My Apple Car-Puter Install Project - First Pics
 

Work started today on installing a Mac into my 8...

The CPU will sit in the boot recess, screen will sit in the dash, Apple Remote will be integrated into the steering wheel.

Parts I have:

Mac Mini/MacBook Pro
Power Supply/Inverter
2 x Cooling Fans
Lilliput 7" Touch Screen
Mini DVI to VGA
Mini DVI to RCA
Apple Remote
Apple Wireless Keyboard
Wacom Bamboo Tablet (Just covering my input bases here)
New Single Piece Aluminum CPU Lid from a Mac Pro
6 Axis Hat Switch for Steering Wheel Mounting if Apple Remote idea goes tits up.

Parts I need:

Retractible Nav Dash...seen a few Ex Japan...anyone know where I can source one from Australia or New Zealand?
AuxMod - They all seem to be out of stock...or discontinued?

Anyway...first pics of the box construction as it sits in the boot...

http://www.deanknowsley.com/bootmac.jpg

Dean

Wont the exhaust heat that up?

Aside from that, it looks awesome.

Possibly...

Hopefully with some decent heat shielding foil (available by the roll) and 2 decent cooling fans, then the box wont get too hot....

I'm not worried about frying a Mini, as I have a few more to play around with, 1 new, 2 operational but with limited functionality, i.e. failed bluetooth/no Airport card...obviously I won't put the brand new Mac straight in...I will use a sacrificial Mini first...

Have people had cooling issues with Amps etc in the past in the boot recess?

Dean

It has been known to heat up amps yes. Now have electrical components fried out because of it, not that Im aware of. I didnt take the chance though.

Oh well, I'm prepared to trail blaze on this one.... :-)

Spent the day working on updating AMP for the front end...

Seems to be working well...

Quick screenshot with the RX8 Blueprint Background....

http://www.deanknowsley.com/screen.jpg

love the background

NICE..keep it up.

My Carnetix 2140 informs me on warm days that my trunk is in excess of 100F. My little epia-m in its travla c134 also reports some decent heat and a few times has actually been too hot to touch.... and I keep it in the center rear housing, well away from the floor of the trunk.

lookin good man

this is awesome! props :icon_tup:

more pics!!

One part I can't source, if anyone can help out....an AuxMod, version 1...i.e. the basic one...thats the problem with living on the bottom of the world. I get to L.A. quite a bit,
but no trips planned in the near future, and I can't wait...

Fabrication of the perspex box started today...going to change it from my original plans, to allow better venting/cooling...given the exhaust may start cooking things...
Was going to have 2 extractor fans side by side on the side of the box, but instead, going to have one fan suck air in, and the other one sucking it out...fans mounted on opposite
sides of the box, with baffles, to ensure the air is 'pulled' through the entire box, rather than straight through.
All this means I am going to have to rethink the carpeting in the boot, and think about running some ducting in...

Also decided to go for rubber t-handle bonnet hold down type fittings to keep it in place, yet be able to take it out if I ever park in an undesirable neighborhood...

Will post more pics as and when decent progress is made.

Deano
www.deanknowsley.com

Okay, been a bit busy with the opening of a new store the past few weeks but....

I managed to source an unopened OEM Factory Nav Dash, complete, in plastic for $350 NZ ($200US)!

This changes my plans a bit....

Can anyone help with a link to getting video INTO the factory screen....I don't mind chopping wires and soldering. There is no Nav kit, so I am not worried about not being able to use the screen for factory nav... I just want an AUX source to that built in LCD screen... any one, pm me, or email would be even better...

dean@deanknowsley.com

Cheerd

Deano

Ah yes a device like that does exist. I forgot where that thread is.. but it definitely exists.

The AVElectronics switcher interfaces with the factory LCD to get an aux signal in. However, if your car didn't come with navi then you don't have the wiring harness for it under the dash. You'd have to create your own and run a ton of wires to wherever you put the box. It also only takes in composite or s-video I believe, no vga but I'm not sure. Also, it's very expensive. Where is the Lilliput? Myself and a few others have successfully swapped the 629 into that factory factory plastic piece. This may be a better option and you could keep the touchscreen functionality and factory look.

The avelectronics switcher is pretty expensive. I went with http://www.tvandnav2go.com/ and got the video switcher for $150. Had it for over 3 years with no problems.

Still have the lilliput, but I did have another idea for it....nevermind.
Looks like I will mount that in the OEM unit.
Does anyone have a good take apart DIY for the NAV hood (and installation of a LCD screen)....thats not in Greek..?
Its more about taking apart the Nav Dash without breaking clips...

Deano

There is really no breaking clips.. just a bunch of screws. I swapped my Lilliput 629 into my oem nav housing with no trouble at all. It's almost like it was made for it from the factory to fit perfectly flush.

Just take it apart and go at it slow, you'll make sense of it then.

Awesome. Ta for that...screws it is.

I suppose I will just dive in and do it.

Alz0rz, on you puter, you have some gauges, ie temps etc...can you explain that for me...obviously a windows thing...where is it drawing the information from to indicate on the gauges?

This is a closeup of how good the Lilliput 629 fits into the nav housing.

http://implux.net/~alz0rz/images/gaugecloseup.JPG

The gauges are displayed through a program called DashCommand. DashCommand is integrated into my software frontend called Centrafuse. DashCommand pulls live ECU data from the OBD2 port. The look of the gauges is just a skin for DashCommand.

Mark your gear positions with a sharpie or something before you take everything apart! It makes putting it back together a LOT easier without recalibrating. Some people fit the the original circuit board back in for some motor control with the piece, or there is another thread I've posted on with a circuit I've designed for a little bit more stock operation. What model lilliput is it? If it's the 629 is it the 2008 LED version? alz0rz and myself have swapped them in without any problem as you can see from his picture, and like he said, it's almost made to fit in there. Another member I was helping though had a little more difficulty and he thinks he had a 2008 629, maybe we got lucky?

Ohh, that's right I forgot to mention the gear position.. that is a pain in the ass. Mark it and don't spin it!

I do have to thank Chainu for answering all my questions when I was doing the swap!

Front End Updates...
 

Been continuing on the software in the evenings....

a couple of screenshots so far of the modded AMP front end GUI....
background looks a bit too messy, need to dumb it down...

http://www.deanknowsley.com/screen1.jpg

http://www.deanknowsley.com/screen2.jpg

But it seems to be working fine....

Oh and the Lilliput is a 619GL-70NP.

Now when I put the Nav dash on the workbench, where do I connect 12V to test the raising and lowering of the screen... I had a look in the Workshop Manual for the Electrics, but the Screen Dash doesn't seem to be in there...unless I missed it...?

badass...subscribed

to test the screen motors I simply used to use a multimeter to find a 12V rail going into ANYTHING in the back of the dash... and then just touch the motors wires to that... its really quite simple... if that works, then its up to you what youd like to connect it to. Im not very familiar with how those in-dash's work, but Id be really interested in helping out...

tamz273 is correct that the motor runs off 12v, but touching the wires would be to test if the motor was working, maybe if you got the part from a junkyard. I'm willing to bet yours works fine since it's brand new. Check out this thread, posts 30 and 41 for the minimum wiring for the factory control.

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-interior-audio-electronics-24/oem-navigation-hood-retrofit-carputer-application-140504/page2/

Thanks for that, your help is appreciated. No doubt I will learn loads as I pull the thing to pieces :-)

easy peasy. once you get the screws in the front out, carefully lift it up and forward and it pops free. There aren't clips so much as posts that keep the thing aligned. I found a small plastic tool was very helpful to pop up the nav hood from the dash without damaging the trim. lift up in the front, slide your tool underneath the edge and carefully slide it away from you towards the windshield, lifting the edge of the hood up as you go. You could use a screwdriver, but you'd need to be very careful not to damage the plastics with it. Wrap it tightly with electrical tape or something if you're using a flat head screwdriver or other metal tool.

The worst part about removing the nav hood for me was getting all the wire connections unplugged. That last ground cable is a BITCH.

VERY NICE work! i like the background of the blueprint of the rx8. but none the less props for a clean setup.

Oh man i wish i had read that before taking my unit apart. I should know better most of my job is motor controls & servo motors :banghead:

That install seems very clean, how does the mac do on boot up speed, etc?

how do u make sure the mac safely shuts down and starts up? do u have to "shutdown" the mac before switching the car off every single time?
also, what software is that? "AMP"? and do you know any nav softwares for the mac?

Tamz,

1. The Carnetix CNXP1900 power supply for the mac is loaded with goodies to manage the sleeping of the mac. No you dont have to 'start up' and shut down every time.
http://www.carnetix.com/CNXP1900.htm See my response to Camel below...

2. AMP is a piece of software written about 3 years ago as a Carputer interface for the mac...its a little bit dated, and wont run on Leopard (OS X.5), but I am in the process up giving it a facelift and getting working on the latest Macs.
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/amp/...0-worklog.html
3. Nav Software: Route Buddy...great for the USA & UK, Japan...crap for the rest of the world, as there are no maps for Australia/New Zealand yet. All you need is a cheap Garmin USB Reciever..(under $50) plug it into your mac, and away you go!
http://www.routebuddy.com/

Camel, normally, when the ignition is off, the mac mini 'sleeps'...not drawing too much from the car battery while it does so...and it wakes up in under 3 seconds when the ignition is switched on. (It can sleep happiliy for 3 days with the car switched off...after that, the power supply will shut the mac down, to prevent it from draining the battery completely).

Hope this helps,

Cheers

Dean

looks like a lot of work just to get a carputer... but, looking good and GREAT computer choice btw... :)

um, one small thing that as a rotary owner just had to point out... ;)

ah, yeah that pic is an older skin file.

what I had done was just copied and pasted the "arc's" in the skinning software and just replaced the intervals and when all was done I had left the "redline" portion the same.. I've since fixed that ;)

Three days, holy crap! My LittleFalls2 Atom motherboard will suck the life out of my battery on standby if its on for more than a few hours maybe a day... Thankfully windows has hibernate, which starts in roughly ~18 seconds after ignition on.

Good to see another car PC :D

I enjoy using my Macs so much....that I run an Apple Premium Reseller! Mind you, it seems as though my hobby has become my livelihood these days, which not what I intended to be..

that's sweet... i wish i could do something like that.

i just got a mac pro 8 core 2.8 and am LOVING it. this has got to be THE fastest & THE quietest computer i've ever owned.

keep up the great work on the car. can't wait to see what it's like when it's done!

:)

i had a look at the links you passed along.. i cant seem to find a downloadable copy of AMP... Im looking all over forums and whatnot...

also, do you happen to have a "free" copy of Route Buddy?

If you guys find a copy let me know too. Also, I can host a copy. (Providing it is an open source software) on my website. Keep up the great thread.

Software
 

RouteBuddy is commercial software and maps that need to be purchased....they do however have a free demo to try out on their site...

I have AMP 1.4, and the source files (it is open source) locally, I can email it for you to host Psonoda if you want...

But I suggest we wait a bit til my mate at a big company that grows fruit give it back to me after he has had a tinker...:-)

Nav Dash arrived today...Immaculate.
Most parts have arrived now, assembly imminent...whilst paying careful attention to my marriage at the same time....balance is important :-)

Update pics soon...promise.

Deano

Thanks! Please let your guy look at it first. Then you can email or upload it to me. Thanks again.

anyone interested in pitching in to buy the software + north america maps?

Route Buddy is no good for me at this stage, as I live in a country with 2 roads (State Hwy 1 and State Hwy 2), and there are no Route Buddy Maps available. It would be good if Google Maps could hook up to my GPS though....hmmm

Success! Nav Hood Wired up and working the way it should...
 

This evening was spent wiring up and testing the Nav hood to Open, Close, Tilt and Illuminate all with the touch of a button.

Results:

Awesome, all went like clock-work...which means I am done something wrong...

I'm now ready to move onto pulling apart the Lilliput, and installing it into the OEM housing. I am just praying it all goes as well as the above. I have patience, tools, and a greek website which looks like a lot of fun....

So here goes...

A good weekends work...
 

Okay, after the mega success with the OEM Nav Hood motion (i.e. tilt, open, memory and illumination), I continued to crack on with the software.

Heres some pics: Tidied up the messy background...got some music on there, with album art work, got a 'Map' on there (the map function is cheating at this stage...its just a photo of a map....trying to figure out a way to get my GPS data onto the map...even a pin point would be good..... may just have to wait for Route Buddy to have Kiwi Maps...
Movies all working, Top Gear RX8 of course....
And one of the Nav Dash awaiting the Lilliput.....

http://www.deanknowsley.com/up1.jpg
http://www.deanknowsley.com/up2.jpg
http://www.deanknowsley.com/up3.jpg
http://www.deanknowsley.com/up4.jpg
http://www.deanknowsley.com/up5.jpg
http://www.deanknowsley.com/up6.jpg
http://www.deanknowsley.com/up7.jpg

Cheers

Dean

how did you make that IC?

Not quite sure what an IC is....?

IC is just another name for integrated circuit. I think they are refering to the circuit board in your picture. Great project. Keep it coming.

BTW: Which Mac Mini are you using? How much ram do you have or need to make this work smoothly. I have access to a core solo but not sure if that is powerful enough for this project. Thanks again.