v84x4 Posted September 28, 2006 Share Posted September 28, 2006 so i guess that some of you out there use this setup and i wonder if anyone can give me some pointers as to the best hardware and software and maybe cheapest i know my laptop is up to the job it is a high spec acer ferrari thanks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dollythelw Posted September 28, 2006 Share Posted September 28, 2006 What functions do you want it to do?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v84x4 Posted September 28, 2006 Author Share Posted September 28, 2006 What functions do you want it to do?? i guess green lane sat nav would be nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v84x4 Posted September 28, 2006 Author Share Posted September 28, 2006 i guess green lane sat nav would be nice and any other aplications you think i should be aware off to use in my 4x4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dollythelw Posted September 29, 2006 Share Posted September 29, 2006 theres a whole host of stuff you can put on, Memory Map, autoroute, Oziexplorer, you could hook it up to the data output from something like a Garmin or simply a USB mouse, theres mixed reports as to how reliable/unreliable Bluetooth GPS systems are but I dont like the idea of batteries going flat 12 channel USB mice are the norm, if you really need to make sure you have a fast startup and a more tenuous hold on sats when you are under trees or in urban canyons then 20 channel SIRF III mice are the ones to go for (way more expensive though), roof mounting the mouse is going to give it the best "sight" of the sky but make sure you give it a nice home or its well fixed as the first branch is going to give it a kicking if you can fab up support to plonk the laptop on then it becomes useful as opposed to rattling around in a place where you have to take peer at while veering all over the place just make sure you can remove the laptop easily when you park up or you may end up minus a window as well as a laptop Dedicated laptop vehicle chargers or invertors is a matter of chouice - arguably the invertor gives you the flexibility to use other mains powered devices but as I dont plug in my microwave or hairdryer I prefer the dedicated laptop vehicle charger. hope that helps a bit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthdicky Posted September 30, 2006 Share Posted September 30, 2006 theres a whole host of stuff you can put on, Memory Map, autoroute, Oziexplorer, you could hook it up to the data output from something like a Garmin or simply a USB mouse, theres mixed reports as to how reliable/unreliable Bluetooth GPS systems are but I dont like the idea of batteries going flat I use a bluetooth SIRFIII mouse with a PDA and it's been perfectly reliable. No need to put it on the roof, could probably put it in the cubby box and it would still get a fix. I put mine on the ash tray on the dash top in the 90 and it gets a perfect fix. No problems with the bluetooth, only annoying thing is that it needs to be charged every 12 hours use or so, but it came with a car adaptor. Can also link it straight to a laptop with a USB cable (extra though), but not sure whether that keeps it charged too? Mine is a Holux 236 Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warthog Posted September 30, 2006 Share Posted September 30, 2006 i know my laptop is up to the job it is a high spec acer ferrari thanks... Laptops dont like water!! Put an expensive Laptop in ya truck and it could end up an expensive choice? Maybe a look on Eblag and find a cheap option.....Also then if you do leave it in your truck, if some git steals it, you know that it aint gonna be worth much. Panasonic Toughbooks on Eblag are a good choice. Something like 600MHz processer, 128mb Ram and 20 GB HD with a couple of USB's would set ya back say...£250 Most GPS/Navigation sotware has a low use rate on system resources, so run prettty well on lower end Laptops Just my two pennies worth on the subject.......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orange rover Posted October 1, 2006 Share Posted October 1, 2006 Most GPS/Navigation sotware has a low use rate on system resources, so run prettty well on lower end Laptops i would agree, i bought a siemens scenic mobile off ebay for about 100quid. connected to a garmin gps. i wouldn't start messing with bluetooth, i think it's a pain in the b***, just get the cheapest garmin from omebay you can find, they are pretty rugged and you then still have a backup option in case the laptop fails! the laptop is pretty low spec (win 98, pentium II) but it's been to the sahara twice and hasn't broken - and it was running all the time! performance is more than adeqquate evene with self scanned maps, so no need to splash out for a expenisve laptop! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ltwt1981 Posted October 2, 2006 Share Posted October 2, 2006 For Memory map in the land rover I use a 150 MHz toughbook and garmin GPS XL12 I think. Works well you don't need a fast PC for Memory Map 2004, I only use the toughbook for satnav, cost me £65.00 on E blag, plus some leads and a power supply, but you need them anyway. A friend just powers his with 12 volts, works OK but doesn't charge the PC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dollythelw Posted October 2, 2006 Share Posted October 2, 2006 I run Panasonic CF -27's with Ozi Explorer ( the whole lot of us use exact clones so if one breaks you can just grab another) they are hooked into USB mice but also into a standalone Garmin GPS 5, its a cheap setup but it works very well. CF27 MK3's have touchscreen as standard (earlier ones dont) but it depends if the unit has had an easy or hard life as to how well this works. Ozi is a pretty dumb OS in terms of additional whizbang features - but its not memory intensive so lighter powered laptops have no probs with it. The other joy to Ozi is that it seams everywhere we go - everyone local is running it and maps are readily available (cool if you can't be bothered to scan them yourself ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsie Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 I use a compaq armada laptop with memory map software for challenge events.Mounted just off center in the passenger side of my 90 on a home made bracket(volvo fh12 headlamp hinge ).It sits on the bracket with 2 wing nuts to clamp it down so it can be removed if things get soggy .I use my garmin gps5 as a back up and also as gps reciever for the laptop,then i can unplug the garmin,rip it off its velcro pads and go for a walk if need be .Also i fit a waterproof membrane across the keyboard to keep the worst of the dust and water out. Only downside is it is difficult to view in direct sunlight Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiagoc Posted October 16, 2006 Share Posted October 16, 2006 anyone interested in sharing some pics of the laptop's mount? i'm planning to use a laptop that has the lid hinges broken, and "adapt" it to a home-made cubby-box, that will replace the (useless) center seat this is a nice spec laptop (PIII, enough memory to run Autoroute and OziExplorer at the same time, disk space that stores XP + all Portuguese maps + some Spanish maps + a few MP3s), but before i had it, i used a Celeron 650Mhz and it worked fine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
honitonhobbit Posted October 16, 2006 Share Posted October 16, 2006 I use a CF-27 coupled to an eTrek but I am changing that to a CF-M34 for compactness. I have Ozi, Memory Map and AutoRoute'05 all of which work well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dasterdly Posted October 16, 2006 Share Posted October 16, 2006 anyone interested in sharing some pics of the laptop's mount?i'm planning to use a laptop that has the lid hinges broken, and "adapt" it to a home-made cubby-box, that will replace the (useless) center seat this is a nice spec laptop (PIII, enough memory to run Autoroute and OziExplorer at the same time, disk space that stores XP + all Portuguese maps + some Spanish maps + a few MP3s), but before i had it, i used a Celeron 650Mhz and it worked fine evening, try the following link, there seems to be any amount of differant configurations, depending on your needs, laptops,gps,phones, etc i bought a mount for my garmin e-trex, very sturdy and can be angled pretty much where you need it. http://www.ram-mount-uk.com/ cheers... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonr Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 How about this: Touch screen laptop on eBlag Has Bluetooth, decent spec, not too big, folds in to a tablet config or regular laptop - and it's cheap (at the moment) Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pugwash Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 How about this:Touch screen laptop on eBlag Has Bluetooth, decent spec, not too big, folds in to a tablet config or regular laptop - and it's cheap (at the moment) Si Our salesman have those- great for meetings until you lose the "magic" pen (as they seem to do daily), and then it's back to good old typing. i am surprised no one is spending more time on carputers as they don't seem that expensive to install- it's only the power supply that seems different to a normal PC- and PCs are a piece of tiddle to build, even i can do it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LandyManLuke Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 something like i've got here? The power supply isn't difficult, there are units available that are engine-cranking proof, and can use the ignition to turn the pc on/off. ITX nicks a lot of laptop architecture, so there's plenty of bits available. Luke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hybrid_From_Hell Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 Hi all, Just to advuise everyone I have moved this from Tools n Fab Forum to here the International forum. Partly cos the Tools n Fab is not really the right forum for this maybe ?.... and also as the international one is ..........and you'll possibly get some extra views on it Just to let you all know Nige Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiagoc Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 i am surprised no one is spending more time on carputers as they don't seem that expensive to install not installing them in off-roaders is what surprises me, because there's many people already using them on "on-road" cars the first carputer (really integrated with the vehicle, and not just a removable laptop installed on a mount) that i saw was a mac in a defender, done by a portuguese, with a very good custom interface. unfortunatelly, his webpage is no longer available there's another one i discovered recently, but he has a Strakar. link for the installation description and pics (in portuguese) Luke's install is also very interesting and the use of the "relay interface unit" can add even more options to the carputer, besides those we already know (navigation, entertainment, communication, etc) because my job is to manage and monitor computers, i know i can't trust a computer to control the car (maybe that's one of the reasons why i have a series ), but it's usefull to have it on some ocasions and now i'm a bit off-topic sorry for that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishd Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 I've got one of these: http://tinyurl.com/yybbcs [eBay] PentiumIII 600, 256Mb of RAM, 40GB Hard Disk and a touch-screen. I've tried a Bluetooth GPS but Win2k isn't playing nice with my Bluetooth adapter so will probably hook it up to my Garmin eTrex. Works well with Memory Map Navigator, I'm just considering buying Directions Infomap Navigator Plus to handle the on-road stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonr Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 I'm just considering buying Directions Infomap Navigator Plus to handle the on-road stuff. That looks quite good. Cheap too. Do oyu know if it accepts way point entry as a grid reference? It's something that a lot of the software available does not support - but for off-roading it's more than a bit useful! Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V8 Freak Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 I've got a Panasonic Toughbook CF-72 attached to Garmin Etrex Legend C. I use Ram mounts for both devices. Running Fugawi software so I have OS map accuracy on board. Not used for "Sat Nav" as such but I do plan journeys on the home PC, can input waypoints and make routes up in advance. Input that into the Garmin unit and then out to the laptop out in the car. I'm in the process of mapping green lanes in my local area. I may look into nav software if I ever get lost going somewhere.... Neil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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