Finished Installing Carputer

[tennesseejed]

I have been interested in purchasing a navigation system for some time now, and have more music than any ipod could hold. (about 200gbs) I decided to look into installing a carputer in my new 80. For about half the cost of a new ipod/garmin, I was able to get it done. I am running a program called Streetdeck, allowing me to access my music, gps, videos and dvds... via a 7" touch screen monitor. Also has ability for, XM radio, backup camera, obd2 diagnostics, Internet. I will get to work on these soon enough. Setup was super easy, fused line to a relay that powers both the under the seat laptop and touchscreen. Sound runs through a cable into the back aux input of my head unit. I will get some more pics up soon.

 

[LockedLX]

Very cool, thanks for posting!

The last time I looked at the Lilliput 7" touchscreens they going for around $300. Do you mind sharing what you paid for that one?

I plan on a carputer for the 80 one of these days. A friend sent me this link the other day and got me thinking about it again. Newegg.com - ZOTAC NF630I-F-E LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce 7100 Mini ITX WIFI Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

What are you doing for a case? Did you mount it under the driver's seat?

I just noticed the 200 gigs of music. Is that all in lossless format or what?

 

[tennesseejed]

I paid 160 for the Lilliput. You can find them all day for that on ebay. The system runs of a Dell Latitude X300 laptop. It has a docking station that I mounted under the drivers seat (fits perfect). The laptop pops in and out of the dock. You can also pick up x300's with broken screens for $50 bucks and just leave it put. The music is all full album mp3's on a 250gb external hd. Its pretty cool that Streetdeck also displays all album art.

 

[Bluetribal]

That's pretty sweet! Ok so the Lillyput is just a screen now how do you run your laptop under your seat with it closed? mine goes to sleep and my 17" wide screen laptop probably wouldn't fit too well. And how much is that street deck program or is it a free download?

 

[tennesseejed]

I am running XP. The Lilliput has two cables, one VGA that plugs into the monitor port on your laptop. The other is the USB for the touchscreen interface. keeping your laptop running to the lilliput while the lid is closed is simple. Go to the control panel in your computer. select "Power Options". Click the "Advanced" tab. You will see an option that says "When I close the lid of my computer..." check the box "Do Nothing." Hope this helps. Streetdeck has a trial version for free online. There are many freeware front end programs out there such as (Road Runner) that are comparable to streetdeck but they can get super technical. Streetdeck for me was the best choice. Streetdeck is $99 for the full version.

 

[Land Speeder]

trick setup.
I wonder though, for less than your setup, you could buy a netbook like the Acer Aspire One and have a 9" screened laptop, of course you'd loose the touch screen....
I'm looking to buy the acer or possibly even smaller for my stand to save mega space. These models can be had on ebay for less than $300 if you're patient or walmart for a cool $349.
Still, not as nice as the touch screen though, your setup is slick.

 

[bpassmore]

https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/254136-obd-ii-usb-adapter-software.html

All the better reason to get that adapter....

 

[dnp]

I paid 160 for the Lilliput. You can find them all day for that on ebay. The system runs of a Dell Latitude X300 laptop. It has a docking station that I mounted under the drivers seat (fits perfect). The laptop pops in and out of the dock. You can also pick up x300's with broken screens for $50 bucks and just leave it put. The music is all full album mp3's on a 250gb external hd. Its pretty cool that Streetdeck also displays all album art.

Would you ever run into any problems with shock to the hard drive in the laptop? What about one of the new ASUS Eee PC's or others with solid state drives......maybe I'm just adding cost there. I was just wondering about shock to the system (maybe it wouldn't be any different than a hard drive in an iPod.......) just wondering. Bottom line: this is a V E R Y cool idea! I have to really sit down and think about these types of applications, because they're a bit over my head; however, I REALLY like the idea of having so much new capability in a relatively old vehicle......just seems like a great upgrade to such a (relatively) basic platform!

Thanks for the initial write up.......I'm confident I'll have more questions about this one!

 

[Land Speeder]

My experience with laptops in cars (over a decade) has been no issues with hard drive spin.... but I have had ROM drives skip like the dickens.... CD, DVD, etc... those drives typically do not like bumps... remember the old CD stands from the early nineties that could retro a walkman? They had shock absorbers... those were the days.

 

[Ebag333]

Would you ever run into any problems with shock to the hard drive in the laptop? What about one of the new ASUS Eee PC's or others with solid state drives......maybe I'm just adding cost there. I was just wondering about shock to the system (maybe it wouldn't be any different than a hard drive in an iPod.......) just wondering. Bottom line: this is a V E R Y cool idea! I have to really sit down and think about these types of applications, because they're a bit over my head; however, I REALLY like the idea of having so much new capability in a relatively old vehicle......just seems like a great upgrade to such a (relatively) basic platform!

Thanks for the initial write up.......I'm confident I'll have more questions about this one!

Laptop hard drive won't be a problem. Heck, a regular PC drive won't be a problem.

The new Asus Eee PC's no longer come with solid state drives, they were too slow/expensive.

 

[Land Speeder]

solid state drives have dropped considerably in the last year.... they are the future, I find them less reliable still though.

 

[tennesseejed]

I am a big fan of the touchscreen. If I want Navigation, I simply draw an "N" with my finger and it comes up. I have yet to see any problems with the hard drive and just last night drove over a road that is filled with bumps/holes. One thing that does concern me about the setup is deep water crossing and the CPU being under the seat.

 

[Land Speeder]

I am a big fan of the touchscreen. If I want Navigation, I simply draw an "N" with my finger and it comes up. I have yet to see any problems with the hard drive and just last night drove over a road that is filled with bumps/holes. One thing that does concern me about the setup is deep water crossing and the CPU being under the seat.

I've been thinking of this setup all night since I posted on this thread... I think the best setup would be to somehow get the laptop in the glove box and the touch screen up near or even over the factory clock. Does the x300 fit in the glove box? It might be tight, but would be very trick and out of the way, but also easy to get to.

 

[tennesseejed]

yea i believe you could manage to get it in the glove box. thats not a bad idea. I mounted the screen using one of the factory switch locations right next to the rear defrost.

 

[tennesseejed]

YouTube - Streetdeck Preview

 

[LockedLX]

I am a big fan of the touchscreen. If I want Navigation, I simply draw an "N" with my finger and it comes up.

Now that is cool. Where did you mount the GPS receiver?

 

[tennesseejed]

gps receiver is a usb dongle, but for better reception i bought a 6 ft usb cable and placed it on the dash with the wire hidden.

 

[azrider]

My question is this. I have a macbook laptop with topo software on it of the whole U.S. What do I need to do to make the topo map on the macbook screen link up to a GPS for on the go trail running? I have a Garmin Rino 120 handheld GPS, any way to link that to the laptop?

 

[p8nt]

Very nice! i wonder if theres kit to mount your touchscreen in the double din stereo slot?

 

[lt1fire]

That would be where I would mount mine... but I believe that the one he has would be a little too big.