# Old school car pc system



## Rabster (4 mo ago)

Hi all,

back in the day I used to build car computers for mine and other people they had the usual features
Touchscreen 
Audio
Video 
Relays 
HD Radio 

however this technology is almost obsolete on newer cars and trying to build something based on older tech is proving harder than I remember

with so many features now being available on android or customs Roms in Sony, pioneer etc devices it also at seems more cost effectiveto switch to android

however the issue I have is I own an old school

Skyline R32 GTR

It’s currently undergoing various changes to get it road worthy one of the things that died was the Car pc it did have installed.

with Centrafuse being a dead platform now and most the hardware being obsolete as well it’s proving awkward not to mention the old pc was running windows vista…..

my question is does anyone have any experience with a custom front end similar to Centrafuse or an idea on getting it working on windows 7 or ideally 10

I have a list of components to install which I will add later if there is interest in the discussion


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## NW JLUR (Dec 3, 2018)

In the past I built a couple of home theater pc’s using Ubuntu and custom front ends like Kodi and Plex. Both work on windows, can be completely customized, but are geared more towards video. A RaspberryPi with a front end would work better and be easier to use than a car pc.


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## Kalmangar (Jan 24, 2021)

There are carpc prebuild with all the things u need from 400$ and up, I saw it not so long ago…


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## Rabster (4 mo ago)

Kalmangar said:


> There are carpc prebuild with all the things u need from 400$ and up, I saw it not so long ago…


I saw a few pre built units but would rather DIY as it’s more customisable over time if it’s even still possible


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## Rabster (4 mo ago)

NW JLUR said:


> In the past I built a couple of home theater pc’s using Ubuntu and custom front ends like Kodi and Plex. Both work on windows, can be completely customized, but are geared more towards video. A RaspberryPi with a front end would work better and be easier to use than a car pc.


I use raspberry pi’s in my home automation system but didnt feel it was compatible of flexible enough for all the various hardware options to be plugged in and utilised


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## Kalmangar (Jan 24, 2021)

Rabster said:


> I use raspberry pi’s in my home automation system but didnt feel it was compatible of flexible enough for all the various hardware options to be plugged in and utilised


i have a Programmerf riend that work at google he use resberry pi as HU but i'm not recoomend it unless you know have some 2 weeks and your a very good at coding.
and I'm not sure about to quality but if it more than 44.1/16 which is cd quality go for it.


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## NW JLUR (Dec 3, 2018)

I did a quick search and found OpenAuto Pro. Don’t know if it offers what you’re looking for but you might check it out.


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## Theslaking (Oct 8, 2013)

I used raspberry pi with lineage OS with success.


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## nhtunes (Jul 31, 2016)

Kalmangar said:


> i have a Programmerf riend that work at google he use resberry pi as HU but i'm not recoomend it unless you know have some 2 weeks and your a very good at coding.
> and I'm not sure about to quality but if it more than 44.1/16 which is cd quality go for it.



I use a Raspberry pi from Hifiberry and the sound quality is excellent. I use it as a player only, so I can't comment on the Mods you are looking to do.


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## CrimsonCountry (Mar 11, 2012)

I'm real old school in using a Win 10 mini ITX build as a headless server for Roon or Jriver. Its fun for the novelty of it and me loving to tinker with stuff. I had functioning SWC with touch and all and it worked great.

90% of the time I use local media stored on a 500gb SD card on my phone via Android Auto because "it's good enough."


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## Rabster (4 mo ago)

The items that were running prior to the pc failing and a strip down of the car to do some tidying up we’re as follows 
Pc running vista 
Centrafuse
Relay 8 board using (Cf relay plug-in)
GPS prolific driver 
Hd radio module “Mitch’s interface”
5.1 sound card 
Carnetix p2140 
External HDD
7” vga touchscreen with reverse camera input
Joycon input control 

most of the above is still useable but hav new following
Pc choice of OS but ideally windows 10 
Sound card 

ideally won’t need the existing GPS receiver as new pc does have gps built in depending on OS DRIVERS


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## NealfromNZ (Sep 3, 2013)

You might be able to find a Nisu ride runner software Binaries. I ran this on a netbook for many years . Was running under windows 7 and I used a usb to Bmw ibus adaptor to map controls from factory nav unit and steering wheel controls to control the app Via key mapping.

ride runner can run external apps so you might be able to use something like waze for sat nav if they are still doing the windows binaries.

That system being netbook based meant easy to control power up and down via windows power management.

I did replace it with a raspberry pi with libreelec os and kodi. Gutted and old 6 cd stacker and put usb laptop style bluray player , usb dac , usb hub and a powered usb hub. Only needed 3 amps to run it.However , sold that car recently.

Have been playing with Get Started | Volumio of late for a small retro look 2.8 inch touch screen car stereo project based on a raspberry pi that I’m looking to put in my 1963 mini.
Volumio can be run on intel based systems but it’s not using windows. Worth a look.


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