High tech gadget project Ive been thinking...PIMP MY RIDE

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Hello from Puerto Rico. After seeing that Pimp my ride thing on TV I was thinking to do some silmilar thing but without the fancy stupid stuff like fountains and ironing facilities(those who have seen the program know that I mean) and keep it real. Get the most functionability with the least money possible and get cooler, better and USEFUL aplications possible...

Ive been thinking about a little entertainment system for my explorer. It cant be that expensive if I get the items on the internet and use a little imagination... Its for a very cute 98 explorer. So, its like this:

Beginning with a touch screen flat monitor(3M brand, 17inch, 2 inch deep, $1000), in front of the radio area with some type of indash brakets like the one currently at Ebay that also could be detatchable conected to a laptop below the drivers seat with bolts or a snap-on device to a shock absorbant platform. (the laptop can be a cheap one because all we need is 40-60 hard disk space a at least 2 gig CPU).

The monitor will be put in the backets by some form of quick on/off snaping mechanism in case you dont want to leave the monitor in the truck. The latop will be closed with a vga cable that will come out of some consealed hole with a lid (a plain plastic black lid will be ok is just to conseal the cable or just throw the damn thing inside the air conditioning vent).

--With this basic setup you have the visuals, the mp3 player, the dvd player, the game station with emulators from all the games in the world using MAME or ZNES or GENS, in other words, THE ENTERTAIMENT SYSTEM!

This cant be that expensive with $1000 the monitor, a $1000 laptop and some imagination with tools and can be done.--

Connected to the laptop, 2 usb controllers to play games. And if you really want the show off thing going on, you can connect the laptop to the internet using a PCMCI card that with $60 a month at least here, will get internet access wherever you go. You can be on messenger, icq, cheking email and posting in this forum wherever you go!

Lets not forget that you have a full function PC with internet, word procesing, and all I might need in the office on the go!

--At this point the plan look pretty real... adding $60 for the mobile internet PCMCI that should give you internet everywhere look good to me...

Right now I will add the posibilities for this set up that will look exagerated... but very very possible...--

A Bluetooth headset ($68-$70) that connected to the laptop and a voice command software (like DRAGON voice recognition program, not the best but they are around) that with just starting the PC and saying a word it can do a MACRO setting that will get whatever you need. Example:

a.Afterwork - get into the truck turn on pc and put on bluetooth piece and say something like "relax setting" the the program will know that macros you put on earlier and will play some calm/classic music and some nice calm visualizations on the screen to get you calm and nice and going.

b.Going out with a lady - When you get the system up and running (try to reenact the play because these things arent infalible... ) try to impress a lady just to see her face for a good laugh. When the enters the truck you say to the bluetooth " romance mode " and then on the monitor appears a movie of a nice fireplace with some cool R&B whatever you want! That for sure at least a little giggle will come out!!

c.With friends - You are with your friends and around looking for what to do and you can access some page with the hangout stops around. You can get old songs to listen, pictures to see, movies, tv (on desktop PCs at least there are HDTV internal cards that get tv signal to decode on monitor resolution: Made by ATI $200-$400, maybe for laptop is an alternative)... In other words, all the joy and more you get in the couch but on the go!

There is an OS windows based that get you all the important functions with a stylus/fringer friendly menu that get you instant access to you pics, music and videos. There are a few tutorials for it on the net but I forgot its name... it was something like HCPC or 'handmade PC' ]... so with your arm in the armrest, you can click whatever you want to hear, see or play.

Since the beginning, Im thinking to keep expenses to a minimum to bring MTV PIMP MY RIDE entertainment to normal people so we will go with the factory stock radio. So, how you connect the laptop to the truck radio so you can hear music, flicks and games? using a $5 cdplayer cassete (the cassette with the stereo cord) converter and a $5 extension from places like www.cableshack.com...

--How is the money wallet? $2000 for pc and monitor, $200-$400 for getting the bracket work done for you with the required specs, $10 on cables and a converter to power the monitor with the truck battery that I dont know the price but cant be that expensive either...--

With every idea there are cons:
-stolen laptop/monitor and a broken windshield
-taking a bump while the laptop running its hd and bust it
-crashing because of playing Street Fighter or watching an adult flick
-People calling you a MTV raper wannabee player


So I think this is it... I hope you give me your best advise or recomendations. Any question or idea will get reply because Ive ben thinking to do this project for a time now... If someone has done or seen or will do a project like this please tell me... Sorry for it being the idea too long

 

['96explorereddiebauer]

My $0.02

I hate Pimp My Ride. It's got some cool customizations but it's just not worth it for a car, an old car to pimp up. It's economically impossible to recoup the money spent on the equipment.

I guess I look for the practical side of things. Like flat screen flip down monitors. Since I'll be the only person driving most of the time, there's seriously no use for me to use such equipments. A carputer is a great idea. I really like that, but it's too expensive to implement (for me) and since I'm college student, I have no time nor the expertise to customize interior panels in order to fit the screen and stuff. Plus, our Explorers are very bad at resale so unless you're definitely planning to keep this forever nomatterwhat, I wouldn't spend a lot of money on stuff like that.

So...with all that out of the way, here's my take. Security is definitely a threat since you'll put a lot of high-tech equipment into your truck. So if you're doing that, get the best security system out there. Here once again, the practicality issue. The laptop will be a huge distraction while driving. So try to build a screen that is in your center console or something so you can intuitively use it while driving without too much hassle.

Umm...you're not putting a chandelier in there, are ya?

 

[expo5.0]

i think your taking the wrong direction with it- by throwing in the computer based crap at the expense of mobile audio equipment.

as for the best security system- bah, what is that going to do for you? i have a great alarm on my truck, but i dont kid myself into thinking its going to protect me from much of anything. if theives want it they'll get it. and besides if you can afford it you can afford to insure it- and if its insured you don't want half of it gone (which is much more likely if the theives are rushing to take what they can while an alarm is going off)

the only other thing i'm not sure about is how good it would look with all that bracketry. i think you'll end up looking like a cop car more than like "pimp my ride" (using it in a good way as you did in your post)

finally- good luck with you project

 

[expo5.0]

wait- i just reread that.

i would probably fall out of my truck laughing at you if i noticed you had a cassette adapter running in there.

 

[Jefe]

Forget the laptop unless you're going to use it elsewhere also. Get a Micro-ITX Motherboard, hard drive, and 12V power supply. The motherboard is less than 8"x8" so it'll fit somewhere behind the dash or in the center console. shock mount the Hard drive, and use a power supply that automatically starts up the computer when you start up the truck.

I built my Car-PC for less than $600, granted its only a 7" screen and its not a touch screen yet, but still.

i would probably fall out of my truck laughing at you if i noticed you had a cassette adapter running in there.

So would I

 

[Cartman]

wait- i just reread that.

i would probably fall out of my truck laughing at you if i noticed you had a cassette adapter running in there.

Yeah I pretty much agree with Expo - if you want to do this right maybe get a smaller monitor to mount in the headliner (or talk to Expo about the monitor housing he made for a member in the stock radio spot), new CD player with audio in jack and a computer mounted somewhere out of the way, you could get a small form factor case and hide it in the back. Really pimp my ride is pretty stupid, you put $20,000 into a car that barely starts.

 

[jnealg]

Ditto that but it can be done for cheaper...
go to http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/ and poke around, lots of info there.

I'm spec'ing mine out in my head, going to paper soon. Possible specs...
Mini ITX
inverter for power
xenerac touch screen display
USB or Bluetooth keypad/glide point
running a Linux OS (dist unknown yet)
ATI or creative labs sound card with line out/RCA out
802.11g card with ext omni antenna (for file xfer from the house network)

Off the top of my head I'm guessing less than $1k