wonderin how this is possible. where can i buy it!

[NaZty NaZe One!]

i was snooping around youtube and came up on this video.seems flawless...all oem. the trunk looks clean. im wondering if this is a serperate computer for the e46 or he installed a computer and hooked it all up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHm4rwQAAj4&eurl=http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=655114&highlight=installing+angel+eyes&feature=player_embedded

[djnekkon]

I don't know where you can find invisible stuff like that one....

[RangerX]

:rofl:

[NaZty NaZe One!]

there we go.

[NaZty NaZe One!]

anyone know?

[vminev]

My friend did this to his Mazdra RX8... what he did is he got one of those really small Acer laptops from Walmart I believe for $300 and he hid it under the passanger seat and then he hooked it up to the navigation. He said it was pretty easy ...

[tom @ eas]

i was snooping around youtube and came up on this video.seems flawless...all oem. the trunk looks clean. im wondering if this is a serperate computer for the e46 or he installed a computer and hooked it all up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHm4rwQAAj4&eurl=http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=655114&highlight=installing+angel+eyes&feature=player_embedded

Definitely a CARPC setup, check www.mp3car.com for leads.

[NaZty NaZe One!]

ok. well ive been lookin at that site...thanks to eas. and found this program.

http://store.mp3car.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=SOF%2D018%2D0001&Show=ExtInfo

seems like a pretty cool feature to have. so what do i need to install this on the cars computer?

[dw_uk2000]

That guys running a CarPC with his standard Nav, using a package called Carx (http://bmwpc.de/portal/viewforum.php?f=1).

I have just finished build 2 of my CarPC with the Centrafuse 2.0 software, works very well :)

[NaZty NaZe One!]

ok so i got that i need a program in order to do this. what about the computer...do i use the OEM? once i get this computer situated im going to need to program the program to function the way i want it to?

[Cazz]

There are several places you can buy PC designed to go in cars. Search e-bay for "carputer". They should come with a DC power supply to run it off the car battery.

For the sound you need a aux input, dice or the equivalent.

For display and input there are a couple of ways to go. Some people use a touch screen. These are easy to hook up since they take VGA for the display and USB for the input. These can either be a separate screen or some people buy or build a bevel and install it in the dash in place of the nav screen.

The guy in the video is using the Nav screen for display To do this you either have to buy a TV input module or build a circuit that converts VGA to the type of signal that the Nav screen accepts (RGB sync-on-green at the correct resolution). For the second option, you also have to build a switch to toggle between the Nav display and the computer display.

In the system shown, the user input is being read directly from the i-bus by the computer. All the knob turns, button presses, etc. are sent over the i-bus so they can be read by the device be controlled. The most popular way to read these by the computer is by using the i-bus interface built by Rolf Reslers (30-40 Euros + 6 for shipping). It reads/writes to the i-bus using a serial connection (either RS 232 or USB).

CarX is designed to work with the Reslers' interface.

Once you have the computer you can add on a dvd drive, a gps receiver, wireless internet, etc. , etc.

[NaZty NaZe One!]

oh man this sounds hard. why did i ask? lol ill keep lookin thanks for the help.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mini-ITX-Carputer-Car-PC-w-D945GCLF2-M2-ATX-2Gb-RAM_W0QQitemZ200311581733QQcmdZViewItemQQptZDesktop_PCs?hash =item200311581733&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A1%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1308

so i found this computer.. its a little expensive...but im thinking something along these lines would help. i also have a dice silverline so that takes care of audio right? as for display i wanted to keep the OEM...his looked real slick so i thinking of using that. so oonce i get the ibus (i dont know what this is yet..please explain). i need to install centrafuse correct? once that is done ill need the wireless internet...and gps receiever. correct me if im wrong.

[Cazz]

Sorry for the slow reply.

The one you found should be about the right class. Things to note are it doesn't look like it has a hard drive or OS (e.g. Windows XP). You can find systems with a drive preloaded with Windows if you don't want to mess with that. Also, get a USB DVD drive if you want to play dvds.

The Dice should work as a good audio input port.

Using the OEM nav screen is the hardest part. If you don't want to build a circuit and/or cut wires, you need to buy some sort of video unit. For example, Dietz makes this unit: http://www.europeanautosource.com/product_info.php?products_id=336 . But it is spendy. There are probably cheaper options, but the Dietz is plug and play.

One place to buy an ibus interface is here http://www.reslers.de/IBUS/
There are others out there such as Car2PC.

The interface lets your computer read/write from the USB or serial port to talk/listen over the car's ibus.

The software products I know about are CentraFuse, CarX and RoadRunner (now RideRunner). RoadRunner is free and pretty good. There are several skins for it and some of the BMW skins come with IBusRR, which is an application used to send commands to RoadRunner from the ibus serial interface. See mp3car.com for more info.

That's all you need to get it going. All the other yoys are optional.

[MGSteve]

That guys running a CarPC with his standard Nav, using a package called Carx (http://bmwpc.de/portal/viewforum.php?f=1).

I have just finished build 2 of my CarPC with the Centrafuse 2.0 software, works very well :)

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but its exactly what I was going to ask!

Firstly, have you got a new URL for that CarX program as that URL is now dead.

Secondly, are there any new VGA interfaces, like the Multimedia interface you link to above - that sounds like it replaces the TV module which isn't something I actually want (although would nicely fix the analogue to digital switch over issue!). Plus as you say, its a bit pricey.

[323hopes]

video looks like there might be a part 2..but not really since the title is "demo".

[MGSteve]

I think I've worked out how to do it now... I think. If I ever do get it done, I'll post up a thread about it, never know, might help someone.

[Orion329]

sweet. keep us posted. it would be justification for getting an oem nav retrofit for me--and a good solution for those of us who want awesome functionality with a stock look.

[MGSteve]

sweet. keep us posted. it would be justification for getting an oem nav retrofit for me--and a good solution for those of us who want awesome functionality with a stock look.

Yup, my exact requirements as well! Having a Car PC is superb, but I don't want to loose the OEM look or the Sat Nav (given the amount I spent to upgrade to it!) Sure in years to come when the PC based Sat Navs are light years ahead of the BMW kit, then I could always add it in anyway.

Now, my first challenge, see if there is enough room in-front of the screen to fit a touch screen cover for the PC ;)

But my plan at the moment is to fit the PC where the CD Changer is. Get the output off the PC onto the Screen (Seen a box (http://www.europeanautosource.com/product_info.php?cPath=67_69_73&products_id=336) to do this but its a tad expensive and it sounds as if it replaces the video module, which I don't want) - although I'm going to check.

Then Get an ibus reader, wire that in and start having a play with my rusty Delphi Programming skills to develop a custom interface for it.

All being well, it should be completely hidden to anyone who doesn't know its there hehe :)

[Orion329]

sounds good, best of luck with that. i'd be willing to swap out stock for a purely touch-screen interface with bezel, but it's seems a bit daunting right now.

ahh...programming....what fun.