[rubley]

So I'm thinking about putting a PC in my IS to do NAV and possibly MP3 playback. I have an old Thinkpad that looks like a good candidate. I can get a small LCD monitor from this place: http://www.flat-panel.com. I'd like to mount it in the standard lint trap area on the dash, just not sure if my skills are up to the task of doing a professional looking job. My dream would be to put a wireless card in the laptop and be able to network it with my home LAN.

Is anybody else thinking about/working on something like this?

 

[jamest_corvel]

i don't think this car has enough room for that type of thing. My Ford Expedition would be perfect.

 

[wazzup]

cool
drive fast, and surf for porn..uh I mean IS300.net at the same time

 

[Lexus_IS300]

PC in car is gay. i thought about it, but whats the point of surfing the net when slow wireless speeed, and you think a soundcard will reproduce as good of sound as a conventional radio? oh well, JMO. to each his own.

------------------
'01 IS300
'91 NSX
'95 Maxima

 

[rubley]

I'm not trying to surf the net (although a wireless link to my cable-modem would be plenty fast ~T1). I was thinking about networking it to transfer MP3's back and forth. A PC sound card can produce a signal that can at least do justice to an MP3. Not every sound card is as bad as the typical Sound(Noise)Blaster. I'm really not in love with the changer in the dash. It takes soooo long to switch discs and I can never remember which CD is in which slot.

I'm a geek, so this is the type of mod I spend time thinking about.

Originally posted by Lexus_IS300:
PC in car is gay. i thought about it, but whats the point of surfing the net when slow wireless speeed, and you think a soundcard will reproduce as good of sound as a conventional radio? oh well, JMO. to each his own.

 

[chromaplast]

hey, checkout http://www.megacar.com

they put pcs in their mercedes.

I think its a great Idea. You can hack into the Pentagon while driving.v

 

[Lexus_IS300]

Originally posted by rubley:
I'm not trying to surf the net (although a wireless link to my cable-modem would be plenty fast ~T1). I was thinking about networking it to transfer MP3's back and forth. A PC sound card can produce a signal that can at least do justice to an MP3. Not every sound card is as bad as the typical Sound(Noise)Blaster. I'm really not in love with the changer in the dash. It takes soooo long to switch discs and I can never remember which CD is in which slot.

I'm a geek, so this is the type of mod I spend time thinking about.

in a car audio magazine about 2 issues ago, there was a blazer that had a computer in it. you might want to check it out. good luck on the install. i am sure the service for internet access will be expensive though.


------------------
'01 IS300
'91 NSX
'95 Maxima

 

[Jashugan]

Originally posted by rubley:
I'm not trying to surf the net (although a wireless link to my cable-modem would be plenty fast ~T1).

You can get almost T1 speed from a wireless LAN??? Hmmm... the fastest wireless network cards that I know of have speeds closer to 20 kb/s.

 

[rubley]

Most of the original wireless cards ran at 2 Mbit/s and the new generation runs at 11 Mbit/s. A T1 is only 1.544 Mbit/s.

Originally posted by Jashugan:
You can get almost T1 speed from a wireless LAN??? Hmmm... the fastest wireless network cards that I know of have speeds closer to 20 kb/s.

 

[Reefa]

Originally posted by rubley:
I'm not trying to surf the net (although a wireless link to my cable-modem would be plenty fast ~T1).

Doesn't that mean that you will have to be real close to your house to use the wireless link ? If you just plan on using the wireless link to d/l songs, etc it might be easier/cheaper to take the Laptop inside and use a regular wired lan connection.

Reefa

 

[rubley]

Yes I would have to be close. I live in an apartment (4th floor) and I park in the lot right in front of the building. I know there are more cost effective ways, I just think it sounds cool.

I'll probably get a separate portable hard drive based MP3 player - I don't want to have to wait for the computer to boot up just to listen to music. This is the one I'm looking at:
http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=NEO25G10-2

P.S. Am I the only one that thinks the XFL sucks?

Originally posted by Reefa:
Doesn't that mean that you will have to be real close to your house to use the wireless link ? If you just plan on using the wireless link to d/l songs, etc it might be easier/cheaper to take the Laptop inside and use a regular wired lan connection.

Reefa

 

[Altersys]

I think it's a great idea... go for it if you can!

I had a cool website for an in-car MP3 computer player based on a 1/2U rackmount case and a barebones Linux installation... I could dig the sit eup if you want it....

cheers,
-Alt

------------------
Ashraf Shabudin / Ampman Audio Marketing Director, TeamAMP Director

 

[rubley]

Sure, post any links you have. Thanks.

Originally posted by Altersys:
I think it's a great idea... go for it if you can!

I had a cool website for an in-car MP3 computer player based on a 1/2U rackmount case and a barebones Linux installation... I could dig the sit eup if you want it....

cheers,
-Alt

 

[Reefa]

Have you seen this : http://www.saintsong.com.tw/it/english/ithome.htm

check out both those PCs...they are pretty cool. Oh yeah...XFL does suck

Originally posted by rubley:
Yes I would have to be close. I live in an apartment (4th floor) and I park in the lot right in front of the building. I know there are more cost effective ways, I just think it sounds cool.

I'll probably get a separate portable hard drive based MP3 player - I don't want to have to wait for the computer to boot up just to listen to music. This is the one I'm looking at:
http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=NEO25G10-2

P.S. Am I the only one that thinks the XFL sucks?

 

[rubley]

They are pretty cool, though I've never seen a source in the US for them.

Originally posted by Reefa:
Have you seen this : http://www.saintsong.com.tw/it/english/ithome.htm

check out both those PCs...they are pretty cool. Oh yeah...XFL does suck

 

[Altersys]

Originally posted by rubley:
Sure, post any links you have. Thanks.

I'll have to rummage to find it... let me go do that now..

Found it: http://www.maximumpc.com/route66/intro.html

cheers,
-Alt

------------------
Ashraf Shabudin / Ampman Audio Marketing Director, TeamAMP Director

 

[rubley]

Thanks for the link.

 

[Altersys]

You betcha!

-Alt

------------------
Ashraf Shabudin / Ampman Audio Marketing Director, TeamAMP Director

 

[Scrap]

I've been thinking about getting one of these: http://www.empeg.com/

A little expensive though...

Scrap.

[This message has been edited by Scrap (edited February 18, 2001).]