Car Computer Worklog (pics)

[Digitalwave]

When you were explaining this concept to me it sounded really cool, but I think that screen looks kind of rediculous hanging there like that. And that is something that everyone is going to see, when driving down the road, when the car is parked, etc.

It just sort of reminds me of this wigger at my school that tacked a 7" screen using a mounting bracket smack on the top of his dashboard. It looks ghetto fab.

And entirely out of place on a 1984 car with that is going for the old school style with Alpinas and an M-tech I kit.

[Kruzen]

get a BT keyboard and mouse hooked up to that shizzle, james.

bt keyboard i can understand, but its a touchscreen lcd yo

[hamann318is]

And entirely out of place on a 1984 car with that is going for the old school style with Alpinas and an M-tech I kit.

Commodore 64s have no place in E30s. ;)

The coolness factor of that outweighs any issues I have with mounting.

[Rob]

I know a kid who put an OG NES in his civic hatch, so much cooler than a damn PS2

[Mystikal]

I know a kid who put an OG NES in his civic hatch, so much cooler than a damn PS2

Haha, there's a Corolla running around here (in shows even) with an NES in the back.

[James Crivellone]

When you were explaining this concept to me it sounded really cool, but I think that screen looks kind of rediculous hanging there like that. And that is something that everyone is going to see, when driving down the road, when the car is parked, etc.

It just sort of reminds me of this wigger at my school that tacked a 7" screen using a mounting bracket smack on the top of his dashboard. It looks ghetto fab.

And entirely out of place on a 1984 car with that is going for the old school style with Alpinas and an M-tech I kit.

it designed only for function, it allows me to hide the screen in the glovebox when I park, so its unseen.

I agree it looks out of place, however, function over form, its not going to be out hen the car is shown off...

[Kruzen]

When you were explaining this concept to me it sounded really cool, but I think that screen looks kind of rediculous hanging there like that. And that is something that everyone is going to see, when driving down the road, when the car is parked, etc.

It just sort of reminds me of this wigger at my school that tacked a 7" screen using a mounting bracket smack on the top of his dashboard. It looks ghetto fab.

And entirely out of place on a 1984 car with that is going for the old school style with Alpinas and an M-tech I kit.

it designed only for function, it allows me to hide the screen in the glovebox when I park, so its unseen.

I agree it looks out of place, however, function over form, its not going to be out hen the car is shown off...

did you drill holes in your dash again though?

[James Crivellone]

When you were explaining this concept to me it sounded really cool, but I think that screen looks kind of rediculous hanging there like that. And that is something that everyone is going to see, when driving down the road, when the car is parked, etc.

It just sort of reminds me of this wigger at my school that tacked a 7" screen using a mounting bracket smack on the top of his dashboard. It looks ghetto fab.

And entirely out of place on a 1984 car with that is going for the old school style with Alpinas and an M-tech I kit.

it designed only for function, it allows me to hide the screen in the glovebox when I park, so its unseen.

I agree it looks out of place, however, function over form, its not going to be out hen the car is shown off...

did you drill holes in your dash again though?

Yes, its not like they cost much are hard to replace......hell it already has 3 holes in the top and several cracks

[James Crivellone]

understandable...
but after all the work you are planning on doing to the white car (this is in the white car?) do you really want a tacked on looking screen?

Sorry, that sounded harsh, but i think there must be some sort of better way to mount it.
cool project regardless.

Still trying to figure out a way, my dash needs replacing anyway due to cracks, so this is a great time for me to experiment with it.

This is the white car, I wanted to use it daily and design the interface around my needs =)


not all projects look great when they are first installed :)

[Spaz]

understandable...
but after all the work you are planning on doing to the white car (this is in the white car?) do you really want a tacked on looking screen?

Sorry, that sounded harsh, but i think there must be some sort of better way to mount it.
cool project regardless.

not all projects look great when they are first installed :)

ding!

[808BMW]

If you don't mind me asking, how much was the computer to put together? Dimensions?

Where will it be mounted? Cooling issues in that spot? Vibration resistance?


I've always thought about running a computer in my car, but the only way I would do it is if it would fit in my spare tire, must handle heat (with whatever cooling options I have) and be very vibration resistant (sub is about 1 foot away).

[spencers]

James, I say you ought to mount the screen in the dash where the front ash tray is.

Then come up with a little sliding door thing that will cover up the screen when not in use. Kinda like a garage door, that goes up or down. :D

[Bryson]

damn, you beat me to it! Good job, I don't mind the location, as long as you clean up the install (mainly the base where it connects to the dash)
I was thinking about putting the screen in the ash tray area, and the computer behind the passenger seat as I don't have a backseat anymore due to the rollbar. I'm also looking into water cooling with a radiator outside the car for any cooling issues.

[James Crivellone]

James, I say you ought to mount the screen in the dash where the front ash tray is.

Then come up with a little sliding door thing that will cover up the screen when not in use. Kinda like a garage door, that goes up or down. :D

On my way to work I was thinking about that, however the shifter will kinda limit access to the lower right hand portion of the screen, unless I get an even shorter shift lever.

Its still up in the air, right now is the actual testing of the technology, then I will figure out how to integrate everything to look as factory as possible (well as much as it can for an 80's car)

[James Crivellone]

If you don't mind me asking, how much was the computer to put together? Dimensions?

Where will it be mounted? Cooling issues in that spot? Vibration resistance?


I've always thought about running a computer in my car, but the only way I would do it is if it would fit in my spare tire, must handle heat (with whatever cooling options I have) and be very vibration resistant (sub is about 1 foot away).

I was originally going to run a Mobile Athlon 2500+, 512mb of ram, and 2 120gb hd's in raid 1, however I picked up this dell for like 40 bucks (may of been 50)

The current specs are a Pentium III 450, 512mb ram, 30GB hd, onboard vga, onboard lan, onboard audio, 802.11g wireless card, USB 2.0 Card, etc.

I had 256mb of that ram, the hd, the 802.11g card, and the usb2.0 card already though.

the screen was 239.99 through a group buy.

I plan on mounting the comptuer to the rear trunk wall, which should keep it nice and secure, as its a lower end p3 it already has a very large heatsink with fan on it, so it stays very cool, even pilled under my coat behind my seat......

In terms of Subs, I am still debating, i'm not a big bass guy, so I will probably not have a sub, also keep in mind that most subs are unshileded, which will just destroy whatever data you thought you had on that HD.

Dimensions, well its a Dell Optiplex GX1, has no floppy or cdrom, and the case is basically as big as the mobo, from the pic I posted behind the seat you can kinda get ideas on its size