Computer Built Into Car Anybody done it?

[msabas 0]

Actually its not all that dificult, a buddy of mine and i were searching for some ideas and found this site here, just to get an idea. https://jpsblog.com/

So once we got strarted we did everything almost as if we were going to to build a custom sub box, and doing a stereo install. I will try to get photo if possible.

Total cost for the build was around 2,500. which is actually not to bad. This pc build went into a 99 GMC Truck.

We becan building a box for the pc. We took the metal mounting brakets from inside the pc, so we can have something to ground it to since the box was going to be made of wood.. but we made the box to fit under nead the rear back seats . mounted it directly behind the passenger side. with enough to be able to mount some brackets to keep it in place, and keep it from moving much.

Once we had the fit we needed was a difficult portion because we needed to mount he brackets into the inside of the box. Becasue th ebox as smaller than hte original frame of the pcs case, we needed to cut down the moutning brackets, and by doing so, we also had to eliminate the bracket as well as the cd-drive. We gain some more space also by getting rid of the floppy.

Once we had the frame where whe wanted it, we fit all pieces to see if we could get good fitment., Mother board fit well harddrive went in good, but we had a bit of a problem with the cooling fans. So we had to mod a a few sections of the new box. what he also did since we new we had to keep it cool, he ran a snorkel type of plastic tubing from one of the rear air vents to the exhaust fan. so when he ran his ac, he cooled the pc. which was prety cool, except it looks like crap, and you can tell its home mad.. bigtime.

Once we had ll other items in place came a pretty cool install. He purchased an external dvd/r/rw drive and also purchased a 13 monitor flat panel. He spent good money on the external cd drive, but the panel he got pretty cheap at a swapmeet. Im thinking less than 300 for it.

So next came installing the hard drive. We also had to go purchase some cables. We bought 3 rolls of 5 ft of usb canle, witht hte connectors already attached. at the ends. we used that for the cd drive, the mouse and the keyboard, I think he should have used a wirless kepad and mouse tho.

But he next made a custom mount for his cd drive and stereo. that was actually prety easy, and mounted them on and the cd drive actually sits under neath his stereo, looks good too. Also he mounted the poer button for the pc on this new panel. and then had to wire the switch back to the pc.

after all the he mounted his monitor screen on his head board where the passenger side visor goes. Unfortunaelty the cables where not long enough, so this took him a while to find some extensions for it, but he got it done,

other than that all it took was some few extra wiring he needed to run, and he also had to install a power inverter, which he already had, to run the pc.

overall it was a great sucess, everything works halthou he doesnt habe any internet connection, he can play pc games, and his main thing is he plays his movies and all his audio tracks.

but it was pretty good.

[Watermonkey 0]

A neighbor of mine did it so he can edit video more easily in his "mobile office". I'm not sure why he didn't just get a laptop, but maybe at the time the laptops weren't powerful enough. He installed a Mac mini and added a car stereo with a screen like what you can find at any car audio store. It wasn't much to do I don't think, if you're interested, I could ask him for more details.

[megabytemb 0]

haven't some cars like holden allreaddy got thiss???????????????????????????????????????????????????????

[iGuest 3]

Yes you can get a laptop, as has been said over fifty freakin times in the thread.

The joy is actually building a computer for car entertainment, where a laptop couldn't really supply neither a PDA. Reason being an integrated computer could end up managing sound / audio visual / OBD stats / rear view cam etc etc. I know that other technology exists to do these things, but just an example.. 

-reply by Angus McDowell

[iGuest 3]

I have also had this vision of a PC intragrated into my car.I see a swingable mini keyboard that folds away when not needed, like US police carsA trackball mouse near the cars gear shifter.A display center dash. Not high, where the radio should normally beA disk drive under the screen.The comp in in the trunk, wired to the speaker system, Small all in one printer in the trunkHeck, keep the car stereo, could go RCA into the computer, connected to an amp with woofers.wireless card serviceGell shock resitant mounting materials.sin wave converterWHALLA. Windows Vehicle integration. Just dont drive when you operate, even though it's set up for it. You'll start staring at your downloads and crash the car. For real!!!

[k_nitin_r 8]

A lot of what we think of as a computer is present in the cars of today. There is an on-screen keypad available with the GPS navigation systems, some vehicles have a trackball-like mouse instead of a touch screen (the Lexus CT200h has one). There's a hard disk drive that stores the maps for the GPS as well as the GPS software itself. Android or a similar touch-interface-friendly operating system is typically included as well. There are after market kits that can install a Windows PC in the dash, though the resolution would be too low and the touch interface on a small screen would be difficult to use in Windows.