Mac Mini Carputer

After almost a month of delay, the Mac mini based carputer is finally up and running. To the first time visitors of this blog, you can read about the background of this project from here and here.

Standing by the doorsteps of our favorite auto shop, ALLAN JARLOS, his assistant ERIC, and I waited eagerly for it to open. The first major decision of the day is where to install the 2nd carputer. Do we install it in the Subaru STI as originally planned or in the Ford Escape? Allan prevailed and we decided to install in the Escape being the everyday vehicle, but not without the STI getting its own sound system upgrade. Here is a pic of the STI getting its factory stereo and speaker system changed.

The store opened at exactly 9 am and after some discussion with the owner on what we needed done, the actual installation started at about 930. The most difficult part of the install really is how to get the LCD in dash.  Everything else went smoothly since the manual provided by carnetix is fairly straightforward. Five and a half hours later, we were all happy campers. If you just want to see the carputer at work, simply click the below video and spare yourself from one of my longest blogs ever.

If you are still here, then you might really be interested to have a carputer of your own. Then, read on.

Below is the image of the Ford Escape before the installation. Yes, that's a Garmin gps sitting by the air vents.

Below is how it looked during the LCD installation. Note that the white cable at the bottom is actually the Mac cable that connects directly to the Carnetix P1900 power supply. This Mac cable allows me to keep the standard Mac mini AC power adapter for when I need to use the Mac mini at the home office.

And below is the pic of the Mac mini carputer fully installed. I have highlighted the Canetix P1900 which we temporarily installed exposed. The reason being is that we may decide to upgrade the Carnetix software to the 2.8 version should we experience some issues as described in the Carnetix forum. So far, we have not experienced any. BTW, the mini is stored inside the compartment directly in the foreground.

If you have reached this far, perhaps, you really need to have your own carputer. So, I have listed below a summary of what you will need.

Project Summary Mac Mini Carputer

Hardware/Labor Cost
1.66Ghz/512/60GB Intel Mac Mini	$599
7″ Lilliput 629GL-10NP Touch Screen	$195.95
Crucial 2 sticks 1 gig ram (2 gig total)	$80
Carnetix CNX-P1900 DC-DC Power Regulator ver. 2.2	$99
MacPac Power Cable Kit	$24.99
Cable (3.5mm to RCA)	$7.99
Griffin Powermate (Volume Controller)	$15.87
Miscellaneous Wiring, Switches, Fuse Box, Fuse, Female Cigarette Adapter, Mounting equipment, etc	$10
Labor (installation in Ford Escape)	$25
Shipping (USA to the Philippines via Johnny Air)	$110
Software
AMP (Front End)	free
DisplayConfigX (To get OS X to properly work at the Lilliput's native resolution of 800×480)	free
Touchkit (Lilliput touch screen interface)	free
Time Spent
RAM upgrading	30 min
Software installation and in house testing	120 min
Installation of carnetix Y auxiliary power cable	15 min
In-car installation	330 min
TOTAL PROJECT COST
Total amount spent	$1,166.85
Total time spent	8.25 hours

Like I said, the manuals provided are all easy to comprehend and even come complete with images and wiring diagrams. In fact, we just gave the diagrams to the storeowner and allowed his boys to have their way with everything. We just lend a little hand in setting up the required jumpers in the Carnetix which again were clearly explained in the manual.

Here are some of the things you need to keep in mind before starting your carputer project:

• Absolutely no soldering was involved in this project.
• I used the existing amplifier and speaker system of the Escape for this project. I just used the 3.5mm to RCA cable to connect the Mac mini to the amplifier.
• Do your RAM upgrade and Carnetix Y cable installation at the same time. That way, you will only have to open the Mac mini once. Methodshop offers a very good instruction on how to open the Mac mini.
• The AMP is a free download that mimics the MAC OS X's front row. The AMP works very well with most any touch screen interface. It is even more powerful than front row since it is fully customizable.
• The DisplayConfigX is required for the Mac mini to recognize the LCD touch screen's available resolutions. Just install it and use all the default settings.
• The Touchkit comes with the LCD and is helpful in calibrating the touch screen panel. I actually calibrated mine using the 25 point calibration with an old Cross Executive Stylus. Having done that, it still works with finger touch.
• I had some issues with the Powermate USB controller. You need to use the Ver2.0.0 driver for it to work.
• I did not bother attaching any AM/FM radio module to the carputer. The cell phone could easily handle this for me.
• I have several Bluetooth headsets in the car and did not find any need to install the Bluetooth Phone Elite into the carputer.
• Instead of buying a separate GPS module, we opted to just attach the N95 to the Lilliput LCD and use its powerful Navigation system. The Lilliput is capable of handling the Mac mini, the N95, and a rear view camera all at the same time. There is an AV button in the LCD panel that allows you to switch sources.
• The factory Styrofoam packaging of the mini was glued together to serve as cushion. And it proves to be good enough. We drove around town with the carputer playing Barry White and did not experience any problems whatsoever.

Mac Mini or Nokia N95?

 

Features	Mac Mini Carputer	Nokia N95 Carputer
Cost	$1,166.85	$1,055.00
Time to install	8.25 hours	5.5 hours (LCD and speakers)
Degree of difficulty	Moderate	EASY
Connectivity	Wi-Fi  (HSDPA modem optional)	Wi-Fi and 3.5G built-in
Power	Car battery via Carnetix	Cigarette lighter adapter
Music (Stereo)	iTunes	Real player
Music Capacity	20gig space remaining	2 gig Micro SD
GPS	Option (module)	Built-in
Keyboard support	Any USB or Bluetooth	Hard to get Nokia wireless only
Printing	Any Mac or XP compatible	Limited options
Office	MS Office 2007	Quick office
Browser	Firefox/Safari/Explorer	Nokia WEB
PIM	Outlook or Entourage	Nokia
Touch Screen  Interface	Yes	None
Multi-tasking	Yes	Very minimal

The Verdict. For our purpose which is to setup a full blown mobile office, the Mac Mini based Carputer is our hands down choice. We need a setup that is versatile enough to handle the various tasks (email, send/receive fax, minor image editing and printing, etc) that our client needs to put it through. Besides, the touch screen capability of this setup just makes it more user friendly than the N95 version.

  But if all you need in a carputer is to listen to mp3's, check email, and browse the internet, we highly recommend going the way of the N95. It is not only cheaper but  a lot simpler to implement.

The choice is yours.