Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2007 22:35:27 -0400
Reply-To: craig cowan <phishman068@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: craig cowan <phishman068@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: GPS
In-Reply-To: <5c80974c0707301826t252cbdd3k4784c12996e01cfc@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
I tried the whole CARPUTER thing. I have high hopes for someday getting one
in my vanagon but need to "DO IT RIGHT" This time. Check out www.mp3car.com.
Its very enlightening. The idea of most installs is to get a 7inch LCD touch
screen, mount it in the dash somewhere (in our case ideally about where the
ashtry is next to the instrument cluster) and you bust out some fiberglass
and bondo, make a really fancy box that you paint up to look stock, install
a mini pc or (as i did) a laptop with a busted screen. You then hide this
anywhere, it doesnt matter....you dont really need it. You thow on a Remote
CD Drive if you want (maybe a cool slot loading one with USB!) and install
that somewhere in the dash. Wire in a relay to the powersupply to start and
shut down when the car does, configure your OS for fast bootup or
hibernation......and you have yourself a sick system. $700 worth of STUFF
could get you the apsolute coolest GPS system with a harddrive full of music
and movies that you could play wolfenstein (or whatever young people like
myself who have spare time actually play these days) when your camping. need
to watch a movie....BAM. DIVX format saved to the harddrive. WHO NEEDS AN
IPOD! Its all right there.
Thats the ultimate vanagon GPS.
For Macs try "Route 66" software.
-Craig
'85GL
On 7/30/07, Sudhir Desai <sudhir.desai@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> you are correct on all counts, except that I would urge you to look
> into anti-vibration mounts :)
>
> (smaller hard drives need tighter tolerances, and even if they are
> superb for handling vibrations well, i would still advice putting more
> protection around them)
>
> Sudhir
>
> On 7/30/07, Stuart Jeff <stuart@stuartjeff.com> wrote:
> > Funny you mention that. As soon as I can find a Mac Mini for under $300
> then I'm planning to install it perminantly into my Vanagon. Those little
> babies would make the perfect car PC. First off they are tiny (just a little
> bigger than a standard car stereo and I've heard that you can install them
> in the stereo slot, they only consume about 20 watts while running, they use
> a laptop style hard drive so vibrations are less of an issue, and they can
> easily be rewired to run on 12V power. I know that the GPS receiver will
> still work but I'll probably have to find new software to use it with the
> Mac. I'll be surprised if I can't find something with similar features.
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----
> > From: mike <mwmiller@CWNET.COM>
> > To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> > Sent: Monday, July 30, 2007 8:49:18 PM
> > Subject: Re: GPS
> >
> >
> > Great idea. Problem is I need a laptop. Unfortunately I need a MAC
> laptop
> > and they are pricey, even used. Wonder if Streets and Trips works on a
> MAC>?
> >
> > Mike
> >
>
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