in that case.....thiefs will just resort to car jacking.....even worse for the owner....

some thiefs will just come to you holding a parang to your neck asking you NICEly to disarm the car and give the keys to him......happen to a lot of those mercedes with electronic keys.....

pimp my ride don't use normal pc, either they use a notebook, or a special one for cars.....
see before the toyota supra(if not mistaken)
put macbook inside and 2TB inside

i used to have one but gave up due to lack of maintenance and safety....its better if u use chipsets which have built in processors like the via eden because it does not emit much heat and consumes less power...secondly, most of the parts are quite difficult to get in malaysia especially the mini itx power supply and u need a good person to do some good wiring job....unless u are prepare to have wires coming out of your cigarette lighters then its a different story....

I've build my self a pc for my car last year, this was my 1st DIY work...i still have it still working fine..and not much cash was spent on it.... the only thing that cost me at that time was the in dash TFT lcd...got it from Brothers, using the tv out on the GC. The case was made from an acrylic left overs from a signboard i had lying around...it is running on a P4 2.6, MSI micro ATX mainboard, HDD from a WD notebook HDD. Have 1 120mm vizo uv and 80mm vizo uv fan for cooling. In day time the temp will get as high as 49c, well i'm using the stock Intel fans...haven't change to any aftermarket ones, ram is a DDR 512 from Kingston and the psu i have to mod it a bit. No keyboard is attached to my cpu..only using a logitech wireless mouse. As logn as it can play MP3 and any movie file format...i'm good

mind putting a pic?

This post has been edited by EmperorMeng: Feb 26 2007, 03:30 PM

Hi all, I've stumbled upon this thread.

I was in the midst of building one myself. Due to lack of funds, it's temporarily halted.

Now the parts is for sale.

I have an imported 7" VGA touchscreen and the power supply for sale. PM me if interested.

Cheers!

you PM me asking to post the pix of my car pc..sorry for the delays... keep on forgetting to take pix...so here it is.. not much..coz i D.I.Y the enclosure... might be ugly..

Here's my Power/Reset button and Led's for HDD and Power


I integrated my usb ports on my center console.


This is my mouse to navigate through windows..ehehe..cute ain't it?


And this is my 6.5 " indash TFT lcd i bought from brothers.... good enough for me!


Ok now this is the CPU unit....not much but i laminate it with checked plate stickers...so that i doesn't absorb heat that is in the trunk.


ok now this is a view of the internal parts... just the basic parts though!


The coolers...1 unit of 120mm and 80 mm vizo fans.....mount 1 to blow and 1 to suck... the 80mm have the highest rpm so it is better for me to use it to suck all the hot air near the cpu HSF area.. i think it would be cooler that way.


So this idling temp of my CPU....not bad huh? this was taken around 10am in the morning before i leave for work..


this is taken after 45 minutes drive to my office.. i was running on Media Player 11 and the temp rise 3 degress... still ok larrr.. but if i run the visualization on the media player it can reach up to 44 degress..and you can see that the case temp irose quite a lot...which is still ok for me.


and finally this is the night shot of my lcd running the media player visualization.




The End.....

This post has been edited by Zyntherius: Mar 2 2007, 01:07 PM

wow, impressive....even tho not new.
Will be much better if it is touch screen

woo..cool. impressive.

how u connect power btw...

Touch screen are expensive dude...especially the Liliput brand... plus its not easy to make touch screen works with pc's... requires special wiring..

@wcliang
I use an inverter to supply the power to the PSU.... The inverter i wired direct to the battery...its not a good idea to use the cigarettes lighter..becoz the fuse can't take it... and the inverter must be 300watss and above...

My inverters will not work if the pc is off..even though the inverter is switched on...i tried leaving the inverter switched on for 3 days without using the car ( that was on CNY holidays) after the 4th day... my car battery didn't die oso... so if incase i forgot to switch of the inverter my batter will not die..

This post has been edited by Zyntherius: Mar 7 2007, 11:04 AM

yup...our police waja got built in pc inside...but not sure whether it's sony VAIO....

dude, r u using a kelissa there?
n notice ur using a mouse. not sure if u can find a wireless scroll ball nowadays but if it's possible, scroll ball will b less space consuming..

we build pc in own car, What we can do?
playing music player ? or playing game?

SOme question:
Can i use ipod play in my Car?

i remember in ZTH someone was selling a computer that can fit into 2-din slot

no need la huge battery sampai 3 biji....go to kedai abang....(brothers) then u ask for dc converter...i dunno the brand name...but i saw last saturday they had that thing in kedai abang bt caves,

how to use??from api cigaratte kereta la...just plug and plug again to your laptop...
huhuhhuu same la as PC...built a small cpu and use that converter....

bout highspeed internet..u can use Jaring SOMA or....ada ke high speed internet for malaysian user??TMnut??

harharharharhar

---

Added on April 24, 2007, 10:46 amiPod???can...handphone with mp3 or mp3 player also can play in car today la...how??

harharhar just use FM modulator and plug ur iPod or ur mp3 phone there...then..dun need a expensive player..

harharhahr

This post has been edited by hattasan: Apr 24 2007, 10:46 AM

You mean something like this?

http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?act=ST&f=11&t=242506

Power inverter

But I don't know how a kancil/wira battery is going to tahan with a computer running, even with ps2 i don't think it will be good for long term usage

i dont think ppl in malaysia dare enough to do this..mayebe if malaysian can if we can use double layer LIMO tinted..

a cctv surveilance card and a good infrared cam attached to the windscreen or front bumper can make use of the pc turning it into night vision.
possible rite?

Yup, that's possible. U dun need a CCTV surveilance card as well. Most touchscreen have multiple input (VGA and RCA). Jus hook up your infrared cam to the RCA input available on the screen and you're good to go. Same goes for reverse cam...

google for audiopce.com - this is a local forum on carPC

gps navigation, mp3, dvd movies, maybe games too - many things can do n dun forget the cool factor

i' considering on how to make use of my pda as car entertainment - if i can find a cheap CF card presenter to output to a bigger LCD display??

a carpc can do anything a normal pc can do.

internet : yes. just use a laptop card or battery powered modem that uses maxis broadband,3g , .. got wireless LAN dongle, go to hotspot or park near shopping complex, walla ! WIFI .. war-driving is not recomended .. hahaha

games : yes. but for passanger only arr .. dont mess around !

music : mp3, wma, wmv, video music, all can . i got 75gb of mp3,video music, series monster garage, a few full movie, favourite series of Pimp My Ride

control : my car uses NaviVoice voice recognation system via a bluetooth headset, keyboard and mouse at the back, 7" VGA LCD Touchscreen, WinLirc remote receiver

power supply : M2ATX DC-DC PSU . it only uses a 12v input. please dont use a inverter. it uses a lot of amperes in a short period and not to mention its dangerous !

theres plenty of things that can be install to a carpc . for example a phidget relay control. press no2 at the remote control and the sportlight turn on . some ppl does integrated alarm to their car. GPS also possible ! just install the software and gps receiver, then there u go ! a GPS system ! maps are available at a few local websites.

if u are a modification guy and u hv a stand alone management system or any piggyback ECU that uses computer to tune, carpc is a great item to hv ! just stop at a gas station and change the setting of ur ECU then enjoy ur new setting !

driving ? somebody called ? ur hp hv bluetooth ? let ur carpc answer ur call. it automaticly reduce the audio and turn on the mic or bluetooth that u uses for the audio recognation system. sms ? just said it out and the carpc do the writing and sending .

satellite radio ? bad news. carpc can easily fit a XM satellite radio but the signal doesnt cover malaysia. but a tv tuner would be a good replacement. ur passanger can watch their favourite show when u balik kampung.

backing sensor ? ahaa . if u uses the Lilliput touchscreen, it has 2 av mode that can be automaticly change when it detected another video input . put a relay to the back-up camera to the reverse light, and when u go to reverse gear, it automaticly turn on the camera and change the AV of the screen .

ipod ? no problem . even a memory card can be read . just put a multi-input connector at the dash.

I also put in one last week. An AMD into my Avanza. With Geek My Avanza on it. I will put it post here once i got my phone back. For a teaser, i run WinXP on USB removeable drive to prevent my OS break down if i am offroading. It got GPS, WiFi and voice recognition.

IMHO, i think touch screen is not very practical since my tempreture in Malaysia is considered 'extreme' lately. :->

I use a 230watt psu and an inverter. Now, i try finding a M2ATX DC-DC PSU in Malaysia

This post has been edited by jacksonloh0: Aug 13 2007, 08:35 AM

http://www.myjffc.com/viewtopic.php?t=3573

i can help u with that . brand new.

M2-ATX DC-DC PSU 160Watt
Smart Car PC Power Supply
- 160 watts output
- Ideal car Power supply for operating P4, P4-M, Celeron, AMD systems
- ATX, 6-24V wide input range
- Intelligent shutdown controller
- ON/OFF motherboard control
- Survives vehicle engine cranks
- Battery deep discharge prevention
- High efficiency, 160 watts output
- "Anti-Thump" Amplifier remote control
- 15A automotive fuse (mini-blade)
- VIA, P4 and AMD CPU support

spec : http://resources.mini-box.com/online/M2-ATX/specs.pdf

This post has been edited by coldfusionpower: Aug 14 2007, 07:07 PM

Inside the old KITT

Hi coldfusionpower, how much? Interested.

---

Added on August 14, 2007, 7:51 pmI saw car in Discovery Channel about futurecar, one that is speeding on its own via computerised system, look a lot like some in KITT. I miss that show, but i will freak out if a car talk back at me. Imagine this, speeding down road at 100+ and suddenly car say "Oi boss, too fast man, put signal man, stick on one lane man" and worst of all, "Your driving sucks man". Backseater

This post has been edited by jacksonloh0: Aug 14 2007, 07:51 PM

damn . i love knight rider .. very cool car .. i love knight rider, a-team and airwolf .. they rocks !

jacksonloh .. i pm'ed u edi ..

p/s : my last carpc can talk . but with specific command via voice recognation system .. example if i ask the time or cpu stats .. but what i really hate when i was driving , then suddenly the gps told me to turn sumwhere . terperanjat ! especially when i driving alone ! .. hahaha

Don't forget to check out next year for the upcoming new Knight Rider movie, featuring the new KITT

Old KITT vs New KITT!


Movie Poster:

Yeah, i know how you feel bro. Mine give out lady voice but my wife say it sound like pontianak sound So, i had it change to robotic sound. I also scared some of my passenger. Here how,
Me: Computer, what's the time?
Kawan: Wha? Who do u talking ...
Computer: It's 5 pm, master.
Kawan: Ahhhhh!
Me:

Originally i use Ultra Hal but i change because it sensitive to background noise, suddenly talking nonsense! Now, i use eSpeaking's Voice and Speech Recognition Software interface with in-Car Terminal. You?

pheewiitt ! new KITT rocks !


haha .. i dont like the female sound also . beside .. my car a guy .. got turbocharger to buff him up .. actually , i using a navigation VCS .. and i modified it abit to take other command beside navigation alone. heard of Navi Voice or Bruno VCS ?

I used Bruno once but after it R.I.P. from MP3Car forum, i change to few other and now using iCT free version.

Sweet mother of j35u5!!! Knight is back again. First Transformer now KITT. I better used the poster as desktop. Ha ha don't want to miss that.

OK guys. If i put a PC inside a wooden box without any enclosure made of steel to protect from electrowave, is it harmful? Dun wanna fry my little 'soldier' he he he.

cannn . most of audio installer uses MDF wood maa . or why not try with acrylic ? look cool coz can see inside

anyone know where i can fit a car pc into my car in malaysia?

better self design and customize, if shop, sure its going to cost you a bomb

I have a acrylic case once beneath my passenger seat. Glow at night and attract too many mosquito and insect. So, i take a extra drawer and mod here and there; end result is seating inside my Avanza.

Freestyler, better McGyver this one bro, a PC in car is totally geek one. Learn a lot from cabaran, today this tommorow that and then one day your car become a mobile office/home/entertainment. A site worth mention is MP3car.com and ahemm http://forum.audiopce.com/

ahaa . i'm from there also .. i was the few first members.

Tada. I got my first blog of my Geek My Avanza project. Here it is http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/show-off-y...tml#post1108167

loooking good !

p/s: where did u get that Geek My thingy .. I want one !

Kedai 100% Discount Store. Lots of this here in my hometown. RM1 per piece. Buy many discount also. I originally going to put Geek My Ride but after thinking "Why waste Avanza wording so i mix and match to become Geek My Avanza" More geekish.

can i hv one ? hehe

OK, i can help you buy. Plus postage and if the stock in my area avalaible. PM me if you want.

i want it for free laa .. hehehe

owh .. anyone got idea on how to make duo-screen . even the ppl change menu at the back , the front will stay at the GPS screen . got idea ?

i dont think is good setup those stuff, u see nowadays got a lot theif

---

Added on August 25, 2007, 5:48 ammeh, u got watch ghost in the shell? that fellow just plug a thumb drive then can hack the whole car

swt

This post has been edited by hz428: Aug 25 2007, 05:48 AM

Wah la we. No money oh. A car with fully intergrated computer to run is
1) Vunerable to virus.
2) Vunerable to crashes.
3) Need upgrade from time to time.

Imagine going to workshop and ask about an upgrade of OS. Or news flashing by saying three hundred car strand on highway because the car's OS suddenly have imcompatible driver with the car. Muahahaha.

For duo screen, i use scan converter. I got mine from Ebay Singapore. RM198 including postage. This is the newer version http://www.compusa.com/products/product_in...t_code=50331301 Mine can only scan 640x480. Sorry i can't take a picture bcoz it is inside the bowel of my car and too lazy to pull it out. It got 1 monitor input and several output to tv analogue, second monitor output and s-video, all at once. I connect all of it and virtual desktop so monitor 1 view maps, monitor 2 and 3 view my MP3 and video.

This post has been edited by jacksonloh0: Aug 25 2007, 09:25 AM

wah .. great ... how about the touchscreen control ? never did a duo-TS before . hmm . let me go tru mp3car ...

p/s: got ur M2ATX yet ?

Touchscreen using USB input maybe can. Haven't tried coz I got 1 only.

M2ATX still on the horizon. Currently putting UPS to survive the engine cranking. No lui. Wait till kena ToTo, wait I don't play ToTo, hehehe.

News : one of my CPC fren's car got smashed . everything are there except the touchscreen .. and guess what. he just got that TS ..

Yeah thats why I put TS for my secondary monitor in my house and use normal LCD for carputer. Input via voice, much more geek and sophisticated at the same time.

Hi freestyler, i and my friend actually fix car pc for people. we fix according to budget and we have almost all the hardware and software available. we can actually demo a car pc to u. So for more info u can call or sms me at 012-9260228.

got quotation on single din 7" touchscreen . RM1700 .. fuhhh ..

and justinckl, can give us some info ?

single din 7" motorized touchscreen is only RM1.3K if you want

i got a question how you guys fix the car speaker to the play the sound from the pc i mean from the sound card?do i need to get a amp and connect them together?

yeah, you need an amp

okie dokie

time to look for 2nd hand amp.. hehehe

by the way anybody know where i can purchase the m2atx in KL??coldfusionpower i know you sure got jalan for this

considering the power comsumption,standard PSU around 250 - 350 watt truepower but the monoblock amp itself sometime would go around 1000w RMS without using any extra car battery.just put in some power cap n no need extra battery.am i right?

check out http://www.audiopce.com/
i think the seller is based in penang tho

yeah contacted him waiting to get my salary then muaaa hahahahaha pc in my citra yeaaaaaaaaaahhh babe

i also have a fren who already install this carputer in his waja...

he will participate in one competition held in PWTC..

i thing at the of this month...

next week i thing.. so for those who want to see it..

just go to the exhibition at PWTC..

anybody know when will be that exhibition?

hi guys, i hav a project carpc in progress to share wid u all:

here's the pic:


everythin still in testing stage,
here's a bit of info on the setup,
it runs on stripped down ver of windows MCE 2005 (nlite) so that it'll start up faster.
so i'll use the media center program as front end as it looks nicer compared to roadrunner and other free front ends.

i DIYed (10bucks plastic multi purpose storage box - got it from jusco) the casing coz my previous steel casing was big and heavy and it doesnt look nice in my trunk.

i'm using a laptop drive (2.5inch) coz it's more reliable to put into a movin vehicle compared to conventional 3.5inch hdd. it connects to the mobo using 2.5 to IDE converter and it costs me only 23bucks.

i bought a lcd panel from brothers and it connects directly to my graphic card (s-video). not touch screen though coz i cant afford a lilliput.

i'm now sourcing out on where to get a remote control for MCE like the one dat can be found here:
http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/446480

it'll run on a power inverter 220v 300watt (it is sufficient for my pc and it peaks at 700watt - much more cheaper and easier setup than dc dc psu) i hard wired it directly to my car batt and relay so dat it'll turn off the inverter automatically when i turn off my car engine - however, i hav to shut down the pc manually, by pressing the power button, it'll shutdown automatically, can be preset in setting.

i'm currently in the progress of wiring all the usb to my front dash board so dat i can load stuff easily using thumb drive into my system and my other usb devices such as remote control.

as for audio, i connect my sound card 3mm jack to my pre amp using 3mm to RCA cable which goes directly to the speakers in the car.

now i'm also sourcing out for game pad (USB) to run several games in the car pc - entertainment for passengers. those simple racing games like nfs underground.

i started out everythin and it costs less than 2k.
i'll update and upload more pic when i hav time to resume my project during coming weekends. any lyn members mind share their project also?

This post has been edited by gstrapinuse: Feb 19 2008, 12:39 AM

wah fantastic thread! I always wanted an in car PC, but never thought of DIY.

You guys can do part time and make some money with this.

How about if i chuck in my own hardware and pay you guys extra for wiring and stuffs?

Touchscreens are cheap these days

but how do you integrate that into your car pc?

the touchscreen has a USB out to plug into your carpc

I'm thinking of joining the club to integrate pc into my car which is a honda city.

Some questions here...

If i put the pc into my trunk, would it risk being hot? I mean, yes when started of course the fan will goes into action, but will there be airflow inside the trunk?

I am thinking of water cooling - but it might be expensive. Think of it again, i'm not going to use a power hungry beast cpu for my car. I am thinking of buying a mobo which have integrated cpu so it will produce less heat.

Power inverter is one of the easiest choice, but how do i plug this straight to my battery? Any links or guide how to do this? Or is it cheaper and easier just to go to any assessories shop and let them do it for me.

If i put the pc inside my trunk.. how the hell i'm going to do the wiring to the front head unit? Do you guys actually took out some of the car body or whatever to do this?

If i use a normal desktop HDD, will i risk breaking it if i were to accidentaly drive into a big hole or whatever that cause impact?

I did thought of placing it under 4 springs, so it will absorb any impact.

car pc? got any picture to view?
wonder is it safe to put pc inside car... heard many case audio syst,laptop,bag..etc stolen.

future80, have a look at page 2 of this thread for pics

---

Added on April 9, 2008, 8:03 pmwah this thread dead already?

I'm still hot in doin a car pc here..

You guys know where to find DC-DC power supply?

Or use power inverter more cheaper? Will it risk draining down battery?

This post has been edited by neato4u: Apr 9 2008, 08:03 PM

a good thread to follow.. time to revive this thread.. common, post ur projects!!.. lol..

i do have an idea of playing pc in car... and minimize the risk of getting things being stolen, break in and other misfortunate incident...
>
>
>
Get a UMPC and hook up with the Aux in. and then make a bracket for it because suction mount just not able to support umpc unless it is light. and i dun think like taking that risk of using suction mount either.

because things now made easy for us. u still get 7" touch screen and minimum of 30GB of space. oh yeah, another thing might wanna get is the DC inverter.

this is a cool thread!

here i found some cool mini PC:
http://www.stealthcomputer.com/pressreleas...cislot_0208.htm
http://www.everexstore.com/products/etc.htm#gpc_mini

Just wanna ask, around KL/PJ where can i find a standalone 7"-8" LCD monitor?
i need those with VGA input from PC, so those normal car LCD with RCA is not suitable!

Seaedge : what's an UMPC?

RX-78-2 : I heard someone mentioned that LCD monitors (VGA type) are sold @ jalan pasar around rm700 bucks. I wanted to do a Car PC as well, but right now short of cash. If you can survey for me, that would be great!

Actually (for the moment) i'm planning to buy a normal LCD Rca monitor and use this for the Car PC display. If i'm not mistaken, a cheap one costs around 200 - 300 bucks (whoever can survey where to find these cheap please inform me - i think it's at jalan pasar oso) but i don't know whether it's the dashboard type or the double din or the single din type monitor.

For the Car PC, i plan to use a notebook with faulty monitor. As long as the cpu is still functioning, i can output the display to the LCD monitor using tv out cable. However, text display will be blurry because of this - but i've got my gears ready - a magnifier software to zoom in and enlarge that text big enough to read.

Do need a power inverter though. Laptop would be great as it's designed to go mobile. Less heat as well.

If everything goes according to plan, these are estimated at around rm 800 - 900 including labour cost at accessory shop to get the monitor installed and power inverter plugged in directly to battery.

Too bad i don't know how to disassemble my car parts, else this would be 100% DIY.

suddenly thread become alive back .. huhuhu .. good luck guys ...

p/s: better save up for DC-DC psu . other things can use local made .. including the screen .. u can see my post at page2 . the top one is 7" vga touchscreen and the bottom one is RCA screen ..

next stop .. Dual-Screen ..

coldfusion - as i'm planning to use a laptop for car pc, do i still need to look for dc-dc psu?

I'm thinking of buying a power inverter and hide it somewhere in front, together with the laptop hiding under the driver seat.

UMPC = Ultra Mobile Personal Computer. or could say like mini laptop. this will be the most expensive in CarPC category because the cheapest UMPC will be from RM2k onwards (those will touchscreen) to RM10k (Sony's UMPC). but using UMPC will save all your problems assembling parts and such; you may need power inverter.

UMPC info here, so you get the better picture.

and the most important fact why UMPC is because i can mount and dismount it easily...

Seaedge, thats cool man.
But still i think it's just a bit too expensive. In fact, you don't really need that much computing power on the go. However, it would be really nice to own one

And yeah, coldfusionpower, i'm planning to get a normal RCA LCD first, then a VGA LCD monitor and make dual screen on my car pc. I've been doing this with my home pc which sits right in front of my livingroom, beside my 21 inch tv (lucky as my pc monitor is 21 inch as well - so it looks great side by side).

Just think of this, one screen to watch movie / mtv, while the other one displays your GPS. Cool huh.




Attached thumbnail(s)

Why not you guys use Asus EePC? It had SSD which makes it shock resistance. It's small, cheap. One drawback is the SSD size is only 4 gig.

I got 1 question, does anyone know if we can use something like CCTV to look out our car? I once read on the net someone use In Car PC and attach web cam on it and run recording. But I wanna know is is there anything like that but does not use In Car PC?

i will not consider eee pc because of its 4GB SSD and at current only 8GB SDHC available. 32GB SDHC is way too expensive. futhermore, its not a tablet and touchscreen featured. so navigation might be another problem. taking umpc like fujitsu U1010, Ruvo UMPC or HTC Shift, each has at least 30gb and touch screen featured. making a custom bracket and putting a DC inverter, its already good to go. no doubt the cost will be more than what a normal carPC cost. There is also another alternative which is Bluethunder UMPC which cost only RM1599 or so with touchscreen, 30gb etc etc. That will be a better option for budget users.

if you want something like that but do not use incarpc.. then.. i am not sure.

runemastertan - this issue was discussed way back in 2006 @ a car pc forum (mp3car if i'm not mistaken). CCTV to look out your car? There is some factors which you need to think about such as :

Battery - as engine is off, your car pc now solely runs on battery and might draw more power - thus, can the battery withstand the operation? Plus - will you be able to start your car when you need to?

Webcam factor - Capturing the right thing at the right angle. Most webcam does not have a wide angle view, thus, you may not able to capture what you need to. Resolution and quality is of concern at that particular time (2006), but nowdays webcams have higher reso. Webcam placement is a factor too, considering where you want it to record. Furthermore, if a thief saw your webcam and manage to break in, it would be just a matter of seconds before they can destroy and find your car pc, which then cost you a bomb to replace the entire thing.

If you're thinking of recording when driving, and to capture that moment of accident - let me throw you something - will your car pc survive the crash? Ther'es a possibility that the hard disk might fail due to shock, etc etc.

And getting back to the eepc, what can you do with 4gb these days??? Maybe back in the old 1990 4gb is huge, but it's nothing now.