hardware guys:: DEBATE:: "hang harddrive vertically or horz." for console comp.

[Piccolo]

AIM: Palmer83221 Hit me up and I can help you!!

Will do when I get home. Prob tomorrow. My AIM is RedSHO89 Thanks!

 

[Devin]

VIA Epia: good idea. I was pricing a touchscreen setup a little while ago, but it is current out of my price range.

How do you have the power setup? I was thinking of just utilizing S3 standby mode, because even an Epia would drain the battery. How do you power it?

 

[40BelowSummer]

dc-dc psu

 

[Devin]

Check out this hard drive:

Endurostar

Hokey name, but it looks pretty good. They say it is made for an automobile application.

 

[n8rsk8r]

Hey thanks Devin, I just pulled the page up, i will check it out

 

[element913]

Stay away from Hitachi hard drives, I can not stress this enough...

 

[pj'l_master]

...whoa whoa whoa wait a minute...could someone explain to me whats goin on here...

you guys are putting computers (as in traditional, desktop machines) into your cars just w/out the case?

 

[n8rsk8r]

well, I am making the console the case, so It will have the case, but in the forum of our center console I am making sure that no pop or water will be able to touch any of the electronics I have been a little too busy this year to actually have the time to work on it. Caught the flu bug last week and that puts me behind a bit also starting to finallly feel better, so after I get my work caught up then I will have time to play

 

[40BelowSummer]

The twEECer R/T, the best tuning tool for our cars requires a laptop/computer to take advantage of the datalogging feature.

 

[Yamaha V6]

FYI, the Bridgeport CNC machines (the PC-based ones) use a "hanging" hard drive setup, with 4 corner springs used to suspend the drive from the rest of the chassis, to eliminate bump shocks & vibration to the drive.

 

[fred79]

I have a couple ideas for you, why not either use a board with or add on a wireless card to add a remove your mp3's and other files allowing you to do it easier and build a sturdier permenant mount.
also if you need a keyboard, look into "the indestructable keyboard" you can find it on the internet, but it is the ineards of the keyboard sealed in a silicon body that will roll up and could be stored in the glove box or console box, and connected with usb.
also if you used a touch screen you wouldn't need a mouse. If you feel you would though I have seen pictures of cars with trac balls being used and it could be incorporated into you custom console.

also maybe you could look into a laptop power supply for your pc. then you wouldn't need a power converter to convert 12v dc into 120v ac so our power supply can convert it into 12v,6v,and 4v power. you should be able to use it to convert from 12v directly. will save you allot of heat and be less taxing on your electrical system.

 

[Yamaha V6]

Those rubberized, roll-up keyboards suck. I bought a couple for work for use in the toolroom, where the open-table CNC was spitting slivers all over the place, including in between the keys of a conventional keyboard.

The soft keyboard "rolls" the keys, it's much harder to type on.

I agree with the idea of say a 1Gb+ flash memory setup (or two); pretty much shockproof, and enough storage to run say, Win98 on it. Use card #2 for audio storage maybe?

 

[fred79]

I know the rubber keyboards aren't good typers but how much typing will be done on a in car computer, it would be good for convienence.
also although flash memory sounds good I don't know if it is fast enough to act as a hard drive, but there is a ram baseed hard drive that is available but you could replace your standard hard drive about 200 times to equal the cost of one of these drives.

 

[n8rsk8r]

Yeah I need to lookinto this more, I have been busy with a couple classes I have been taking...one on wireless technology. The instructor wants us to be done with everything then take Cisco's test next week, that was 8 weeks of compressed learning, so I have had my mind on other things. I have also been talking to some guys who suggest that I use a 12V powersupply, the type cops use. My son's head daycare lady is actually married to a guy who installs car computer systems for Wyondotte County police department. I have not been able to get ahold of him yet, but plan on finding out what they use and how they configure everything. I will actually do a writeup with pics. Maybe Josh will host it for me on the SHOPP web page. I will also let you guys know on here when I find out the info pre-install. we will see.

Does anyone know if they make a "MINI-keyboard?"

I would be interested if it were "wireless". Then I could stow it away in the back of the seat, next to my quart of oil and quart of tranny fluid. Both in huge ziplocks respectably.