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New 350z


Bear1985

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The biggest issue I can see is the power requirements using standard PC equipment, and the problem of either loosing power when your turn the ignition off, or having to remember to turn everything off so you don't drain your battery.

 

That and the obvious issue of initial boot time (don't really want to sit there waiting a couple of minutes for windows to load up....)

 

Maybe a solid state boot drive and then high capacity storage drives?

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Im going to boot windows from a highspeed corsair USB stick. It has ultra quick reading and writing speeds that it can boot windows XP (Vista too slow) in 15seconds no problem.

 

It would only be possible to run one PCI slot and one hard drive becuase of power issues. It will be wired in that when the ignition key is turned the PC is automatically turned on and when the key is out the PC is off.

 

I have thought about the possibility of an external drive to save heat etc but one harddrive will not hurt.

 

Im going to order the screen today... trying to find a screen which would fit into the double din slot... (not using the satnav cubby hole). Any ideas anyone... and I dont want a motorised one!

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Hmm the Vista machines I have boot a lot faster than the XP ones, I will have to do some investigation. My OS of choice would be Linux, but I have a feeling it would take a couple of months to get touchscreen LCD drivers working properly on it, and I couldn't be bothered with that :D

 

Can't use a Mac as I'm not pretty enough... ;)

 

I was thinking something like this would probably be ideal:

 

http://www.dabs4work.com/productview.as ... ationKey=0

 

or if you really want to throw the boat out:

 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu ... subcat=910

 

then for the CD/DVD drive I think you could probably get up to 8 of these into the compartment above the sub enclosure (need to go measure everything at some point though)

 

http://www.ballicom.co.uk/storage-devic ... 24167.html

 

or again you could really push the boat out and get one of these:

 

http://www.span.com/catalog/product_inf ... c49ac792e0

 

I just need to find a way around the power limitation, I'm sure there is one. If I do go for a mod like this I would rather uses a fairly standard sized ATX motherboard, just because I have a few lying around gathering dust and it would be much cheaper for me to do :) Just have to find a way to power that 700Watt PSU I have knocking about... :D

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Guys, you need to read up on the FAQs on MP3car.com. They will reveal everything you need, from touchscreens to power. They have been there, done that, blown it up and rebuilt it better! I really suggest that you go look at leemiks car on there, its a 350z and very nicely done.

 

As for the Zed - you can fit a 7" touchscreen in the Nav cubby if you take the surround/bezel off the screen. For power there are loads of CarPC PSUs specifically desinged to power your Pc and screen, with auto on off and loads of other options. I have a Carnetix P2140, which does all of that, has 185w of power (more than enough for a carpc), and can be monitored from the USB connection :)

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Something I need to do properly yes :) I have looked through it but not really searched the forums to answer all of my questions yet.

 

Out of interest Chris, what software do you run on yours apart from Centrafuse?

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Something I need to do properly yes :) I have looked through it but not really searched the forums to answer all of my questions yet.

 

Out of interest Chris, what software do you run on yours apart from Centrafuse?

Well Centrafuse covers off MP3/Nav/DVD/phone and I also have a few apps embedded in it, namely PSUmoni (monitors the car PSU over USB) and DashCommand (new work in progress, using OBDII to create a GTR like dash). Other s/w I have is few and far between. I have memory map on there as it has Landranger maps for all of the UK incase I get lost up a mountain :blush: Cant really think of anything over and above that. Was looking to get some games on there at some point (emulators, arcade games etc).

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A bit more hunting around at lunch time and some reading of the MP3Car.com website and It would appear you can get a 250W PSU that will power a shuttle:

 

http://linitx.com/viewproduct.php?prodid=12004

 

http://eu.shuttle.com/en/desktopdefault ... ead-14213/

 

So my current thinking is a shuttle motherboard as that will provide 3 internal SATA ports, 2 external SATA ports, 4 USB ports, 1 firewire port, an Optical S/PDIF output, integrated VGA support and a wireless LAN option. It is also a small form factor and doesn't need a big cooling setup.

 

It also has the added advantage of using standard PC hardware enabling me to plug in any bits and bobs that I have lying around as well.

 

:teeth:

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A bit more hunting around at lunch time and some reading of the MP3Car.com website and It would appear you can get a 250W PSU that will power a shuttle:

 

http://linitx.com/viewproduct.php?prodid=12004

 

http://eu.shuttle.com/en/desktopdefault ... ead-14213/

 

So my current thinking is a shuttle motherboard as that will provide 3 internal SATA ports, 2 external SATA ports, 4 USB ports, 1 firewire port, an Optical S/PDIF output, integrated VGA support and a wireless LAN option. It is also a small form factor and doesn't need a big cooling setup.

 

It also has the added advantage of using standard PC hardware enabling me to plug in any bits and bobs that I have lying around as well.

 

:teeth:

Looks nice. Will be expensive, but nice :thumbs:

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Only looking at buying the shuttle mobo, not the whole shuttle unit, currently trying to find a affordable 7" touchscreen monitor that is transflective.

 

I'm thinking that the challenge is to get it up and running for less than the cost of a double din head unit that does DVD/Radio/Sat Nav/etc.

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Only looking at buying the shuttle mobo, not the whole shuttle unit, currently trying to find a affordable 7" touchscreen monitor that is transflective.

 

I'm thinking that the challenge is to get it up and running for less than the cost of a double din head unit that does DVD/Radio/Sat Nav/etc.

Trying to get a new shuttle, transflective display and all the other gubbins for less than a new HU will likely not be possible. Most people start with a cheap older pc or laptop and moderate display and then work their way up to bigger and better things. I dont think you can compare a top spec shuttle and transflective display to a HU, its just too different. My mate was staggered at how quickly Centrafuse was able to route us to our destination vs his TomTom as the processing power is just in a different league. Also remember that you can store masses more MP3, DivX, DVD on the CarPC that you wont get with the HU. Although there is overlap in what they do, they are 2 very different beasts :thumbs:

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I agree, but I'm not looking at a whole shuttle, just the motherboard ( I believe you can buy them for around the £100 mark). I have a plan forming that I will have to price up and see what I can do.

 

It may not be a realistic challenge (I'm fully aware that they are different beasts so it's not really a fair comparison) but a worthy one anyway :)

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May have managed to source a transflective touchscreen with a Panasonic LCD panel in it from China for around the 200 USD mark (All sort of depends upon import taxes, etc).

 

Got to love the way they do business, the screen will cost you X amount. How much would you like the invoice made out for? :lol:

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May have managed to source a transflective touchscreen with a Panasonic LCD panel in it from China for around the 200 USD mark (All sort of depends upon import taxes, etc).

 

Got to love the way they do business, the screen will cost you X amount. How much would you like the invoice made out for? :lol:

Lol, nice one, let me know what its like when it gets here. My lilliput sucks in sunlight :(

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Ok a quick list

 

2xAlpine Amps

1x 10" Audiobahn 3000W competition subwoofer

Transflective 7" screen

2 X Infinitly 16.5cm speakers & tweeters

2 X JL audio 16.5cm

CarPC

Case, dualcore CPU, 2gb ram, top sound card, 120GB disc drive, blue tooth, GPS, wireless, mircrophone etc...

ALl relevent cables and much more that I cant think of!

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Can you provide a bit more info on the CarPC?

 

I'm interested to know exactly which components you purchased, I'm still building my list, although I think I have the base spec to actually get a working PC in the car sorted.

 

The main sticking point that I have come across at the moment is finding a car amp that accepts a mini-toslink input.

 

Any suggestion greatfully accepted :)

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1 x Belkin Bluetooth USB Class 2 Adapter 123395 Warehouse Invoiced Track £8.10 £8.10

3 x Belkin Signature Series USB Extension Cable 3m 125024 Warehouse Pick in Progress Track £4.82 £14.46

2 x Crucial 1GB DDR2 533MHz/PC2-4200 Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL4 Lifetime Warranty 63618 Warehouse Invoiced Track £12.09 £24.18

1 x EV Shiny Piano Black/Red Super Slim Micro ATX Mini Tower Case - With 200W PSU 20+4pin 1x SATA 134831 Warehouse Invoiced Track £22.97 £22.97

1 x Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180 2GHz Socket 775 800MHz FSB L2 1MB Cache Retail Box Processor 132064 Warehouse Invoiced Track £37.00 £37.00

1 x Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Xtreme Music - VISTA Certified - OEM 143442 Warehouse Invoiced Track £43.82 £43.82

1 x ASRock ConRoe1333-DVI/H i945G Socket 775 onboard VGA 8 channel audio mATX Motherboard 129895 Warehouse Invoiced Track £34.28 £34.28

1 x Plexus VGA Monitor Extension Cable (Black) 3m 130551 Warehouse Invoiced Track £2.00 £2.00

1 x Hawking Hi-gain 2.4ghz Directional 7dbi - Compact Antenna En 106159 Warehouse Pick in Progress Track £26.92 £26.92

2 x Belkin Pro Series 2 Port USB Motherboard Cable 119520 Warehouse Pick in Progress Track £8.05 £16.10

1 x Trust Microphone High Sensitive 79215 Warehouse Invoiced Track £2.13 £2.13

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Sorry I was slightly wrong it's a toslink connector i'm looking at (although most toslink cables come with a toslink -> mini-toslink adaptor.

 

It is a cable that looks like this:

 

01-cable-01.jpg

 

It is optical digital output, that is currently supposed to provide the best digital signal to an amplifier, it's used in home hi-fi stuff a lot, but doesn't seem to have made it across to the car world too much yet.

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