[Turnpike]

Seems to me that the mac mini would be perfect for hooking up in a car... it'd easily fit under a seat or even in a good-sized glovebox.

Would anything have to be changed? Just get power to it... the only real modding would have to be to the car, correct?

I've been looking at the mini and wondering what kind of crazy things I could do with a more or less fully featured computer with that form factor. So.. PVRs, cars... what other mods have you guys been thinking about ever since you saw that tiny little box?

[ChadC]

There's a guy on the forum, can't remember his name or what type of car he has, that was actively putting an iBook in his car about a year or so ago. I remember one of the problems he ran across was getting a screen that would be a decent size, readable, and accept a decent resolution.

This is an interesting idea though. Imagine having a full featured Mac in your car. Now that would be cool.

[billybob128]

i remeber the guy who was trying to put the iBook in and it wasnt the problem of size or res it was that his screen was broken and needed a new one that would be compatible. or thats how it read to me. and as pretty much any tv will plug into the mini then there shouldnt be a big problem here.

sounds like a plan to me

[Skip Breakfast]

I wonder how many networks Airport picks up as you drive through the city.

[veryniceguy2002]

Originally posted by Turnpike:
Seems to me that the mac mini would be perfect for hooking up in a car... it'd easily fit under a seat or even in a good-sized glovebox.

Would anything have to be changed? Just get power to it... the only real modding would have to be to the car, correct?

I've been looking at the mini and wondering what kind of crazy things I could do with a more or less fully featured computer with that form factor. So.. PVRs, cars... what other mods have you guys been thinking about ever since you saw that tiny little box?

I'm not sure about whether under a seat a good idea... I fear someone from the back seat might accidently kicked and cause a crash (of the Mac mini, not the car). Mount it to the boot of the car (sorry to the yankies, I mean the trunk of the car) may be a good place.

I guess you would be some sort of 12VDC to Mac mini power converter (forget the inverter solution, no point go from DC to AC and then back to DC). I would say you can use the 7" in-car screen that is designed for in-car DVD as the monitor.

The only other concern you would have would be whether the Mac mini would be too hot to use inside a car... I don't think it can cope with temperatures beyond 40C (aboce 110F)??

[Wiskedjak]

Originally posted by Skip Breakfast:
I wonder how many networks Airport picks up as you drive through the city.

I think it depends on the city, but I can tell you there are a tonne (note: a tonne weighs more than a ton) of networks in the city I'm currently in ... and most I've encountered are unsecured.

[osxpinot]

Depending on waht type of car you have, I would strip the stereo out and put in an LCD. And no, I'm not talking like a DVD LCD; I'm talking like a GPS LCD that looks like it belongs. You most likely have a double-din slot in which you can fit a 7" LCD into.

[Waragainstsleep]

As far as heat goes, theres no reason you couldn't duct some air from the front of the car. A pain to do, but should work well. It would limit the plasces you could install it though.

And for screens, there are loads of small, cheap LCDs available from Hong Kong on eBay. Some of the coolest ones are only about 6cm long, but they are mounted in car sun visors. You can get left and right (use a splitter). Thats a stealth install.

[duck]

Originally posted by veryniceguy2002:
I guess you would be some sort of 12VDC to Mac mini power converter (forget the inverter solution, no point go from DC to AC and then back to DC). I would say you can use the 7" in-car screen that is designed for in-car DVD as the monitor.

I don't think this will be an option. The mac mini has a largish external power supply which you will probably need to run off an inverter. The power connector on the mac mini looks to be 10 conductors, probably 12VDC+/-, 5VDC+/-, 3.3VDC+/-, data+/data- to communicate to the brick when the machine is on/off/sleeping?

It seems Apple has learnt from the G4 Cube - Don't do voltage regulation inside a tiny box with the rest of the computer. The VRM board that turned the 28V input into 28, 12, 5 and 3.3V was one of the frequent causes of failure of the cubes.

[Waragainstsleep]

I still plan to install a Pismo PowerBook in a car, just as soon as:
A) I get the cash/parts to get the Pismo running; and
B) I get a car worth installing it in (IE one which is at least semi-waterproof).

There are some advantages to doing this with a powerbook:
You can buy an in-car power adapter cheaply for it, so that bit is easy;
If you happen to have another, similar PowerBook (Which I do, a Lombard). then you can fit a dual battery charger in the car too. 3 batteries between two books is handy enough, but if you leave one of them in the car all the time, then the installed PowerBook can sleep overnight for ages without you having to worry about the cars main battery. Of course then, the 'Book will startup much faster when you get in the car and want to hear some tunes.

If properly installed, you could also retain the flexibility of the removeable drive bay modules too. And of course PBs have versatile VGA out and S-video built into their logic boards too, so finding screens is less hassle.

[IamBob]

I've "installed" an iBook in my car. It's crazy simple...

Buy an inverter and install it in the car. Buy a stereo that has aux-in* and install that. Buy an Airport Express. Either use a bluetooth phone or Airport Express Remote to control iTunes.

After the inverter and stereo are installed you just plug the express in to the inverter and stereo and away you go.

I can use my remote to control the music which is running in a switched-out account and my kid can play games or watch movies on a 12" screen. All wireless, all removable (I don't exactly plan on driving the same car forever)...etc. Works wonders for long trips too since you can charge the laptop off the inverter if you need to.

But yeah, if you want something permanent, the mini looks like it might work wonders.

* Mine is an old tape deck with a "CD-in" jack on the front. The male to male headphone-style connector was like $5 at Radio Shack and the stereo was free.

[veryniceguy2002]

Have a look at this MacCentral article about the in-dash mounting system for the Mac Mini. Yes, I know there's not much details and no prices yet.

[ixus_123]

do a google search on carputer - loads of people have done similar with mini-itx boards.

You can get free GPS software for teh mac (& Windows & linux) which makes it even more appealing

one thing you'll need is a voltage regulator or the spikes from the alternator will kill your mac, not to mention at atartup or corrupted disks from impropper shutdowns


You're better of with a mini-itx board and a skimmed down Linux running ontop. Mac os X isn't really cut out for it unless you want to have to start your car, then wait 5 minutes for the computer to boot up & all your programs to load

[velodev]

Originally posted by ixus_123:

You can get free GPS software for teh mac (& Windows & linux) which makes it even more appealing

Can you pass along the names of the free GPS software. I belong to a Mac Y! Group for Nav and I've never heard anyone bring that up.

Thanks.

[ixus_123]

linux / free bsd there's GPSdrive - don't know if that would work on os X
http://gpsdrive.kraftvoll.at/

then there's http://flighttrack.sourceforge.net/

probably a lot more on sourceforge & freshmeat if you want to search. I'm recalling from memory. I was looking into building my own carputer a while back for playing music, video, nintendo, & with GPS. Then I had a crash & that kind of changed my mind about having distractions in the car - especially visual ones.

Opus do some nice power supply units (dc-dc0 with startup & shutdown circuits for anyone thinking of making a car/boat puter. Linux is the way to go though - if only becuase of a faster boot time & the ability to use a readonly file system

[Waragainstsleep]

Like I already said, If you use a laptop, and keep the battery, then you don't have to worry about startup time, as you can leave it sleeping.

[bluedog]

Originally posted by Waragainstsleep:
Like I already said, If you use a laptop, and keep the battery, then you don't have to worry about startup time, as you can leave it sleeping.

NOT if you live in a COLD climate. I think I just destroyed an iBook battery that was fully charged, but cold. When I woke from sleep the computer went back to sleep because it thought it was in a low power state. I believe it thinks the max power is where it died which is with NO power.

I can't charge it, and the lights on the bottom of the battery to display a charge are dead.

It may be enjoyable in a mild environment, I can only imagine heat in hotter climates also causing trouble for an in-dash computer that needs some heat dissipation.

[intake]

This exact thing happened to a friend with his iBook. Remove the battery and let it warm up/come up to voltage overnight. Put it back in and give it a try. His reset after doing this.

I agree, the battery is too fragile for the operating conditions that are present in an automobile. It will be interesting to see how well the Mini will stand up to these conditions.

I am fortunate that my car has an always on A/C vent in the glove box, which is where I would plan to put this computer. I don't think that I will have to worry about keeping it cool. Keeping it warm? That might be another story.

[ixus_123]

I'm not sure how hard it to rig a laptop up to an exteran display though, or multiple displays even - say one in the centre console & 2 more - one in each headrest - that's the great thing about X in linux.

There are a few decent 72 widescreen monmitors on the market too - some with touchscreens. a bit prcey though

[Waragainstsleep]

PowerBooks have external VGA ports and S-video, which means that most in-car screens will be OK, as they tend to connect via RCA/24-bit composite (which is easy to convert to S-video with an adapter). I don't suppose they run at the same time however.

So how about this?:
Get a Powerbook, remove the lid. Extend the data/powercables from the lid, mount the lid so it can fold down from the centre of the roof. You are then free to mount a pair of screens in the headrests or wherever, running off the S-video OR VGA, use a splitter = video mirroring.
The Pismo has plenty of useful ports, the one I want to use has defective on-board ATA (doesn't pick up HDs), so I thought I might boot it from a firewire enclosure (easily removed to protect your data) You can use an Airport card and still leave a PCMCIA slot if you should need it. Since I have a Lombard too, I thought a dual battery charger would be handy to fit (ideally allowing the Pismo to run from at least one of the batteries while they are plugged into the charger), then there is always a spare for the Lombard. Mount the Pismo wherever it will fit in the dash, and duct in some cold air (remembering to add filters for the pollution).
It sounds like alot of hard work, but you don't really have to do much beyond extending a few cables, cutting a few holes and installing some pipes for the cooling. Which really isn't all that complicated. I'd also really love to mount a trackpad and scroll wheel on the centre of the steering wheel. That is a lttle more complicated though.
Alot of people try to fit the biggest screens they can afford in their cars. I can't see the point. I never get the urge to pull over and watch a DVD on a 6" screen when I'm driving. I can see the point of the LCDs in headrests for the kids though, but I don't have kids. I probably won't bother with mounting the lid on the roof. I'll just get two of those small LCD sun visors.

From the way you guys talk, it sounds like you plan to simply run a few cables and drop a Mac in the dash or wherever. Did I post the link to that guy who fitted a G4 PowerMac in his car? He built a perspex case for it, and fitted gore-tex lined valves to it to stop condensation from killing the machine. The colder the climate, the bigger this problem is likely to be. Of course, you couldn't practically install the batteries in such a case. But the UK isn't really that cold. Not down south anyway. Where do you guys live?

http://www.mujmac.cz/art/hw/tatra_mac_eng.html

I do wonder why Apple hasn't tried to fit something like the Mini into a head unit. Alot of decent head units have awful user interfaces, it would be nice to see what they came up with. You could basically fit an iPod (perhaps with a notebook HD) into a head unit as the bottom of the range option, with something specced more like the Mini at the top end.

Get in your car, realise you forgot bring that new CD you were going to listen to. Not to worry, Just connect to your desktop Mac in the house (via Airport), and download it to the Mac in your car. Its a perfect extension to the 'digital hub' strategy we hear so much about.

[mhuie]

Are there any HTPC/media center interfaces for the mac? (As in huge text on huge buttons, only showing vital information?)

This LCD would work great!

http://www.avdeals.com/xenarc/700ts.htm

1600x1200!!!

[Waragainstsleep]

Its nice, and cheap too....But any smackhead worth his salt would put a brick through your window and have it yanked off the dash in a matter of seconds. I guess you could hide it with a little work though.

As for the software, it depends what you want to run. I'm pretty sure there is a shareware app for a nice big, simple iTunes interface. Perhaps you could 'license' some of the stuff that Czech guy wrote for his system. See if you can track him down from that link I posted earlier.

[IamBob]

7" LCD for $419? For a base total of $919.

I still don't think you can beat a 12" iBook for the car. "Installation" is easy and you can take it with you to avoid the window-smashers. It might cost up to $200 more than a mini+7" LCD (after inverter, express and remote) but the flexibility and screen size more than make up for it, IMO...YMMV.

[MARINEOSX]

if you have an after market alarm and you want to keep it warm simply hook it up to a timed relay that you can prgram to go on periodicly with a signal from the brain and set it up to an auxilary to the alarm. To actuallu heat it find a wrecked luxury at a junkyard that has mirror or seat heaters and use that as the heat source. Customizing the mounting position and placing it efficiantly would be the tuff part. Also DEI makes a timed remote start interface for very cold weather climates that you can program specific times and lengths of those times to start your vehicle throughout the night so that it doesn't freeze. This would be a great way to keep it warm or cold, and you would have a new cool feature on your vhicle.

[Cipher13]

Several people have spoken about this, but I may be the one referred to early in the thread. I've been planning to put my old iBook 500 in my car for some time (well over a year now), but have been inhibited by the screen problem.

This is what I have to work with:

1. A fully functional iBook 500, with a smashed screen. The screen has since been removed, leaving a neat, headless iBook. Battery life on this machine is wonderful, given it has no screen. I've removed the AirPort antenna from the screen housing, and restrung it around the base of the iBook, so very little reception will be sacrificed by the loss of the screen.

2. I also have a Wallstreet II which is fully functional (but has been gutted by me... that could be reversed, but it has a problem with the ATA controller). This machine also has a working screen.

3. Thirdly, I have a 366MHz clamshell iBook that is no longer functional, however, it's screen is in perfect condition.

When added up, I have a fully functional machine, and then some!




This is what I have planned:

Mounted somewhere on the dash, the 12" screen from the clamshell iBook.
The machine will run 10.3, and be primarily used for iTunes, the phone, and perhaps a little wardriving (with a GPS system hooked up for mapping). I could use the GPS system for navigation too, but that's an afterthought

If I really feel like overdoing it, and showing off, I'll hook up a webcam or 2 (security cam? Bumper cam?).

Control will be via Salling Clicker on my T610, and a PowerMate (that I'd LOVE to mount on the gearstick! [it's an auto]), but I also have a rollable half-keyboard in mind for the armrest of the car (y'know, the keyboards that only have QWERT, and down, then you hold a modifier for YUIOP). Of course, I'll have a full wireless keyboard somewhere in the car for when necessary (or even a wired one that can slide out of the glovebox).

The machine will have an AirPort card and a bluetooth module (USB). I'd also like to make a directional dish antenna that I could plug in when a little extra focus was required (easy to make, but ultimately showing off, again).

I'll have it set up so that I can answer my phone through the computer and have a mic mounted in the headrest of the car, with the car stereo speakers being used for speaking... though the feedback would be horrendous. I'll think more on that. There are many solutions (bluetooth headset, etc) but I want something elegant.

When the machine comes into range of my wireless network at home, I'll have a script that automatically synchronises its iTunes music library with that of my primary home machine. SSH and a VNC system will also be in place for external connectivity, along with the standard AFP and whatnot.

The mounting of the iBook will be difficult. I live in Australia, where the temperature can hit 45�C with ease (114�F or so). In a closed car, in the sun, you can only imagine the heat... it could probably hit nearly 60�. I was considering under the passenger seat (out of the sun, plenety of ventilation). I could mount several silent fans between the hilt of the seat mount and the seat rails, for when it gets hot... but in a car that isn't on, that's no good. Same with mounting the iBook in a peltier-cooled box. Keeping the machine cool while *off* will be the hard part, and I'm open to ideas as to how to do that.

An additional mounting concern is impact resistance... driving can get pretty rough, especially on a laptop. I figure a simple rubber/spring mount resembling hard-drive grommeting will do.

As has been mentioned, batteries don't work well with extreme temperatures... however, I'd like to keep the machine on permanently. Once again, I have no solution to this problem.




This is what is stopping me:

The interface between the iBook 500 (internal) and the clamshell screen is entirely different. I need to construct an adaptor, but I've attempted this and it has proven more difficult than I expected.

The easy way out would be to buy a screen, but a) that's no fun, and b) that's too expensive. Plus, why waste a perfectly good 800x600 12" screen?

Basically that's it.

Just thought I'd mention all this incase anybody can perhaps help me with my issues, and to give some ideas to others.

[turtle777]

Can anyone answer me WHY you would need a Mac mounted in your car, besides the geek factor ?

For 95% of the people, an iPod is what they are looking for.
So what does the remaining 5 % do ?

-t

[intake]

Mobile DVD player. GPS controller. Check emails on a road trip.