My plan, the iMera

[eviljonny]

My plan, the iMera....I mean....iScooby

NEW! - Now dedicated to the memory of iMera

After talking to a friend at work about the carputer she has been failing to fit in her car I came on idea. I thought, wait a minute, a MacMini is smaller than a DIN slot. So I got home and googled somewhat and found it indeed is smaller. So there began the idea.

I am going to install a MacMini into the bottom DIN slot in my dash and install a touch screen DIN foldaway panel in the slot where the HU goes. I found a guys work log who built a dock for a mini in his car and so im loosely going to follow his plans.

There is a company which makes a power supply that runs from your cars battery which wakes the mini from sleep when you turn your ignition on and sends it to sleep when you turn the ignition off. Since it is sleeping it wakes up in about 5 seconds or so, around the same time as my HU turning on.

On the sound side of things im getting a 5.1 firewire sound card which I will keep in the boot with the rest of the audio install and just run a single firewire cable from the HU DIN slot to the boot. I'm gonna use a 5 channel amp to run the front L+R and rear L+R and centre speakers and a separate single channel amp for a sub, this will give me 5.1 sound for DVDs and excellent sound reproduction for music.

I have already ordered the MacMini and have bought all the materials to build the dock. I use a MacMini at work as well so I can do test fittings before mine arrives (6-8 weeks for it to be delivered cause I ordered a custom built one).

I also plan on running a USB hub, a firewire hub and an ethernet switch into a box I will build from fibreglass probably that will go somewhere hidden (not decided where yet), my mate does some fibreglassing so it shouldnt be too much of a problem.

I want to totally hide the mini so I am gonna put a blanking plate on the front so it just looks like an unused DIN slot.

To keep initial costs down my plans are as follows.

1) Build the dock and ensure good fitting with the mini at work.
2) Install the mini (to ensure it all works), test with an external monitor and just run stereo sound at first to a very cheap crappy amp (this is just to make sure it works)
3) Buy and install the LCD panel

At this stage I will have a basic working install, then when I can afford it

4) Get the firewire sound card and a decent 5 channel amp, run 4 channels and blend the centre channel into the 2 fronts
5) Build an enclosure to hide behind the dash (possibly in the footwell) for a centre speaker channel and setup the 5 channels properly
6) Get a sub and a single channel amp to run it and add these

This is where I aim to be At some point in there I will need a USB GPS device as well so I can replace my current GPS.

As the title says I quite like the idea of calling my car the iMera once the basic install is done

Any comments, suggestions or thoughts would be appreciated

 

[eviljonny]

Balls, wong section, please could a Mod move it to the right section.

 

[dub_almera]

sounds like you've really thought this true mate, good luck with the project and keep us update, just one thing... are you going to have a keyboard n where are you goin to put it if yes? a normal keyboard wouldnt fit too well into your car, would take up space and look really bulky and stuff...

 

[Donut]

ive always wanted to do something like this with my almera!

an idea i had was the keep any periferals in the glovebox so maybe you could make your fiberglass casing for your USB ports there?

maybe stick a wireless network card in aswell then you can pull some tunes from the home computer while the car is sat outside, might take some time but could be worth it.

 

[Deleted member 939]

http://www.directusbstore.co.uk/cnb...earch=flexible&op=catalogue-product_info-null

Could go for one of them!

 

[eviljonny]

are you going to have a keyboard n where are you goin to put it if yes?

I was going to get an apple wireless keyboard. I hope to have it setup though so that I dont need to use a keyboard at all except if things go wrong or perhaps when advanced planning a trip (I only ever use my satnav for advanced planning anywho).

an idea i had was the keep any periferals in the glovebox so maybe you could make your fiberglass casing for your USB ports there?

Thats what I was thinking, it would be a good hidden away place for it as well.

maybe stick a wireless network card in aswell then you can pull some tunes from the home computer while the car is sat outside, might take some time but could be worth it.

The MacMinis all come with wireless and Bluetooth built in

http://www.directusbstore.co.uk/cnb...oduct_info-null
Could go for one of them!

DING DING DING we have a winner, now THAT is perfect, thank you. That store in fact sells a lot of what I need peripheral wise all with free delivery and I can get a USB hub at a discount for spending more than a tenner with them. Thanks for pointing this place out

 

[Darren198712]

hmmmmm Mini Mac Is good but there is no idea software out for it that makes it ideal for a car media centre.

Problems
1.
I think the Mini Mac unit will over heat. I went to the Apple shop and touched the base of the mini mac and it was hot I tell you. that was in a wide open area. (my xbox over heats sometimes under the seat)

2.
It may kill your car battery because if its asleep its still using power from the battery.

3.
the mac comes with 60gb/80gb standard depending on what you buy (not enough for any thing I think) and if you upgrade get a same speed hard drive (it will over heat if you get a quicker one)

---------------------------------
I think it will be better if you get a Laptop with a broken screen and then put that unde the seat. and then have a VGA out to the screen and then usb it to the laptop (touch screen) then have a usb hard drive and a wifi lan card hooked up to it. I think you will not use the DVD-Rom or cd-rom much. I have not touched my Xbox dvd-rom yet. I use hard drive normally.

 

[eviljonny]

hmmmmm Mini Mac Is good but there is no idea software out for it that makes it ideal for a car media centre.

No ideal software agreed but there are several very promising projects going on and I am a programmer so I can contribute to them and add the specific features I need, see here for more info

1.I think the Mini Mac unit will over heat. I went to the Apple shop and touched the base of the mini mac and it was hot I tell you. that was in a wide open area. (my xbox over heats sometimes under the seat)

I would agree except the load it will be under will be tiny. it's pretty much going to be playing music for the most part, perhaps with occasional sat nav use. I have a mac mini at work and it doesnt get hot much at all and I use it for a fair old whack more than I will be in my car

2.It may kill your car battery because if its asleep its still using power from the battery.

The few other people who have installed them havent had a problem with this, they use a tiny amount of power when asleep. One of them left it asleep for several days and it still started without a problem, if it does become a problem then I may add an install battery into the mix

3.the mac comes with 60gb/80gb standard depending on what you buy (not enough for any thing I think) and if you upgrade get a same speed hard drive (it will over heat if you get a quicker one)

I have ordered it with a 160gb hdd, they come as the 4600rpm so it will be fine. I have about 80 gig of music at the moment and it has taken me many years to accumulate that much. I cant see 160 being too much anytime soon

I think it will be better if you get a Laptop with a broken screen and then put that unde the seat. and then have a VGA out to the screen and then usb it to the laptop (touch screen) then have a usb hard drive and a wifi lan card hooked up to it. I think you will not use the DVD-Rom or cd-rom much. I have not touched my Xbox dvd-rom yet. I use hard drive normally.

I am an apple person and really dont want a windows PC in the car, i've spent all my life working with, supporting and programming for windows and I cant stand it anymore. I love OS X and even more so I love iTunes, all my experience with iTunes on windows is that it is significantly slower than with OS X. The Mac mini is perfect for me because I like OS X so much and because it fits in a DIN slot. I want people to look into the car and see nothing out of the ordinary (except when the screen is open of course)

I reckon I will use the DVD drive more than you think, I drive myself and some friends to anime conventions a couple of times a year, it means I they can watch anime on the way to/from the convention and that I can easily add their music to my collection

Edit: oh, also loads of people do windows computers in their car, I want something different. Needless to say you can see my mind is made up on the mac

 

[Darren198712]

No ideal software agreed but there are several very promising projects going on and I am a programmer so I can contribute to them and add the specific features I need, see here for more info

fair enough then you could even make your own program for it

I would agree except the load it will be under will be tiny. it's pretty much going to be playing music for the most part, perhaps with occasional sat nav use. I have a mac mini at work and it doesnt get hot much at all and I use it for a fair old whack more than I will be in my car

I guess it would be different to run a mac in a car

The few other people who have installed them havent had a problem with this, they use a tiny amount of power when asleep. One of them left it asleep for several days and it still started without a problem, if it does become a problem then I may add an install battery into the mix

thats good then. I thorght It would of killed the battery if u left it for a week or something like that

I have ordered it with a 160gb hdd, they come as the 4600rpm so it will be fine. I have about 80 gig of music at the moment and it has taken me many years to accumulate that much. I cant see 160 being too much anytime soon

Hmmm I got a 250 installed in my xbox that im running and I do not use all of it but 250 was the value for money because 200 was about £5er cheaper and then 160 was a few quid cheaper. then then 300gb was 20 quid more expensive compaired to the 300 so yeah 250 it was (i paied 52 quid for it)

I am an apple person and really dont want a windows PC in the car, i've spent all my life working with, supporting and programming for windows and I cant stand it anymore. I love OS X and even more so I love iTunes, all my experience with iTunes on windows is that it is significantly slower than with OS X. The Mac mini is perfect for me because I like OS X so much and because it fits in a DIN slot. I want people to look into the car and see nothing out of the ordinary (except when the screen is open of course)

I guess Mac Is good. Its a matter of time when I change to mac. but if you don't like it there is allways boot camp

I reckon I will use the DVD drive more than you think, I drive myself and some friends to anime conventions a couple of times a year, it means I they can watch anime on the way to/from the convention and that I can easily add their music to my collection

yeah I would advise a portable usb 2.5" Hard drive so that you can plug it in. saves you putting it to disk.

Edit: oh, also loads of people do windows computers in their car, I want something different. Needless to say you can see my mind is made up on the mac

I know what you mean with the whole windows thing lol. thats why i went with the xbox (boot time is quick too)

 

[eviljonny]

Hmmm I got a 250 installed in my xbox that im running and I do not use all of it but 250 was the value for money because 200 was about £5er cheaper and then 160 was a few quid cheaper. then then 300gb was 20 quid more expensive compaired to the 300 so yeah 250 it was (i paied 52 quid for it)

Yeah, one of the problems with the minis is they use a laptop hard drive so its quite expensive to get large ones, I am definately paying well over the odds to get 160 gig because they use 2.5" drives (to be fair the mini is so small you couldnt possibly get anything bigger in. I will be upping the RAM in it as well but its soooo much cheaper to get it as standard 512 and buy the ram yourself.

 

[eviljonny]

Damn!!!

I photocopied my MacMini at work for dimensions and so I could build the dock while I am waiting for delivery of my Mini. I cut out the back and side pieces of the dock and was about to start putting the correct holes in the back piece for the various connectors when somehting occured to me, the mini I have at work is a PPC mini and the one I have ordered is an Intel mini, it turns out the layout of the rear of them is different so I am essentially at a dead end until Apple get off their backsides and build and deliver my mini. Grrr.

I will finish the basic shape of the dock and make it so it fits nicely into the DIN slot but once i've done that I have a 1-2 month wait before I can make any more progress

Will take some pics of where the dock is upto once I get that far as well.

 

[eviljonny]

Ahha, good news, I got an email from Apple yesterday saying my Mini had been dispatched Should have it Monday or Tuesday, finally I get get things back underway.

My lesson is it pays off to complain, I rang them to complain about the long delay and the guy on the phone said he would get it escalated as a "priority 1 dispatch". I thought he was just gettign rid of me but given that it wasn't due to dispatch until the 24th and it left on the 10th I reckon he really did get it moved up the queue. HURAH. So hopefully next weekend should see some serious dock building progress.

 

[Deleted member 939]

Sounds good! when do you hope to have the dock finished so we can finally see some photos?

 

[Darren198712]

My lesson is it pays off to complain, I rang them to complain about the long delay and the guy on the phone said he would get it escalated as a "priority 1 dispatch". I thought he was just gettign rid of me but given that it wasn't due to dispatch until the 24th and it left on the 10th I reckon he really did get it moved up the queue. HURAH. So hopefully next weekend should see some serious dock building progress.

The only company that proboly has good customer service is Apple. like my iPod mini they took it off me and then sent me a referb one that is virtually new or fixed the problem and send it be back. which i thorght was pretty good as well.

 

[eviljonny]

Sounds good! when do you hope to have the dock finished so we can finally see some photos?

Well im hoping to get the basic dock sorted within a couple of weeks, this will be without a front on it yet, I want a front hinged at the bottom with a catch at the top so it completely hides the mini while the door is up but I can get access to the drive. Ive already cut the side and back out just need to get the holes for all the ports cut out the back and i'll be well on the way

 

[Deleted member 939]

The only company that proboly has good customer service is Apple.

That's quite a sweeping statement you've made there.

Sounds good jonny, planning it out properly like you are seems like the best way to do it! would it be easier to hinge the door at the top though? so it would just flop down over the box instead of having to make a catch etc?

Something else you could use: the 100nx has an empty DIN slot like in the almera, but it's got a door covering it that you pull down to open and when you let go it springs closed again, could get one from a scrapyard and attach it to the DIN box you're making? save alot of effort with making the oor+hinge+catch etc! can get pics if you're interested.

 

[eviljonny]

would it be easier to hinge the door at the top though? so it would just flop down over the box instead of having to make a catch etc?

Very probably but then it might rattle around while im diriving, I was thinking of using the kind of catch you get on cupboard doors where it is sprung and you push it in to release it. That way should be safer when trying to change a cd while driving (although ideally I shouldnt have to do that at all since I will be ripping everythign to the hard drive.)

Something else you could use: the 100nx has an empty DIN slot like in the almera, but it's got a door covering it that you pull down to open and when you let go it springs closed again, could get one from a scrapyard and attach it to the DIN box you're making? save alot of effort with making the oor+hinge+catch etc! can get pics if you're interested.

Now THAT sounds promising, i've never even seen anything like that before, is there a proper name for one of these things? I will put a parts request into parts gateway but I have no idea how to ask for it

Pics would be VERY much appreciated, like I said I shouldn't need to change any cd/dvd while driving and this would probably look a lot better than a home made one.

 

[Fred]

but it's got a door covering it that you pull down to open and when you let go it springs closed again.

Anyone know the part number for this?

 

[Darren198712]

That's quite a sweeping statement you've made there.

lol. Hmmm I can't really Say Norwich Union has good service after

I got up went to lesson and then went home and then call up norwich union and then they said they would call me back and then I said I want to speak to some one now they said they could not do any thing. after that I called up again and they said that they could not do any thing and needed to to call me back I said you said

You said you would call me back yestoday I don't get a phone call off you

NU said that your on the list and you have to wait

I said Its been 1 month now and you have not F@king sorted anything out I want to speak to a manager

NU said I cant transfer to to a manager

I said You take my money so F@king quick within 24 hours and then you don't sort out my f@king claim when I need to claim. I want to speak to a manager

NU said I will get some one to call you back within the hour

I said ok if there is no phone call I am going to go F@king mad.

and then what happends no phone call again

still have not had a phone call yet

next time I am calling I am going to introduce a word called "TRADING STANDARDS" to them

 

[Fred]

I am going to introduce a word called "TRADING STANDARDS" to them

That`s 2 words!