Carputer advice

[DangerMouse]

Has anyone installed a carputer in a fabia with a dash mounted / indash touch screen, per chance? If so can you post here or PM me as I could do with a couple of questions answering

[Jimb0]

ive not done it in a fabia, but ive done it in my old car, its the same principles i guess. whats up?

[DangerMouse]

I've got a number of questions (well, I will do when I think of them all), mostly along the lines of where on earth to put the thing, and how people have hooked up to the standard head unit (or whether they hooked up some other way - perhaps FM Modulator or replacement HU, etc)....

Any hints and tips much appreciated, etc

[ColinD]

An article I wrote a while back...The concluding comment says it all, most of this area is reading or thinking about it.

http://www.briskoda.net/cms/BRISKODA...ding_a_Car_PC/

One thing I will add, I was planning to mae it carputer and nothing else. I have revised that as a HU is vital for a single reason. Intuitive control, a touch screen offers no touch/feel of location, forcing one to look at it. I have mine high up and it's still hard to use easily, the HU is still easier to use. That said it's benefits over a journey do add up quite well

[DangerMouse]

Thanks Colin. I'd already read that article actually (some people actually *do* use Search ) and I've got myself a couple of books too, it's more Fabia/Skoda specific stuff that I'm a tiny bit stuck on because I don't know the first thing about cars and car electrics no matter how much I read and re-read the relevant sections in the books. I'm pretty sorted on the computer side of things though, fortunately. I've even got my build of Windows all sorted, tested and ready for transferring to disk

Space for the PC looks to be the biggest problem in the fabia at the moment. I might have to go the laptop route and mount it against the rear wheel arch in the boot or something.... Anyone else got any ideas?

Alternatively I did see an attachment that went under the parcel shelf and made a sort of extra storage space, ideal for keeping a PC out of the way without taking up too much of the boot - does anyone know what I'm talking about or did I totally imagine it? I think I saw it on a Czech skoda parts/accessory website...


Steve/DM

[Jimb0]

Personally when i had my incar pc, i just had the mini-itx, 7" lilliput touchscreen, power stuff inc. inverter, keyboard and GPS reciever.

All running off the cig lighter socket. I found the touchscreen was good, but it does take a while to get to used to touching in exactly the right place. Will take a good few mins to set up each journey for satnav.

The only thing i'd use the HU for was having an AUX input from the pc so you can hear the direction commands.



One thing i found, its best to mount the screen a fair bit below your eyeline, because using it at night really puts you off looking at the road ahead.

[DangerMouse]

Originally Posted by Jimb0

Personally when i had my incar pc, i just had the mini-itx, 7" lilliput touchscreen, power stuff inc. inverter, keyboard and GPS reciever.

All running off the cig lighter socket. I found the touchscreen was good, but it does take a while to get to used to touching in exactly the right place. Will take a good few mins to set up each journey for satnav.

Problem with that in the Fabia is that the cig lighter socket is unswitched, so i'd have to remember to unplug the lighter plug thingy so that stuff didn't drain my battery, and it would also prevent "auto-on" sort of things. I'm going to have mine wired (im going to pay a pro rather than risking setting fire to the car through my own dodgy wiring!) onto a switched supply so that it only goes on when I've stick the key in and turned it, will power on and off automatically (or thats the plan anyway )

The only thing i'd use the HU for was having an AUX input from the pc so you can hear the direction commands.



One thing i found, its best to mount the screen a fair bit below your eyeline, because using it at night really puts you off looking at the road ahead.

I'm planning on using mine for MP3s and dvds besides satnav, so I need it to have at least 'FM radio quality' audio, otherwise i'll get annoyed with it

As for the screen being off putting, I'll be using 'nighttime' skins for my front end and satnav apps, so it'll be much more tollerable when driving. I've already got my Road Angel flashing away distracting me with silly speeds during the night anyway - no need to add an extra distraction

[helpmedisappear]

Ive been thinking about a carputer for some time myself now. Ive done alot of reading into it aswell. I think the best idea would be to buy a din sized slide out screen so it doesnt look cluttered and put it under the stereo in that little cubby hole. The PC itself would either have to go in the glovebox or in the cubby hole under the passenger seat or in the boot. Im hoping that its going to fit under the passenger seat though.

[DangerMouse]

Originally Posted by helpmedisappear

Ive been thinking about a carputer for some time myself now. Ive done alot of reading into it aswell. I think the best idea would be to buy a din sized slide out screen so it doesnt look cluttered and put it under the stereo in that little cubby hole. The PC itself would either have to go in the glovebox or in the cubby hole under the passenger seat or in the boot. Im hoping that its going to fit under the passenger seat though.

Yep, I've seen a few 1DIN motorised touchscreens on ebay for around 162 (+ P&P) - so it's a safe enough bet that you can get them for under 250 all in without any major problems. I was actually wondering whether there's any way to mount something under the drivers seat - after all, I don't need to adjust the height anymore now i've got it comfortable, and it would be much better from a wiring point of view... Anyone done that??

[DangerMouse]

This is the parcel shelf thing I was talking about... Anyone seen it before / got one / know where they can be got in the UK?



From www.skoda-shop.cz

[ncarring]

OK so obviously a "carputer" is a computer in the car, but why?

[DangerMouse]

Originally Posted by ncarring

OK so obviously a "carputer" is a computer in the car, but why?

Think of the possibilities... Satnav is the main thing, but also you could have all your DVDs, MP3s, etc you could have little bullet cams as a security setup in the car, taking a picture and uploading it to the net every time the engine starts... you could have vag com or similar connected all the time, check your emails or browse briskoda in traffic, have handsfree calling all built in etc etc

Oooh, I get excited just thinking about it!

Im such a geek

[Mort]

Originally Posted by DangerMouse

This is the parcel shelf thing I was talking about... Anyone seen it before / got one / know where they can be got in the UK?



From www.skoda-shop.cz

I'm sure SEAT do something similar for the Ibiza. Might be worth looking at just in case?


Got my carputer all worked out; where, how, what etc.. I just need to find somewhere in the UK that sells the Xenarc TSV touchscreen. As I've decided the screen will be the most important part and that is really the best screen you can get. It just seems to only be sold in the US. Importing is far too expensive.

Need to see some pics of all these installations

[MeatballTurbo]

If you are still looking, try CarTFT
Europe based. No extra duty to pay.
Quick, helpful advice if you ask anything, and delivery between 1 and 3 days if it is in stock

I started bonding the front cover of an SP7 monitor into the lower console of a Celica. I've sold the car since, and was thinking, when the Saab goes, get a Felicia and get back into it. So i enquired about a new case for the SP7.
Was told soemthig like euro19 and fixed rate postage no matter how many I order, so I might order 2. one for the next mod project and one to put it back together after.

for an idea of specs, I'm going to use (I have everythig bar the lappy 100gig drive).
an Epia Nehemiah M10k
an Opus 150watt
a laptop slot load DVD/CDRW with adapter
a 100gig Laptop Hdd with adaptor (20gi for test installs).
a net gear PCI wifi card and Aver studio PCI tv/FM card for radio on a right angle adaptor
a USB GPS dongle.
a USB bluetooth dongle for handsfree and a decent microphone probably embedded in the B pillar trim.
USB mini keyboard hidden
SP7 touchscreen bonded in where the vents used to be and small scrappy vents fitted instead either side of it with a reshaped dash top.
No headunit.
halfway decent 4 channel amp and small stereo amp to try to simulate 5.1 surround.

Software is a combo of
PhoneCTRL
Centrafuse
Destinator 3
Mapmonkey (to do it my way needs the monkey)
Radiator

[DangerMouse]

I've realised I'm not using my laptop anywhere near enough since I got it (and it's a powerful old thing, so I have started to develop a cunning plan to use that... I'll keep everyone posted when I've got it all up and running