H2 PC - NOW FOR SALE!!

[BLOWNZO6]

It is just using XP and the front end is open source code. If you have a drive failure it would be just like your computer at your house failing. You would just format it and reinstall the software. I am sure there are some sort of "drive picture" applications our there I could configure the programs, etc. and the just have recovery disks, etc.

Also.. can you guess what the next target is for me?



I also have a torch red 2002 ZO6.

[rodster]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by BLOWNZO6:
Also.. can you guess what the next target is for me?
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

And skinned to match, too, I see. Very nice.

When it comes to carputers, my money is on the retail market. The custom, high-end jobs will always be there, of course, but there are potentially millions of consumers on the plug-n-play side of the market. The question is, can you position yourself soon enough and strongly enough to be the go-to guy?

Recovery disks seems plausible and should be easy enough to produce. Good call on that.

[HUMMERcustoms.com/TAZ]

Like Blown this is something We are putting thought into and it will be like the rest of the computer world not sure. You get a puter with one year warranty and if outside You go to a computer repair to fix it. I think once You installed this You would be on your way to understand some repair and go back to Blown or Me for repair parts.
If in warranty then unit will have to be returned overnight and repaired and overnighted back to keep customer down time limited. that is why these things are not going to be cheap. Most of wat i build will be to those more inclined to the geek side. Blown is trying it appears to make it as fool proof as possible. I see it working basicly as the rest of the computer support world works except that in a few men operation it will be pressing to turn repairs around as fast say as Dell. So with you being a geekie type like me you can already see the potential problems. What is part failure and what is a kid poured a coke over the top of the PC? If they are not smart enough to take it apart and clean it then it is easy to see what happened. Problems ahead for sure!

TAZ

[HUMMERcustoms.com/TAZ]

My purpose was for custom and that will remain My focus. It is a diffeent crowd. Let the big guys have the headaches with all the MOMs that do not know what is going on with it. I'm developing for custom installs and one reason I will market at shows so that I immediately develope a connection with the buyer so he has a face so that when He calls for help He knows who it is. I will encourage sending it to us for install. they will be setup so that the 10" will have everything needed for someone with some ability to install. We will have 3 or 4 skins on Our system so just like a screen saver they can go to apperance and change it to match the color of their ride. We will have an EIM interfacxe that you can have 6 H2 functions you can assign for it to handle by PC. It will b oot up at start up og rig with win XP Pro and then any other programs You have in the startup menu. I will have My tuning software startup the first thing after OS has booted up and it will boot ointo scan so that i can be tweaking My tune all the time. I think Blown has His tuning software on His PC also if i noticed right. The PC will have a start up and shut management relay that controls and prevents surge. Then the EIM module will run 6 what ever rig specific items You want PC to operate, watch or what ever.
It is not going to be a walk in the park.

TAZ

[rodster]

Good points one and all, Taz.

If you're selling through the dealer network, they'll provide front line service -- swap boxes and return them to the manufacturer for repair. At least that would take the pressure off for the fast turnaround, shipping, etc.

I also imagine the warranty would cover failure due to wear and tear for, say, a year. All other user-induced problems (Jr. spill the Coke) are at the consumers' expense.

The good news is, a carputer isn't likely to get bogged down with all the stuff we do to our desktop computers. So long as the hard drive holds up I imagine the warrantly claims would be no greater than and other OEM onboard system.

[HUMMERcustoms.com/TAZ]

Blown cool! I hope you can handle the more common type build and We work together on this since We both went that direction. My direction is different that yours so I can see Us working together in 2 different arenas. I can see My complete install with everything at $5000 and that could be low not sure yet. But, there is the easy install with a restore disc like We were going to include to get it up and running and hoping they have been backing up like they should. I'm recommending eveyone get a USB drive egqul to the size of the PC drive and use Ghost or what ever backup they want. It will be a learning process I guess that they will have to understand that they are running acomputer on steroids b ut, You still can get virus's or whatever if You do not do the same things to protect Yourself as at home.
Well I would like to look at using Your 7" project after Your done and maybe dropping My 7" and it leaves Me more time to spend on building the 10" and 12" stuff and then add the subs and amps if they want to a complete kit.
It will work out. Cool that You went with the 7".

TAZ

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by BLOWNZO6:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by HUMMERcustoms.com/TAZ:
Blown, You and I should have been talking. Blown We are trying a FM that I may be able to help You with once We run it and try it out. We also have a AM/FM but, We have to see how much buzz We get from electronics on the AM dial. I have been focusing on the HUD with You and did not think about the carputer. I did not realize You were working on one to market. I will have mine finished in a few weeks with a 12" touchscreen in the dash which i do not recommend for the regular owner. I have moved My onstar to review mirror and AC to the bottom with an equalizer under it. The traction controls are on each side of the AC control, We think. Not a setup I would recommend for the average guy but, for a techie it is great toy to install. Will be able to burn Cd's and put in DVD or Cd without moving to reach the drive. It will be closer than the shifter not installed in the PC but remote. We will have it so the owner can make changes to keep drive remote with just a screwdriver and no not the drink DRTY, although after You work on installing some of this stuff You feel like it sometimes. We CNC'd a bezel to go around the slot that says HUMMER across the top and on one side lower H2. Blown has gone the way for self install with a 7" touch screen but, We are going to do a 10" touch screen with center dash premade with a all brackets for You to move exsisting equip. to and no wire lenghtening etc. If You have not bought the center dash itself it is quite expensive and then the time to convert it to 10". You will trade out the center dash console for core in exchange for the one We send You. if it is and older model H2 We have the ability to get you the argent color to match your dash after We cut and have to recolor center peice. We had the 7" in line already knowing We just had to have computer and 7" is a much easier install but, the 10" is WOW not counting the 12". A 12" will cost allot. The screen is near $900. You will not have a head unit in dash with 10" just like the 7" will not. The Pc will have everything in it for DVD,CD, MP3, etc. really anything You want including wireless internet or PCMCIA slot for card to run a cingular connect card if You want to dial up on cell. it will come satelite TV ready so You have to get subscription and ant. which We will be able to sell those also. It will have touch screen control and a screen keyboard on 7" or 10" as well as wireless keyboard and mouse and We will have verbal command that is note voice trained not to far down the line. It recognizes letter sounds and You can have anyone give it commands. Have a guy from Ratheon working on that and it is already working in cell phones like the Motorola V710 with bluetooth. You will not get one for $1000. 10" touchscreen cost close to $700 and computer we'll this is for people who really are into the geek stuff like Me and do not mind spending the money. I have dealership with all the suppliers for the equip. to make any PC format You want and it just will be high dollar. We are looking into Macintosh also down the road. Blown I wish We had mentioned To each other this. I will have mine on website and also a 4 12" sub with overhead 2 amp rack in rear of H2 that a full rear bench will fit between. The 4 12" subs fit in a replacement wheel well housing for the factory so You can bolt it in and send us the core wheel well housing back for credit. I will have Infinity subs and amps with a 12" flip down screen made into the amp rack between the amps. If You want different subs and amps We can do it b ut the enclosures will have to be specails made as none of the cmpanies deminsions are very close to each other on purpose. that is why you see most enclosures hand made to the sub. It is placed where 3rd row have a screen to watch as well as headrest for middle and in my rig the 12" for front. Man this is a bummer I would liked to have worked with you in this. My DVD/CDRW burner will be mounted in the lid of the center console in a slot format that will eject and receive just like the factory. This way You can copy all the music and movies You want to a 60 gig hard drive or bigger with a big processor. We will have XM and Onstar working through it all as well as phone along with GPs and NAV. Man this is just a bummer. We both are doing some things that would have made it easier for Us both. Well if nothing else I want to look at Yours and I'll market it at shows if You can get the 7" down in price versus mine. Mine will be more on the 10" and 12" but, Yours sounds like it will cover most needs and sound like a good idea and can be priced good. Guys if He can get this to You for $1500 to $2000 You will be lucky and need to get it if that, if it is what You need. That number will not even cover the subs the amps the encosures and 12' flipdown. Not close. Then depending on what PC You want. We will have an alacarte menu on the website to pick what you want as some may not want the NAV or what evedr and the price will be their and You can build to Your expensice account allows. If You want this monster I have a computer genius working for Me that We designed for people to buy that want to say in their world no one has anything like this. We are using dual GPS sources to get all the info We want to collect at one time. I know Blown does quality work do not be afraid to get His setup at all. I would look closer to $2000. If I sold My complete setup with sub and enclosures and amps with the 12", PC Man I cannot even think yet what it will be. We are going to adapt the subs to one on each side if that is what You want with one amp. Blown I need to talk to You about the sub enclosures which is what Dragon and I said last week that We need You in this for the skill You are an engineer at. I'll give You a call when will be a good time? Hope it goes really good. My design is intially for show and then We are down sizing it for retail from the shop or website. Mostly to use in the conversion We do.
Blown let Me know if I can help You. It would have been great to do this along with the HUD with You. H2 should be out of paint after this week I hope and I will have test for You on HUD. We had Our first annual show and shine this past weekend and slowed allot down. But, We are basicly stripping all the clear and painting ghost flames and going back with 3 to 5 coats of clear on the whole rig. I have hood down with HUMMERcustoms in the center of the hood in ghost color so that it is hard to see until You tilt hood about 45 degrees for show to show the engine bling and then they see it well. The flames will be hard to see until you get about 15 to 20 feet from the rig.
Blown let me know when will be a good time to call you.
Guys I just have to hope Your prepared to understand the work Blown is putting into this and the cost is big. Call West Coast or Unique and ask them for a computer as described by Blown and see what you get quoted.

Blown if You get it where You can beat My 7" job I will market Yours instead of building one myself abd put Yours on Our website and and take it to all the shows i go to. So you will not hurt for buyers You will have to find time to build them so it is worth Your time just like You said.
TAZ </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

WHOOOOAH RICK... LOL

I was just posting up some pictures to gage interest.. NO intent of stepping on your toes. We have discussed this many times and I am still on the same page as you.. as I said, just postin up some pictures and kind of at the feedback stage, seeing what people think.

There were a few goals of mine that are very differnent from yours.
1. As little modification as possible
2. Use the stock amps, bose speakers, etc.
3. Find a good system for a basic install, not a full blown custom install like you have, with amps subs, etc. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

[rodster]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by HUMMERcustoms.com/TAZ:I'm recommending eveyone get a USB drive egqul to the size of the PC drive... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Are you talking about a USB flash drive or hard drive?

Now here's a challenge: Eliminate the hard drive and put the OS and user-installed programs on a flash drive. User can pop it out, plug it in at home and install MP3s, maps, etc.

Not sure how much space that would require or if there are flash drives that big, but it's nice to dream.

[HUMMERcustoms.com/TAZ]

I use a USB external hard drive myself for backup. They are making flash drives bigger for backup.
But, Wed have been thinking about USB flash drive with the OS on it at least maybe to help with theft but, do nt think it would protect much. We actually discussed the flash drive instead of an enternal harddrive at first but, using a laptop drive right now.
We are looking at the external harddrive more seriuosly in place of the internal just for the sercurity reasons in case of theft. You can tak it out just unplug the USB cable from board and then you can still sync it with home pc and download. We just set around and brainstorm and there is no end to what could be done or the versatility of the unit make up.

TAZ

[rodster]

USB connect hard drive might just be a good middle ground.

I Googled "largest flash drive" and found an outfit called Pretec that says they have an 8GB model. Wow.

[rodster]

On second thought, I'm not sure a flash drive could dish up the info fast enough to take the place of a hard drive...

[BLOWNZO6]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by rodster:
On second thought, I'm not sure a flash drive could dish up the info fast enough to take the place of a hard drive... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Not only is this possible, it is already being done. There are more than a few running the OS on flash or CF memory.. something solid state. They are doing for durability, but I have to be honest with you.. I see no reason for it because of the the cost. I have a normal size desktop hard drive in mine right now. Really there is just the music on the computer and a few basic things. I just have these backed up on a hard drive on my home computer.

The one thing you are missing is that these PC's have power supply that is design to work with a car. So every time you get in the car you don't have to have the PC boot. You can set the amount of time that it takes for standby and shutdown. For a daily driver it is realistic to leave the PC on in standby, etc. all the time. If by chance the voltage in the car got below 11V the power supply would automatically shut itself down. There is enough power there to power other 12V and 5V things from the rails. I power my GPS sensor from the rail since it is already back there.

The possibilities are really endless.

[HummerNewbie]

I have to say, I have a chub after reading all this

I have looked into carputers here and there for a couple of years and would be extremely interested in your systems guys, especially if you can get them in the sub $2k range. I agree with rodster that the market is endless and if you can provide the wiring diagram to hookup to different vehicles it would sell like crazy. If you go and buy a decent aftermarket Nav system you are going to spend a minimum of a grand anyway. Does anyone know if the 7" system would fit in an H3? Can you make it work with the Monsoon system? I love the idea of the system going into standby mode so you don't have to go through startup every time. I don't know about the H2 but doesn't the H3 have a system build into the electronics to shut down power to accessories when the voltage gets to a certain point? With WiFi you could add a booster antenna couldn't you so you could pick up more connections?

If either of you are interested, I can talk to a local shop that I deal with that does higher end work and see if they are interested in selling/installing the systems.

If you don't sell the whole system you could probably do fairly well selling the front-end software and skins for the system as well as recommended software or provide sources for these for the DIY folks that can build the system themselves. Wouldn't be the same sales figures but the warranty issues would pretty much go away and you could provide email support for the front-end. I am sure that I will have many more questions if you guys don't mind

[RiverRacerX]

I know a guy building a Mac Mini into his VW. It is bluetooth and he uses his cell phone as the remote to control iTunes, iPhoto, iDVD,wireless internet and anything else you can run on a mac.

The Mac Mini will be installed in the glove box area so you can see the glowing Apple icon. He has a wireless mouse and keyboard if he needs them as well. Plus a firewire hard drive runs off of BUS power so he can take files in and out of the car easily.

Looks like a cool setup. I think it is just missing navigation.

[HummerNewbie]

Does anyone know what the power consumption is for a PC in standby mode? I know that we design capacitors into a number of our boards so they do not loose memory if power is lost. These are generally very small for our applications but could work here. If anyone knows the consumption I can ask one of my engineers if a large cap or series of them could sustain the PC for a period of time. Probably not worth it but depending on the current draw, might be a good solution to save the vehicle battery.

[H2_SUT_SC]

Blown - that set up is awesome! It'll be nice to see a set up like that come in a decent price range. I'm sure you could move a lot.

Question - would there be any issue with the hard drive with extreme heat or cold? I know where I live in the summer it can get to 100 degrees which would equal about 130 in a car sitting in the sun for a few hours. Then the flip side I'm sure those on the East Coast and the mountains have their car interiors get to freezing levels during the winter. Hard drives are definitely the most sensitive component in that arrangement. What do you think?

[H2_SUT_SC]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by HUMMERcustoms.com/TAZ:

Call West Coast or Unique and ask them for a computer as described by Blown and see what you get quoted.
TAZ </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I kind of doubt Unique could even do that. Have you seen Unique Whips on the Speed Channel? All I've got to say is I'm seriously not impressed with the work they do. All of their sub boxes are completely generic. And that marble type stuff they spray on consoles is so 90's. I'd be pissed if they did that to my truck. I've yet to see them do any advanced stuff on that show.

Now WCC on the other hand has basically proved they can put a kitchen sink in your car, literally. They've proved they can do anything and everything thing when it comes to cars. Although I think most of their stuff they do for PMR is kinda gay they do show they can do a ton.

WCC has been putting those computers in H2's since 03.

[BLOWNZO6]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by H2_SUT_SC:
Blown - that set up is awesome! It'll be nice to see a set up like that come in a decent price range. I'm sure you could move a lot.

Question - would there be any issue with the hard drive with extreme heat or cold? I know where I live in the summer it can get to 100 degrees which would equal about 130 in a car sitting in the sun for a few hours. Then the flip side I'm sure those on the East Coast and the mountains have their car interiors get to freezing levels during the winter. Hard drives are definitely the most sensitive component in that arrangement. What do you think? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks for the compliment and I am VERY close to asking for a list of names and putting up a price for some Beta testers. There are a few more minor things I want to work out with some vendors, etc.

As for the harddrive.. this was one of my initial concerns. The manufacturer of the drives I am going to use has the following:
Operational:
41 to 140F
Non-operational:
-40 to 149F

Temperature should not be an issue.

[BLOWNZO6]

Guys I am very close on this.. the more I think about it I really see the interest, which has me really pumped.

I would like to start a list of those interested. Of course pricing is the issue, I will come up with a price and expected deliver, etc. and send that out next week. Along with that there will be a full list of what the system will include, etc.

Look for it next week.

Nick