Hardware:

When planning the project, I had several goals in mind. I needed to keep things simple, but yet wanted things to work great and to be barely noticable from the inside of the car. I also wanted my trunk to be neat and no wires showing.

The basic set of goals were:

  1. Capable of playing MP3s efficiently - meaning Pentium 100 or faster
  2. Small size - small enough to fit inside the trunk beside my subwoofer box, or perhaps under a seat
  3. Low power - enough to run off of a DC-AC inverter
  4. Have the required ports to connect all of the planned peripherals
  5. Not too expensive

Within these goals, I refined the requirements:

  1. Celeron computer - I had an extra Celeron 333 laying around that I wasn't using
  2. Video, sound, and network support - must be supported by Win98 as well as Linux
  3. Super slim-line case - about 4" thick - but still have room for a 5.25" removable hard drive sled
  4. Relatively new motherboard and BIOS that would support hard drives larger than 15GB
  5. Have required ports to work with LCD display, IR receiver, and auto shut-down device

Within these set of requirements for the system, I came to these conclusions:

  1. I searched for cases to fit my needs, but couldn't find any that perfectly matched - so I decided to build my own case that would fit an exact spot in my truck
  2. With such a slim-line case, I wanted a system that had video, sound and network integrated right onto the motherboard - no vertical cards or backplane
  3. I preferred ATX-style motherboards over AT, so ended up with a 145W (max) MicroATX power supply and a 140W DC-AC inverter
  4. Two serial ports were required, even though I am only using one currently
  5. Requiring the motherboard to have a decent Celeron chipset and integrated video, sound and network fully supported by Linux, as well as having two serial ports, really narrowed down the possibilities

Here is the specific hardware that I'm using:

Here are some pictures of the computer that I built. Hover over each thumbnail image for a brief description of the picture, and click the thumbnail image to open the full-size picture in a seperate window.

3-D design model of custom computer case Early case construction Intel CA810EAL MicroATX motherboard

Wired a momentary push button to the front of the case for an ATX power switch. This is also connected to a connector on the rear to have an external switch on the dash. Front of custom computer case Open case showing interior

Open case showing interior The rear fan sucks air in and power supply blows air out. Not the best arrangement since hot air rises, but I haven't had any problems yet. The hard drive sled fits overtop corner of motherboard, so I had to raise it to the of the case.

Open case showing interior Side of custom computer case Top of custom computer case

Standard ATX back panel. Plus extra serial port connection from motherboard. The spring loaded speaker connector is for the 5V power from a device connector to power the LCD and for an external momentary ATX power switch on the dash. Rear of custom computer case Testing how well the case will fit in its spot in the trunk next to my subwoofer box.


This page was last updated on February 8, 2002

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