I'm going to rip the internal components of my old desktop computer and cram them in the trunk of my civic. I've got the power converter to convert to 120 volts for the computer. I'm assuming that I'm going to need a video card that has RCA or S-Video outputs so that I can run video from the computer to the screen up in the dashboard.

Two questions:

1) What kind of video card would you reccommend?
2) What kind and/or brand of monitor?

Also, I have a wireless network in my house and I'm going to install a wireless card in the civic so that when I pull into the garage I can download songs overnight from Kazza, and they'll be in my ride. Is that not the coolest thing?

 

im also interested in putting a personal computer in my car. what kind of setups have people done in the past or present?

 

i put an mp3 playing computer in my old buick a few years back

first off, i'm not to sure about about visual in a car so bear with me on this.

the video card i would recommend is "ATI: All in Wonder" the newer the better. also go with a soundblaster 128 or 512, unless you can get your hands on a 5.1 surround card (which reminds me!)

what head unit are you going to be using????

tell me more and i'll be glad to help you out.

also don't forget THE most important part of the system COOLING
i suggest keeping an open case in your trunk and using 4 or 5 cooling fans

also tell me more about that old computer

 

One thing you HAVE to remember when doing this is make sure that when you install the hdd it has some sort of cushioning. A car can ride hard over bumps and we all know what bumps do to a hdd!

 

I disagree, unless you are gonna play games on that computer in the car. All you need is PII - 350Mhz with any ATI card with TV out (at least 16MB - 8MB will be just sufficient for the job too if you are low on budget). "All in wonder" card means you will have "TV Tuner" on it. Since you will not be secrwing the tv cable on the back of it to watch TV, it doesn't make sense you pay more for the feature that you will not be using.

Which screen are you thinking of putting in front? LCD / CRT Monitor? The screen you will have in front, try to get the one which accept regular computer 15pin socket. This will not only solve your problem of which video card to get (since you will be able to use any video card then), plus when you convert any computer signal to TV (by RCA / Svideo) it changes the quality drastically and it will be quite hard to read text on the screen.

Another reason for you to go with lower CPU power is that it will be less load on the car battery.

Definately go with "Sound Blaster" from creative labs. Newer the better, the sound quality is increased as you would get newer card.

Ofcourse you can have wireless keyboard and mouse for your car, but you can also look at "ATI Remote wonder" which is basically a remote control to control a PC with one remote. Comes free with newer "ATI all in wonder" cards.

PM me if you need any help.

 

make sure ur cable 4 sound are good or else u will get engine noise in the system. also plan out ur wiring so u don't do double work.

 

my question in mind is how do you get a system with 5 speaker sets in cabin, 2 subs all with amps connected to the sound card even possibly wired through the eq?

Its probably extremely possible, just sounds like a pain in the rear.

 

im waiting til i save up for a touchscreen/car computer/5.1 setup in my car...

ill even go the diy speakers route as well...
its not as hard as it sounds...all u need is time and patience <of course...money as well>

 

Well onething u will get involve to is noise.. it create alot of noise since u use the inverter ... recomment that u use dc to dc converter .. since that will not create any noise...

 

let me get this straight...you want a computer with wireless internet in the car to play mp3s and videos? errr..why not just download everything at your desk and burn it to a CD? Better yet, why not get rid of the computer idea and put a vcd/svcd/dvd/mp3 player under the seat? And you dont have to wory about an inverter either. That's what I idd and it's definitely a third of what you're going to pay.