Cheap Carputer
Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 7:08 am
Maybe one of you would know what I should look for.
I'm looking to set up a carputer for myself. Money is a bit... well not there. I have a laptop that I can simply put in my car but i'm looking for something more. What I'd like to do would be to get a small touch screen that could be mounted in the car, attatch it to my laptop, and run everything through one of the various front end programs out there.
As far as mounting/wiring goes I don't want to rip out the 6 Disc player since I plan to possibly detatch the touch-screen at times (like when im parked downtown) so I figure mounting it to the right of the radio will do. Power and audio are also a mystery to me... I can see hooking up the sound being relatively easy but I have a feeling power to the laptop could prove to be a bit challenging...
Does anyone know any cheap solutions to this? I'm already thinking a good way to get a cheap touch-screen would be to nab a used police car touchscreen. (upside of which is... they are durable and designed to be attatched to the side of a console). GPS would be nice but unless anyone knows where I can get a cheap car navigation system that idea is out. (best i have is a few year old lo-tech Garmin GPS..which.. actually might be able to hook up with the laptop to use a GPS program... i'll look into that). This wont be the prettiest and most high-tech carputer out there... but it'll be something i can tinker with and will give me a starting point.
OR
if anyone has any recommendations for a great cheap setup I'm all ears. my franken-puter idea is nice because it allows me to take my laptop out and use it outside of the car... but i'm not sure its the most practical solution...
help me DCAWD-kenobi you're my only hope.
I'm looking to set up a carputer for myself. Money is a bit... well not there. I have a laptop that I can simply put in my car but i'm looking for something more. What I'd like to do would be to get a small touch screen that could be mounted in the car, attatch it to my laptop, and run everything through one of the various front end programs out there.
As far as mounting/wiring goes I don't want to rip out the 6 Disc player since I plan to possibly detatch the touch-screen at times (like when im parked downtown) so I figure mounting it to the right of the radio will do. Power and audio are also a mystery to me... I can see hooking up the sound being relatively easy but I have a feeling power to the laptop could prove to be a bit challenging...
Does anyone know any cheap solutions to this? I'm already thinking a good way to get a cheap touch-screen would be to nab a used police car touchscreen. (upside of which is... they are durable and designed to be attatched to the side of a console). GPS would be nice but unless anyone knows where I can get a cheap car navigation system that idea is out. (best i have is a few year old lo-tech Garmin GPS..which.. actually might be able to hook up with the laptop to use a GPS program... i'll look into that). This wont be the prettiest and most high-tech carputer out there... but it'll be something i can tinker with and will give me a starting point.
OR
if anyone has any recommendations for a great cheap setup I'm all ears. my franken-puter idea is nice because it allows me to take my laptop out and use it outside of the car... but i'm not sure its the most practical solution...
help me DCAWD-kenobi you're my only hope.