Put a PC in your car

The good news is that it’s probably a lot easier than you think to put together an in-car system that can rival, and in some ways exceed, the functionality of a factory-fitted system.

And if you’re prepared to put in some work, you can end up with a solution that looks like it has always been there.

There’s a wealth of information available online, including the Digital Car forums at www.digital-car.co.uk and www.MP3Car.com. Although the latter is US-based, it is still a great place to source information.

To a large extent, putting together a car system is not really that much different from building any other PC, but there are obviously some extra considerations, such as power supply and the user interface.

However, plenty of people have been down the same road before and it’s much easier to do than you might think. We’ll look at some of the considerations in the rest of this article.

The basics
When you’re driving, you don’t want to have to spend ages hunting around a screen to find the right option – digging through the Windows Start menu is obviously dangerous. So there are two key elements to most car PCs. First is a touchscreen display and the second is software that makes the most of it; we’ll look in more detail at software later.

The cheapest touchscreens start at less than £200 from stores such as LinITX and KustomPCs, both of which have sections on their websites specifically for car PC parts. But if you want a good-quality bright display, bank on spending around £300.

Screens can be bought either standalone or ready fitted into a standard car radio module (called a DIN module), or a double height ‘2-DIN’ size. In fact, you can buy a barebones system in a 2-DIN module if you don’t want to mix and match the parts.

Power is also an issue; while a few people rely on separate batteries for their in-car systems, that’s not practical for most, and so a good-quality power supply is needed that can cope with the fluctuations you’ll see when, for example, the engine is started, as well as the electrical noise often found in a car.

Systems such as the Carnetix power regulators will set you back around £50 to £60, but as well as providing clean power to the PC, they can also send shutdown and wake-up signals, so that the PC can spring to life when the ignition key is turned on and go to sleep when you turn it off.

The PCs themselves needn’t be that expensive – touchscreen displays typically only have resolutions slightly higher than VGA – although if you want a twin display, you may need to rely on a graphics card rather than integrated motherboard graphics.

LinITX sells a 1.5GHz bundle with memory, disk, power supply and case for £292.08, while KustomPCs offers a £799 system based on the same Via 1.5GHz C7 processor that needs disk and memory added, but includes a 6.5in touchscreen in the 2-DIN case, along with an FM receiver, GPS and amplifier.

Those last three items are also important parts of most car PCs, and if you don’t buy a system that includes them, then you’ll need to budget extra.

FM radio is taken care of in many systems by a simple USB tuner stick, although it’s important to check the compatibility with the software that you plan to use, so ask on forums like Digital Car if you’re unsure. You can buy these for less than £20 but, depending on where the car PC is installed, you may need to add an external aerial, which could mean having to open the case and solder a connection.

Similarly, you’ll need a GPS receiver, as well as somewhere to fit it in the car where it will be able to pick up a decent signal – if the PC is tucked under the dashboard or in the boot, it’s not going to work, nor will the reflective coatings on some windscreens help, so you may need a module that has an external aerial or a long cable. It’s definitely worth checking around the car before buying to see how things like the GPS receiver can be mounted.

In addition, you’ll probably need an amplifier. If you intend on keeping your existing car stereo, then check to see if it has an ‘aux’ input through which you can feed sound from the PC or you could buy a standalone car power amplifier. If you want to link to your phone, you’ll need a Bluetooth module as well.