Hi,

I just got a new Maxima and I was considering installing a computer into the car(I'm a computer engineer). Has anyone else tried this? In case anyone was wondering what the point was, I was going to install gps, an mp3 player, voice recognition, and a few other gadgets my friends and I developed. I was just curious if anyone else has tried this in their maxima.

Jared

 

a few have them. i think thebigsalder has a laptop if i remember correctly. i'm working on mine. one specific org member i believe wrote a write up on his set up. what are you planning on running? i'm setting up a P3 with 512 DDR in a custom housing in my trunk. i'm running a dvd/cdr and a floppy in my glove box and probably an ir keyboard as well. make sure you are running atleast a 7" screen. i heard Windows has a problem with anything less.

 

Well, I saw a site online that had an entire listing of his setup. I don't know where the link is unfortunately. In his setup, he recommended not using a system higher than 600MHz, because the heat generated would be dangerous. He also mentioned that the power consumption from the battery might be a little strenous to a normal battery and that a dual cycle battery would be needed.

I'm not sure how extensive I should go. Being a computer engineer, I have a pretty good technical understanding of what I need and have to work with, but I am looking to see what other's have done first. I was thinking of a 400MHZ system, but I'm not sure. I was going to install it in my trunk and hopefully have some car audio company wire everything in nicely for me.

Anyways, it's good to hear other's are tyring it. I was going to put a 7" touch screen into the bose audio slot(I plan to anyways) and possibly use Linux instead of Windows. Well, let me know if anyone else has tried it on their maxima, if you don't mind.

Jared

http://oge.oregonstate.edu/aerobots/

 

here ya go, and it's made right here in Alabamy
http://www.q-pc.com/

 

I've been spec'ing out a comp in the max myself. I've got a ps2 with 7" mounted monitor right now. I just spend 2k on general car stuff like altezza's and the monitor and pstation so it'll be awhile before i feel like putting another 1k into the max (except for my tranny swap, I'm just waiting on a doner car right now) But Where i'm going with this is here ...

http://www.i-zone-3.com/components.htm

These guys make pre-ready mobile pc's that run off dc power. Thats probably the round i'm gonna go when i'm ready to spend the money, if you have the money already, i'd recommend them (Test em out at let me know so i don't waste my cash...j/k). Hope this helps alil. I should have a PC setup by this summer though. We'll see

 

It was a fun experience but all in all, not worth the maintenance and I lost interest after using it for a while. The best part about it was I was able to use this as my Final Engineering Project haha, and i scored an A! I took the computer out and hooked up an N64 because that console was laying around... the LCD is still in there.

Here's the best place (forum dedicated to Carputers) to learn about it:
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/foru...?s=&forumid=16

Here are all my threads about my venture into the carputer concept:

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....light=computer

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....light=computer

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....light=computer

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....light=computer

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....light=computer

good luck! Let us know how it turns up. You can email or IM me through MSN or AIM if you need any help.