Rugby10

I was looking at Dr. Z's ECT mod and wood started burning. The wood being my head. I came across this website:MAC tatra by way of Gizmodo. This guy has transformed his ride into a freakin nerds heaven, and I want one. The computer displays just about every pertinent piece of information regarding the car. I.e. fuel consumption, trip distance, temperature, et cetera. It also plays MP3's, DVD's, and CD-rom's. It has full up GPS navigation, and WIFI to boot. I then started researching (read = google), and I came across this site: CAR CPU. This company has their stuff together, but the products are really freakin' expensive.

I have a modular system in mind, to borrow a term "plug and play". One that could be easily removed if your going wheeling, or something. The screen would disengage from the mounting point and the CPU would be unlocked and disengaged from it's mounting point. My mechanic told me the Toyota CPU is one tough nut to crack, but I bet Dr. Z could do it. Could you Dr. Z, could you please????

I understand the ECT mod to be analog by nature, thus dialing in a knob of sorts. I was wondering if was possible to "crack" the yota's cpu for all of the potentially valuable data with an onboard PC or MAC? Thus creating a digital ECT/BAD A$$ digital mod!

Anyway, it's just a thought. Let me know what you think...

superjoe83

those guys have too much time on their hands

Mystickal

You don't need to "crack" the ECU, all you need to do is hook up to the vehicles ODBII diagnostic port and interface it with something - a laptop, pda, whatever. This guys system is very simplistic compared to what is possible. ODBII can display timing advance, check engine codes, coolant temperature, TPS position, and much, much more.

Putting together a computer system to put into your car can easily be done for less than $1000 (that includes the price for the components, DVD player, GPS system, and a touchscreen display), a good ODBII diagnostic program will run another $100-$200.

The guy does have a slick interface though, very clean.

Check out www.auterra.com and www.autotap.com for info on OBDII diagnostic systems.

Check out www.mp3car.com, www.mini-itx.com, and http://www.via.com.tw/en/VInternet/carpc.jsp (just to name a couple) for info on putting together a car pc.

~Bill

Rugby10

Thanx Bill, will do. I don't have $1000 to throw down on a CPU system. I do have a spare PC that I have decided to "mod" into a carputer, ruggedized of course. So it begins...

Mystickal

Though you may be on a budget, if you can afford it, the best things to get for a car powered PC (IMHO) are:

A DC-DC power supply - this will probably be more expensive then you'd hope, but it makes things oh so much easier. More efficient, less heat and noise, smaller space, and less wasted power than using a normal ATX power supply and a DC-AC inverter. Using an inverter, you are converting 12V to 115VAC back to 12VDC (along with 5V and 3.3V) - but why?

A laptop hard drive - though they are smaller in capacity and more expensive (and you'll have to pick up a converter), they more than make up for it in 2 areas - size and SHOCK RESISTANCE! Sure, you can do some shock dampening with a desktop hard drive, but laptop drives reign for that sort of thing. Using a compact flash drive would be better, though more expensive. But I digress. . .

A touchscreen monitor - Sure, they can be a little pricey. But if you know where to look (digitalww hint, hint) you can find an 8" screen for $350. IMHO, they are the best way to control a carputer while you are driving. Though some use RF keyboards and Gyro mice.

Slim-Line DVD drive - tastes great, less filling. Much smaller than a conventional DVD drive.

~Bill