Carputer 101

[bibby 5,000+ posts]

The board i have has 3 pci slots. one will be for wireless, and one for the sound card, and one for something else. i always forget.

 

[Megalomaniac 5,000+ posts]

im thinkin about relocatimg my carputer to the trunk. so i dont hear the fans moving. what does everyone use to extend their dvd rom? just an external usb case?

 

[pwnt by pat 10+ year member]

Since my itx board is too big to fit in the dash (stock double din with a very large cubby hole), I will be doing a notebook to ide then ide to usb adapter to the back.

 

[Red GTi VR6 10+ year member]

Anyone want to chime in here?

remember. Anything that comes into the deck will be spit out of the deck.

If the quality going in isn't very good, then the deck can't exactly improve it.

 

[Red GTi VR6 10+ year member]

What's up!?

Sup Red, glad to see someone else from mp3car on here.

btw, this is Quattro

 

[Red GTi VR6 10+ year member]

Also, you'll be hard pressed to find an ITX motherboard (really small one) with optical out onboard. You could use a large motherboard but that takes extra power. A soundcard drop in can have the optical digital output for interfacing with external processing.

there are a few that have optical outs, and a few of those that have the chipsets that will allow you to run bit perfect from the onboard sound.

 

[Red GTi VR6 10+ year member]

im thinkin about relocatimg my carputer to the trunk. so i dont hear the fans moving. what does everyone use to extend their dvd rom? just an external usb case?

yes, IDE cables won't work that far. too much resistance.

 

[Red GTi VR6 10+ year member]

I would say to 100% always run a HU in addition to a carputer. I have messed with 3 carputer installs lately and all of them did not sound right unless hooked up with a HU. At least I couldn't get them right.

really? I'll have to disagree completely.

IMO, it will take too much money to make a carputer sound like a HU can, as far as processing and all. Not saying it can't be done, as it easily can, but it is hard.

again, I'll disagree.

if you're talking about a $200 hu, then sure. If you're talking about a high end head unit, then I don't think so.

 

[Smitherines]

So are carputers really the way to go? I'm not into competiton, and I'm using Omnifi right now which I guess is the same thing as a car PC, but is the sound that bad with onboard sound?

Also, I dont have an amp or anything, so would the signal coming in from the AUX input on my deck be amplified too?

 

[Megalomaniac 5,000+ posts]

i love my carpc //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

im using onboard sound, its not terrible. but a new soundcard wouldnt hurt //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[Smitherines]

What about my amp question? Ive got the larger boards, so Im gonna fab something up with that, but I've gotta get a better battery/higher output alternator cause my lights dim and whatnot as it is, and Im sure it wont be happy with a PC running off of it.

What front end do you use? I have iGuidance 3.0, but isnt that just a GPS program?

Also not sure if I should get a motorized LCD or mold one in, Ive got a double DIN opening with alot of space behind, but my 1g DSM config is a lil weird, especially with the stick right there, Ill take a pic tomorrow.

 

[Megalomaniac 5,000+ posts]

the amp question: what ever sound your deck can produce it will produce it(i dont know if i worded that correctly) but as long as u have ur volume on the computer set to a reasonable "loudness" u should hear it fine. if u want try hookin up your(if u have one) laptop or another computer to the aux and see how it sounds.

im usin centrafuse 1.5

iGuidance 3 is just GPS software

 

[Red GTi VR6 10+ year member]

I use streetdeck.

regarding sound, the onboard is deffinately not the way to go. If you're just feeding it into an aux in, it's ok, but still not all that great.

a sound card can be had for cheap though, so it's not that big of a deal.

 

[spikehairboy 10+ year member]

so you guys are really into car pc's eh? im really interested in starting on one for my integra and then using it to log engine stats and basically control the computer..

you guys thought of the spare tire well as a nice place for a bigger car pc? yes i know ide have much resistance over distance but why not something like a sata to ide. i should think sata has less resistance..

also have u guys heard much about hspda? cingular has it on some newer phones ie. black jack, sam sung sync. gets abou 3.6 mb/sec. connect is via usb / 20 a month! nice right? how about blue toothing the pc to your phone? or voice over ip? anything like that?

lol i just got done reading from page one to now.. lol

 

[Megalomaniac 5,000+ posts]

sparewheel has been done by a lot of people. seems cool. i just was fortunate enough to have the space behind the dash. i may relocate everything to the trunk so i dont hear the fan noises.

i dont know much about the sata ide thing. i believe sata was just created to use smaller cables lol

I have the tmobile data plan which is $20 while the Cingular is $40 not 20. I havenet tried tethering yet, but i may soon.