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I recently got myself a pre owned Subaru Forester. And immediately I wanted to do something I always wanted to do in my Gypsy but never got around to doing: A Carputer!

I have already bought most of the components needed for the install, here is the list;

1) Motherboard: MSI E350IA-E45 (AMD Hudson Chipset) with integrated CPU (Zacate-FT1 APU )

2) Hard Disk: Western Digital 500 GB (SSD for OS before installing)

3) Ram: Corsair DDR3 1033 Mhz 2 GB

4) Display: Lilliput 669 GL 7” monitor

5) Monitor Frame: Bybyte lcd frame for Lilliput 669

6) OBD: VAG-COM 409.1 cable supporting ISO9141-2/ISO14230-4 (KWP2000) Protocol

7) Optical Drive: Slot Loading DVD writer

8) Power Supply: M4 ATX 250W DC-DC Power Supply

9) Mic/Handsfree: Andrea Super Beam Noise Cancelling/ Echo Correction Microphone

10) OS/Frontend: Windows XP 64bit/Centrafuse Auto 3.1



I don't have actual pics of my car's dash right now ( Car is in Delhi/I am in Shimla) but here is a pic of how it looks.


I will be retaining the OEM headunit, so I plan to remove this dash top storage bin and install the touch screen in its place


The computer is currently running on a test bed and I have installed the monitor in the double din frame.
Still need to buy GPS antenna amongst other things.
Can anyone suggest a good 5Hz USB GPS antenna?

Cheers

Hey thats a nice set up, but wouldn't it be a bit too far from the driver to install the screen at the proposed location? Even the viewing angle would be a bit too skewed for comfort! IMHO

That is indeed a valid observation and that was the first thing I did upon getting the monitor. It is within easy reach, I can control the touchscreen without fully stretching the arm and the viewing angle is pretty ok, although it would have been perfect if it were angled slightly towards the driver's side.

The JDM STi version of the Forester had the optional SATNAV screen mounted here in a double din housing which replaces the dash top storage bin. I have already sourced the OEM STi housing and am waiting for it to arrive.

Need another stick of RAM.

Got some info for your Shell Mode boot ;)

Interesting DYI and I will be glued to it (being a Fozzie owner)
The stock HU can't play DVDs or MP3 CDs. Do you plan to do anything about it?

EDit: Sorry i missed 7) Optical Drive: Slot Loading DVD writer

Can you post the info here?

Hi Guna,
The optical I picked up on a whim, though I don't know if I will mount it permanently in the car.

Apart from that the stock HU is turning out to be the achilles heel of the entire build. Initially I wanted to output the sound from both the pc and the headunit to a AV source selector and then onto an amplifier. But that would have entailed routing a lot of wiring, one from the head unit and then from the amp to the speakers. This is something which I don't want to do right now.

So I decided to just route the audio from the PC to the headunit so I did not have to bugger around with wiring up the audio cable from scratch. But I hit a stone wall as there is no AUX IN port in the stereo :(

Frantic googling led me to two products which give you the mp3/aux/ipod input capability for the P123 units we have in the Forester sold in India.

First one is by Leptronix and this one gets activated whenever there is input from the aux port, so everytime I play music on the pc this gadget would mute whatever is playing in the stereo automatically. Pricey at CAD 115.

Second is by Jazzy Engineering and is slightly cheaper and uses a silent cd concept. You just load a silent cd in the in-dash changer and when you select that cd the input from the pc is routed to the speakers.

I am still reading up on both these products trying to decide which one to use for providing the AUX in capability.

Cheers

@gotzuk: You may have been through this thread but I thought of sharing it with you. It gives one a basic to adavanced tutorial on making/breaking/enjoying a CARPUTER.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/ask-gu...c-dummies.html

Raab Rakha.

Yes, I have been through the thread but thanks for link nonetheless.
Cheers

Hi Vaibhav,

First of all Congratulation for the Forester. Hope you have many fun filled Miles in it. The CarPC is really going to come out nice. I too have finally decided to install the my system in my recently aquired used Verna. Fitted all the stuff in side the car and now sorting out whatever issues that are coming up. Might upgrade the hardware soon. My best wishes for you build.

Cheers

Thanks buddy!
Let's touch base once I am back in Delhi and congrats on getting the deisel rocket.
Cheers

Update:
Just bought a USB GPS Receiver/Logger with 5hz refresh rate from eBay (NEWGosget GM-2 USB GPS Receiver/ Logger 66ch MTK2)
for $40 with free shipping to India.
The specifications look good on paper, can't wait to try it out!

Congrats on the Forestor and the Car pc. Interesting choice of APU. Can you please advice on the following:
1. Boot up time from Cold start.
2. Time taken to Restart from Hibernate
3. Also are you planning to integrate Bluetooth into this setup ?
4. Also notice that you are not using a dedicated Sound Card ? Is the on motherboard audio good enough ?

Thanks Jinu. I was looking for a mini itx board which low consumption and decent performance and this one fit the bill! You can do basic gaming on it too! Plus it was available off the self at a reasonable price.
If only it had onboard bluetooth and wifi! It would have had been a perfect board then.

1. A cold boot takes round 35~40 seconds to desktop.

2. Haven't really timed the resume from hibernate time since I am configuring the system to go to Sleep mode when the power is cut. The PSU keeps monitoring the battery level and as soon as the programmed lower limit (say 11.8V) is reached it will proceed to shutdown the system. The Mobo/CPU consumes around 1watt in sleep mode. So even with the hard disk consumption and PSU losses factored in, I am still looking at less than 3watt consumption in Sleep mode. And since my car is a daily driver and resuming from sleep is a 3 second affair, even a morning start means you have a running system in 3 seconds, music in 5.
Just like a regular head unit, hopefully:).

3. Yes. Bluetooth will be a Bluesoleil/USB dongle affair (yet to buy). Already have a mic for it though (see first post).

4. Right now no plans for a dedicated sound card. That would come along when I get around to upgrading the speakers.
For now the onboard sound would have to do and although I am yet to hook it up to the car speakers, I am sure it will be pretty OK.
A lot of people on this forum use on board audio and are happy with it.

Cheers

The much awaited dashtop double double din enclosure finally arrived.
It is a two piece unit and for the reference of fellow Forester owners on this forum, the part number for the hood is 66242SA000ML and for the front lip is 66242SA010ML.



I had also bought the brackets needed for installing a double din HU/ monitor frame (RH-66201SA120/ LH-66201SA130) .
I bought mine from Japanparts.com - JDM Parts,Performance Auto Parts but as these parts are OEM Subaru they can be picked from most good Subaru part dealers.

Test fitted the (spare) Bybyte LCD frame with the brackets & the dash top enclosure. Thankfully, everything lined up perfectly.
Next in line is fabricating the mounting brackets for the motherboard, hdd, gps and psu. Hope to get to that soon.

Oh man, that is SWEEEEET. Really good looking. As stock and barebones as it can be!