Version 1 - in the MR2

The first install was very basic, and not trouble free- back then there wasn't a lot of information around on building Car PCs or the hardware available.

(To view the large versions of the images, simply click on the one you wish to view)

The Car

Here's the Car - before it met it's death at the hands of a wall (damn walls eh - always getting in your way), it's a 1992 MR2 GT in black. It was a lot faster than my current car, the Focus - but was a pain in the ass for taking my mates around in.

The Cabin

As you can see from above, the screen used is a 5.6" composite screen - the kind you'd run a normal DVD player on so it wasn't really upto the task of running a computer screen output - at least not in any detail. And of course, it wasn't a touchscreen - so other means had to be used for control.

For normal selection I had to use a mouse - the best for use in the car was a trackerball.

However more useful than the trackball, was the remote control - I used an on-digital remote from ebay which included a full keyboard that flipped out underneath.

The System

Before you look at the next picture... Bear in mind the theory was 'stealth and easy to remove'. The idea was that it wouldn't look like a PC!

Mounted behind the seat in the stowage compartment, it fitted well.

And above you can see the power supply socket and motherboard connections.