muddy

Screen is a Linitx touchscreen.

One of the guys on digital-car tested several at the same time and this one was really good value for money. Beat the lilliput.

The screen was very difficult to do, and am glad I don't have to do it again. Plenty of bond and patience, and many attempts to get it right.

Autoroute -- yeh no voice -- only by eye. A voice would drive me crazy. It's easily viewable anyway. And only needs a glance now and then.

Since building the system I haven't kept upto date with the CarPC scene, so hadn't heard of Roadrunner, must of only come out in the last couple of months.

Will the Media car skins work directly with Roadrunner??


Cheers

Muddy

GC8

Id recommend Coyote MEDIACAR over MediaEngine every time. Ive found it to be superior in every respect; front end and whats underneath.

Simon

cw42

iTrader: (1)

Playlists are easy in mediaengine Go to home, browse media, start new playlist: a split screen then comes up, with your files on the top, and the new playlist on the bottom, start adding files by selecting them from the top list, when your done, click save, name the playlist, and thats it. In the config utility, you can specify where the playlists are all stored, but you have to put them in the same folder as your music files.
The microphone icon is for a d-link usb radio, which I'm bidding on atm on ebay Once configured, you click that icon, and it starts the software for the fm radio (i hope!)
I can figue what the tree icon does either
I think the favorites is in the same place as your playlist builder.
UPDATE: I've built 2 playlists now, and then realised that I've not got some of my cd's on my pc. So spent last night ripping my missing discs
Watched the league of gentlemen film last night, very funny, and very weird
Off back to the pc shop today, need a very small keyboard and mouse, and an external usb card reader, as the internal one I bought doesn't fit

chris.

UHF

It says that roadrunner works with old media car skins, its also open source so i'll definately be having a dig around in there!

cw42

iTrader: (1)

UPDATE:
Got it in the car today But it is never going to fit in the glovebox


Also tried the screen while I was in the car today:



and I think I need to get the hacksaw out

Also had a chance to try ROADRUNNER today, and tbh, I found it too cluttered for my liking. In the future, when I've got everything in place, mp3, dvd, radio, sat-nav, then it'll be perfect, but for the time being, I think I'll stick with media engine. Simple interface, easy to use. It did crash on me today, and I've had to reinstall, but I think that was down to running then uninstalling roadrunner
Just reinstalled media engine now, so I'll setup again. I left it running yesterday for around 5 hours, just playing my 2000+ song files, and it was still going strong when I got back to it
The mini keyboard and mouse is proving its worth, as trying to "touchscreen" some of the small options in the windows interface is tricky, I need to grow my nails I think
chris.

UHF

drop me your email and i'll drop you a few pics of my one, its in an opus car pc case, and on rubber mounts in the boot, all very tidy

cw42

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Email as per profile UHF, thanks

cw42

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UPDATE: not done anything today but left the pc running since 11pm last night. Its been playing my mp3 files since then on continuous, and it's only on track 230 so far!
After updating my database, and re-ripping some of my cd's, I've now got 14.5gb of mp3's to listen too! Crickey, thats one big road trip to listen to them all
***** is coming over tomorrow to have a look at what needs to be done for the fitting. I'm thinking of putting it under the passenger seat, and just atatching the screen to the dash in a fixed position for now, and then maybe building a proper enclosure later.
When I think about it, if the pc is hidden, and the screen is hidden in the glovebox, for storage, and you've set the software to startup and play from where you left off, then there's no need to get the screen out anyway Obviously with sat-nav and radio, I'd need the screen, but for short trips, I can leave the screen where it is
chris.

chiark

Nicely done

I really, really, really ought to extract my finger and get mine into the car. Problem is that I want to write my own software. Not sure why any more....

Mad Scientist

Oh Chris! I have to hand it to you, you are the gadget master of the SMACS!

This is without doubt the single most awesome in car toy i've seen for years!

I want I want I want I want!



Let me know when I can come and see!

cw42

iTrader: (1)

UPDATE: ***** came round as promised last night After a good look at the car, it's been decided that today we're off to "grade a" to get a new facia surround to have a play with. It looks like he's going to remove the ashtray and *** lighter, and maybe the "bright" switch and headlight wash switch, and then mount the screen low down, facing up in that space. The LinITX screen comes with a surround mount, so it's just a case of fitting that into the facia, then clipping the screen in. Something like this:


Once that's done, I've settled for putting the pc under the passenger seat. I don't think I'll have any problems with overheating, but if I do, I can monitor it from the drivers seat. The shock absorbtion should be better in the middle of the car (my 10 disc cd changer skips in the boot), the cable runs are much shorter from pc to screen, battery and any ancileries (sp) and it's still easily accessable.
I'll update again tonight with some more pics after our trip to "grade a"
mad You'll be the first to come see m8

chris.

messiah

Aren't there heater vents under the seats? Should be easy to block off though. Should be plenty of room - there's a thread on scoobymods covering the install of a under-passenger-seat subwoofer if it's any use. I'm assuming you'll be facing the pc rear facing so you can still access the disc drive?

cw42

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, I think there are, but like you say, should be ok to block off
It will be rear facing, but I can't see the need to use the disc drive that often. I'm deffo going to have to put some foam or protection in front of it though, as the kids will no doubt boot it from time to time, especially as they are growing at a rate of knots atm
chris

messiah

I think the screen will look better where you're proposing - I could imagine a nosey policeman not being very impressed with where you have it now, although having it low down could generate a bit of neck ache if watching a DVD.

Can you set up proper 5.1 surround sound with that setup? (sticking a tweeter behind the heater vent)

cw42

iTrader: (1)

I suppose so, just a case of getting a processor and the proper amps, but not that fussed about that at the mo'.
Got to get this all installed, working, then gps sat-nav and radio. Then I'll start to look at the dvd/movie side, and maybe a second screen in the back for the kids. Son wants to know if he can play games on the pc! Don't think Quake 3 will look too good though!
chris.

messiah

I think that's where a Slimline PS2 will come in handy...

How do these systems affect the battery?

cw42

iTrader: (1)

Slimline ps2 would be on the cards in the future, as the screen has 2 more inputs.
The pc is controlled and powered by a specific carputer power supply. Wired to your battery, it regulates the power supply, protecting against spikes during engine cranking and monitors when your battery is too low, which then cuts the power to the pc if in hibernate mode
this is the one I've got, although there are others

chris.

cw42

iTrader: (1)

UPDATE: Just got back from "grade a" and picked up a new console surround. £30.
So rather than butcher mine, ***** has got this one to hack to death


The plan is to put the screen surround in, using filler and maybe fibreglass if need be, respray, then remove mine from the car. Then move the headlight dip/washer switches to the right hand side, then fit the new screen surround.
We've decided to leave the full pc install till next week, when I'm working, and *****'s off for a few days. I couldn't envisage fitting it all in a day anyway, and I need the car for the NBO this weekend
Here's the screen mount installed by hand:

It's at least going to give me some time to sort out the amp, and play with some more front ends
chris.

jowl

I w going to remove my Ash tray and lighter...so It'll be intersting to see ow you get on.

Did you think about the Travla (?) cases? Not much bigger than a standard 1 DIN radio -might fit in the glove compartment then

gazzared_typer

It's great

But would it be possible to use the new Mac mini (PC world at £339)? Is there the software to use it?

It's just so small that it seems ideal to fit in a car

www.apple.com/uk/macmini/

jowl

It'll get too hot when powered by intel

But Serisouly, I thought of the mac mini but assumed that most commerical AND share/freeware software would be windows based. I have done NO research to back this up though.

cw42

iTrader: (1)

The yanks seem to be switching on to the mac mini at the mo', but as jowl states, all of the software frontends I've come across are windows based, so I don't know what you'd use to play your media incar. I suppose if your already mac based, it could be an alternative.
chris.

gazzared_typer

Next installment please

cw42

iTrader: (1)

Lol @ gazzared typer, next installment wont be for a few days now, NBO weekend tomorrow, and then got to wait for ***** to do the screen surround, and then finally the install. I'll postup my findings if I try some more front ends, but I'm quite liking the interface on MEDIAENGINE now, so may stick with that.
I've installed all the frontends on my home pc too, which although it doesn't do touchscreen, at least gives me a chance to try the different features of them all
chris.

chiark

I must admit to being tempted by the mac mini myself. By the time you start adding up the Mini-itx board (140), memory, CD/DVD drive etc you're not paying a huge premium...

messiah

Mac mini in a car - I'd love to see that. Trouble is you'd want something like that on show wouldn't you?

cw42

iTrader: (1)

UPDATE: After losing my desktop taskbar the other day, and trying all different ways to get it back, I've bit the bullet and had to reinstall winxp again
No worries though, as I've found a new frontend to play with when it's back up and running.
CENTRAFUSE is the new kid on the block, and looks very promising. For me, the one thing that would make me use this all the time is the "delete" button in the mp3 playlist. None of the other frontends have this, and tbh, I've downloaded some right crap in the past So, as it comes up in random play now, I'll be able to delete the file forever
Full integration with phonecontrol, sat-nav and dvd playback is the same as all others, so I'll report on my findings when I've managed to install it.
chris.

jowl

I'd just like to say Thanks to cw42 - I'm sure this will save me loads of time when I come to my install

(though I'm thinking of selling the scooby and using another car )

matt-c

iTrader: (5)

This link might interest some folk, it's a custom double din bezel for a 7inch LCD designed for the Impreza.,

http://www.tmz.com/wrx/bezel.html

Ray_li

This is so cool.