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R

· 2JZ NA-T
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7,624 Posts
Discussion Starter · #1 ·
Hey guys, so I just recently started toying around with the idea of putting a small car pc into my supra... reason is that I have the AEM EMS, and a JVC dvd head unit which has a video in port. What i wanted to do was have a real-time display of say injector pulse, or even just the AEM dashboard for shits and gigles on the head unit.

i have a laptop stand my father and i custom made for my laptop, but unless im going out specifically to data log a run, or street tune the car...i probably wont have the lap top with me all the time, not to mention the fact that it would go dead in an hour and I dont want to put an inverter in the supra just for hte laptop..

so my question i gues is, would the double din dvd unit be fairly good enough to display some parameters from the EMS? i realize with the PC i can enlarge the screen and all that, but just wanted to get some feed back.

I was also going to put a back up camera, but then wanted to get one up front for a drive camera just to get some cool shots (again for shits and gigles :) ) and the car pc would alow me to do just that.


so what do you guys think?
 
HamsMKIV

· Your Neighborhood Pikey
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3,480 Posts
#2 ·
I thought about the same thing recently. I was looking at something like this:

http://www.fit-pc.com/new/whats-new.html

The only issue you might run into is converting the output from a normal 9-pin VGA connector to your analog video-in; the resolution could be a problem.

The other thing is that you would have to boot up the pc and connect to the aem every time, there's no getting around that. I think it would be neat to have, but I think you'd spend the money and eventually grow weary of the idea.

Personally speaking, I ended up just buying an Asus Eeee netbook for the same money, and I can take that little guy anywhere I want.

- Chris
 
R

· 2JZ NA-T
Joined
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7,624 Posts
Discussion Starter · #7 ·
well booting up and connecting wouldnt be a problem b/c it wouldnt be everytime i get in my car, it would just be occasionally and it doesnt take too long to conect to the EMS.

but the resolution could be a problem b/c i didnt think about that....how much worse would it make the quality? and would there be any way around it?

as far as booting up the pc.... could some sort of a sleep mode be set? something like laptops have? when yo uclose it it goes to sleep and boots up when your open it back up?

putting the laptop in my car isnt the problem. my toshiba isnt too bulky and like i said i do have a stand for it that looks and works great, i just wanted to be able to take advantage of the other pc functions like running multiple cameras to it and what not.

but thanks a lot for the input guys
 
jigga009

· Registered
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359 Posts
#8 ·
HamsMKIV said:
FYI,

I use this to tune cars with:

http://promos.asus.com/US/Spotlight/Feb2009/1000HE_Story.html

It's extremely compact, fits in your hand, and has great power capability. The only upgrade I deemed necessary was increased memory. Works wonderfully, and I got one from Newegg for $389.


- Chris
Click to expand...
Which USB--> Serial adapter do you use with this laptop? Any issues at all with corruption?

I'm assuming that you are using your computer to tune the AEM EMS?
 
HamsMKIV

· Your Neighborhood Pikey
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3,480 Posts
#9 ·
jigga009 said:
Which USB--> Serial adapter do you use with this laptop? Any issues at all with corruption?

I'm assuming that you are using your computer to tune the AEM EMS?
Click to expand...
Actually, I've been having some problems with the AEM running into a critical fault and crashing. I've been using one particular brand of USB to serial converter, and it was a problem. I swapped out to a different one, and it's not an issue. The one I've been using with success is the Dynex model.

- Chris
 
D

· Registered
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389 Posts
#11 ·
jigga009 said:
Which USB--> Serial adapter do you use with this laptop? Any issues at all with corruption?
Click to expand...
I've used two usb to serial adapters and have no issues:

http://www.iogear.com/product/GUC232A/

You just have to assign the correct com port in windows/linux that AEM using.

The other one I can't think of off the top of my head but I've been using them for work since my work laptop doesn't have a serial port.
 
R

· 2JZ NA-T
Joined
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7,624 Posts
Discussion Starter · #12 ·
gjmadams said:
Has anyone thought about taking the slim fit PC and pairing it up with something like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py2bK9kRTVw

It seems like a good combination, but I've never heard of Xenarc. Anyone know if this will last longer than 1 power cycle?
Click to expand...
how is that different from what i was asking about? (putting a pc and running it to display through a 7in touchscreen JVC unit)
 
G

· Registered
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32 Posts
#13 ·
Ravan17 said:
how is that different from what i was asking about? (putting a pc and running it to display through a 7in touchscreen JVC unit)
Click to expand...
The Xenarc has VGA and DVI video inputs, so you won't lose video quality.

Also the USB on the Xenarc will allow the touchscreen to control the PC. There is no way to control the PC with the JVC, or most head units for that matter.
 
jiggersplat

· rockin' the JDM duct tape
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623 Posts
#16 ·
gjmadams said:
Has anyone thought about taking the slim fit PC and pairing it up with something like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py2bK9kRTVw

It seems like a good combination, but I've never heard of Xenarc. Anyone know if this will last longer than 1 power cycle?
Click to expand...

xenarc is one of the better brands if you're looking at a 7 or 8" vga touchscreen. the other brand a lot of people use is "lilliput", which i have and it's worked fine for about two years.
 
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· Registered
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32 Posts
#17 ·
jiggersplat said:
xenarc is one of the better brands if you're looking at a 7 or 8" vga touchscreen. the other brand a lot of people use is "lilliput", which i have and it's worked fine for about two years.
Click to expand...
Do either of these brands have a Dual-DIN 7" setup that will look good in the MKIV stock stereo location, and control the radio?

All I have seen is the motorized Xenarc 1-DIN MDT-X7000. I have a motorized setup in my other car, but I wanted to get something that looks better. Is there anything like a 2-DIN version of the MDT-X7000?

http://www.xenarc.com/product/MDT-X7000.html
 
M

· Registered
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974 Posts
#18 ·
I'm going to do the same thing. I had a car pc in my '06 civic and it worked really well. It's going to be better with the Supra as it will be directly connected to the EMS and such. I use a 7" lilliput touchscreen
 
jiggersplat

· rockin' the JDM duct tape
Joined
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623 Posts
#19 ·
no one makes a double-din vga touchscreen that i know of. you can get a kit to convert one of the 7" lilliput screens to a double-din.

check out http://www.bybyte.com/

(you can get the same thing a bit cheaper on ebay)

i actually have one that i couldn't use because it was not compatible with the screen i already owned that i would sell for a few bucks less than new.

alternatively, you can make your own, which is what i ended up doing. i drew up a .pdf essentially in some 2D drafting software and had some parts laser cut from ABS plastic.

http://jiggersplat.blogspot.com/search/label/laser cutting
 
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B

· Time for change
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#20 ·
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jiggersplat
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