Carputer, Truckputer, Expeduter

[dzzz]

I'm in the midst of another truckputer build, so I thought I would start a separate thread. I think we should define these types of devices as a system installed into the vehicle. One that starts when the vehicle starts.

Why?:

- For me its about getting tired of managing a laptop in the truck. I've also damaged laptops in the truck. I prefer to keep my macbook pro safely tucked away.

- One device/ one screen. Gps, music (rhapsody), Sirius, backup camera, and internet browser on a large touch screen. Mine will be mounted on a post. More common is a dash install into a double din space.

Major issues with carputers:
Boot time - can't do anything until the system is up
Power management - carputers are a great way to discharge the starting battery, even when hibernating
Seeing the touchscreen in daylight - true daylight readable screens are expensive

My my software choices:
Win 7 home premium(OEM). The specific software is all windows and linux based. OSX doesn't offer much. There is some development work on an OSX/ipad carputer.
Centrafuse
Garmin Mobile PC
Delorme North America 9.0

 

[brained]

Boot time - can't do anything until the system is up

SSD instead of a regular hard drive. Decreased boot time and less susceptible to shock and vibration.

 

[dzzz]

Hardware

The decision:
How much money, how much power? Given my software choice, I was confident I could run on a better Intel Atom system. If I was building a more general purpose computer that would play games, I would have chosen a Core 2 mobile system.

The two specialized pieces of hardware in a carputer are the power supply and the touchscreen. Two better ones are the M2 ATX and this one.

I haven't finalized my touchscreen yet. I'm leaning towards this 10".

Boot and program go one this inexpensive Intel SSD. No moving parts should provide high reliability. I'm using a 500gb laptop drive to store media. This device will be mostly spun down.

The advantage of an external DVD drive is that it can be placed away from the computer case. I chose an expensive case because I like expensive cases.

 

[Off Duty]

Looks like the whole shootin' match would run you right at 1k (+/-)?

not bad at all.

what type of a modem device?

 

[dzzz]

With the software closer to $1500. A decent system could be done for half that.
With only $80 in the mainboard and cpu I could have gone a lot cheaper.

internet is a tethered iphone connected to a wilson cell amplifier. Or an external 2.4 ghz wifi antenna. I'm sure I'll run a 5ghz N network for the camper.

I definitely have antenna issues. I'm looking at some of these for the higher frequencies.

 

[eugene]

A laptop in hibernate won't drain your battery, only suspend, but I hate hibernate, I can get a decent system to boot faster than suspend from it.
Unless you have a specific need for windows software go with linux, you can easily setup a read only system and strip it down to boot in ~30 seconds. I did it one evening years ago with very little linux experience. I simply did a google search for how to make a ram drive, then any thing i wanted like /var/log/messages I'd symlink to the ram drive them put in a bunch of touch commands to create them early on so the destination for the links would be valid. Then I just found the script tat remounts r/w and would remark out that line and boot and see what failed and if i needed that or not I'd either link it to the ram drive to remark it out to prevent it from starting. I used an old CF card ad a hdd adapter.

 

[Scott Brady]

I want an expeduter

 

[dzzz]

That will be my project:
Expeduter .03
I'll work on the graphic

 

[dzzz]

A laptop in hibernate won't drain your battery, only suspend, but I hate hibernate, I can get a decent system to boot faster than suspend from it.
..........

It depends on the power state that the computer is in when it hibernates. If there's current to the power switch the computer is using power. Carputers generally don't use sleep.

Starting from hibernate is faster than booting if ram is limited. Some people also turn off paging. I bought 2 GB ram, which is on the high end. I'll try 1gb to see how that works.

I'll post some timings at the end of this week.

 

[eugene]

The 5vstandby for the power switch generally isn't counted since its always there and is so small, its no different than leaving a cell phone charger plugged in. Its not enough to run down a battery.

 

[seanz0rz]

my experience with a carputer in my 4runner was less than great. the screen didnt like elevation change (approx. 12 hours for it to acclimate itself.) most of the hardware did ok with vibration, but the boot time was horrendious! i had alot of not so great hardware, stuff that had little driver support, etc.

while i loved the idea, it just didnt work in an offroad vehicle. the screen was impossible to read in the daylight, i was constantly batteling hardware bugs and software glitches, usually when i REALLY needed it. ill be buying a handheld and mounting it to my dash!

if you have any questions about my build, please ask. i did it several times in several different configs and in two different cars. i still have all the parts, so let me know if you want any of it. good luck to you! hopefully yours turns out better than mine!

 

[eugene]

Mine worked fine, I was running a simple linux install and had boot time around 30 seconds. I used a via 500MHz fanless board so no worries about dust and dirt getting into the fan. Booted the OS from CF and let the data sit on an old laptop drive, it survived many trips to and from the mountains of WV,m through the bumpity bump of PA highways, roads that eat front wheel drive vehicles and spit them back out. I had made a simple overhead console and a 1/2 width 1/2 depth 1U case that docked in the console.

 

[Scott Brady]

that will be my project:
expeduter .03
i'll work on the graphic

lol

 

[craig]

my experience with a carputer in my 4runner was less than great. the screen didnt like elevation change (approx. 12 hours for it to acclimate itself.) most of the hardware did ok with vibration, but the boot time was horrendious! i had alot of not so great hardware, stuff that had little driver support, etc.

while i loved the idea, it just didnt work in an offroad vehicle. the screen was impossible to read in the daylight, i was constantly batteling hardware bugs and software glitches, usually when i REALLY needed it. ill be buying a handheld and mounting it to my dash!

if you have any questions about my build, please ask. i did it several times in several different configs and in two different cars. i still have all the parts, so let me know if you want any of it. good luck to you! hopefully yours turns out better than mine!

I don't think your experience is a necessary experience. It sounds like you picked the wrong hardware. Get a sunlight visible screen, solid state drive, install XP Embedded or linux and it all works great. I ran one in my truck for 3 years without a single hiccup. Came on with the truck and powered down with the truck. It is A LOT of geeky work to get setup properly though.

Today, it is just as easy to buy a pre-made system from mp3car.com, Xenarc, or one of the other carputer boutique webstores out there.

 

[dzzz]

I changed my touchscreen choice to this 10" Inelmatic.

It's the big brother of the this model sold by mp3car. The factory will sell me the 10 inch since it isn't carried by a U.S. supplier. (The price is about the same as the 7" from MP3car, making it a very good deal on a milspec daylight readable 10")

I have a center console with attachment points for added equipment like this.