Anyone fitted a Mini PC ?

[SylvainGoodwill]

Hello all,

A friend of mine is looking for a rugged PC system that would fit in his 110.

He travels a lot (Turkey, Lybia, Tunisia...) and uses a regular laptop to upload maps into his GPS.

The laptop's screen can also be used as a display for the GPS, but the keyboard gets in the way, and the PC himself can't rally cope with the vibrations when driving on bad tracks.

The idea would be to use a Mini PC and a touchscreen.

Has anyone done this?


Thank you for any advice

Sylvain

[Bryan]

Would he not be better off using something like an IPAQ? He could easily transfer between that and his laptop and they also come with car kits.

[SylvainGoodwill]

Thanks for the suggestion,

A PDA could be a good alternative, but my friend is looking to using a really large display, hence the laptop size touchscreen.

I've seen very compact PC's on the net, and it looks like people are using them in cars for storing MP3's and other stuff.

Anyone know about these?

[dynamited]

You might want to suggest the Mini-Itx format pc`s. www.mini-itx.com (http://www.mini-itx.com)
( direct link: http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=11#vk3677 )

Basically they`ve got a small motherboard with integrated CPU + graphic card + soundcard+network card, normal DDR ram, normal hard disk, normal cdrom ( which you can butcher from old pcs) and they run fine.

Dont expect flying performance, they`re something as fast as a Pentium 3 ( i heard, they are too expencive to ship to my country.. otherwise i`d bought one)

`Problem` is that they work off the car battery... so he`d better make sure he has a leisure battery so that it doesnt drain his main battery and the doesnt manage to start his Landy... in the middle of a desert.

These Mini-itx pcs are ideal if you want to integrate it fully into the vehicle.... cause you chuck the PC in a hidden compartment, extend the power switch, cordless keyboard or mouse ( if desired..) and a touchscreen tft on the dash.

They`re decent pcs... and for GPS... they`re more than enough. But watch out for the `bumps` which the hard disk might suffer... im not quite sure how long they would last. But I suggest stick in a decent ammount of RAM, as more RAM would mean less hard disk access and better performance.

If you need any more help... let me know. I`ve been dying to build such a project... but i dont get to travel long distances.. so its a bit `useless`. From one side to the other of the island... you`d probably drive it in an hour.

[SylvainGoodwill]

Thanks for the link,

In the meantime, I found some interesting ideas on these sites (among others):

http://www.cartft.com/carpc/catalog/gl/2
http://www.littlepc.com/

We'll be doing some research work on the best/most rugged solution and I'll post again on this thread to let you know what we are up to.

[dynamited]

A couple of pcs on those websites are powered by the same Via C3 processors on the mini-itx website. ( cause mini-itx is the standard they called that size of motherboard )

If going in extreem heat situations... its worth considering if the pc would suffer from overheating. So a fanless pc would probably get a bit overheated. Try check the manufacturers claim of its 'recommended' operational temperature... cause they wouldnt consider the pc out in desert temperatures :rolleyes:

I like that Stereo looking PC.... problem is... it stands out on a 110/90 dash.. as being an easy target. Maybe if its hidden in a chubby box... it would be great. But i doubt it can operate in a full vertical position. Worth checking with the manufacturer.

[P00DLE]

why not build your own
all you need to do is get hold off a mini itx board available seperately and can be bought suitable for high end 2ghz+ amd and intel chips.
the problem withe the premade units is the lack off vibration damping which with hard disks is a major problem. would use laptop hard disks as these tend to be designed to take a bit of movement and make custom steel brackets for them and them rubber mount them into a steel cradle containing the whole system. i would mount the whole system on lightwieght engine or exhaust mounts to further reduce vibration. also consider using a small cheap hdd i.e 30 - 40 gb for bout £30 as these are not too bad to replace if they die. cooling wise i would go for 2 - 4 80mm fans but nice low volume units to cut the noise. if going to dessert regions i would consider sealing the whole unit with silicone and making dust filter for the fans from a pair of tights or something similar. you can get 12v or 230/110v power supplies for these id go for the bigger option as you will probably need an invertor for the monitor anyway.

[landroverdan]

in november 2003 lro they had a td5 90 with a car pc so have a look at that lots of info also some good links

[dynamited]

chris{iom} ... yep.. probably best & cheaper to build it themselves... it could be put in a custom space and all...and you dont need the funky looks.. if its going to be tucked away anyway. The mini-itx factor is very flexible.. since its really small. And if he copies all the GPS software into the hard disk.. a cdrom isnt really necessary.

And if you`re going to run Winxp.. or so... find a decent tweaking site and turn off all the unnecessary services, graphics and 'crap' so the OS flies by quicker....

[P00DLE]

further to the last post
i would make the case cube shaped with a steel frame or ally if u prefer and cover it with chequer plate. would also make it to fit in the back either on the floor against bulkhead or on one of the wheel arches. put a bit of 8 or 10mm rubber between it and the surface its sitting on and then bolt the ****** down.

[Lacy]

Check out the latest imac mini at www.apple.com/uk

Just announced and a dream of a mini computer, especially if you are used to using macs like me, or if not, well worth trying for that outstanding form factor.

[jjsaul]

If he is after something rugged, try the panasonic toughbooks.

They are what the military and all the BT engineers etc use. Some also have built in touchscreens.

They can be bought new or on eBay.

[SylvainGoodwill]

THanks for all the advice,

A friend of mine promised to drop by next week. He's been busy with PC's for as long long as I can remember. Beeing more of the Mac type myself, I definitely need him to check the various softwares and GPS stuff we would like to integrate...

I'll post some kind of drawing/recap as soon as possible.