Okay, so I've wanted to do this for a while.....There are several reasons.
First and foremost...the wow factor. "You have WHAT?!" hehe. Secondly, its a great platform for satnav as well as in car diagnostics/telemetry. My other thought is to get the cell phone based internet hooked up to the PC so I can be on the road (not driving obviously) and get online.
I have the whole system mapped out w/ the exception of the monitor. Most of the touchscreen monitors are huge pedestal mounted units, and as we all know, there's no room in our interiors for such an animal. Then I came across this:
Its made by Thermaltake for direct fitment into one of their PC cases. Unlike all the other 7" motorized PC screens, it has a killer resolution (1280x768) so it'd be GREAT for navigation. Its also roughly the size of a standard DIN stereo. That said, I want to keep my stereo so i still have access to the radio, the sirius, and things like that...plus the head unit is a central hub (much like a reciever in a home theater) that allows for easy connections to front and rear speakers & amps. I already have a really nice Pioneer Premier 790MP head unit that has a standard 1/4" mini jack input on the back.
My thought is to modify the aftermarket mounting bracket so that the radio fits at the bottom right in front of the shifter and the screen fits directly above it. Granted, when the screen is deployed, it'll block my HVAC controls, but meh, its an acceptable loss. The other option I thought of was to mount the screen IN the dash pad next to the vents...the problem there is that I don't know if its possible, and the screen doesn't rotate, so it would be at a horrible viewing angle.
Anybody else contemplate doing this? Anybody have a CarPC?
First and foremost...the wow factor. "You have WHAT?!" hehe. Secondly, its a great platform for satnav as well as in car diagnostics/telemetry. My other thought is to get the cell phone based internet hooked up to the PC so I can be on the road (not driving obviously) and get online.
I have the whole system mapped out w/ the exception of the monitor. Most of the touchscreen monitors are huge pedestal mounted units, and as we all know, there's no room in our interiors for such an animal. Then I came across this:
Its made by Thermaltake for direct fitment into one of their PC cases. Unlike all the other 7" motorized PC screens, it has a killer resolution (1280x768) so it'd be GREAT for navigation. Its also roughly the size of a standard DIN stereo. That said, I want to keep my stereo so i still have access to the radio, the sirius, and things like that...plus the head unit is a central hub (much like a reciever in a home theater) that allows for easy connections to front and rear speakers & amps. I already have a really nice Pioneer Premier 790MP head unit that has a standard 1/4" mini jack input on the back.
My thought is to modify the aftermarket mounting bracket so that the radio fits at the bottom right in front of the shifter and the screen fits directly above it. Granted, when the screen is deployed, it'll block my HVAC controls, but meh, its an acceptable loss. The other option I thought of was to mount the screen IN the dash pad next to the vents...the problem there is that I don't know if its possible, and the screen doesn't rotate, so it would be at a horrible viewing angle.
Anybody else contemplate doing this? Anybody have a CarPC?