Computers? Cars?

[thenewkid 10+ year member]

I was recently thinking about getting into car audio and i have plenty of spare computer parts and odds and ends. Would it not only be possible but logical to install a whole computer and a small monitor in a car for cheap? And would it be worth it?

Any ideas apreciated

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[WeDgE 10+ year member]

It's a great idea if you have the resources to do so. The only limit to DIY is your imagination... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[thenewkid 10+ year member]

I just thought of a possible problem to this all. How do you cool a computer in a 100 degree car in the summer? also where can i get a cheap screen that is not to big that will not take up the passanger seat and will not be too expensive?

 

[jtomsic 5,000+ posts]

run more than 1 fan.

 

[Vgs_Hstlr 10+ year member]

me and my buddies were actually talking about this

the other day. it would very likely be possbile. Just

mount the CPU in a ventilated trunk space, back seat,

or in a bed of a truck. Run the wires to a flat screen

screen tv, indash player, or something of equal status

. it'd seem like it would be fairly simple. but theres

alwys lil things to drag you down. I am gona try it this

weekend. you figure if you can hook up a laptop...wut

z to stop you from hookin up a full size comp.

 

[RFIRE15 10+ year member]

http://www.mp3car.com

thats what they are all about... "carputers" //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

good luck

 

[Pete 10+ year member]

The biggest reason I haven't done a computer in a car is because of all the shocks, bumps, and vibrations that the computer would have to endure.

A harddrive spinning at 5400 or 7200 hundred RPM's with reader arms above and below with a tiny tiny gap... some even multiple platters.... makes me think of alot of HD falure issues.

I even thought of a way to mount a small radiator in the front bumper and use liquid cooling for the computer.

If you can come up with a good shock mount then let me know it would be fun.

 

[wags 10+ year member]

Well a possibility is to get a laptop hard drive and get a converter (aren't they designed to handle that kind of abuse?). Another idea is flash memory. It's an idea i've toyed with but I'm not sure how one would go about setting up the computer to run off it as a hard drive. If you used that instead of a hard drive, not only would it be incredibly fuking fast, you could jump ramps with your car and not hurt the computer.

 

[wags 10+ year member]

heh. as far as shock absorption, I have an idea, but cooling the HD is an issue: put the Hd in a completely sealed container and put that inside a larger box filled with a gelatinous liquid suspended by some wires holding it loosely in place (so it doesn't hit the sides of the larger box) so it can move with the car but not so much so it would get messed up.

 

[Pete 10+ year member]

Cooling is easy if you use a watercooling setup (antifreeze type substance instead of water actually) just need to add two holes in the box for an send and return on the water lines and one for the harddrive cable.

 

[thenewkid 10+ year member]

you guys are so worried about the hard drive and i do not see why. have you ever seen the rating on them? http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=101205&ps=ho3 I know this link i long but you will notice that these things are ment to take 65G while operating and 200G when not in operation. I sure as hell hope you can't get that many G in your car.also if you are so worried just store the whole thing on a nice pad of its own that will absorb some of the shock.

 

[cdr 10+ year member]

Another idea is flash memory. It's an idea i've toyed with but I'm not sure how one would go about setting up the computer to run off it as a hard drive. If you used that instead of a hard drive, not only would it be incredibly fuking fast, you could jump ramps with your car and not hurt the computer.

actually flash memory is a bit slower than HDDs over extended transfer, burst times on SOME flash memory is faster but for constant reading and writing a HDD is much better, another thing is that xp takes up over 800mb at least then you have a few gbs of mp3s and movies possibly, thats much more than you can cost effectively fit on flash memory.

 

[nosaj070 10+ year member]

The smart thign to do would be to run linux, its stability and efficiency would benefeit your system greatly i believe.

 

[RFIRE15 10+ year member]

The smart thign to do would be to run linux, its stability and efficiency would benefeit your system greatly i believe.

i really doubt that would make a difference in stabilty.

 

[Casserole 10+ year member]

heh. as far as shock absorption, I have an idea, but cooling the HD is an issue: put the Hd in a completely sealed container and put that inside a larger box filled with a gelatinous liquid suspended by some wires holding it loosely in place (so it doesn't hit the sides of the larger box) so it can move with the car but not so much so it would get messed up.

a HDD also has an air hole. if you look at your HDD very closely you will find a small hole that usually has "DO NOT COVER" somewhere near it. so you would somehow have to make sure that air can get in/out of the hole. otherwise the HDD wont work properly.

you guys are so worried about the hard drive and i do not see why. have you ever seen the rating on them? http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produ...e=101205&ps=ho3 I know this link i long but you will notice that these things are ment to take 65G while operating and 200G when not in operation. I sure as hell hope you can't get that many G in your car.also if you are so worried just store the whole thing on a nice pad of its own that will absorb some of the shock.

a HDD can survive that for 2 ms according to the website. it takes a LITTLE bit longer to turn/accelerate/brake than 2 ms. i dont remember the exact number, but the distance between the head and the platter is VERY VERY small.