Laptop housing while using external touchscreen
Submitted: Friday, May 04, 2007 at 08:53
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John R (SA)
Where/how do you house your laptop when you've got a touchscreen floating around the dashboard?
Not sure if this is a common setup, but I like the larger screen (larger than PDA) as it shows much more map, but don't want to mount a cumbersome laptop at dash level.
Have got an 8" touchscreen and have the mounting for that presently sorted. But what the hell can I do with the laptop? Fortunately I've not tried to run it all with lots of people in the vehicle (dual cab). It needs to be somewhere it can be accessed to turn on, but that's about it. Don't want it to heat up too much.
There's not really enough room under the seats.
Does anyone have any creative ideas?
Cheers,
John
Reply By: Blaze - Friday, May 04, 2007 at 09:22
Friday, May 04, 2007 at 09:22
Hi
John,
I have setup quite a few of these units in vehicles. In wagons we usually make a small box (timber or Ali) and put it just behind the rear seats. In my old dual cab I bought an Ali brief case that fitted under the passenger
seat and had the laptop in this.
Of course you will have to make an entry hole into whatever you put it in for all the leads and some sort of exhaust fan setup. We have used 80mm 12 volt fans for ours (the same as is in the power supplies of a standard PC)
Hope this helps if you need any further info or parts just msg me.
AnswerID:
237836
Follow Up By: John R (SA) - Friday, May 04, 2007 at 09:46
Friday, May 04, 2007 at 09:46
Hi Blaze,
Is it possible to get a fan which runs off a usb port?
I've tried putting it in the bag before, as suggested by Transient, but it gets rather warm.
FollowupID:
498941
Follow Up By: Blaze - Friday, May 04, 2007 at 13:02
Friday, May 04, 2007 at 13:02
Yep fans from USB ports are fine for fans, we actually have in a stock a cooling base for Laptops with 3 fans in it that runs from USB
FollowupID:
498972
Reply By: Member - Kingsley N (SA) - Friday, May 04, 2007 at 10:33
Friday, May 04, 2007 at 10:33
I am interested in the experience of people running laptops as moving map displays while on corrugations etc. I have stuck with a PDA (a bit hard to see sometimes but good enough when approaching an
intersection or way point) preloaded with OziExplorer routes, waypoints etc.
It is preferable to keep your head up and navigate I reckon. Wheel tracks are easier to follow than lines on maps. Follow your progress on your paper map and only use the GPS as a back up.
The PDA is a solid state device and provided you have sufficient maps on SD cards and you have a direct connection to a GPS receiver, it is pretty
well bullet proof as far as corrugations go. I bet there are plenty of Laptop hard drives that have come to grief due to harsh operating conditions.
The perfect set up in my mind would be one of the new GPS mapping displays from Garmin or Magellan, provided the device can be loaded with good offroad digital maps. You could still use a laptop for trip planning but only when stationary. It would also be good with a wireless internet connection on NextG. That plus a Satphone and you are
home and hosed (provided you don't suffer battery failures!)
Kingo
AnswerID:
237844
Follow Up By: Member - Troll 81 (QLD) - Friday, May 04, 2007 at 11:35
Friday, May 04, 2007 at 11:35
Kingo
I run a touch screen that slides out of the top DINN slot and makes my life allot easier for navigating for sure
FollowupID:
498957
Follow Up By: Member - Oldplodder (QLD) - Friday, May 04, 2007 at 17:15
Friday, May 04, 2007 at 17:15
I do the same Kingsley with a PDA.
Also, using a map for the main reference means I know where I am if the PDA (or whatever) should go down.
FollowupID:
499010
Reply By: Member - Straps (SA) - Friday, May 04, 2007 at 17:22
Friday, May 04, 2007 at 17:22
Forgive me for asking a silly question, but if the laptops are closed on behind you, what are you looking at..??? Do you have a monitor slaving / feeding from you PC into the front driver compartment.???
I have been toying with trying to ring up a stand to support a laptop in the front to allow me to use mapping / mobile mapping etc. (Any ideas on this would be appreciated)
However, I am more intrigued if there is a way to use the laptop without having being cumbersome in the front..???
Cheers
Shane
AnswerID:
237912
Follow Up By: Member - Straps (SA) - Friday, May 04, 2007 at 17:25
Friday, May 04, 2007 at 17:25
Is something like this what others are talking about..???
Site Link
Looks like I will have to read how to insert hyperlinks... Sorry
FollowupID:
499013
Follow Up By: John R (SA) - Friday, May 04, 2007 at 18:22
Friday, May 04, 2007 at 18:22
G'day Straps,
I have the laptop tucked out of the way & a slave monitor in the front. The monitor is a touch screen so the computer can still be controled by without pulling it out.
The monitor is more like this: Site Link
In an old Prado I had the laptop mounted at dash height - it was easy to knock something using the jesus bar for support primarily. However I don't really like the bulk of a relatively unsecured item in that area, even when it was strapped down well (added to seeing the aftermath of some vehicle accidents = I want as little as possible between me and the windscreen or airbag). I also found very little need to use the keyboard while traveling.
I've made up a mount which stradles the centre console to hold the slave monitor (similar to the one in the link above). It's basic at present, but I tend to knock something up, try it for a while then wander back to the workshop when I think of an improvement.
FollowupID:
499024