When I get a car I want to make my own car pc but what I REALLY would like to do is to hook up the car speakers to the pc and have music play through the computer. Anyone know how you could do this? And how can you have internet is your car?

 

It can be done.. Accessing internet done by Wifi, or grabbing Wireless Connections within the area your in(assuming there not encrypted, which most wireless users dont even know what that word means).. Having a pc in the car isnt great if your going to be doing a big stereo. A computer is delicate peiece of equipment for that kind of vibrations and esepcially putting it anywhere near those magnets from the subwoofers.

Buddy of mine did it but it only lasted about a month, then he took it out.

 

what about if you bought a pc made for the car, like this: http://www.mp3car.com/store/product_...products_id=84

 

Why not just hardwire an iPod into the car? The HHRs have that as an option from the factory as do a lot of other cars now, but you can do it yourself. I think it'd be a helluva lot easier in the long run and definitely cheaper. Hell, just having the MP3 CD player works well for me, I can put about 150 songs per CD at a pretty decent bitrate.

 

I have sortof pondered fully integrating a full blown computer inside the car.... would be cool
such as a flip down 15" LCD screen in the ceiling (maybe not do-able in my Cobalt with the sunroof though of course...), wireless keyboard and mouse, high power wifi antenna concealed somwhere, main pc unit in the trunk... and maybe accessible usb ports etc somewhere nice and neat with power switch etc.
but then I keep realizing it would be more work than I could justify because I'd almost never use it (just using a laptop is so much easier )

 

> > >
http://mini-itx.com/store/

 

If you don't even have a car yet, your best bet is to have the least number of distractions possible. Learn to drive, learn to pay attention, then worry about having crap to distract you. When you get to the point of actually installing a CARPC you'll find you won't need to ask questions like this.

As far as playing anything through stock amp and speakers, an aftermarket deck with aux input is the best bet, I'm not sure about the cobalts, but there are aux input adapters for many OEM decks but I'm not a fan of OEM audio anything. Internet? If you're really hardcore you can get a data plan from your cellular provider and have a connection whenever you need it, besides just finding an open WAP and using it. I have a limited data plan on my phone and use it as a bluetooth modem on my laptop whenever I really need to use the net and can't find an open AP. The box itself can be anything, the only key things to think about are vibration and size. The biggest vibration deaths are harddrives, so stick with laptop drives and you're set. The Mini-ITX platforms are great, but don't expect for some hardcore gaming, they just aren't up to the task.