TrAsHeR

MOD EDIT: See this thread for the beginning of this conversation.


<EDIT> If you didn't sign me up yet, I'd like to wait. I think I might be doing my own faceplate and remap some of the controls. I just had an excellent idea but I have to sleep on it, it's going to be a lot of work

Sounds really good, exactly what I was looking for. Saved up a bit and was shooting for the Racing Beat Exhaust when it comes out but I changed my mind this evening.

For some time I've been wanting to build my very own carputer. I have finally selected all the parts I need and I'm myself ready to rock'n roll.
This part will come handy, everything else I've figured out
I don't need a controlling head-unit, only a TFT. I'll be running everything off of this box. A C3 1GHz with 1gb of ram. Your basic I/O's. Going to add a PCMCII WiFi card to synchronize media content with my home server. All will be automated.

I'm working on the front-end to select,... or "browse" the media files and switch between modules. Since I have an available COM port, I'm looking forward to hook it up to some gadgets :D

Audio-wise I still have to select an amp that goes with the 6 channel sound I have. On the photo above I noticed the center speaker. That's just about as perfect as it can get. I'll remap the speakers to a nice 5.1 setup, dolby of course

Before you ask. It'll be switched by ignition and runs off the car battery. If the car is off it can still run for est. 10 days (only the system with one HDD, not counting the display).


That's my resource so far, getting ready to put up some final orders and deployment as soon as I can afford the TFT :o

Omicron

Now this is cool. Makes me glad I didn't get the Nav system, which I have since regretted from time to time.

For me, I'd like to have this LCD tied into all sorts of stuff. Top of my list is engine sensors/gauge packs for real time monitoring of a/f, oil pressure, charging system, egt, etc. Second would be a rear view mirror camera. Third would be graphic equalization for the factory stereo. Fourth would be a true carputer with most of the functionality of a laptop. Fifth would be Nav functions. Sixth would be remote radar warning display. Etc, etc, and the list goes on. :D

TrAsHeR

Omicron, exactly my thoughts!!

"Visualization" (ala WinAMP) was the reason I started this project. Monitoring gauges etc,... well, again, I'm not strong in that field yet but I'm hoping to work with you guys on this together.

The rear-view camera is also part of my plan. Additionally to that I was thinking of a 360 degree "surveilence" camera. Should I be involved into an accident, I'll have "hard" prove right with me. Hope it won't be used against me :D

The possibilities are endless. I'm preparing some stuff and I'll start the official thread in a couple of hours.

Looking forward to more feedback.

Omicron

Yeah, CCTV cameras are cool IMHO, and especially fun to play with now that CCD cameras have gotten so cheap. How about one under the car looking to the front? Imagine that at 100 MPH! :D Or pehaps one to the side so that you could check out the babe in the car next to you without ogling. Or, or, or... :D

And the cameras are just one possibility. Give me the display and an easy way to interface to it, and I can think of ALL kinds of things to plug into it.

TrAsHeR

I found the time to review MediaEngine.

ME covers the most basic features. It's similiar built to the one shown on my previous screenshots. I believe that these 2 programms could even be the same, just different versions.

Audio and Video is covered but there is no room for additional "mods", such as gauges, etc. What I do like about it is the fact that the program is rendered.

I haven't done anything in DirectX in a while but I'm up for a challenge. Don't expect special effects, I'm lucky if I can get a DirectDraw window up without crashing :D
If I fail at that, I'll return to what I'm doing right now. Using pre-rendered graphics on a Windows Form.

I'm forseeing that the UI is going to be a lot of work. Since I'm already working fulltime and doing this as a hobby, it might take a while to complete. Until then, I guess, MediaEngine will serve the purpose.


Now, back to the hardware part. Sorry for high-jacking this thread :D

Sign me up for one afterall. PM me in regards to payment.
The Audi looks really nice but there is no way to remap the climate controls. Otherwise I'd create a faceplate my own and mount the screen in the middle. Since it's not the best viewing position I decided I'll make use of the wasted space afterall. So go ahead, make me one too. It'll look good in that DIN slot. And I'm also going for the non-motorized touchscreen that you've selected. I think it's perfect for the location

EstonRX

Omicron, you hit the nail on the head. The possibilities are endless as soon as you have the LCD with input ability.

I'm just wondering how many inputs I can get naturally on an LCD so all of the input switching can happen on screen with touchscreen. With as many inputs as I want though, I'm sure I'll end up having to use an input switcher that will have to happen off screen. I guess as long as I can get 2-3 inputs naturally, that'll be enough to switch between the most used stuff like gauges, dvd nav, and maybe the cute girl camera you mentioned. Too bad I'll have to tap the PS2 playing Extreme Tokyo Racer driving an RX-8 in Osaka on an external input device to switch between that and the cute girl in the next lane.

/sigh, life is so unfair.


I'm definitely looking forward to a new thread just to discuss all of the input possibilities. I do like the HKS system I'm looking at, but it gets a little expensive after adding the junction box to actually monitors sensors that matter like temps and O2.

TrAsHeR

I'll be using this thread to report progress of the development of my media center. I'll post every stage, from selecting the hardware components to programming the interface. The reason for making it public is because your support and feedback is greatly appreciated. And afterall, I'm going to share the front-end so you can create your very own "RX-8 Media Center".

What the.... you ask?
For quite some time I've had plans to build my own "carputer". The main reason is because I'm a geek I guess. I started using the DOS prompt when I was 4 years old,... troubleshooting CGA games for breakfast.... With 8 I started programming and I'm still doing it, not for fun, for a living these days. I'm always around computers, I enjoy working with them and I enjoy "teaching" them the arts of bits and bytes. Because afterall, computers are only as smart as their programmers!

The RX-8 Media Center will bring all important media features into one package. No need for the 3000 USD Alpine DVD dash with MP3 capabilities, the costs for this system will be est. 750-1500 USD, depending on the hardware you choose. And you can bet your *** that it'll even play ripped divx ****, if I wouldn't know better, I'd say it'll even heat up the car while you are still in the shower. Ah, I'm getting carried away now....

What is it capable of? Slowly but contiously I'll be adding new features. Not particulary in this order:

- MP3 Player (Media Player in general: .wav/.mp3/.wmv/.ai/etc)
- Movie Player (VCD, SVCD, DivX, XviD, VOB, Indeo)
- Navigation (GPRS, nav software unknown yet, having a hard time finding one that works for hawaii)
- Office (Recorder for notes, Outlook Sync)

More advanced stuff will come once the basics are done. For some of that stuff I might need help, such as the real-time diagnosis.
- Real Time Diag + ability to setup the car on the fly (connected to the piggyback and various meters)
- Reverse-Cam
- Babe Finder (that'd be neat, eh?)
- CD-Burning capabilities (burn that audio/video on the fly for ya friends, you know how it is :D)

Some more, I can't think straight at the moment.

Technical aspect:
I'll get more into the details of the hardware parts as I place my orders. I want to make sure everything works nicely before I start recommending stuff.
- EPIA MII 10000 with a C3 1GHz processor.
- 256MB DDR-400 (during development, 1GB on deployment)
- Slim-line DVD (can't get it out of the trunk for now )
- 2.5" 40GB HD
- PCMCII WIFI Card for automated content synchronization from my home server
- DC-DC Converter (70W PSU) + Auto Power Sequencer and Low Dropout Regulator (for power regulation and automatic on/off switching by ignition)
- Custom case out of plexiglass
- 7" Touchscreen TFT

Expected runtime of the system (without TFT) will be 10 days until the car battery goes numb. So, don't worry about parking your car and leaving the system running for a couple of hours, unless you have a bad battery, it shouldn't be a problem.


As far as the TFT is concerned, read up on this thread by eXentric
https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...threadid=23689

I'm going for the 1-DIN unit and I'll be getting this screen for the setup: http://www.digitalww.com/DWW-7VGA.htm

Status
03/23/04: 3:51PM (Software: Version 0.00.1)
Initial planing phase is complete. I'm proceeding with the development of the front-end GUI.

First screen (not a whole lot going on yet :D)
- click to enlarge

Update
I won't be receiving my hardware until ~ first week of next month. I'll be focusing on the Media Center itself for now (not the hardware side)

TrAsHeR

2 inputs at least on most units, I'd say. Save bet anyway. I'm not getting anything with less than 2.

I created a new thread in regards to the development of the front-GUI. Sorry for spaming this thread full, we should take the user interface / feature discussion into the other thread

jniamehr

How will you be developing the software? And if you want some great nav software PM me so maybe we can split the cost of a great software I know of...

TrAsHeR

To make it quick and painless, I'm using Visual Basic. It get's it done pretty fast and the system is fast enough for a complex VB app. The interface itself is nothing more or less than your usual app, but skinned of course. Think of it as WinAMP.

In the future I might consider porting it to DirectX but I'm a newb on that so, ... I'll leave that for when everything is done and I have some time to play around.

edit: about the nav. Can you check if it has all states in it? The one I have here doesn't work in Hawaii :/

hootersam

Thrasher,

what nav software do you have?

eXentric

TrAsHeR,

You might want to at least consider C#. It is as rapid to develop in as VB and it is a lot more powerful. You would have the .Net framework available to you and you would have all the Managed DirectX C# samples available to you if you chose to start using DirectX.

As a last resort, you could use VB.Net, which isn't at all a streatch from plain-old VB. But at least VB.Net has access to the framework and is a newer language.

I see a lot of new companies and programming enthusiests taking on C#, and I myself am now a big fan of C# over VB. Many die-hard VB fans will still tell you VB over C#, but my opinion is that they haven't really made an effort to learn C#. Its just such a more elegant language and it's made up of all the goodies from VB, Java, Delphi and C++.

Anyway, if you went that rout I might be able to contribute at some point. Another thing you might consider is UPnP compatibility for device control, media storage, and cataloging. But I can discuss that more at length with you if you're interested.

In case you can't tell, I've kind of had similar ideas for some time

TrAsHeR

You see, for this project I'm going to blow the money that I saved for my intake/exhaust/etc. I want it to be done fast and that's why I use VB.

I'm learning .NET but I know it would take too long to do it. So my thoughts are.... first version will be 2D, in VB. Second version I consider the VB.NET/DX route. The project is just too big for my poor .NET knowledge

Btw, 2 new screenies. Looks better in person (hovers, etc)






Even if you don't directly "help" on my project, we still can gather ideas in this thread. There are more people who can benefit from the information.

PS: that's not a gfx error on the 2nd screen, that's the visualization :p

jniamehr

Im down for the long haul with you. Im not that great of a programmer, but I am creative... I think we should set a goal, and have this thing ready whithin the next 4-6 weeks (since the piece that excentric is heading will be ready then) and we should get all aspects of this ready together... So again, Im down, and I will be posting ideas very soon

TrAsHeR

sorry hootersam, forgot to reply. I only happend to have McRally's Streetfinder or something like this. So it's not your true nav software, it's more a tripmaker with GPS support.

jniamehr, sounds good, looking forward to talk to you. Do you have any instant msg'er? Let me know how you want it, AIM, ICQ, IRC, whatever. We should discuss some stuff. And I see no problem having it done in time when the header is done. It even plays music already!! :D

When I get home from work I'll be working on the media-library and add the controls to the Audio Player. The media-library itself will be a complex one, I hope I can finish it today.
At that point, I might even consider posting the first version. But since it's VB, I'm not going through the hassle, unless jniamehr or excentric wants to see it. You'd need the following: VB 6.0 Runtime, Codecs: WMP9, DIVX, XVID and SVCD to even get the program up and running. The current audio-path is hard coded as well. But again, the time limit sounds good. Hell, this thing could even be done by early next week if I hurry my *** up and don't run into complications :D

TrAsHeR

PS: I saw your thread in regards to the shutdown.

I'll still have to figure that one out but the system will be running Windows XP, that's for sure. I can tweak it to a 10 sec boot, that'll do it.

Since there are no write-requests (other than SWAP file), I don't care about "hard shut downs".


Also I should mention that we need to damp the harddrive. Since I'm building a custom case out of plexiglass (still have to design the CAD's for that), I was thinking for using a 1:10 (RC-Car) suspension to "hold" the HD in mid-air. what do you think?!

eXentric

Swap file writes are reason enough to worry. And how sure are you that other software will not write? Even your navigation software could be doing background writes if it has an auto-saving birdcrumb feature (many nice nav packages do).

I personally am planning to have my carputer simply go to sleep. I thought about having it hibernate, but even in sleep state I don't think I'll have enough power drain off the battery to worry about unless I don't drive the car for several days. I'll have to prove this theory, obviously, when I get the thing setup.

eXentric

I didn't mean to sound like I was dissing your ides in my last post. I really like the RC car shock system. If nothing else, it would sure look cool :P

TrAsHeR

hehe, is all good. My ideas are not perfect anyway.

I can't really think about how I'm going to do the shut down, I have to see it when I get to that point (which will be the last part of the project). Of course, a soft and reguluar shut down is what I prefer if I can get descent start-up times. Hard shutdown at last resort.

Oh, trust me. I know that nothing else will be writing unless I start using 3rd party software such as the Nav, as you mentioned. And again (and as you know), we'll talk about this again when we get to it

As for me, I can't wait until it's done (hardware and software wise)

jniamehr

About the HD protection, Ive head about silicon based HD protection, I cant seem to find a lot more about it, anyone know more? (Kind of like placing your HD in breast implants)

TrAsHeR

whooo, yea! Breast implants, lol. That's what my 8 wants


Seriously now, sounds like a good idea. I'll resource it out when I get a chance.

TrAsHeR

It's coming along. But don't consider anything of this to be final, it'll be moved around, redesigned, etc once functionality builds up.



it would be cool to have a TFT here because I've never used touchscreen and don't know how big the clickable areas have to be.

Japan8

You may you want to look at Media Car. With a different skin on it... from here and you can change the emblem to mazda.... I think that UI will be pretty badass. You can get the current version of Media Car from here and go to software.

Thrasher, so you are giving up on putting the screen in place of the stock HU and instead going for a popup 1DIN unit in the stock nav location? Why is that? Will the screen be too hard to see and use in that location? how is that versus touchscreen in the stock nav location... I hear it's too far away.

Japan8

That's an interesting idea... maybe necessary... may not be. Think iPod, etc... they use 2.5" drives going through shock and do fine it seems. Laptops are the same... hell, I've dropped my laptop plenty of times and the HDD is still chugging away. So you may not need to go so far... maybe just get rubber washers to use with the screws that you mount it with.

TrAsHeR

Thanks for the link. I'll have to review Media Car. But I'm overall not impressed with that's available. The most cricital reason why I'm doing this my own, is because I can customize it to anything I want. Not only graphic wise but feature wise as well. Voice controlled? Bring it on!

That brings me to your question. I said "Since it's not the best viewing position I decided I'll make use of the wasted space afterall". With best viewing position I mean for people outside of my car. :D
Seriously now. While using it I want to be able to see the road. Since I'm rather small, my seat is so close to the dash that it'll be comfortable to use. In my case anyway.