Installing a PC in the Cab: How I Did It

[thomase]

I'd like to see this thread continued... who else is running a computer in there truck? I used to install Panasonic Toughbook laptops in offroad trucks for oilwell service. What we would do is fab a stand that would hold the laptop and docking station in front of and next to the radio area (chevy trucks). This was large and intrusive but allowed the driver to undock and take their work into the office / house.

I do something more basic now. I just take my dell laptop and set it on the armrest between the front seats with a power invertor for juice. What makes this great for me is cingular EDGE networking. I can get a high speed internet connection on most any major highway in the US as I am driving down the road. I use it mostly for email, IM, and mapping... also to look up market prices when I am bidding on projects.

My biggest concern right now is the duty cycle and lifetime of the laptop hard drive. These drives aren't designed to handle the constant shocks of over the road travel.

 

[ToolManTimTaylor]

https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/showthread.php?t=147226



Have ya followed DieselPuter??

 

[rbattelle]

https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/showthread.php?t=147226



Have ya followed DieselPuter??

I just read over that and personally I don't think Dieselputer is anything to write home about. I don't see where it does anything greater than my system does, and my system cost me <$500 including the OBD-II software and cabling and the monitor.



They're just running Alex Peper's OBD-2 software, which is precisely what I'm doing!!



Toolman, your money would be better spent building your own system.



-Ryan

 

[Beach]

That's a pretty cool set up! I don't know what the law's are like where you are, but I heard somewhere that it is illegal to have a monitor/T. V. screen in the front area of a vehicle! Just a head's up! I'm sure you aren't going to take all that out even if it is the law, I would'nt! So now you can post here on the TDR while in your truck, and maybe be the first to do so in the almighty cummin's! I hope your not addicted like I am! :-laf Good work!

 

[DieselPuter]

Ryan, thanks for adding your viewpoint, however, the price point of $500, is completely unrealistic. Our cost on the case and software alone already surpasses the $500 price point. We do include several common software packages that are available on the market for anyone to purchase independently and install on a laptop if they so chose. These are not groundbreaking innovations. What we have done is to combine these fragmented software and hardware applications into a slick, easy to install, easy to use, familiar operating system platform. You could visit www.mp3car.com and build your own system, however we don't believe everyone has that set of skills. Our customers are buy it, install it truck owners, not the DIY crowd.



Our system is completely ruggedized and built for the high vibration environment. You failed to mention the LCD stand. The stands we include with our systems are built like truck frames. The case alone has vibration insulation and a high quality formed aluminum case. Trust me, this thing does take a beating, my business partner is a full time auto repressor and his machine is in an 18 hour a day tow truck. That is about as tough as you can get.



The Opus power supplies we use are simply the best 12V mobile intelligent power supplies on the market. I have personally owned and used the Opus power supply for 3+ years now. Actually, I was on the waiting list for one when the first batch came from overseas. In my professional opinion as a 23+ year career as a technical advisor, these components are the absolute best. We could bring the total cost of the system down by using lower cost components or reusing outdated hardware to build our systems, but our goal is to build the BEST mobile computing platform on the market.



As DIY, roll-your-own, type of people, we can certainly understand why you would not see the value of a complete turn-key system. I personally cannot understand why a CTD owner would pay someone to change their own oil. As a matter of fact as soon as PDR gets my new FASS here I will be installing it my self. However, the vast majority of people do not have the skills, time, experience, or facilities to accomplish the task of developing, and building a fully integrated mobile computing platform.



As a fellow computer geek, I can appreciate the tenacity of your innovation as described in this thread. However anyone can go to, www.atacom.com and build their own home PC, but the vast majority of people purchase pre-built systems from companies like Dell, Compaq, ect…. . Our goal is to become the Dell of the mobile computer market and we fully realize that DIYers like you will never purchase our machine, just like Jiffy Lube will never see my CTD.

That's a pretty cool set up! I don't know what the law's are like where you are, but I heard somewhere that it is illegal to have a monitor/T. V. screen in the front area of a vehicle! Just a head's up! I'm sure you aren't going to take all that out even if it is the law, I would'nt! So now you can post here on the TDR while in your truck, and maybe be the first to do so in the almighty cummin's! I hope your not addicted like I am! :-laf Good work!

Actually, our first post introducing the DieselPuter, several months ago, was written while riding shotgun in a CTD going down the freeway at 70 mph, while logged on to TDR at near broadband speeds. That is cool. But what is really cool is streaming live media from the internet to the platform while on the road, not pulled over in a WiFi hot spot, but driving. XM radio can be fully integrated into the system, Jon and I are both pilots and we stream live Doppler radar and live weather reporting over the internet to the DieselPuter so we know what the weather is doing when we want to fly. We also access our office network while on the road to send / receive files, view our security cameras, print to network printers and even send and receive faxes…………. . These are all the things, and much much more, that are possible with a mobile computing platform.



Wade Stine

www.StineEngineering.com

 

[Mark_Kendrick]

Wade,

I'm not demeaning your efforts but... . You are posting to a thread that was started by DIY guys for DIY guys on the cheap and You are offering a normal PC ( a $500 item these days) with a 10" monitor and a cool case for over 2 grand. The base $2050 computer is anemic.



Your only real innovation is the case. The rest is stuff www.mp3car.com folks have been doing for years. IF you were offering a gig of RAM and a 200+ gig drive as a base you'd be a bit closer to home.



You have a good product that would be great for less skilled non-geek types but that isn't the audience here.



I've been a vendor on the TDR for a few years now and I've taken my fair share of shots. This is a tough crowd, lots of penny pinching DIYers (myself included). Keep up the good work.



Later,

Mark Kendrick

Base RepoPuter™





$2050



Hardware Included:





* Aluminium CPU case with intelligent 12 Volt power suppy.

* 40 Gigs of hard drive space

* 512mb in RAM

* DVD / CDRW slot loading CD drive.

* 802. 11g PCI Wifi card

* 10. 4" VGA Touchscreen and articulating mount.

* GPS reciever



Software Included:





* Windows XP Home

* Microsoft Streets

* Windows Media Player

* DVD Decoder

* Winamp



Deluxe RepoPuter™





$2350



Hardware Included:





* Aluminium CPU case with intelligent 12 Volt power suppy.

* 80 Gigs of hard drive space

* 512mb in RAM

* DVD / CDRW slot loading CD drive.

* 802. 11g PCI Wifi card

* 10. 4" VGA Touchscreen and articulating mount.

* GPS reciever

* On Board Diagnostic cable

* Your Choice of Type 2 PCMCIA Slot, OR, Bluetooth dongle.



Software Included:





* Windows XP Home

* Microsoft Streets

* Windows Media Player

* Winamp

* Blaze DVD Player

* DVD Decoder

 

[DieselPuter]

Mark,

Our intention in posting on this topic was not hijack the thread. We are responding to a discussion of mobile computing and the options available to consumers, both DIY or store bought customers. We know that the majority of the TDR crowd is DIY type people. However we know that the majority of people reading TDR are using store bought computers and not custom roll-your-own machines.



You brought up our product and are comparing it to common off the shelf computing systems. Our machine is designed to perform in a completely different environment with completely different requirements. We freely admit that our computer system would not be a good gaming machine, home office platform, or a high-end workstation. That was not our intention when I designed the system in its current form. Most notably are the power requirements, every “big box” computer requires a tremendous amount of power to operate. Look at some of the current systems on the market today and you will see power supplies in the 350-450 watt range. The Stine Engineering computers operate on 1/3 of those power requirements, with nearly the same real world performance. Our computers also do not have the heat issues that current Intel or AMD chipsets have to deal with. For example the new office computer that I just built requires 5 separate fans deal with the heat that is generated while running. 3 case fans, 1 power supply fan, and 1 CPU heatsink fan. The Stine Engineering platforms generate so little heat, we don’t even hook up the case fan, and have temperatures within the normal range for computers.



Mp3Car, of which I have been a member of since nearly it’s inception is a great resource for DIY and people those who may not have the skills to build a mobile computer from scratch. However we are not marketing to those people and we fully understand that DIY people will not be our customers. We are advocating the mobile computing industry, I personally have had a computer in my own truck for years and I know how much it benefits my automotive experience. If anyone who feels they can build a mobile computer from scratch, I will gladly link to mp3car and do the research. They will find that mobile computing platforms do not require 900gigs of hard drive space, 2 gigs of RAM, and a overclocked pentium 4.



A fully watercooled, overclocked P4, in a custom case is very cool, have we done it? You betcha! As a hard core computer geek, I personally scratch build all my personal machines with nothing but the best of components. However this philosophy of bigger is better does not apply to mobile computers. We advocate the right tool for the right job, you could open your truck’s door with a plasma cutter, but I think you’ll agree that most people prefer the door handle.



If after doing research on Mp3Car you feel that you would like to build your mobile computer and running into problems that are not addressed on those public forums feel free to give me call.



Wade Stine

www.StineEngineering.com

Wade,

I'm not demeaning your efforts but... . You are posting to a thread that was started by DIY guys for DIY guys on the cheap and You are offering a normal PC ( a $500 item these days) with a 10" monitor and a cool case for over 2 grand. The base $2050 computer is anemic.



Your only real innovation is the case. The rest is stuff www.mp3car.com folks have been doing for years. IF you were offering a gig of RAM and a 200+ gig drive as a base you'd be a bit closer to home.



You have a good product that would be great for less skilled non-geek types but that isn't the audience here.



I've been a vendor on the TDR for a few years now and I've taken my fair share of shots. This is a tough crowd, lots of penny pinching DIYers (myself included). Keep up the good work.



Later,

Mark Kendrick

 

[rbattelle]

Most notably are the power requirements, every “big box” computer requires a tremendous amount of power to operate. Look at some of the current systems on the market today and you will see power supplies in the 350-450 watt range. The Stine Engineering computers operate on 1/3 of those power requirements, with nearly the same real world performance.

The above statement, although quite true, is completely irrelevant. It is pure marketing bunk, and I'm very sorry to say it.



Right now the computer I'm using in my office has a 300w power supply which runs:



-5 case fans (sounds like a vacuum cleaner! :-laf )

-1 power supply fan

-1 GPU fan

-1 CPU fan

-2 hard drives

-1 CD-ROM drive

-1 CD-RW drive

-1 3. 5" floppy drive

-1 motherboard

-1 TV tuner card



The Dieselputer runs the following:

-1 case fan

-1 CPU fan (I assume)

-1 hard drive

-1 CD/DVD combo drive

-1 motherboard



Clearly my office computer requires far more power than the Dieselputer. But the only reason the Dieselputer requires lower power is BECAUSE IT HAS FEWER COMPONENTS TO RUN! It has absolutely nothing to do with some sort of "special design" that uses lower power.



In fact, your product is specifically bounded by the 150w power requirement! You went out and found the largest, cheapest mobile power supply on the market - the Opus 150w unit - and then used that 150w limit as your gauge for how many components you are ABLE to run. [As an aside, this conveniently allows you to say you are using the best mobile DC-DC convertor on the market, if you use power capacity as a judge].



What CPU are you running? It's suspicious that you don't list it anywhere on your website. Does it require a fan?



I could say the corollary to your above quote about my computer and make it sound equally awesome (and equally irrelevant):

Whereas other mobile computer systems limit the number of components you can have with their 150w power supplies, the Ryanputer has no such limitations! It was designed specifically for the HD diesel truck to provide enough power to run any computer accessory you can buy. It's available with 450w or more of power generation, which blows away the competition by 300%!

It's all about marketing. Your quote, although complete truth, will make people assume you've got some advanced power-consumption engineering in your system that makes it better. My quote, again completely true, will make people assume I have some advanced power-consumption engineering that makes my system better. Both quotes are precisely 1/2 the full story.



This ain't amateur hour.



-Ryan

 

[DieselPuter]

Ryan, I wanted to give you a quick rundown of what our first production DieselPuter does on a daily basis.



Hardware on my DieselPuter in my CTD:



• USB GPS

• ATI TV Tuner with amplified antenna, yes I have one too. I wanted the ATI All-in-Wonder, but the DieselPuter does not have an AGP slot.

• EDGE/GMRS card, wireless internet anywhere I have cell service, or at hotspots.

• Griffen Powermate Knob, really cool impute device…….

• USB wireless mouse

• USB Keyboard

• LED IR backup camera, which I DVR with the on board ATI TV Tuner

• XM Radio, yes you can run your XM thru you DieselPuter…….

• CD/CD-RW/DVD player, Slot loading all in one……. .

• Single 40 GIG hard drive, why do you need 2?? DieselPuters are available up to 100 GIG

• 512 RAM, 1 GIG is available if you want, but not necessary at all

• 1 CPU fan, with a mini-itx form factor VIA based motherboard that is all you need, the case has a fan but we disconnect it, its just not needed to maintain proper temperature for optimal performance.

• Alex Peppers OBD II hardware



Software that I use:



XP Pro, OS

MS Office 2003, for business related uses, Word, Outlook ect……

MS Streets and Maps 2006, for navigation

OBD II, for engine dionostics

Blaze DVD, for DVD playback

MS Explorer, for internet

Mozilla, also for internet

XM radio, feed thru the aux on my Alpine head unit.

Winamp, for MP3s

And much more……………



I am in my truck and using my machine for 12 + hours a day, believe me this machine gets a work out. I start and stop my truck about 30 to 40 times a day and the DieselPuter keeps right on running, there is no on-off switch………in the DieselPuter its called your key.



We have never claimed that we design or manufacture any components of the DieselPuter, we simply take the best, purpose built for this application, components the market has to offer, based on several years of beta testing, and combine them to make the DieselPuter. There is nothing wrong with putting together your own mobile computer, we've done it for years.



This is our first attempt.



#ad






We knew there had to be a better way for the average consumer who wants a mobile computing platform but doesn’t have the knowledge, experience or expertise to DIY. And there is………. . it’s called the DieselPuter.



MP3car is one of the best resources out there for home-built in car computers and I strongly encourage everyone to do their research on that site to learn about mobile computing, and if you feel it is a DIY, go for it!! If you think it is more than you want to take on, take a look at the DieselPuter……….



Wade

www.stineengineering.com







#ad

 

[rbattelle]

Well, it's been 10 years now and I thought I'd resurrect this thread and give a quick update.

After all these years I have found what I believe to be the weak link in an in-cab PC: the hard drive. I have managed to blow 4 hard drives over the past 10 years, and I believe all the failures were due to thermal cycling in cold weather. Furthermore, older model HDs were more durable than modern ones.

After my most recent HD failure, I decided to rework some things. I bought a late-model ITX-size motherboard (up until now I've been using mid-90s era Pentium motherboard) and plan to buy a solid state HD and see how that holds up to the environment.

All the other electronics have held up very well over the years. I did blow an IDE controller about 5 years ago and had to replace the motherboard.

-Ryan

 

[rbattelle]

Well, it's been 10 years now and I thought I'd resurrect this thread and give a quick update.

After all these years I have found what I believe to be the weak link in an in-cab PC: the hard drive. I have managed to blow 4 hard drives over the past 10 years, and I believe all the failures were due to thermal cycling in cold weather. Furthermore, older model HDs were more durable than modern ones.

After my most recent HD failure, I decided to rework some things. I bought a late-model ITX-size motherboard (up until now I've been using mid-90s era Pentium motherboard) and plan to buy a solid state HD and see how that holds up to the environment.

All the other electronics have held up very well over the years. I did blow an IDE controller about 5 years ago and had to replace the motherboard.

-Ryan

 

[wlowe]

Well, it's been 10 years now and I thought I'd resurrect this thread and give a quick update.

After all these years I have found what I believe to be the weak link in an in-cab PC: the hard drive. I have managed to blow 4 hard drives over the past 10 years, and I believe all the failures were due to thermal cycling in cold weather. Furthermore, older model HDs were more durable than modern ones.

After my most recent HD failure, I decided to rework some things. I bought a late-model ITX-size motherboard (up until now I've been using mid-90s era Pentium motherboard) and plan to buy a solid state HD and see how that holds up to the environment.

All the other electronics have held up very well over the years. I did blow an IDE controller about 5 years ago and had to replace the motherboard.

-Ryan

Yea, this is definitely an old thread, but interesting. I considered installing a computer under the seat in my Dodge many times but never liked the options for a monitor.

A couple of years ago I purchased a toyota tacoma for my wiife, still got my Dodge but don't drive it as much. Found a thread in the Tacoma forums on how to install an Apple Ipad mini in the dash. Don't know how much of the install could be used on our Dodges or how it would fit in the dash but it's pretty cool. Maybe somebody on this forum could use the info to do the same with our Dodge trucks. Here is the thread:

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/audio-video/302679-ipad-mini-install-teaser-pics-inside.html

Youtube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tAEN3LMxmBs

 

[PDM]

Well, it's been 10 years now and I thought I'd resurrect this thread and give a quick update.

After all these years I have found what I believe to be the weak link in an in-cab PC: the hard drive. I have managed to blow 4 hard drives over the past 10 years, and I believe all the failures were due to thermal cycling in cold weather. Furthermore, older model HDs were more durable than modern ones.

After my most recent HD failure, I decided to rework some things. I bought a late-model ITX-size motherboard (up until now I've been using mid-90s era Pentium motherboard) and plan to buy a solid state HD and see how that holds up to the environment.

All the other electronics have held up very well over the years. I did blow an IDE controller about 5 years ago and had to replace the motherboard.

-Ryan

Ryan, thanks to you and everyone else who contributes a "how to" project. I am often amazed at the ingenuity, problem solving, and unseen uses for these projects.

A question: Why do you suspect thermal cycling over simple vibration shock loading in the demise of your hard drives?
I would expect the solid state drive to be much more reliable in either case.

A mention of wireless streaming between truck and trailer made me realize that wireless was useful for more than just software updates. I like my Garmin Nuvi GPS, but I can see where your system can provide essentially the same capability and display quality. Very cool that 10 years later it requires only minor updating .

 

[MCrossley]

I have had a PC in my truck for about the past 6 years in different forms, in 2009 I went to a new level and installed a 15" touch screen, I have used the mini-itx boards and have had no issues at all with components failing, I went to a SSD boot drive for speed but still have the same SATA drives from my original install. The setup survived off-roading, sub teen winters and trips to hot California without issues.

I recently removed just about all of it in favor of using my MS Surface Pro as it did everything I needed and I could easily remove it for when I wanted something in the restaurant or for security reasons... I reused the monitor mount and just got an adjustable tablet mount to go on top of it. I have not used a head unit in my truck for that entire time driving the Infinity system directly resulted in much better audio quality.