THE COMPUTER
The Carputer components include a mini-itx motherboard, 512 mb of RAM, a 20gb (soon to be upgraded to 80 gb) hard drive, and a DVD +/- RW drive as the core of the system.
My original intention was to make a custom case out of a gutted XBOX case but I scrapped that idea when I could not fit everything I wanted in there. My main obstacle when using the XBOX case was the fact that I could not find a low profile memory and as such my DVD+/-RW drive would not fit in the case. I later found this case on ebay and I modified it to use a DC mini itx power supply.
This project is almost 4 years in the making and has gone throught various changes and 3 vehicles over the years.
My first configuration consisted of a Baby AT tower with a 233 MHz PII and a 8gb hard drive. It has now progressed to this.
The basic building of the computer is basically the same as building a regular computer despite the fact that the system is a whole lot more compact For this reason I did not take that many pictures . However here are a few and if anyone wants more details, I'll be more than happy to help. Just post your questions in my guestbook and I'll try to answer as soon as possible.
Software wise the core is still the same but upgrades are numerous. Basically I have just copied an image of my old hard drive to newer ones over the years. The operating system has been upgraded from Windows 98 to Win ME and on to XP home ed. and now XP Pro. New programs have also been added and these will be discussed in detail in the hardware and software section.
GPS
My old GPS reciever
There is no reason to have a carputer and not include gps so I added a gps reciever for navigational purposes. For my application I decided to go with the delorme Earthmate GPS reciever and Street Atlas USA Deluxe. Later I realised that the serial GPS reciever was a little too slow for me . This is because it took a bit longer to acquire satelites and give me a fix when I first started the application and it was a little too slow when I was cruising at highway speeds so I ended up missing turns sometimes. About 3 months ago I upgrade to the usb version which is self powered as well as smaller and faster than it's serial sibling. I'm happier with my navigation program now even though the opinion of my friends at MP3Car.com is that there are better software out there.
Page 1: Overview
Page 2: The Computer
Page 3: Video
Page 4: Audio
Page 5: Hardware and Software
Page 6: The Truck
Page 7: My Other Projects
Page 8: Picture Gallery
Page 9: Picture Gallery II
Do you like what I have done so far?
Please sign my guestbook and tell me what you think. All comments are appreciated.
