CarPC and Centrafuse Install

[adamw89_2000]

how many wire did you have to splice into and find on the truck to make your unit work? im wondering how hard they r to find and how much of the dash ill have to rip out... u dont happen to have any more pics of the install or anything do you? i wanna know as much info as possible as i think i might b able to attempt this. im not the best at it stuff. programming and what all but i think i may be able to try this....

[adamw89_2000]

next ? any pics of how u mounted all this equipement? im looking at each item you used and this is alot of this to crame in behind the dash.. such as the computer, part for the radio, part for internet... is this all behind the dash and do u have problems with no reception... radio wise, internet.. and etc.

[guruerror]

I've been looking for my pics everywhere...I took a lot to document the airbag work and the PC install, but I can't find them any where.

The Mini fits in the old airbag housing...it's actually the only bit that's in that section of the dash (besides the second display). *The hubs are mounted where the OnStar unit was. *The radio module is mounted in the console and connects to the factory antenna...no reception problems. And my 4G modem is mounted inside the passenger-side pillar.

The only wire I had to tap into was the one coming off the steering column that carries the steering wheel control signal. Everything else you need is in the radio wiring harness and can be connected to with the standard GM harness adapter (the same one that is used to install any standard aftermarket head unit).

You'll probably need to take the majority of your dash apart to complete this install...except the bit where the defrosters a are...lol.

[adamw89_2000]

i was reading on the mp3 forum... very knowledagble people there! lol but im leaning towards the idea of a tablet! instead of the car pc..... id advise everyone to read up...

[guruerror]

Originally Posted by adamw89_2000

i was reading on the mp3 forum... very knowledagble people there! lol but im leaning towards the idea of a tablet! instead of the car pc..... id advise everyone to read up...

The only problem I can see with a tablet PC (providing you can find a way to cleanly mount it) is how you'd link it's power supply to the harness to get the ignition signal; so it automatically turns on/off with the vehicle.

[adamw89_2000]

i think i could come up with a mount no doubt, im going to keep reading and hopefully stumble across some of the answers we would like to see. as far as you setup goes, where do u put your dvds and things in like that at? is that on the mini computer itself or fo you have to get a seperate drive for that as well? an if you had a tablet, could u even use dvds?

[guruerror]

Originally Posted by adamw89_2000

...where do u put your dvds and things in like that at? is that on the mini computer itself or fo you have to get a seperate drive for that as well? an if you had a tablet, could u even use dvds?

I'm glad you asked...as I forgot to mention this. I don't use ANY optical media. Given that I was installing this in an off-road vehicle I eliminated as many moving and/or mechanical parts as I could.

The Mini originally came with and optical DVD (built-in) and a mechanical hard drive. I removed the optical drive and replaced the mechanical hard disk with a solid state unit.

All of my music is stored as MP3s on the internal hard drive. To add new tracks I simply put them on a flash drive, insert the flash drive into the USB port which I placed on my dashboard, and touch the Import button in CF's Library.

For movies I typically use a Patriot Magnum 128GB flash drive which plugs in to a USB port that I placed in the console box. This drive holds about 25 DVDs, so I can always have a selection of my son's favorite movies available for him to watch. For 'road trips' I use a 1TB LaCie Rugged external, mechanical hard drive in lieu of the smaller flash drive...the LaCie holds about 200 DVDs. At one point one of the CF programmers had developed a Hulu app for a previous version of CF...I'm hoping that he updates it for the latest version. Having Hulu available in the truck almost made my portables unnecessary.

Others on the CF forum have DVD/Bluray drives installed. Some in the dash, some in the glove box...search around on the CF and mp3car forum and you'll find more info. To use a optical disc with a tablet you'd probably have to use an external drive.

How do you envision mounting the tablet? The smallest Windows tablets I've seen is the HP Slate at 8.9"...I think that'll be a tad too big for the headunit opening; and maybe too wide overall to fit in the internal framework of the dash.

[06 SUT]

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