Stilo Car PC ICE'd up...

[mzhussein]

Probably about time i put this in the ICE section, only been about 2 years in the making lol

ook here are a few snaps of my setup, its a custom built car PC linked to some nice sounds:

this is what you see when your driving along...

This is the home screen...

Music menu...

Video playing (can do full screen whilst moving!), deathrace, not a bad film...

The nav screen, from cold takes 19 seconds to start pc into nav and get a fix! id like to see ANY tomtom, garmin etc etc beat that!

Funky visualizations in full screen to have on when you dont want to be distracted by the buttons...

This is the brains of it in the lower glovebox....

The knob is a griffin powermate, does volume, push to mute, push and twist to scroll....the light changes intensity with volume

This is what its all linked to...

A few specs (off the top of my head, but should be correct):

PC
- AMD athlon x64 3.2Ghz
- 1GB DDR2 133RAM
- 250GB 2.5" HDD
- Creative soundblaster audigy sound-card (soon to be replaced by an ASUS xonar DG, because it has toslink output)
- GPS module..
- Bluetooth module
- DAB/FM tuner from craigbrass (google)
- 8" resistive touchscreen in custom made bezel

Sounds:
- Vibe Delta box
- Vibe Space box stereo 4
- JBL 14001
- Vibe space 12 subwoofer (D2 wired as 4ohms)
- Diamond audio s600 Hex components up front
- Alpine type-r read coaxial for fill

coming soon:
Toslink optical audio from PC to a DAC in the boot to give pure digital transmission of sound to get rid of the last of the remaining interferance...

let me know your opinions!

 

[Tipo4]

Want my opinion... Freakin' awesome!

Love the boot. Nice, very clean job done mate

As for the front, wow! Very nice. Love it

 

[volxstu]

Yep that is certainly looking good. Let us know how the whole Line out and DAC go's. Do you have any processor software in mind so you can use the computer as an Active x-over, graphic equaliser and even get some channels for time alignment?

 

[ChrisUK]

That's cool, I will say however my Android phone (HTC Desire) can boot from cold load Sygic Aura(Nav Software) and get a fix in less than 19 seconds .

It is impressive though. What software is that? .

 

[mzhussein]

no it cant...if so i need proof! lots of my friends have the desire and the HD...they cant

its not the software that makes it quick, its the hardware, the GPS dongle has a super fast TTFF (Time to first fix)...the software I'm using is called destinator REALLY big in the states....this is while i wait for flux media (who produce centrafuse) to release up-to-date maps for there embedded nav engine (which is quite snazzy, just old maps )

 

[ChrisUK]

Mines got custom rom (loosly based on "Leedroid"), kernel (dynamic OC to 1.25ghz) amongst other tweaks to ram allocation & boot loader. I'm a linux nerd in disguise as a Windows Server engineer .

That PC is impressive I love the idea of a TOS-link out from the PC to a dedicated DAC. I keep meaning to build one but keep pining over buying a new car , Also in my mk2b punto I'd have to remove the centre vents which would be a nightmare in the summer! .

 

[volxstu]

If your a linux bod in disguise do you fancy pimping up my N900? if you fancy it you can clock it all you want, if you brick it then no worries lol im due an upgrade.

Whilst we do have a thread for people in the know does anybody think you could clock and mod an n900 enough to use as a car pc?

 

[mzhussein]

N900 is only running on 600 MHz...the norm for high power smart phones atm is the 1GHz snapdragon...my Car PC is running at 3.2GHz...i dont think the n900 would cut it...

i dont see how an overclock on the processor or an alteration to RAM allocation would increase TTFF, because the GPS module is seperately embedded on the snapdragon (and also the same chip in my HTC HD2)...still impressive OC tho! and oubly impressive if it really does have such a low TTFF....the one in my car is an SIRF III based module

Build one you wont regret it....and also its lonley being the only person with a PC lol

the asus xonar card arrived today! will be getting fitted at the same time as the wheels and ill have true optical sound

 

[volxstu]

I know the N900 can be overclocked/kernal to 1ghz and then the meego software i believe can be geared towards in car entertainment. Then it would need a better DAC but god knows how you would do that possibly dismantling a zune player?
You wouldnt need to power it down because it can just sit on the battery in the boot. Ive had no problems with my ipod being perm live on the front battery. That way i could always leave navigation app open and have well 0 TTFF.

Then touch screen would be a problem but i dont think would be impossible. There are things available for linux but whether that would work on maemo 5 i dont know.

 

[danhans115]

Most decent mobiles use AGPS which uses the cell network to know where abouts in the world you are approximately, this is then tied up with date/time to know exactly which GPS satellites are overhead and achieve a quick position fix.

You would need to see if there is a similar program to do this for your setup, although then you would need to add 3G data/3GPS to make it work with any software.

 

[mzhussein]

i dont need to worry about AGPS, i get a fix in under 20 seconds with my current setup...although when i bought my HD2 i did read up allot about it, its impressive stuff!....side note as soon as i plug my phone into my pc, i have internet connection! (unlimited data plan)

 

[smokeyjoe03]

Be careful with that, read up on your fair usage policy, had a few friends trying to use similar set-ups on laptops and have been stung. (IIRC both were on Orange)

As for the PC. Thats some pretty neat fabrication right there.

 

[mzhussein]

I'm on t-mobile...its fairly low bandwidth consumption just browsing, don't do any serious downloading in the car, and i believe the fair usage cap is at 5GB p/m....my brother uses his HD2 all the time as his main modem, he doesn't do anything like torrents, but does do iplayer and 4OD nd stuff like that and has been fine for a year or so....luck of the draw i suppose....and thanks, its taken allot of work.