nightfire - 1996 MX-3 GS

[Nd4SpdSe]

Hehe, ya, I guess I have to reply:

- LG 15" LCD monitor with touch screen overlay
- In-dash LG CD burner/DVD combo drive
- 4-Port USB Hub under the dash
- AMD Athlon XP 2500+ processor
- MSI KM2M-L motherboard
- 512MB DDR-266MHz RAM
- ATI All-In-Wonder 7500 with Remote Wonder
- Hercules Digifire 7.1 sound card
- Seagate 160GB hard drive
- D-Link DWL-520+ WLAN PCI card
- Microsoft USB GPS receiver
- Orbitz Micro 250w DC-DC ATX power supply

I've never had a hard drive die in my car. I started with I think was a 10gb (on a Duron 750), than over the years upgraded to a 40gb, than went to the 160gb 4-5 years ago. Part of the reason I believe why I don't kill it is that I stand the hard drives on their side, so the many up/down vibrations don't cause the heads to hit the platter. The only time the hard drive got pissed off was when I had it in a modded suitcase and I forgot to bungee it down (it stood up against the back of the trunk) and when did a stop hard it would fall flat, crashing the system.

[acexl]

oh sorry i didnt realize that wasnt ur system in this page still impressive, damn ssd's are so expensive =.=, is Nd4 running from an SSD too?

so why r u running linux, u have enough to run xp smooth, and if u wanted to go the beta way u can even run windows 7, its very stable just one lil quirk i have but its not that bad reall. i use it more than vista for sure....

do u think i could manage to get a system running from usb sticks? for a car all i would need its just a couple gigs for video music and the os itself

[nightfire]

oh sorry i didnt realize that wasnt ur system in this page still impressive, damn ssd's are so expensive =.=, is Nd4 running from an SSD too?

I have some pics posted earlier in the thread. SSDs actually aren't that expensive anymore; you can get a 64gb for under $200.

so why r u running linux, u have enough to run xp smooth, and if u wanted to go the beta way u can even run windows 7, its very stable just one lil quirk i have but its not that bad reall. i use it more than vista for sure....

Ah I'm a unix user by trade and interest. I'm not very good with windows and it would have taken me a lot longer to get it working the way I wanted. I wrote all the interface software for it so it wouldn't really have helped me much.

As well, I'm using linux's ALSA (sound system) with plugins to do software crossover filtering. That way I don't have any electronic crossovers in my speaker/amp network causing phase distortion, so my sound quality is friggin awesome. I know there's an equivalent for windows but I don't know anything about it.

do u think i could manage to get a system running from usb sticks? for a car all i would need its just a couple gigs for video music and the os itself

You can boot off USB sticks... I was doing that originally. But they're slowwwww. Just bite the bullet and get a 32gb SSD drive..they're like $100-150, but lightning fast and no hassles.

[acexl]

oh wow so Nd4 runs reg HDD ?.....tempting ........how exactly do u place ur hdd back facing the front of the car, or the side of the hard drive faces the front of the car?

XD 200$ for 64 gig its wat i call expensive XD, im broke, and i just bought a 1tb for 130 dollar XD i guess @ 1dollar per gig is when i start drawing the line and i just saw some vid on running os from usb, ubuntu was really the clear winner un less i find a better way to run windows properly....i do have a scrap HDD i found on the street laying around...maybe i should give that one a go =D

also thx guys for ur awesome inputs u guys rock out loud!!

[Nd4SpdSe]

oh wow so Nd4 runs reg HDD ?.....tempting ........how exactly do u place ur hdd back facing the front of the car, or the side of the hard drive faces the front of the car?

Ya, just regular desktop 3.5" hard drives; even ran it through 1 winter. When I ran in the suitcase, it was standing upright with the front facing the front of the car. With the new case, it's the short side (with the connectors) facing the front of the car. Basically what I've got is an ATX case laying on it's side....It seems that I don't have any inside pics of the PC, but this should give you an idea if you know what the standard layout is inside an ATX case:

[acexl]

OH oka so the flat side of the HDD is facing the sides of the cars while the connectors are facing the front? so when u turn to either side have u noticed if it affects th HDD?

man i dont wana loose my trunk XD i have too much crap in there, i was thinking of fitting maybe underneath a seat or perhaps behind the brake, extending the center consoleut we will see wat happenes now m concern is power, how do i power up this thing with my small stock alt.

[Nd4SpdSe]

Sorry to hijack your worklog, but this is somewhat relevant

Yep, the top and bottom of the hard drive are pointing to each left and right side of the car, but it really doesn't matter what the orientation from which you mount it, as long as it's not flat, from my experience anyway, but than again, I planned for that ahead so I never tried it that way.

Haha, damn, I drove that car like the PC wasn't even there, and everything was put together to hold together for that

It actually doesn't take up "that much" room. I've gone camping and I've fit 2 beach chairs, a tend, kitchen tent and a cloths bag...I think. It's been was a few years

PC Version 1.0:


Monitor stand version 1.0:



Monitor Stand Version 2.0:




Monitor Stand Version 2.1:

[nightfire]

Sorry guys it's been a little while. I've been working on my carputer software non-stop for the past 3 weeks.

I implemented some major new functionality:

- Vehicle instrumentation (virtual gauges)
- Force meter (realtime and peak G-Forces observed over time)
- Dynometer (torque and horsepower runs)
- Data logging (all parameters including coolant temp, speed, RPM, airflow, battery voltage, forces, GPS position, etc)
- Video playback (movies)
- Bluetooth internet dialup
- Audio profiles (extra bass, spoken radio mode, etc)
- FM radio with presets

Here are some screen shots of the new stuff:


For a dyno run, first you select the gears you want to record, and the time period.


When you're ready, select the options you want and press launch. Then it responds with that screen. It waits for you to pop the clutch, and starts recording.


When you finish your run (depending on which gears or time limits you've selected), the graph looks like this. Clicking the graph saves it (along with any raw data) to disk.




Every single monitored variable in the system can be displayed as a gauge. When you click a gauge, it zooms in and shows you a graph of its values over time (configurable.. normally 5 minutes).


Peak values recorded over long periods (historical data), and values recorded over each trip (trip data) can be saved. If you select "Save trip data" it stores the vehicle state every 500ms (configurable) into a .dat file that can be processed by the analyzer to show all kinds of things like HP vs. intake air temp or timing advance, fuel economy over time (esimated from airflow rate), or even how music makes you drive (acceleration force vs. music type)..


Speaking of forces.. the EFM (effective force meter) does what you'd expect. Who needs a skid pad?


Sound profiles. Each one fully configurable for crossover configuration, volumes, equalizer settings, etc. Also selectable based on vehicle speed and music type detection.

Anyway, in between mad coding sessions I've managed to install my new intake as well:



That's it for now!

[Dark_Rider2k3]

sweet car PC! I am planning to do the same thing so I can use Streets and Trips with no hassles. Though I'm looking at a lilliput in-dash popup player.

edit:

btw, what programming language are you using?

I know VB/VB.net, Java, and C++.. but not so good @ C++...

[nightfire]

sweet car PC! I am planning to do the same thing so I can use Streets and Trips with no hassles. Though I'm looking at a lilliput in-dash popup player.

I almost ended up with one of those screens. It does save you the little cubby hole thing below the DIN slot, which is nice. Plus less likely to get stolen.

btw, what programming language are you using?

I know VB/VB.net, Java, and C++.. but not so good @ C++...

Well, my main languages are C++ and Perl. I "prototyped" the console in perl, but after a year of on and off development, it's spiraled out of control to over 10,000 lines. Now it's a significant effort to rewrite in C++.

But it is something I'll need to do at some point. Perl is costing me serious development time at this point. It was great at the start (knocked out the base interface in a few nights), but I'm spending countless hours tracking down stupid bugs now, because of inherent language limitations.

[Dark_Rider2k3]

it's funny because I know things like that can be done, but it's like.. even with my associates degree, things like what you are doing intimidate me

and I am going with the Liliput screen because I still want to use my Alpine head unit for my music.. that way, if I don't want to use the popup player, I can plug in my iPod or listen to HD Radio if I want.

[nightfire]

it's funny because I know things like that can be done, but it's like.. even with my associates degree, things like what you are doing intimidate me

and I am going with the Liliput screen because I still want to use my Alpine head unit for my music.. that way, if I don't want to use the popup player, I can plug in my iPod or listen to HD Radio if I want.

Bah .. just a matter of time and patience. It's not difficult.. just time consuming.

I thought about keeping a head unit but honestly all my amps are external, and all my music's on my SSD HD, so why not just go with a big screen. However, the pop-out kind are less theft prone...

[Dark_Rider2k3]

My whole thing is that sometimes my friends have new CD's, or music on their iPods that they want to listen to, and since my Alpine unit has an adapter that allows for external audio, I can just plug my computer into it, and then not have to worry about routing the wires to my amp (since they are already going from the head unit).

And the only thing I find intimidating is programming in the megasquirt stuff.. i just think that has to be pretty difficult lol

[nightfire]

My whole thing is that sometimes my friends have new CD's, or music on their iPods that they want to listen to, and since my Alpine unit has an adapter that allows for external audio, I can just plug my computer into it, and then not have to worry about routing the wires to my amp (since they are already going from the head unit).

Ah, good point.

And the only thing I find intimidating is programming in the megasquirt stuff.. i just think that has to be pretty difficult lol

I'm more worried about the wiring than the programming. I don't know how many people have tried to hang a standalone off an OBD-II ECU but it can't be many. I think the hardest part will be tricking the ECU into not throwing trouble codes, and to operate the other systems properly (fan, VRIS, fpr boost, etc).

[wytbishop]

MS is capable of running your car without the ECU. You don't have to trick the ECU if it is no longer in control of the engine. Then you just have to worry about interfacing with your console.