Looks great RR! :D

 

Don't feel forced to get Road Runner just to get cell phone integration. THere is an app that's been built by another mp3car.com member that does not only bluetooth phones, but most phones that can also be used by a direct cable connection to your computer. I don't have the link on hand, but you'll find it if you go take a look on the site.

Also, reviews, bugs and dev notes for all the front ends is available on mp3car.com... as this is the main discussion, etc. point for all the major distributions.

You also neglect to mention that 3.5" HDD's consume more power (as do ALL 3.5" devices) and are physically larger. THese two become issues depending on your setup... limitations of your PSU, number of devices running and space limitations of your setup. Also consuming more power does also mean more heat... things to also consider about the motherboard and processor you choose. Are you REALLY going to play half life in your CAR on a regular basis? Make everything as small and efficient as possible... think and plan well.

 

^ I thought I did "think and plan well." But if you think otherwise...okay. I'm using a EPIA PD motherboard and processor which is extremly low in reguards to current draw. My computer has a total current draw of 58 watts on the PSU, which is rated for 90+ watts. Second, the allowed operational shock on my drive is 20G's. I'd have to get hit by a train before my drive would crash, and if it did, I have a 3 year replacement warranty from the retail store where I got it. So lets drop the hard drive issue because it really isn't one.

 

:D

 

Thanks for your input, but your ambiguity makes me think you have no clue what you are talking about. As you quoted from what I posted......PHOCO is a program that does what you are speaking of. PHOCO allows u to control your phone via bluetooth, IR, direct connection, etc...

The reason why I mentioned Road Runner, is because its a frontend that implements PHOCO directly into the interface. It's not Road Runner that allows you to integrate your cell phone - it's PHOCO embedded into RR that does it.

I'm not sure if the software you were referring to was PHOCO or not, but then again it's hard to figure out what you are talking about....

Thanks for pointing out what I 'failed to mention'. I suggest re-reading the thread, so you can realize that everyone was concerned with shocks and impacts on a regular hard drive. I was addressing what everyone was talking about.

Who exactly are you addressing the above to? Rotary Rasps choice of an Epia M10K mobo and processor is becoming popular setup to use for a carputer. Perfect balance of size and power.

As for needing to play Half Life on your carputer - that's just hilarious. My current system is a P4 2.4 GHz with 1 GB of ram. Yes I can run Half Life in my car. Yes my carputer is essentially faster than my desktop machine. Power consumption is not an issue, since I use an inverter. Smaller doesn't necessarily mean better.

I don't need a 2.4 to play Half Life - but it does help when I'm running Frodo Player, iGuidance, EZSync, and GPS Secure all at the same time. You failed to mention that small and efficient can't run all those apps without causing the music to skip.

Yes you need to think and plan well. Rotary Rasp did this effectively. He designed a system that does everything he needs well, fits perfectly where he needs it and doesn't generate a lot of heat. This is the reason he is going to be featured at www.mobile-effects.com

Build a system that meets your needs. Power consumption is not an issue if you plan ahead. A new battery with a high output alternator and you can run a freaking microwave in your car. Always build a system that exceeds your needs, because you will find out all too soon that you want to do more things than your initial system was designed for. Any further questions, ask....

 

^ I like this guy...lol

 

Why so defensive? No one was critiquing or arguing with you. I was responding directly mobile-effect.com. So just relax man. :D

On the HDD shock issue... while it was not my main point...

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/show...ight=HDD+shock
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/show...ight=HDD+shock
http://www.fabreeka.com/tech/Primer_Vibr_Isol.pdf
http://www.hitachigst.com/portal/sit...937c27aac4f0a0
http://www.parvus.com/products/Enclo...VibeDampening/

As others have said... drives are cheap and the data is inconclusive on shock and vibration (as to type and mounting method). Trial and error?

As far as power consumption and heat goes... that really comes down to your particular install... as I had said before. If you have two 3.5" devices and a ton of stuff on the USB ports it can be an issue. Which leads to the plan well comment...

Anyway... again... I wasn't commenting on your stuff at all in the previous post. So let's all just be friends... eh?

 

What ambiguity? I didn't specify the name of the program because I didn't remember it off-hand. So I couldn't specify if it was PHOCO or not. I did read that it integrates into FrodoPlayer well. I freely admit that I haven't read much about or tested Road Runner. The last time I did was prior to its release. Sorry if somehow makes you believe that I have no idea about this subject in general. I have many more important issues both professionally and personally at the moment.

And why is mentioning 2.5" HDD and their possible advantages over 3.5" HDD out of the scope of the topic?

AND I REPEAT... I IN NO WAY WAS DIRECTING ANY COMMENTS IN THAT POST
TOWARDS ROTARY RASP OR HIS INSTALLATION.

The heat/power issue came from talking about the greater power consumption of 3.5" HDD. I both know and agree with your comments about Via's EPIA boards.

Are we clear now?

How is that hilarious? Many people have made comments about wanting to play games in their car... both PC and X-box/PS2. My point is that if you want that... it's a free world... go for it. I just don't ever see ME using that, nor do I think it is something that is an "essential" in the average car (or even many car computer setups). Being able to brag that you can is nice, but power, heat, space, cost, etc.... do you really need it?

As far as the 2.4 P4 goes... glad it works well for you. I know you must also be aware of the P4 Mini-ITX board too. Still small and relatively efficient. More my style would be a mobile Pentium or Athalon Chip based Mini-ITX system... almost as good on power as the Via Nehmiah based systems, but with almost as much horsepower as the full blown P4 (and less temps). The factor that keeps most away from this solution is the fact that they are more expensive.

Going back to the Via-based systems... there are many people on mp3car.com that run the 1Ghz+ systems that have few to no performance complaints. There are even some that run 800Mhz "fanless" systems... apparantly they got their setup to work fine with those hp restrictions (seems a bit underpowered to me though)...

I'm not going to totally knock the power inverter as there are a number of people who do make them work well. However, it seems that there are quite of number of people who have nothing but problems with them... noise related to both grounding and plain old power inversion. Not my words... search mp3car.com and see what comments have been made.


Never said he didn't and I don't know how this whole line of conversation got started.

Who wants to have to change their alternator and battery just for the car computer installation? Sure people with major car audio installations may do it, but what about everyone else? Don't forget the RX-8's power steering is electric... This is why I mentioned about power consumption. Plenty of people run full towers in the trunk and even use power inverters on their system. So it's not impossible or something... just maybe not the most efficient and "clean" setup possible.

Even if you don't see it, we agree on most things. I raised a couple issues/points in regards to your comments, and suddenly Rotary Rasp takes personally offense and you come off like I said you were incompetent. Let's all just take a deep breath here and relax.

 

This looks awesome... if someone would figure out how to make that screen retractable, I would SO do this...
That's the only issue I have with this setup. Great work, Rasp. I envy you

 

Japan8- I didn't think I was being defensive; however, I did put a lot of time and effort into this install so maybe i'm am a little jumpy about it. Who wouldn't be?
I went through, 2 PSU, 2 motherboards, and 2 DVD burners. lol

So let's all just be friends... eh?
And we are friends On this board, everyone is my friend.

 

Good news for you!

It can be done.

http://www.digitalww.com/indashhousing.htm

I've been doing some research and it lookes like that will if in the tray just fine, but I would have to remove the center speaker to be able to slide it back all the way.

I'm thinking about. I have tinted windows, and when I park I put up a sun shade which makes it impossible to see unless you were looking for it.

 

I though I might add, take a look at all the carputers on mp3car.com. You can count the number of failed drives on your hand. Most people in the links you gave said that they've never had a problem. One guy said he has had his for 130,000 miles without any issues. Just something to think about. btw- the hitachi link is very intresting.

 

We put out the info that HDD's (MAY, POSSIBLY, SOMETIME, MAYBE 2 YEARS) fail in cars. Let's not beat it into a bloody pulp with a sledgehammer. Buy cheap drive, mirror it, problem solved.

I for one never knew so much support was out there for carputers - I remember some old (I think they were called) "mp3car" unit that some company made like 4-5 years back. hideously expensive I think it needed double din, used 2.5" drive(s), was quick-disc so you could take it inside to xfer music via oldschool USB 1.1, only had a like 15-char one line LCD.

Things have come a long way since then! A carputer is defintely on my "Blow Money Earned Overseas" List.

Right under eye surgery and (of course) a RX-8.

 

That's cool, thanks for the link. The one issue is that I'm not sure how to mount that, because the nav tray you used has that protruding piece on the top and is not open in the back. So this means that the tray must be cut out, and then when the screen is retracted, that piece will stick up in the middle of the dash.
We need a 1-DIN replacement panel in R-Magic style - but I refuse to buy the R-Magic piece due to several reasons.
The other thing is: are you certain that this retractable mount would fit with the nav tray installed?
Yes, I know I am hard to please :D

 

Ouch You've definitely put some serious time into this setup... but it does show. I actually love the amp housing idea. I think it may be one of the best ideas for car computer housing that I have seen yet. Until then the IKEA keybox had been my favorite. Good work!


LOL! I was thinking the EXACT same thing. Have you thought about taking the interals out of the housing and mouting that to your center dash panel? Maybe it'll take up a little less room.

As far as tamas' concern about cutting the back of the tray and the piece that sticks up in the back... the only solution I can think of is... make your own! Use the nav tray piece as the original and make a new one without the support in the back and a hole for the LCD to retract into. You can always make a "cover" to go over the hole when the LCD is retracted... DAMN I wish I was in the States with an 8 right now... you guys will LOVE the setup I'm envisioning...

 

Yeah, I did notice that few people ever REALLY have problems with failed drives. The with 130,000 mi on his drive even had a couple accidents... one that bent the frame of his car... and no problems with his drive. So yeah... either buy a cheap drive and "ghost" it or get something like that Hitachi drive.... and "ghost" it. :p

Actually the specs on that Hitachi drive look real appealing for a car application. If the cost is reasonable... why not? Can't hurt to have added protection.

 

What do you mean when you say taking out the internals?

What kind of system did you have in mind?

 

Well my first and obvious choice is to get my hands on a junk OEM nav hood... from a wrecked 8 or from the dealer when they had to replace a bad screen. If that proves to be impossible or impossibly expensive still, then I would think about what I mentioned above. Pick up a used and/or damaged in-dash housing. My idea is to see if it will be possible to pull the entire sliding/folding mechanism out of the housing and mount that to the (inside of the) center dash panel.

If both of those are out I guess I am left with either the plain nav tray option like you or replace the headunit with screen option...

My CPU I would like to mount underneath the rear deck where the Bose amp goes and put a "pass-though" ported 8" sub in-between the rear seats. I am hoping for everything to look OEM clean in the end...

Anyone have better ideas?

 

yeah....I do, lol

I was going to mount it above the rear deck also, but when I took everything off and looked at it, there wasn't enough room. Now if you mounted your LCD where the radio goes, there would be enough room under the top dash. (see pictures) And you could install the computer there.

 

Gee. In my day, we bought cars just so we could drive them.

And now?

 

Heya Rotary Rasp,

Nice setup. I'm doing something similar I'll post pictures next week. Where did you get that dash mount? I was going to make mine swivel up and down like the nav screen, but using that dash mount looks easier.

-V

 

You can get the dash mount from http://www.mazdaparts.com, I got mine the next day.

 

Rodger: you got a PM.

 

Wow Jedi you nub.

 

you didn't like my epic thread revival skillz?