Take a look over at MP3car.com Their forms are perfect for what you're looking to do. They have a market for cool power supply's and such. You can run a full bore desktop off of a since 12 volt line. The special power supply will keep the computer running for how ever long you want. It's perfect for when you're making a quick stop. Then you won't have to wait for it to boot up again. You can see what other people are using for software and hardware. It's a great site.

 

Well guys I got my inventory list together and have ordered 95% of everything. Here is the list.

9" touch monitor
ECS A740GM-M Motherboard
AMD Athlon X2 Dual Core Processor - 2.50GHz
2gb Crucial 2048MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Ram
Masscool CPU Cooling Fan
Ultra 4 Channel Fan Controller
Toshiba 1Tb HDD
5.1 Asus Xonar DG Sound Card
Silicon Graphics Microphone
GlobalSat BU-353 SiRF III USB GPS receiver
Bluetooth mini keyboard
Bluetooth OBDII ELM
2 Bluetooth USB dongles
OBDII splitter
802.11B/G USB dongle

I want to add a SSD but they still are not cheap. Im not sure if i trust the Chinese made and copied ones.....lol

All of this will be in my new custom center console. I havent decided fully but Im sure my AC controls will get relocated as well as my lower pocket. There will be new switch panels and more control over everything.

The ODBII Bluetooth ELM will be used to provide PCM/Canbus data for monitoring to the PC. I have several pieces of software I am going to try. Although my Trinity does all of this, I dont like having a $600 in the window.

Now just how in the hell are you going to show me a thread I have been in multiple times?

Tablets are nice. I had an Archos 101 16gb 10" tab but they are not as powerful as a desktop. There are times it would bog down to a crawl. Not cool.

Again, they are nice and cool but far from replacing a netbook/laptop and far more away from coming close to the power of desktop components.

I had one and sold it. Thats how much i liked it.

Check out Ride Runner and Centrafuse. I have both and will try them and see why i like best. A lot of guys run Linux as the OS but Im just not a Linux kinda guy.

Now thats some funny **** chit right there.

yeah, I sold my center seat and console some time back with the idea of doing a custom console with another sub and amp. I also have a B&M Quicksilver ratcheting floor shifter I will be putting in. Of course I think I will drop the amp and sub for this new project.

I already have plans to relocate a few things and I have new stainless steel cup holders to go in. As for cooling, I will have some 4" 12v fans in the console. Two will be intake and the other will be exhaust. I have a 4 channel fan controller on the way. Plus there will be the CPU fan and HDD cooling fans. As for the keyboard, I bought a mini bluetooth KB that is about 5" long and has a mouse stick on it.

No worries, I will delete your post now........LOL....J/K

I have an extra console if you are interested. Its sitting against the wall in the living room collecting dust. LMK.

 

I'm curious about your choice of motherboard. Besides the obvious reasons of cost and/or availability, why are you going with an older board with DDR2 memory and 1000 mhz FSB? For roughly the same price, you can get a similar board with 2600 mhz FSB and DDR3, both of which are going to make a big difference in an application like this. I realize the cpu and ram will be a little more expensive, but both of those are easy enough to swap later when you can find a sweet deal on faster pieces.

I agree, they are still too high. But personally, I would give the following a shot (or something similar) and use it for the operating system & applications only. It will wake up & boot noticeably faster than the 1tb toshiba. Switching between any apps will be faster as well. You can configure your apps to use your big drive to store everything, but load from the ssd.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820139428

Just my .02

 

Well I got a deal on the MoBo and CPU. i was looking at a 2.8Ghz quad core and just really didnt see the need for it since Im not doing anything heavy with this system

But overall, here is the parts list

So I picked up a few parts for my new project

I got a ECS A740GM-M Motherboard and AMD Athlon X2 4850B (dual core 2.5ghz)
(1) Crucial 2Gb of RAM
(1) Masscool 5F9001B1H3 CPU Cooling Fan
(1) Ultra 4 Channel Fan Controller
(1) Asus Xonar DG Sound Card
(1) USB Powered Mimo 9" monitor
(1) GlobalSat BU-353 SiRF III USB GPS receiver
(1) BT mini keyboard with mouse pad
(1) BT ODBII (ELM327)
(2) BT USB dongles
(1) 4 port USB header
(1) Wireless USB 802.11 B/G
(1) WD 500Gb HDD (SATA)
(1) OPUS 180w PSU
(5) 6ft USB extension cables
(2) 3.5mm to RCA adapters
(1) VGA to RCA adapter

So I bought (5) 6ft USB extension cables. Thats to extend and connect the monitor (2), the GPS (1) and two stand-alone USB ports for external devices or cell chargers. That leaves one extra USB cable just in case.

The BT dongles will connect the ODBII and wireless KB which I have already tested and work.

The wireless USB 802.11 stick will get wireless to the PC from my rooted Droid X. I also have Torque which is a OBDII software that can BT connect to the BT OBDII adapter.

I already have several OBDII software for the PC I can use and have Microsoft Streets and Trips 2010

The 5.1 sound card is PCI so that ties up one of two of my PCI slots. The other slot goes to the 4 port USB header.

Ive got (2) 3.5mm to RCA adapters and RCAs already in the truck from my current system.

I have 4 extra 80mm fans I will use as 2 for intake and 2 for exhaust air.

I also picked up a VGA-to-RCA adapter so I can hopefully get video to my other 4 screens. I have two in the sun visors and 2 in the head rests.

I THINK that covers everything. WHEW!!

Now my Qs are these.

1. With the 5.1 sound card, if i take one 3.5mm adapter and plug it into the front or rear channel and then run RCAs to the amp for the doors. I know that will get me sound there. But if i take the OTHER 3.5mm adapter and plug it into the sub channel, will I get audio out of that to my sub amp or not. All my music is obviously downloaded albums in MP3 format. I always try to get 320kbps but they are all 2 channel of course.

2. How do I go about mounting the MoBo to console? Ive worked on tons of PCs but never built one. My biggest concern and question are my grounds for the MoBo and HDD. can someone please explain that for me?

Any and all help is appreciated.

 

My guess would be yes. I've used 5.1 systems and besides audio samples that were encoded in 5.1, I've never had any music that was true 5.1 and my audio always came out of the sub channel.

You should have a few options in the configuration software for the sound card. If nothing else, you can probably run a 2.1 config and split the front outputs. I think you'll be able to get something to work.

Not sure what kind of case you're using, but cases have a plate attached to the bottom of the case. There are little mounds that stick up. You use mobo screws (top right of pic) and screw the male end into the case. Those (5 or so) screws act as a platform (with female ends up) to sit your mobo on. Then you screw regular screws through the top of the mobo hole into the female ends of the mobo screws. Sometimes little plastic tabs are used as well (top left of pic).

If you're fabbing a custom case, you can probably find a plate for a Micro ATX case. Otherwise, the plastic pieces might be easier. Although in a truck, you might want the screw connection. You don't want any part of the the bottom of the mobo (besides the mounting spots) to touch anything.

As far as I understand, the motherboard will get its ground from the atx power supply connector(which will get its ground from your power source). Anything attached to the board will get ground from the ground supplied to the connector.

Keep us posted...sounds like a fun project!

 

THX bro. That makes more sense. My MoBo and CPU should be here today so I will look and see what all hardware comes with it. I wasnt going to use a case but rather just get some stainless from work but I might just go ahead and get a small microATX case and cut it up.

 

Weed Any Update? Hows it going? Havent had a chance to check in for a while but saw this while browsing craigslist today. seems like hes asking a tad too much but still good ideas.
http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/pts/2257042731.html

 

Ive been collecting parts and material. I got my plunge router and my bits i need. But a lot of my time has been either out of town on weekends or doing bezels and other projects for guys through the week. But I will start doing my new bezel for my 9" screen here soon.

That link you gave is got an 06+ Ram. Nice but 17 is WAY too much and I doubt that is even a touch screen. Thats just a monitor which would be no good for me.