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#1 2008-12-10 18:30:08

synthead
Member
Registered: 2006-05-09
Posts: 1,337

Going to install a PC with Arch in my car!

In my Miata, the center console has a single hole that usually holds a standard-sized radio and a junk holder.  When you take them both out, walla, the perfect size and place for a touchscreen!  So I'm going to put a display right on my console and install a computer in my trunk.  So here's how it's gonna go.

I'm buying speakers right now, a pair of Infinity 6020cs's.  I'm psyched because I didn't even know that sound quality could be this high with a brand name this reputable with a price this low!  AMAZING sound!  They come as a speaker/tweeder set with a crossover and I found it online for $70 (as compared to Best Buy's $191).  Anyway, speakers.  I'm also going to have a 12" Rockford Fosgate HE2 subwoofer in the trunk, housed by a box I'm going to build.  If I don't build a custom box that works around every corner I can, I won't be able to hold the things I would usually be able to fit in my trunk anymore, you know, like a box of pencils, a t-shirt, a pack of CD-Rs (but that's pushing it).  But not at the same time.  You know.  It's a Miata.

Sorry, I'm excited.  Point in saying this: I'm going to buy an M-Audio sound card for crisp audio and I want to use software EQs for everything.  Actually, if I can, I would love to skip the crossover the 6020cs's come with altogether, and since there are only two door speakers in a Miata, run the tweeders off the third and fourth channels of an amp.  This way, I can EQ out the lows to my sub, EQ the mids to my 6 1/2"s, and EQ the extreme highs to my tweeders.  So it would be a five-channel system, cause the sub would be mono.  Is there a way I can tune my sound like this directly with ALSA?  I would really like all my sound to be tuned the way I want it to without relying on a single piece of software, for example, the VLC equalizer.  I want to hear my audio EQed out the same all the time regardless of using VLC or if I popped open firefox and watched a YouTube video.  How can I do this?

My plan for power management would go like this.  Okay, so I start my car.  My computer comes out of hibernate and resumes any audio or what not that was going on.  Then I park it and get out.  My computer will still be running for about 10 minutes with the music automatically paused.  After 10 minutes, it'll go inter hibernate again, but if I hop in my car and start it, it'll resume the audio's playback.  The audio equipment will be turned off via the +12V accessory wire from my ignition, so only my computer will be running at this point.  Hell, I could even have the display turn off too.  But this brings me to a question.  Is there some software I could use that would run commands based of inputs from a serial port or something?  For example, the accessory lead drops the +12V signal, now I want it to wait 10 minutes.  I could run the +12V into a relay that trips pins on a serial port and x software could run a script that waits for ten minutes, and when the relay is activated again, a script executes that kills that script.  Or maybe even the other way around where the software would trip relays through the serial port, you know, to turn the sub on and off or something of that nature.  Does something like this exist?

My idea for HID is to utilize bluetooth.  I want to keep a portable keyboard (and mouse too, sometimes a touchscreen doesn't do what you want) in my glove box.  I don't want to use any console space for a keyboard.  Although, it would be very nice to have an on-screen keyboard when I need to do something quickly.  As for volume, track skip, etc, I'm going to use a touchscreen with buttons on the frame that'll respond to doing things like a stereo would.  I really don't want to have to fidget with software while I'm driving.  The screen will probably be very similar to this one.  I'm still deciding on brands.  Have any of you guys put a display in your car and have one to recommend?  I'm worried about buying a display without actually seeing it.  I don't want something that won't go dimmer than blindingly bright or something where the color looks like junk.  I'll look more on mp3car.com for this too.

I'm going to be able to stay online with my car too.  I plan on tethering my computer to my cell phone - it has 3G and the data moves pretty quick.  At home, I want to set up a file server that I can stream my music archive from (and download from when I know I'm going out-of-range).  I'll also have a wifi card in my car so when I park it in my driveway, I can get on my computer and administrate the PC.  I'm also fooling around with the idea of the computer acting as a remote-start and a security system, but that's for later.

So blah blah blah ... is there any good music player software that would work good in a car like this?  What would you recommend for a GPS solution?

Ongoing project cost (as of December 15, 2008):

$85 - Intel D945GCLF2
$13 - Kingston KVR667D2N5/512 (512MB DDR2 RAM)

Total: $98

Last edited by synthead (2008-12-15 10:10:30)

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#2 2008-12-10 18:36:00

rson451
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From: Annapolis, MD USA
Registered: 2007-04-15
Posts: 1,233
Website

Re: Going to install a PC with Arch in my car!

You'll want to use a sound server like Pulse if you want everything EQ'd.  Good luck with everything and remember PICS OR IT DIDN'T HAPPEN.


archlinux - please read this and this — twice — then ask questions.
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#3 2008-12-10 18:54:35

synthead
Member
Registered: 2006-05-09
Posts: 1,337

Re: Going to install a PC with Arch in my car!

GREAT!  Thank you!  This was my #1 concern.  I will look into it! big_smile

And oh yes, I'll post dem pics with my progress wink

Last edited by synthead (2008-12-10 18:55:02)

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#4 2008-12-10 18:55:18

Mr Green
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From: U.K.
Registered: 2003-12-21
Posts: 5,899
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Re: Going to install a PC with Arch in my car!

I would love to have pc in my motor even if its just serving up some tunes :-)


Mr Green

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#5 2008-12-10 19:09:47

bgc1954
Member
From: Edmonton, AB, Canada
Registered: 2006-03-14
Posts: 1,160

Re: Going to install a PC with Arch in my car!

That sounds real neat. big_smile Unfortunately, for me, the weather here is quite cold for half the year so I don't know how practical, or feasible, it would be for me.  Also touch screens are not great in the cold with your gloves on, or so I hear.


Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils ... - Louis Hector Berlioz

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#6 2008-12-10 21:58:41

sand_man
Member
From: Australia
Registered: 2008-06-10
Posts: 2,164

Re: Going to install a PC with Arch in my car!

Document everything! I would love to do this also but my car is too expensive for me to "hack" wink


neutral

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#7 2008-12-11 01:44:07

LTSmash
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From: Aguascalientes - Mexico
Registered: 2008-01-02
Posts: 348
Website

Re: Going to install a PC with Arch in my car!

You could try OSSv4 instead of ALSA since you're going pro, and it has way better sound (I mean no flame, just an opinion, yeah I know there's another thread about, so, please don't start a flamewar), and yes, since you will have everything EQ'd, you should use pulseaudio. Hopefully you're gonna use some dual.core machine, that way the system will resume from hibernate faster (since tuxonice has some nice SMP use and works faster with multi-core)... and about your playing software, you copuld perhaps use mplayer as a backend an create a GUI that fits your touchscreen needs?


Proud Ex-Arch user.
Still an ArchLinux lover though.

Currently on Kubuntu 9.10

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#8 2008-12-11 03:16:20

dav7
Member
From: Australia
Registered: 2008-02-08
Posts: 674

Re: Going to install a PC with Arch in my car!

You want a transflective display. These are sunlight readable, but... kinda expensive. Small screens like those that go in cars and PDAs shouldn't push the price too high though - but the Panasonic Toughbook, which also includes such a display, is $6k. Just so you know.

And remember, being able to start the car is more important than music. Be sure to set something up that watches the battery levels, and if they're low, instead of having the PC stay on for 10mins, have the PC switch off immediately instead (maybe after sounding a loud, insidious BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP tongue).

Or maybe you could have it be all awesome and stuff and have the PC cpufreq itself down to sloooow and connect to a GPS (with its own battery of course) so it can display a route to the nearest gas station (and, to be even more awesome, display that station's fuel pricing, and if possible, list the nearest stations and calculate how much fuel you have left vs traffic conditions vs how long it will take to get there vs the pricing... and pick out the most "optimal" choice).

And you might try this car idea I had a year ago or so, although it'd probably take way too long to implement: as you drive, have accelerometers and other sensors detect whether you're on a busy road, going slowly, in peak hour traffic, or whatever, and play music associated to the conditions. So in peak hour traffic, you might hear slow, sad music that would be well suited to a funeral procession. Or on an empty, deserted road that simply seems to stretch on forever you might hear what people often classify as "driving music".

-dav7

Last edited by dav7 (2008-12-11 03:28:26)


Windows was made for looking at success from a distance through a wall of oversimplicity. Linux removes the wall, so you can just walk up to success and make it your own.
--
Reinventing the wheel is fun. You get to redefine pi.

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#9 2008-12-11 03:43:23

z0phi3l
Member
From: Waterbury CT
Registered: 2007-11-26
Posts: 278

Re: Going to install a PC with Arch in my car!

He could always just pop in another battery for the PC/Sound and not have to worry about killing the main battery

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#10 2008-12-11 03:54:53

dav7
Member
From: Australia
Registered: 2008-02-08
Posts: 674

Re: Going to install a PC with Arch in my car!

Or that. That works too. big_smile


Windows was made for looking at success from a distance through a wall of oversimplicity. Linux removes the wall, so you can just walk up to success and make it your own.
--
Reinventing the wheel is fun. You get to redefine pi.

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#11 2008-12-11 04:05:11

skottish
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From: Here
Registered: 2006-06-16
Posts: 7,942

Re: Going to install a PC with Arch in my car!

LTSmash wrote:

You could try OSSv4 instead of ALSA since you're going pro, and it has way better sound

+100. A nice amp plus nice speakers deserves great sound.

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#12 2008-12-11 04:18:50

synthead
Member
Registered: 2006-05-09
Posts: 1,337

Re: Going to install a PC with Arch in my car!

dav7 wrote:

You want a transflective display. These are sunlight readable, but... kinda expensive. Small screens like those that go in cars and PDAs shouldn't push the price too high though - but the Panasonic Toughbook, which also includes such a display, is $6k. Just so you know.

And remember, being able to start the car is more important than music. Be sure to set something up that watches the battery levels, and if they're low, instead of having the PC stay on for 10mins, have the PC switch off immediately instead (maybe after sounding a loud, insidious BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP tongue).

Or maybe you could have it be all awesome and stuff and have the PC cpufreq itself down to sloooow and connect to a GPS (with its own battery of course) so it can display a route to the nearest gas station (and, to be even more awesome, display that station's fuel pricing, and if possible, list the nearest stations and calculate how much fuel you have left vs traffic conditions vs how long it will take to get there vs the pricing... and pick out the most "optimal" choice).

And you might try this car idea I had a year ago or so, although it'd probably take way too long to implement: as you drive, have accelerometers and other sensors detect whether you're on a busy road, going slowly, in peak hour traffic, or whatever, and play music associated to the conditions. So in peak hour traffic, you might hear slow, sad music that would be well suited to a funeral procession. Or on an empty, deserted road that simply seems to stretch on forever you might hear what people often classify as "driving music".

HAHA!  That's so awesome!  I love that idea, hahaha ... and yes, I have a rag top, so a transreflective display is a huge plus.  Speaking of the toughbook, I have a CF-M34 toughbook sitting right next to me here.  It runs my distro of choice smile  It's totally killer, I love this laptop.  My other one is dying but this one will stay running when it gets buried in the beach smile

LTSmash wrote:

You could try OSSv4 instead of ALSA since you're going pro, and it has way better sound (I mean no flame, just an opinion, yeah I know there's another thread about, so, please don't start a flamewar), and yes, since you will have everything EQ'd, you should use pulseaudio. Hopefully you're gonna use some dual.core machine, that way the system will resume from hibernate faster (since tuxonice has some nice SMP use and works faster with multi-core)... and about your playing software, you copuld perhaps use mplayer as a backend an create a GUI that fits your touchscreen needs?

How does OSSv4 sound better?  I'll search for that ... and yeah, I have a good proc in mind, as follows ...

sand_man wrote:

Document everything! I would love to do this also but my car is too expensive for me to "hack" :wink:

Oh yes, I will post on this thread on the regular.  I already invested into this a bit.  Tonight, I just got an Intel D945GCLF2 motherboard ... this thing is TINY!  It has a dual-core Atom processor that operates at 1.6 Ghz.  I also got a 512MB stick of DDR2 too.  Both of them together ran me about a hundred bucks.  Obviously, I'm not too interested in running a crazy-ass hyper-power setup.  I just want to have a responsive 2D experience, which isn't asking for much these days.  In fact, a command line in my car sounds so sexy, just to show my standards for this.  Now I just need to figure out a power supply and a hard drive.  I think I'll probably go solid-state though.  All the rumbling and banging about in a sports car would not be healthy for a hard disk.

Here's what the mobo looks like.  If I decide that it's too slow or whatever, I have a week to take it back.  To put things into perspective, it's about 150% the size of a CD and only about an inch tall.

intel_D945GCLF2_top.jpg

Specs:

# Low power dual-core Intel Atom Processor 330, clocked at 1.6 GHz
# Intel 945GC Express Chipset with built-in Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
# DIMM socket for up to 2 GB of DDR2 667/533 SDRAM
# PCI expansion slot
# IDE port supporting up to two ATA 100/66 devices
# 2 x SATA ports (3.0 Gb/s)
# 10/100/1000 Mb/s Ethernet port
# 8x USB 2.0 ports (4x external, 2x internal)
# HD audio (6-Channel)
# S-Video connector

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#13 2008-12-11 04:33:53

shazeal
Member
From: New Zealand
Registered: 2007-06-05
Posts: 341

Re: Going to install a PC with Arch in my car!

I had a mate used one of those mobo's for a media server, slower cpu p3 - 1.1gz I belive was a few year back, but it worked really well. Only thing I would say is rip off the heatsink and put on some decent silver compound as it will get pretty toasty in a boot, also a 120MM fan blowing directly onto the whole mobo would help.

As for OSS4/Alsa it doesnt really matter unless your a real audiophile, and with $200 speakers I would say you dont really qualify for that area. I would personally just stick with ALSA so you can compile it into the kernel and run without an initrd.

Definately go solid state, a 3.5" disk would last about 10 seconds, a 2.5 with G protection would do ok but you would probably still get drive shutdowns. You wouldnt need a super fast IBM drive or anything for what you need either.

And unless you have spare room in the front for a second battery I would flag that idea, you dont want to put a battery in the boot for the acid fumes to eat your comp. Better of with just getting a small truck battery if your worried about drain. Just make sure your starter can handle the amps.

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#14 2008-12-11 12:25:47

synthead
Member
Registered: 2006-05-09
Posts: 1,337

Re: Going to install a PC with Arch in my car!

HOLY COW this thing has FOUR cores?!  Maybe Intel goofed but I definitely see four arch logos on my framebuffer console's boot ... oh man, what?!  hwd says there's four procs too!  Damn!  The box says it's a dual-core though, so ... what the hell?!  Hey, that's okay by me big_smile  God damn this thing boots like a mother ... trucker.  2.05s udev time too.  And the RAM is clocked at 533 MHz when it should be 667 MHz smile  I need to look into that.

shazeal wrote:

I had a mate used one of those mobo's for a media server, slower cpu p3 - 1.1gz I belive was a few year back, but it worked really well. Only thing I would say is rip off the heatsink and put on some decent silver compound as it will get pretty toasty in a boot, also a 120MM fan blowing directly onto the whole mobo would help.

As for OSS4/Alsa it doesnt really matter unless your a real audiophile, and with $200 speakers I would say you dont really qualify for that area. I would personally just stick with ALSA so you can compile it into the kernel and run without an initrd.

Definately go solid state, a 3.5" disk would last about 10 seconds, a 2.5 with G protection would do ok but you would probably still get drive shutdowns. You wouldnt need a super fast IBM drive or anything for what you need either.

And unless you have spare room in the front for a second battery I would flag that idea, you dont want to put a battery in the boot for the acid fumes to eat your comp. Better of with just getting a small truck battery if your worried about drain. Just make sure your starter can handle the amps.

Excellent point about the battery acid fumes.  I never thought of that.  This thing is small enough to put under one of the seats or even ... well, doi, I could put it where the deck would be right in the console too.  I mean it's so damn tiny!  I will keep it out of the trunk.  Thank you for the sound advice.  And knowing that the battery is in the trunk in Miatas, props to you.

Yes, a solid state drive is going to be on its way for this project.  I'm going to look at my options and buy something online.  I haven't done any homework on that part.

Wrong forum, but would you guys in the know think that throwing some Dynamat under the carpet would be a good idea?  This car is definitely not the quietest car, on road noise, wind noise, and engine noise.  Personally I enjoy the experience of being right in the elements of nature and the machine, but what's your take?

I am having an issue with the board right now ... when xorg starts, the keyboard and mouse don't respond.  I am able to switch terminals back to the console where I started X and ^C to kill it though.  I've never seen this problem before.  I have the right video card driver installed and xorg recognizes it and uses it (xf86-video-intel).  I'll Google it a bit.

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#15 2008-12-11 13:54:32

rson451
Member
From: Annapolis, MD USA
Registered: 2007-04-15
Posts: 1,233
Website

Re: Going to install a PC with Arch in my car!

You should list prices as you go along so we can see how much damage you're doing to yourself big_smile


archlinux - please read this and this — twice — then ask questions.
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http://rsontech.net | http://github.com/rson

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#16 2008-12-11 14:14:42

mrunion
Member
From: Jonesborough, TN
Registered: 2007-01-26
Posts: 1,938
Website

Re: Going to install a PC with Arch in my car!

Your Miata already has one battery in the trunk -- and it's vented to the outside. Another back there would be no problem. Just buy another of the same kind and use a 'T' type connector to merge the vent tubes. Secure the thing down good. As for the "PC", some people remove the carpet from the deck behind the seats and under there there is a little "well" area.  They stick the thing in there.  Try hitting miata.net and searching the forum and you may find the post about the guy who did it.  Might save you some effort and R&D.

Yes, I have a Miata as well....My "toy" is a 2002 SE Blazing Yellow.  Only a 1000 of these things driving around!


Matt

"It is very difficult to educate the educated."

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#17 2008-12-11 15:26:56

jerryluc
Member
From: Norway
Registered: 2008-05-20
Posts: 95

Re: Going to install a PC with Arch in my car!

When I read about this project yesterday I remembered having read about a guy doing the same.

I found the story, but it's in Norwegian so it's probably not so interesting for most of you. Anyways:
http://linux1.no/blogg/noja/3532/linux-i-bilen

The guy has put Arch in his car as a music server, touch screen and all...

If someone(Synthead specially) is really interested i could try to translate it, but I'm not that good in English -

Maybe someone who speak Norwegian and speak English a little better then me can do it?

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#18 2008-12-11 19:13:59

Ranguvar
Member
Registered: 2008-08-12
Posts: 2,549

Re: Going to install a PC with Arch in my car!

The Atom 330 is a dual-core with HT, sorry! smile

Really sweet project, though. Good luck!

As for SSDs, the crazy-pricey Intel ones may be worth waiting a little for... 80GB+ with _real_ 250Mb/s speeds! They smoke everything else. Do a lot of research here though, because some SSDs are really wretched. Also remember that SDHCs are extremely cheap and offer tons of storage, so a small and fast main SSD may be a good choice.

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#19 2008-12-12 07:46:37

synthead
Member
Registered: 2006-05-09
Posts: 1,337

Re: Going to install a PC with Arch in my car!

rson451 wrote:

You should list prices as you go along so we can see how much damage you're doing to yourself big_smile

Good idea!  I'll start a list on my first post.

mrunion wrote:

Your Miata already has one battery in the trunk -- and it's vented to the outside. Another back there would be no problem. Just buy another of the same kind and use a 'T' type connector to merge the vent tubes. Secure the thing down good. As for the "PC", some people remove the carpet from the deck behind the seats and under there there is a little "well" area.  They stick the thing in there.  Try hitting miata.net and searching the forum and you may find the post about the guy who did it.  Might save you some effort and R&D.

Yes, I have a Miata as well....My "toy" is a 2002 SE Blazing Yellow.  Only a 1000 of these things driving around!

You have a yellow one big_smile  That's killer, those are really rare!  Is it in good shape?  I love Miatas, they're so much fun and stupid cheap to own smile

The battery in my car is strapped to the chassis with a rope.  I don't have the factory battery mount.  I was going to weld one together soon though, but now that you mention vents, I'm curious.  How exactly is it fitted?  Time to Google ...

jerryluc wrote:

When I read about this project yesterday I remembered having read about a guy doing the same.

I found the story, but it's in Norwegian so it's probably not so interesting for most of you. Anyways:
http://linux1.no/blogg/noja/3532/linux-i-bilen

The guy has put Arch in his car as a music server, touch screen and all...

If someone(Synthead specially) is really interested i could try to translate it, but I'm not that good in English -

Maybe someone who speak Norwegian and speak English a little better then me can do it?

Niiiice, and he used MythTV!  That's brilliant!  I installed it on my car PC in progress and I'm working on it smile  Awesome, thank you!

Ranguvar wrote:

The Atom 330 is a dual-core with HT, sorry! smile

Really sweet project, though. Good luck!

As for SSDs, the crazy-pricey Intel ones may be worth waiting a little for... 80GB+ with _real_ 250Mb/s speeds! They smoke everything else. Do a lot of research here though, because some SSDs are really wretched. Also remember that SDHCs are extremely cheap and offer tons of storage, so a small and fast main SSD may be a good choice.

I kneeeeew there was a catch.  That's okay, I'll still have a dual 1.6 Ghz CD player big_smile  And regarding combining storage types, that is an excellent idea.  I'm definitely going that route.  I would love to use an SD card or a CF card as storage and a smaller SSD for the OS.   That's perfect.  Thank you!

Some good success so far ... just building up the OS at home until I can find a good screen, solid state disk, and power supply to use smile  I started a thread about xorg locking up and it turns out it was because of the new hald integration.  I LOVE the idea of combining hald and xorg!  But anyway, my GUI is up and running and it's setup the way I like as a desktop.  When I migrate the carputer into my car, I'll tweak things around so it'll be practical to use with a touchscreen.

Right now, I'm connected to the internet using Tetherbot with my Google Android phone and it works great.  So that takes care of the internet.  I have a bluetooth receiver and a GPS system that acts as a dongle when attached (will replace with a standalone GPS module later).  I'm tinkering with these.

Later on, I'm going to go to Goodwill, grab a multimedia keyboard, and gut it.  There's a removable ashtray next to the stickshift in my car, so I'm going to use this area to install a touchpad and the hacked up keyboard controls for the PC.  I will go to TAP Plastics and have them fabricate something nice that'll drop right in.  I'm going to source out buttons that look like arrows and the like to have designated buttons for skip, play, pause, stop, etc.  I'm also going to try to find a keyboard with one of those rotary volume controls and use it.  Nothing like a little xbindkeys wink  I would really like this to look fancy.  Not blue LEDs/carbon fiber/chrome fancy, more like "that guy did a good job" fancy.  Although if I could have the buttons lit when the car's parking lights are on, that would be killer.

So at this point, I need to buy these things for only the car PC to work in my car the way I want:

* DC-DC PSU
* 8" Transreflective screen that operates (or can operate) on 12VDC that can go very dim and very bright
* Resistive touchscreen overlay, preferably USB (for when wearing gloves, it's a convertible)
* Solid state disk, doesn't have to be too big or too fast
* Bluetooth keyboard
* USB touchpad
* Goodwill keyboards, fancy switches, TAP fabrication

I'm probably looking at 300-500 more dollars on this end.  Throw another ... $300 in for the two-way speakers I want + an amp.  My sub and sub amp I have, but I need to build a cabinet.  Also, for an M-Audio sound card, I'll probably put aside another $100.  And yes, they make an astounding difference in sound quality.  I use an M-Audio 1010LT in my home studio with some audiophile headphones and the difference is very obvious smile

I'll try to take some pics of my car and where I'm going to put things soon.

Last edited by synthead (2008-12-12 07:48:58)

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#20 2008-12-12 17:15:26

mrunion
Member
From: Jonesborough, TN
Registered: 2007-01-26
Posts: 1,938
Website

Re: Going to install a PC with Arch in my car!

@synthead

Yeah, she's in great shape!  Hopefully this link will work for those interested in a few pics...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2 … 245&ref=mf


Matt

"It is very difficult to educate the educated."

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#21 2008-12-12 18:07:44

LTSmash
Member
From: Aguascalientes - Mexico
Registered: 2008-01-02
Posts: 348
Website

Re: Going to install a PC with Arch in my car!

Also, for an M-Audio sound card, I'll probably put aside another $100.  And yes, they make an astounding difference in sound quality.  I use an M-Audio 1010LT in my home studio with some audiophile headphones and the difference is very obvious smile

Then you must use OSS because you're areal audiophile. And about the guy saying that it doesn't changes that much, well IT actually sounds WAY better. Why don'y you simply try them both and chose by yourself?


Proud Ex-Arch user.
Still an ArchLinux lover though.

Currently on Kubuntu 9.10

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#22 2008-12-12 18:46:35

Ranguvar
Member
Registered: 2008-08-12
Posts: 2,549

Re: Going to install a PC with Arch in my car!

OSS does indeed make a difference. With only one audio source playing at a time, I would say hard to detect, but if more than one is playing at the same time, OSS is the only real solution IMO.

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#23 2008-12-12 19:17:27

synthead
Member
Registered: 2006-05-09
Posts: 1,337

Re: Going to install a PC with Arch in my car!

mrunion wrote:

@synthead

Yeah, she's in great shape!  Hopefully this link will work for those interested in a few pics...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2 … 245&ref=mf

Oh wow, damn, she's a beaud!  Obviously in good hands too smile

LTSmash wrote:

Also, for an M-Audio sound card, I'll probably put aside another $100.  And yes, they make an astounding difference in sound quality.  I use an M-Audio 1010LT in my home studio with some audiophile headphones and the difference is very obvious smile

Then you must use OSS because you're areal audiophile. And about the guy saying that it doesn't changes that much, well IT actually sounds WAY better. Why don'y you simply try them both and chose by yourself?

Ranguvar wrote:

OSS does indeed make a difference. With only one audio source playing at a time, I would say hard to detect, but if more than one is playing at the same time, OSS is the only real solution IMO.

That is so strange.  I'll look into it and do some A-to-Bs.  smile

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#24 2008-12-15 15:07:29

dinux
Member
From: Lithuania, Kaunas
Registered: 2008-02-13
Posts: 25
Website

Re: Going to install a PC with Arch in my car!

Because of my language limitation, i can't explane very clear, but..
I have carpc in my Mazda mx-3. My setup:
intel d201gly
excelstor laptop hard drive
512 MB RAM
usb GPRS
usb WIFI
usb Bluetooth
usb Remote
Lilliput touchsreen 7"

Software:
Archlinux wink
Window Manager - Matchbox (http://matchbox-project.org/)
Audio player - mpd + sonata
Video player - gnomemplayer (http://kdekorte.googlepages.com/gnomemplayer)
File manager - Thunar
Free Hands - nohands (http://nohands.sourceforge.net/)
Navigation - Viking (http://viking.sourceforge.net/) or tangoGPS (http://www.tangogps.org/)

Screen:
IMGP9297.JPG

Small and useful remote control, cost to me 11$ + free shipping wink Works out of box.
IMGP9513.JPG
Small test video (audio, maps, video, internet): http://www.dinux.lt/galerija/mx-3/video/3.html
Other test video, phone free hands test: http://www.dinux.lt/galerija/mx-3/video/4.html

If you have questions i try, somehow, answer smile

Last edited by dinux (2011-12-01 07:29:48)

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#25 2008-12-15 16:09:46

mrunion
Member
From: Jonesborough, TN
Registered: 2007-01-26
Posts: 1,938
Website

Re: Going to install a PC with Arch in my car!

Freakin' awesome!


Matt

"It is very difficult to educate the educated."

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