Going to go for a carputer!

I'll try posting on their websites then. I can't get my mobile to connect and the volume control isn't linked properly so it doesn't turn it up, down or mute. Even when i change the settings, could be me though.......

which skin are you using?

To be honest i'm not sure, it begins with an 'A' and its the default one which it says to download, i've got it installed on a laptop, but i'm going to wait now till my carputer arrives, and then configure it all before fitting it in the car!

Got my new fascia panel and did a little bit of surgey and filled the blank hole for a normal CD Stereo with a close match piece of plastic.

Just want my stuff to arrive, can start playing with it then!

Can we have some pics of the fascia panel please?

It will all be posted when i get it finished! Poxy supplier hasn't delivered my kit yet. Although it is due today, and then i've got to build the pc first anyway!

Have a look through this
http://www.fiatforum.com/i-c-e/11720...er-car-pc.html

Centrafuse is an excellent front end for a CarPC; RoadRunner is cool for the price (nothing) but it's not quite as polished. I reckon Centrafuse is worth the price, not that you couldn't just pirate it off the web for free. Bad karma perhaps but there are plugins for OBD interfacing and just about anything else you'd want to do.

I opted for this approach:



Yup... the Ghetto CarPC solution mind you, this box is rugged enough I could stuff this thing under the bonnet... I kicked it a few times and nothing happened, plus it's waterproof. And everyone knows in the 8v Active's there's plenty of space under there! :P Although it looks like sh*t now I plan to carpet and paint it. The advantage is it is designed around my desired feature set:

- vibration proof power fixings, board mounting and HDD mounts,
- +v in from the ignition for auto on/off (time configurable)
- Wide input power support, survives them engine cranks
- wifi so when I park up and go inside the house the CarPC will resync its music with my playlists on my PC before standing by/powering off
- bluetooth (my phone will pass GPS data to it via this), also for internet and radio on the move, again via the phone for now.

It runs off the M3-ATX pico-psu style power supply, I've tested it and was surprised at the run-time I got out of a nearly-dead punto battery (it powered it happily for about two whole days whilst I was testing).

Do post some photographs, I love looking at stuff like this. Of course I've been too lazy to install anything myself so now it's sat on the floor somewhere.

What OS are you using? If you're using Windows, have you tried looking at the Windows XP "Performance" editions? Incredibly cut-down versions of XP without all the crap, they boot like greased lightening and take up barely any memory, perfect for a Car PC. Mine is only a cheap board from eBay (not including the touchscreen everything else was well below £100) but it rivals my desktop's performance now it runs fast XP.

Er, i think your setup is superior to mine, all i've done is buy an out of the box solution, i take it you custom fitted all the ports on the box? Looks pretty good to me.

My carputer turned up yesterday and i've got a cut down version of xp installed and centrafuse 1.20 xle, i had troubles with the 2.0 beta version, so i'll wait till its fully stable.

As soon as i get to a state ready for an install i'll post some photos!

Excellent! I look forward to it. I've not tried Centrafuse 2.0, by the time I'm done it might be a finished product which version of XP are you using? You may as well fire up services.msc and knock out anything you won't need there, that will make a massive difference.

I went to maplins and bought the stuff on the cheap, fitted the ports and all, yeah (you can see my shoddy measurements still on the front panel) when I've sorted the airflow issue so it won't catch fire I'll think about installing too

I'm using XP Pro with SP3 installed, already stopped most of the services, just testing it properly outside of the car now. Will have to wait till weekend to do cable runs in the car!

It looks like everybody is doing well.
I got my screen through on Monday and most of the wiring (theres a lot)
Im just in the process of getting Tiny XP just need to download it
I have been having a look at some of the Linux options but i think that i will initially Use Tiny XP allong with roadrunner as i am a Noob to the whole PC thong so this seems the option with the most support. Then i can upgrade when im a little more confident.
I have managed to obtain a M2-ATX Start up Shut down controller and the screen will be connected to a power regulator to stop any spikes that may get through.
I am getting slightly Jealous of u 2 having boot space as i have absolutely none so i am having to modify the Glove compartment to house the lump of the comp that i have.
Would anybody see the benefit of having a Carputer sub section that we can use to chat and i have quite a bit of usefull info for others to benefit from.

that wouldnt be a bad idea as i love reading up on the car pc post, they come up every month or so and ive always a watchfull eye on them

I take it that you realise Tiny XP isn't exactly 100% legit? You could use nlite, which is what i', doing, currently still playing with the config though, up to my 4th xp install!

Sounds good, yea i would like to find out more because im looking into putting one into my car, Just not to sure about doing it myself though.. Like i can build pc's thats not a problem just not sure how i would hook it up to my car etc

Which is the problem that i have hit now. The M2-ATX power control board is fine, but i'm running mine off a gel battery (which has powered my carpc for 3 days now, without turning off) which i'm going to install into the boot along side my pc, then i'm going to run a switch to the cockpit which will turn the stereo on. Then to turn off, i just hit the off button in the centrafuse software and walk away while it boots down. That's the plan, but in reality....... who knows