Hey, im kris. I have a 2000 Audi a4. recently my laptop wifi broke. and sence its made into the motherboard, i decided it would be a perfect donor for a car computer. So what i need is some kind of software/hardware that will allow me to display all the cars computer details to me while i drive. Ive been looking through your website and there is alot of options. I dont need anyhting too crazy, but my engine light is on. and i love to tweak things. Any idea's? sence im using a 17" laptop minotor it would be cool to have something intergrated into windows and the car, so when i start the car the screen/ laptop automatically comes up with waht i need

any idea's?

Kris

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ok well.. this cable... it goes from the motherboard to the screen. thank god its coated wires and not ide cables... so tonight im going to splice these .. and extend them. So my screen dosent have to be 6" from my mobo. That will allow me to place the other parts around the car for better access... (USB ports, Cd/dvd drive, Keyboard/mouse pad.. ect..) god they are tiny wires.. i might need a special kit to extend these a few feet.

 

where are you going to mount the monitor? what you'll need to do is run labview and write your own software. the software for labview is graphic oriented and a little tricky but once you get the trick down you'll have an awesome display or everything you need. i don't think a laptop is a good choice though. even though it is a laptop, it's too big. you need a micro atx mobo and run steady state HD rather than a regular one because it won't like all the shaking and speeding up the car'll be doing.

how's windows 7?

 

its actually not that bad.. im suprised.. hasnt crashed.......... yet.

 

A buddy of mine did this with his old Toyota Corolla, but he found a 7" touch-screen off hand and used that instead. He was going to go the route you plan on taking but it became a hassle to find a place to mount the screen.

his actually came out really nice. He had all his components tucked under the drivers seat, and even had a mini keyboard in the glove box.

Hope you figure everything out. You should post up the process in case there are others who want to tackle something like this.....Good luck

 

I have a friend that did this on his DSM 3000GT, except he didn't used a laptop because 1) It's too big 2) The screen is almost impossible to mount without extensive interior modding and would take up too much interior room 3) When it breaks, the parts are expensive and god help you if the LCD breaks since here in NY we have two extreme temperatures, it is either very cold or very hot. The LCD wasn't made to operate at these extreme temperatures....SO....he decided to get a radio with a built in 7" touch screen that had video inputs, bought a cappucino pc and mounted the pc in the trunk with some fabricated brackets. He then ran video cables from the head unit to the pc and using a mouse/ keyboard configured the pc to output to video, then he pulled the mouse/ keyboard and kept it in case he needed them later on. The results was a much cleaner install that didn't take up any space other than the screen on his head unit. He loaded that with music videos and connected the audio output to his amp. He was also part of the programming team that created Connect2Car and somehow modified a remote control watch as a remote FOB!

 

screen is WAY too big to mount anywhere in that car.... go with a 7"

 

the problem with all those computers referenced above is power supply- its not made to run in the harsh environment of a cars power system. the cars power supply varies wildly between 11 and 15 VDC. you would either need to run a DC to AC inverter, then plug in the laptop's ac power supply, which converts it back to DC. but thats just not efficient and very bulky. you need something like this...

http://www.mini-box.com/s.nl/sc.8/category.13/.f
which filters much of the noise and provides a steady stream of constant voltage. they even have a small capacitor-style UPS to further eliminate voltage sags.

or just buy the whole computer here
http://www.mini-box.com/s.nl/sc.8/category.101/.f

 

^ Very nice computer, better than the cappucino pc! The OP should just buy the computer and avoid the hassle of wiring up the laptop. The enclosure looks very good. Excellent find ghost!