ON-BOARD PC DVD/NAVIGATION/ more

[WyrreJ]

Originally posted by SpaceTruck'n
OK, Im sorry.
Your right, I’m wrong.
My imagination sucks.

Dude, lighten up! OK? My fellow VX Brother?
Sheesh, I didn’t expect the Spanish Inquisition! I was just joking about driving to Peru and the fish sonar.

I realized the imagination bit would sound harsh when I wrote it, but since it was a reference to something I wrote earlier I figured you might get it. As for lightening up, why do you think I wasn't light to begin with? If you think that you were light to begin with, go read what you wrote from the start, your written tone (rather than your internal voice) wasn't much different from mine. And that's the way the net works when there are only words and no faces.

[valenki]

I spent the day in the garage. Made a bracket for the monitor. It looks cool. The wires are hanging down cause the job isnt finished


What I am really dissapointed about is that there is no space whatsoever behind the glove compartment. My CPU will have to be almost vertical or at 70 deg. angle.

Should I just forget about it and put the cpu under the seat? But then most of my wiring will be too short and cd's will be difficult to get out.



Do you guys think I can fit a 6.5 speakers in the rear? Do I have to get the seat belts off to get the rear side panels to come off?

Also, what is the best place to get the power wire for the ams from the engine compartment inside the cabin? Any ideas for the best route to pull it back ??

I appreciate any imput. Thanks

[VehiX]

Valenki,

Just mount the CPU behind the center console on the floor in the back seat area OR get creative and build a small enclosure for it. Then just route the wires under the center console and carpet.

As for the AMP power wire. run the wire from the battery up along the passenger side quater panel. There is a lip inside the engine bay you can neatly tug the wire under. Take that all the way to the back of the bay and along the fire wall to the driver side. Right about in front of the stearing wheel, there is a small hole with a ribber gasket around the inside. There is PLENTY of room to tuck several wires through there (fog lights etc.) then route it to your components.

[VehiX]

Originally posted by VehiX

[Dallas4u]

You can fit a 6.5 in the rear... you may need to do a bit of cutting on the OE mount, but it will work. I had 6.5 in there, then got stupid and put a 6x9 back there, cutting them up to pieces. Now, I blew one of the 6x9's, and I want the 6.5's back.

[Whaleboy]

Originally posted by valenki
What I am really dissapointed about is that there is no space whatsoever behind the glove compartment. My CPU will have to be almost vertical or at 70 deg. angle.

Should I just forget about it and put the cpu under the seat? But then most of my wiring will be too short and cd's will be difficult to get out.

I'll describe to you my solution. Part of which I implemented, and the other part which I have yet still.

The case I'm using was a generic electronic enclosure I ordered from the UK (was too lazy to get it custom fabricated). I had to chop it down several inches to get it under the seat. This included having to remove the block of foam underneath the carpet directly behind the seat.

Now, because i'm running my pc's desktop at the lcd modules native resolution (840x480), I have the additional space in the enclosure taken up by a radeon using the only PCI slot on the board, and laid out flat alongside the motherboard with a PCI angled riser. A 2.5" HD is mounted directly underneath the radeon card.

After this, no space for the powersupply in the case. The powersupply sits secured underneath the passenger seat, and I made custom ATX extenders for all the cables. They run under the carpet and under the console to the enclosure.

I thought originally there would be enough space to mount a slimline cd drive at the top of the case and clear between just underneath the seat and the hump. But I had to tuck the case so far under the hump, and make it so thin height-wise to clear the brackets that control the seat sliding it quickly eliminated that idea.

So now currently the system has no cd drive. My plan is to upgrade the board to a Epia M1000 with USB 2.0, so I can use an external slotload slimline cd/dvd player and flush mount it into the side of the console using the space thats there now from where the cd changer once was. (currently I just use a 1gig microdrive to transfer data in and out of the car)

So if you mount it under the seat, and you're concerned about cd drive access, you can just go mounting the drive somewhere else in the car.

You can get away with about 5 meters on usb cable with full speed devices. 3 meters with low speed. Anything past this you risk interference, and in a car it's very likely.

For doing an external drive it's that or use Firewire. On Firewire, the distance between each node or hop should not exceed 4.5m and the maximum number of hops in a chain is 16, for a total maximumend-to-end distance of 72m. Cable distance between each node is limited primarily by signal attenuation.

As for the wiring being too short in general, they can all be extended... ATX power cables, keyboard/mouse (go wireless), VGA can do 15 ft and be ok, an NTSC signal won't be a problem either.

hopes this helps dude, good luck!

[Dallas4u]

Nice dude... nice!Oh yeah, any new news on Duke Nukem Forever?

[Virus-VX]

Whaleboy,
Back to our GPS software discussion. Just FYI if you still interested in MS MapPoint. I recently found AGPS (Advance GPS) add-in component for Microsoft MapPont 2001/2002 and this particular component makes MapPoint to be a real navigation software with all navi features and GPS capabilities as DeLorme and Co-Pilot has (I think so, but I cannot say that I'm 100% sure). I did not have a chance to test it, but based on features description and tech. documentation I can assume so. Will probably test it this weekend to see how it works.

You can download most recent version from TechGT dedicated web site. Only all further upgrades and tech. support will require official registration with a nominal fee ~ $10

http://www.techgt.com/agps/ (see software screenshots for details)

PS: I think that component is also comparable with Microsoft Streets and Trips.

[transVXmen]

Listen Y'all I think what you guys are doing is pretty cool!!!...but I think I can do one better!!!!....I'm currently putting together on a project that will make alot of this a bit simpler and alot more powerful!!!!.....I have XBOX gurus working on a modified XBOX that can work as a all around entertainment system (including GPS) to work with a in dash LCD monitor!!!...this system can store about a terabyte of information....yes I said a TERABYTE!!!
It will store and play all your MP3s, alot of movies, photos, all your XBOX games and other things right now we can't discuss as of yet....hopefully we will have a prototype by first week of November...If anyone is interested ..please look at xbox-scene.com for now and stay posted cus it's going to be BIG!!! ...and yes I will be putting together this in my VX hopefully pretty soon, as soon as we get the interface and hardware to work to it's maximum potential!!!

[Virus-VX]

Originally posted by valenki
.... I appreciate any imput. Thanks

valenki,
You are doing great job! Keep posting your project update!
I think you have to contact this guy (see links below). He is from my Jeep forum and I'm sure he would gladly answer on all of your questions. He implemented the same idea as yours in his Jeep Wrangler.


http://jeep.efreestylin.com/ComputerInfo.html

http://jeep.efreestylin.com/AudioMods.php


PS: Check that out ->
http://www.via.com.tw/en/VInternet/carpc.jsp
http://www.divx-car.com/galcyber.htm
http://www.mediaengine.org/index.php...ults=5&start=1
http://www.letscommunicate.co.uk/carpc/

[Whaleboy]

Virus, apparently Copilot 2004 will support the ability to use any GPS unit with their software - so I'm probably gonna wait for that. Thanks for all the info though. I should try Mappoint anyways.

valenki, also of note. If you're installing your system with the HD laying horizontal you may run a possible risk of ruining the drive. This depends on what your shock rating is on the drive you're using. If it's a 3.5", it's most likely pretty low (bad).

Thats why I went with a 2.5" laptop HD - I was really concerned the VX was just way to bumpy to handle a normal desktop HD. However I know plenty of people that have managed to run a 3.5" in their car for a year successfully. But our VX doesn't exactly have a smooth suspension.

If you ARE using a 3.5", your best bet is to mount the drive vertically as the heads sit directly above the platter. The majority of shock comes from vertical force. So keeping the heads horizontal from the platter is in your best interest.

I'm not sure if you're using an aftermarket radio? They do make a RCA adapter that plugs into the cd-changer plug for aux in. It was about $70's last time I checked though. It appears I have lost the link to this, if you need it I can dig it up.

Since you are using an inverter, you may possibly introduce whine into your audio system from the PC. You'll know it when the time comes. I ran into this problem a long time ago when I put a PC into my Rodeo a few years back, and I used an inverter on that install.

There's two ways to get rid of it, either may or may not work. You can try grounding the PC chassis to the car (this worked for me), or buy a ground loop isolater.

I noticed that jeep user is using an OPUS powersupply, what I originally recommended.

Any other questions you have, feel free to ask - as my install has run pretty well for quite sometime I've been thru just about all the troubles of gettin' it installed.

Dallas, thanks dude..! No news right now, we're cranking pretty hard over here... Though we just had Max Payne 2 go gold, so there's something new out the door...

You're gonna buy a copy right?

[Virus-VX]

Originally posted by WyrreJ

.... Connect to your OBDII port and get all kinds of life and logged status info from your car and potentially tweak engine and other car parameters on the fly
..

http://www.scienceofspeed.com/produc...efault_sub.asp

It's not really an OBDII Dx. tool but will show you in real-time all data as you described.

[valenki]

can I get some directions on removing the rear panels to access the rear speakers. I will do it tommorow and I am trying not to break any clips or parts...any ideas? were the clips are located so I can heat them whould be helpfull as well. Do I have to remove the seatbelts? Rear seat?

[valenki]

But I have now another problem. I hooked up the the sound system. I have a mini stereo out of the pc going into rca wires. they are going into the equalizer/crossover then I have 2 pairs of rca wires going into amps and then speakers.

The problem is that the sound level coming from the pc and equalizer is very low. I tried playng with the switches on the amps and volume controlls in the computer, but that didnt help. I tried using extension from AC insted of the inverter for the computer and that didnt help. I tried running the wires straight from the the PC to the amps and that didnt help either ????

People please in you have any ideas give me some help, because this project will kill me if id doesnt work.......

[WyrreJ]

Sounds like your computer is outputing a lower voltage level than the rest of the equipment is looking for. I don't know what voltage levels are normal for car audio, but home audio tends to run with a peak output voltage in the 1.2V area, but sound cards often don't go that high, some go to 1.0V, some even less.

For home equipment the solution is to use a pre-amp that will let you boost the voltage. I'm sure something like that exists for car audio, but I don't know enough about it to name one.