Anybody Know about Computers/Carputers

[volxstu]

Hi all its finaly time to get my carputer up and running but i know absolutely nothing about PC's being a mac man.
What i need is a hand setting up the comp as it has nothing installed.
I decided to run Road Runner as the front end and i think i have all the software and other ancillery bits downloaded and am working on getting FTP access for anybody too have a look for me.
Also i want to partition the hard drive and run windows secondarily so i can switch between the two.
Reply if you can help.
Thanks

Stuart.

 

[Captain Mike]

Hi all its finaly time to get my carputer up and running but i know absolutely nothing about PC's being a mac man.
What i need is a hand setting up the comp as it has nothing installed.
I decided to run Road Runner as the front end and i think i have all the software and other ancillery bits downloaded and am working on getting FTP access for anybody too have a look for me.
Also i want to partition the hard drive and run windows secondarily so i can switch between the two.
Reply if you can help.
Thanks

Stuart.

VmWAre for the Windows bit im sure every1 else knows about the other requests

 

[volxstu]

Come on theres a shiny penny in it for whoever helps the most.

 

[j0nny]

right i cant help you with the ftp access as its something i never really had a go with

as with a dual partition, ive done this a few times, get hard drive and use something like partition magic, format it to fat 32, bit slower but least its a universal format so your mac can use it unlike NTFS, create two partitions, you can choose the sizes based on what your using each OS for. install windows first, that should be no bother, install it in the latter letter, that shud b smooth enuf, then install road runner (something i have no experience with) but being an OS it will install its own bootloader and overwrite the windows one, not letting windows be booted. put the windows disc back in and use the repair command, it shud know that there is a problem, it will soon figure out that theres either a missing or corrupt bootloader and install the new one. so now youve two working ones but your computer will only use one. download and install EacyBCD, it think its free, this way you can add both bootloaders to the system so that when you boot up you can choose between road runner and windows, reduce the amount of time for you to decide to speed the system up and make sure road runner is the top of the two. that will get ya started lol
sorry if this seems a stupid question but why dont you install OS-X onto the second partition if your a mac man?

 

[adruss85]

Also i want to partition the hard drive and run windows secondarily so i can switch between the two.

Erm, do you mean you want 2 partitions, one for Windows and one for RR? Because that isnt needed.

RR is a front end that just runs in windows, like a normal prog, and uses Winamp to play your music files etc, not a whole new OS!

I've had it up and running on a couple of computers so if you need any advice with it then just give me a shout!

 

[volxstu]

sorry if this seems a stupid question but why dont you install OS-X onto the second partition if your a mac man?

I meant that i normally use Mac but for the car i have a PC as most of the applications of things tend to only run on PC as they are .exe files/
Cheers for your help im one step closer.

 

[volxstu]

Erm, do you mean you want 2 partitions, one for Windows and one for RR? Because that isnt needed.

RR is a front end that just runs in windows, like a normal prog, and uses Winamp to play your music files etc, not a whole new OS!

I've had it up and running on a couple of computers so if you need any advice with it then just give me a shout!

Right i thought that it was a seperate OS as it is designed to boot in like 3/4 seconds and how would it do that if windows had to load first i just thought that it would keep the music files from Winamp in some kind of Cache but obviously not.
So you are saying that i dont need to partition the hard drive i am just a little confused as to why the book i read told me to do this i will have a look tonight and see weather i have got the wrong end of the stick.

 

[adruss85]

If you're talking abou this RR:

http://guino.home.insightbb.com/roadrunner.html

than that's a stand alone prog in windows. You can do a quick boot by sending the computer into hibernate rather than shutting it down. Still have to wait ~ 15 seconds maybe to full boot, but provided your windows instal is very stripped down it could even be quicker. I doubt you could get a 3/4 second boot as the computer would have to run POST anyway!

You have to be sure that the carputer you're using has the right type of ACPI power states built into the bios. I think hibernate is S4 but i could be wrong.

I take it you already know about the 12v power supplies that can trigger power up/hibernate via a ignition feed? And dont turn off untill the CarPC s completely powered off?

 

[j0nny]

you could take a feed from the lights which dont die for a few seconds after the car is closed or get your own relay to sort that out but would be a problem to have it running it in sync with your key considering you may need 2 tap into a live feed ruining the whole automatic thing

i considered building a car puter for quite a while, i had a few bits and after quite a bit of research i knew that having a carputer as the whole system would just be stupid and frustrating, if it was me i would have it as a secondary system which is on display (8" screen) but keep the original iso blocks and wire a head unit in (upper glovebox) with rear phono aux in and wire the car puter in that way. least then you have music as soon as your switch the car on. and by the time you settle in and start your journey the carputer will have booted up letting you choose whether you want to use it or keep the stereo working, i was only going to be using it for obd and sat nav, the sound system side of thing wasnt worth it in terms of sound cards and amplifiers and loosing the equaliser without having to buy yet another component which just wouldnt all fit behind the dash

in fairness, that type of set up would simplify things a lot for you! o and there is always ways to strip windows down to a bare minimum, tonnes of guides on the net, like the time it lets you choose bios, remove boot up programs, no usernames etc etc. and you can go even further than that.

another idea would be keep a mac and run a windows emulator for the programs in .exe format?

 

[adruss85]

you could take a feed from the lights which dont die for a few seconds after the car is closed or get your own relay to sort that out but would be a problem to have it running it in sync with your key considering you may need 2 tap into a live feed ruining the whole automatic thing

You can buy PSUs for £40 that need a 12v in, ground, and 12v igition feed (signal only) and they do it all for you. Also gets rid of the £30 spent on an inverter.

and by the time you settle in and start your journey the carputer will have booted up letting you choose whether you want to use it or keep the stereo working

or even easier, use that as your amplifier - saving alot of wiring

 

[j0nny]

yea thats what i meant by the head unit, this saves you a lot of money, hassle and wiring, giving you instant audio and an internal amp, equaliser and choice of what you choice to run

ive heard of those but decided not to say anything as last time a thread like this came up someone ate the face of me but yes there is a power thing which will control all the voltages for a car pc. instead of using inverter to get the voltage up to 240 only for the pc 2 bring it back down again. but im sure if hes bought a specific carpc this would of already came with that

 

[adruss85]

but im sure if hes bought a specific carpc this would of already came with that

You'd hope so!

 

[volxstu]

I already have a 12v psu and the thing that survives cranking. I have decided to keep the Hu AND connect it to the auxilery in which i can have come straight on power up. The only other thing would to try and find a digital processor (i would rather software rather than hardware) just to give the SQ a bit of a boost before it gets turned into analogue sound for the mid and treble also this will help my digi monoblock sound better.
Stupid computer wont let me post link they av some dodgy software that takes all the info.

 

[Donut Boi]

u got any updates on this? any pics? im intrested in building a car computer wont some ideas

 

[volxstu]

u got any updates on this? any pics? im intrested in building a car computer wont some ideas

Na not really still planning like you said before the HD could be a prob so i wouldnt like to recommend anything untill its in. Im just working on a screen now and i will be getting the software loaded any time soon just as soon as i find a way to power it up on bench because it is a 12 v PSU i have access to a power inverter to run Model trains so ill give that a go im just lazy to be Honest.

 

[j0nny]

well you get this all sorted stu?
i have some questions lol
spare money and time means im thinking about this
though do i have to buy a specific carputer or could i get a normal one with a inverter to go from 12V to 19V. and format using roadrunner or something like that?

or is it a safer option to get a specific car puter? i just think for the money the spec aint that great

have the chance to get an alpine IDA cheap so thinking of building a carputer running it to the IDA via AUX and from there to amps etc

 

[j0nny]

ok ive got a laptop now, fully working, is a bit shoddy with a broken cover and the mex-bt5000 sony h/u without the fascia. all wer free so i am going to see if i can get something out of these if anyone has any suggestions

thinking of taking laptop apart, using processor & ram and just upgrading HD and use in dash touch screen and seeing if its possible to combine the internal amp of the sony h/u with the sound card and use either the phono outputs or ISO sound block running to external amps, sound visable?

 

[volxstu]

ok ive got a laptop now, fully working, is a bit shoddy with a broken cover and the mex-bt5000 sony h/u without the fascia. all wer free so i am going to see if i can get something out of these if anyone has any suggestions

thinking of taking laptop apart, using processor & ram and just upgrading HD and use in dash touch screen and seeing if its possible to combine the internal amp of the sony h/u with the sound card and use either the phono outputs or ISO sound block running to external amps, sound visable?

Sorry been on Holiday mine wasnt expensive really and it is (supposedly) built to take the everyday vibrations of an ICE car. 2GHZ Processor 120GIG HD and 1Gig Ram for £300 seemed quite reasonable to me.
But a laptop should be absolutely fine.
You will be have to power it up using an M2 ATX power board of which i have one going spare it just needs the harness. This i believe (as i havnt actually got it in the car yet as i am redoing the boot and adding second batt first) Runs of the cars standard ISO harness with a bit of cutting and chopping of the wires. This is what stops the cranking spikes going to your comp and completely nackering it.

Now sound is a whole different thing this is the part that i am completly unsure of the best way to do this using the sound cards 3.5mm Jack to RCA just doesnt seem right to me. How can this give the output voltage that you need for a decent audio quality, also it wouldnt be hard to accidently pull it out of the soundcard which could be potentially really annoying + i need 4 sets of preouts can you output sound through USB maybe i dont really know a lot about computers so havnt solved this yet.

 

[j0nny]

cheers for the reply dude. well between us we will have it worked out lol. this should be a sticky

ok, after a bit more investigation ive discovered:
laptop inputs: 240v AC at plug, 19V DC to battery, 14.4V DC to laptop from battery

so im thinking of getting a voltage stabilizer to run this though i defnitly think i will need the m2atx, i know it has two voltage rails, 12V and 5V and cant go below 5V but can it go above 12 to 14.4 possibly? or if i start to open up the laptop do i remove the existing power management and install m2atx in its place?

also i have this sony HU, internal amp is v good, 4x52w max, two sets of phono outputs for front and rear and a sub pre-out. i am just going to see if i can figure out how to get the unit to power and work without the fascia. i dont want its functionality like bluetooth etc, just to run sound through and pre-amp to amps. ive a spare jvc fascia with some connection so may connect it somehow and leave it to aux in (phonos again) so it switches on to that each time

may need to dig up the thread in the computing section to see if i can figure some of the things out as ive never opened a laptop fully and i bet ive a lot of work ahead of me lol

EDIT: few things i forgot, lol
how much you want for the m2atx?
and yea you can get a usb sound card. good example would be the gigaport version but may be a bit excessive for your needs, it will deliver much better sound quality tho

 

[volxstu]

cheers for the reply dude. well between us we will have it worked out lol. this should be a sticky

ok, after a bit more investigation ive discovered:
laptop inputs: 240v AC at plug, 19V DC to battery, 14.4V DC to laptop from battery

so im thinking of getting a voltage stabilizer to run this though i defnitly think i will need the m2atx, i know it has two voltage rails, 12V and 5V and cant go below 5V but can it go above 12 to 14.4 possibly? or if i start to open up the laptop do i remove the existing power management and install m2atx in its place?

also i have this sony HU, internal amp is v good, 4x52w max, two sets of phono outputs for front and rear and a sub pre-out. i am just going to see if i can figure out how to get the unit to power and work without the fascia. i dont want its functionality like bluetooth etc, just to run sound through and pre-amp to amps. ive a spare jvc fascia with some connection so may connect it somehow and leave it to aux in (phonos again) so it switches on to that each time

may need to dig up the thread in the computing section to see if i can figure some of the things out as ive never opened a laptop fully and i bet ive a lot of work ahead of me lol

EDIT: few things i forgot, lol
how much you want for the m2atx?
and yea you can get a usb sound card. good example would be the gigaport version but may be a bit excessive for your needs, it will deliver much better sound quality tho

Right most car batteries run at about 14v anyway and the M2ATX should be able to cope with up to 24v i would imagine.
Just found below link describes it quite simply.
http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_1797.html

You can have the board ill find out how much it would cost to send so ill just send it if its not too much. Only thing that i cant find is the harness that go's onto it but i got sent a massive box of wires and such like so it may be hiding. I would'nt have a clue where to get a harness from.

I have been considering using the aux in on my HU but then this causes problems of powering and such like as the ATX connects to the cars standard DIN power connections i believe even though i havnt tried yet. Will keep you posted.

I am not the only one on here that is doing this but i dont see the others too often but they do pop in every now and then so you wont be alone on the project.