Re: Car PC project

["Paul Gordon" <paul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Ant.


>>
>www.mp3car.com forums would be a good start.
>

I've found quite a few forums, (I think including those), so I'm getting
slowly stuck in... (so much to read, so little time...) - About to start
trying to learn Spanish as well!!


>
>Most headends have some sort of AUX in adaptor available, but coz
they're
>wire
>protocols are nearly all proprietary these can be on the pricey side.
Some
>of
>them have been reverse engineered - I think the furthest down that path
is
>the Sony Unlilink protocol (do a web search for Gnunilink). I bought a
new
>sony headend off ebay and hacked up a gnunilink board so that I could
use
>the
>head-end's controls and display to interface to the PC. Having said
that,
>I'm
>currently experimenting with a VFD display that I'll prolly use in
tandem
>with it.
>

I plan to use one of those *lovely* Lilliput touch screens, so I have need
to use either a VFD or to attempt to utilise the head units built-in
display. I merely want to get a simple line-in audio input into the stereo.
- Are you saying that the connection between the head-end & the changer
might not be line-level audio? - is there any way I can easily check.verify
this?


>I mounted my PC case in the boot instead of the CD player, so I was
able to
>use the same mount points & power.
>

I don't want to actually remove or replace the changer, I'd rather just
augment it with the PC... - OK, I won't actually have any use for CD's in
the car once the PC is up & running, as I'll have loads of MP3s on the
PC...
- So I have no objection to disconnecting the changer (as long as it can be
cleanly reinstated). But I will be changing this car in just under 3 years
so I don't want to do anything to it which affects its resale value, but I
also don't want to leave the PC in it when I do sell....


>
>That's what I have - the car database syncs with the house database
>automatically when it's sat on the drive. Make sure you can mount your
wifi
>antenna somewhere away from the bodywork - it does a damn good job of
>attenuating the signal! I use a little USB jobber on the rear parcel
shelf.
>
>I would advise giving careful consideration to your PSU requirements:
>you're
>going to need to either go down the (extremely lossy) inverter route,
or
>get
>a quality DC-DC power supply that can take 10-14v roughly in and
provide
>all
>the usual atx suspects out, with sufficient power to run the board and
the
>peripherals.  I've blown up two homebrew power-supplys and one
"sproggy"
>psu
>off the mp3car forums - I'm now going to invest in a professional Opus
car
>PSU - which, luckily, linitx are now stocking ;)
>
>The beauty of the opus is that it incorporates a shutdown controller,
so
>it'll
>give you some standby power time after the ignition is switched off,
e.g.
>for
>the above mentioned track syncing.
>

Indeed, - that sounds like exactly the unit I saw at UKHA2004 last week,
and
would definately be the way I'd go...

- not cheap though, as you say....

>HTH!
>

It does, - thanks Ant.

Paul G.