Carputer (pc In My R33)

[bubba]

My screen has a 12v feed and a switched ignition feed.

The little led behind the power button stays on but it hasn't been enough to drain the battery after a week of not being driven.

Samon, I looked into FreeDrive and it kind of implied you had to buy Destinator, so tried to find a distributor in Australia with no luck

[Samon]

Samon, I looked into FreeDrive and it kind of implied you had to buy Destinator, so tried to find a distributor in Australia with no luck

Try installing MapMonkey first... it includes the Destinator SDK http://www.mapmonkey.net/gps-downloads.html

Then you install FreeDrive (IMHO it's better to use...) and it will find that Destinator is already there and just work...

[J3TR33]

i wired my car pc and screen a few days ago, when i start the pc up i get "No video signal" on the screen, but i can hear the computer running

connected my home pc to my screen in the car and it was working fine

connected my monitor to the carpc and it still didnt run

any ideas, could it be the video card?

[kleicl]

might be the vga cable or something like that,,,

[J3TR33]

lol it was really simple,, connected it today again, and it was just a matter of flicking through the different video options, it had video 1, video 2, and then Pc

but i think i wired the speakers wrong, caus everytime i turn off the ignition i get a loud noise from the speakers,,,

[kleicl]

true i got a bit of a problem ov my own too.. hehe well i went to connect everything all up with my home lcd screen to check if every think is working and no computer i wonder if it has fryed it self im gona pull most of the things out and check it...

[Samon]

but i think i wired the speakers wrong, caus everytime i turn off the ignition i get a loud noise from the speakers,,,

Like a loud 'pop' noise? If so it's just your soundcard isn't gracefully disconnecting when it shuts down Not a lot you can do unfortunately except maybe rig up some kinda relay on the amp power trigger wire to switch it off before the soundcard kills the connection...

[J3TR33]

Like a loud 'pop' noise? If so it's just your soundcard isn't gracefully disconnecting when it shuts down Not a lot you can do unfortunately except maybe rig up some kinda relay on the amp power trigger wire to switch it off before the soundcard kills the connection...

i dont think its the sound card, caus the computer doesnt turn off after i take the ignition out, i think its caus i didnt wire the negative to ground, caus the head unit already had another ground wire, im thinking anyway,

i tried installing road runner and all that crap on my home pc,,, but its a fken pain man,,, wish it was easier,,,

[Samon]

i tried installing road runner and all that crap on my home pc,,, but its a fken pain man,,, wish it was easier,,,

Haha yeah it's not the nicest for one-click installation... but it's very customisable. If you just want easy... try Centrafuse or StreetDeck... neither is freeware, but both very good. I went for RR because it was free and because I could tweak it to look and behave exactly how I wanted.

[ducki]

which LCD are you guys using? any problems with it in the car? currently shopping around for the LCD at the moment since I have a laptop lying around.

[Samon]

which LCD are you guys using? any problems with it in the car? currently shopping around for the LCD at the moment since I have a laptop lying around.

I'm using a Xenarc 700TSV... works well for me, and now that it's been molded into the dash surround it looks factory as... looks awesome!

I've had no problems with this screen... but the majority of the guys on mp3car.com use either Xenarc or Lilliput (or one of the eBay clones 'SUPER' brand)

[ducki]

how much did you get it for? from mp3car store or local?

[Samon]

how much did you get it for? from mp3car store or local?

Actually I got it on eBay second-hand (apparently the guy had it in his car and it was written off, so he was taking it out as it wasn't gonna be covered by insurance or something) for IIRC just under $200.

[Bliksem]

Any ideas on how to set up the radio with an in-car pc?

[Samon]

Any ideas on how to set up the radio with an in-car pc?

USB FM Tuner...

I tried a few... an ancient D-LINK one, a Griffin RadioShark (AM/FM), and a cheap no-name SiLabs clone... which was the best of the lot! The D-LINK one just plain sucked, the proprietry software that was required for the RadioShark sucked, but the cheapo worked with the SiliconLabs radio software which was used by RoadRunner. I just removed the built-in antenna and soldered on an external socket to hook up to the cars antenna. Works a treat! Only FM mind you, but pfft! Who listens to AM anyway?

[Bliksem]

Ah very tricky. Im a total n00b at electronis stuff. Looking at the 2din carPC's which seem to involve alot less work

[Samon]

Ah very tricky. Im a total n00b at electronis stuff. Looking at the 2din carPC's which seem to involve alot less work

There's a HQCT (High Quality Compact Tuner?) module available from XTroniC (http://direct.xtronic.be/products/hqct-am-fm-usb-radio.html)... it's not cheap but from discussion on mp3car.com the quality of it was comparable to a decent car head unit...

[ducki]

can you take a pic of your lcd in the sun if you don't mind Samon? I want to know how much glare there is on it.

[Samon]

can you take a pic of your lcd in the sun if you don't mind Samon? I want to know how much glare there is on it.

At the moment, sorry but no. The screen isn't in the car. It's not too bad... certainly not as good as a transflective... but I guess you get what you pay for...

[jrm]

I've been meaning to investigate a product called '3M Vikuiti' which apparently is a stick-on for LCDs to help issues with glare/etc in the sun - something I need desperately for my screen