if you guyz need an inverter for your car computer
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=46359

 

Well, I have some things to say too... but here are the pics people have been asking for:



Now, for the guy with pickups and tractors... really you have a point... but what
determines the speed of moving data between your RAM and your CPU is the BUS
speed... which is measured in MHz these days. Your bus acts as the means of
transport between the two elements in the PC... similar as a highway is from your
home to the mall, the more lanes you have, the more cars, etc. With that in mind...
lets say you increase your memory from 512mb of RAM to 1 gig of RAM... but your
BUS speed isnt that fast. Youre kind of SOL because the BUS can only handle a max
number which usually runs way lower than that of your RAM...etc.

About people who worry about airflow... the best way to get a good idea of how your
hardware will handle with extreme temperatures is to read in its specifications its min
and max operating temperatures.

Now, for people who want to implement a computer such as the MAC Mini, and are
worried about power. You can go purchase a small UPS (Uniterruptable Power Supply)
which acts as a surge protector with an internal battery. This is what we use on
networks, except we have huge expensive ones. They sell these things at any
electronics stores. That takes care of a surge wipe out, and when you turn the car off,
you can have it simply run off of the UPS rather than your car battery. So basically
the setup would go like this: Cigerette Lighter Plug > Power Inverter > UPS > Computer Electric Plug + Touchscreen Plug.
Heres a pic of the UPS with the internal battery:



Which leads to my next concern. Those who want to implement a screen in their
vehicles NEED to get a HIGH RESOLUTION VGA monitor. Basically, if you
implement one of those cool head units like the Sony's, Pioneers, Kenwoods, etc. Theyre
not designed for high resolution computers. So you will get a VERY FUZZY display.
(TRUST ME I TRIED IT) Lilliput and Xenarc are the two popular screens out in the
market at/around the 7inch size.



Anyway, Ive been setting up a carputer for the past few weeks now (ordering stuff,
cold weather, and simple trial and error) So I will give you as much input as I can
once Im done. Im running a windows box just so you know. But I wish I had started
this project sooner so that I couldve purchased the MAC Mini.

Goodluck, hope this helps.

 

I hear hear what your saying with the Bus speed and i am very familiar with it. Thats the one main reason the G4 started looking slow compared to Intel. Intel upped their bus consistently and Motorola (the company who manufactures the G4 in the Mac mini) just jumped on the DDR bandwagon alittle over a year and half ago. The G5( an IBM product) works similarly to the G4 but has a bus that expands with the processor speed. The bus in the G5 runs at 1/2 the processor speed. but i degress

 

FYI - I don't know if any of you have seen this, but

http://www.tunertricks.com/blog/

has some great info about a mac mini install (w/ lots of photos) into a GTI. apparently this guy is a professional at this stuff but it's certainly worth the read for anyone that is considering doing this.

 

Well, well well, a thread after my own heart.....

I was the 1st to have a Mac installed in my Scion (and still the only one to my knowledge)
- PowerBook G4, hooked up to a 7" touchscreen

i'll also be the 1st to have a Mac Mini installed in his scion

My 1.42Ghz Mini with Bluetooth and Airport arrived yesterday, and i'll be swapping out the powerbook with it probably this weekend

i'm stoked, the mini is so small i'm having a hard time figuring out where to incorporate it into my dash (as i want to be able to access the DVD-Rom drive from the drivers seat)

i'll post up with pictures and stuff after i complete the install.

as far as the PC vs. Mac debate, thats another thread for another day, but i will say 1 thing - OS X out of the box is all i needed for a near perfect car-puter interface, no custom software, no custom programing, just:

OS X
iTunes
DVD Player
Route 66 (for GPS Nav)
Airport (for Wi-FI)
Safari (For web browsing)
Quicktime
Real Player
Windows Medial Player

and that's it - oh, and of course a copy of Unreal 2004, and Halo for when i'm stuck at a car show ;)

- Brian

 

A nice GTi/Mac Mini setup!
http://tunertricks.com/blog/index.php?p=40

 

how would i go about hookin up sirius if i had a mac mini? is it possible? cause im seriously considering this in the near future.

 

Revival of an old post...

I searched for Sirius Software, and couldnt find any, what you can do is purchase one of those external ones they sell at best buy or circuit city... and just plug it into your carputer audio inputs... unless you have internet on the fly, then you can just play streaming audio from their website...

oh, and sorry for not posting updates on my carputer... its been long-finished... I'll post pics if I get enough requests... it works great btw!

 

oh ya, thank you. Cant i buy a regular head unit like a alpine thats satalite compatible and use that in a separate wiring so i can use it strictly for radio and cd's then for everything use the carputer? and i hope you post pics soon, i wanna see =)

 

I just posted the pics in another thread...
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...164216#1164216

 

The new mac mini will use a intel chip which will have even less watts and more power and even better bang for the buck. As for price Iv seen more people update there windows machine in 5 years than I have with a apple computer in 5 years. A PC tower users more watts there fore in the long run it will cost more due to the fact of the electricity. 32 megs of video ram in a moving car is more than enough. Its not like you are going to be editing a video on the free way hahahaha. Or playing unreal while driving.

 

my main concern would be cooling... it can get mighty hot (and cold) in a car left in a parking lot or a driveway. I would be paranoid that while the car is off, sitting in the sun, the Comp would steadily be getting in worse and worse shape.

But yeah.. definitely go to MP3car.com There's a lot of this stuff already thought out and lots of info on how to do it and prices.

This is def. something i 'm thinkin about

 

Now, I'll have to dig up the link somewhere.... but there's a powersupply that you can buy aftermarket that will automatically control the SLEEP function of the MacMini. Basically, when you shut off the car, it puts the Mac to sleep, and when you start the car, it wakes it up. The PS is connected to your battery, so the Mac Mini is never shut down (unless you do it manually). No boot up times!

-moore