PC and Mount Setups Pics

lexwoody

Adventurer
I always wonder and other people may agree. What is in your vehicle PC and setup looks like a long with map software(s) you are running.
 

craig

Supporting Sponsor, Overland Certified OC0018
I'm not sure if you've seen it or not, but a number of ExPo members running Overland Navigator have their setups documented on my testimonials page. I have a bunch more I need to add, but this is a good sampling that includes laptop/tablet, UMPC, Toughbook, and carputer in a wide variety of vehicles.

http://spatialminds.com/content/Testimonials.htm
 

TreeTopFlyer

Adventurer
I always wonder and other people may agree. What is in your vehicle PC and setup looks like a long with map software(s) you are running.

Is that a question, I'm a little confused by the wording? Are you asking what people are using in their vehicles as a CarPC? And what software they are using?

If so, what I am using is an old "ruggedized" tablet made by a company called Xplore. They're pretty cool, magnesium case, mil-spec stuff. I designed a few of the touchscreens they use. It's accepts touchscreen or pen stylus input. Has anti glare and blah blah blah. It's pretty much everything I need, except the drive. I wish it were solid state. I built my mount pretty solid but I still get a little shaking when on the trail. It is built to take bumps and what not, but I still worry. If they ever make a retrofit drive to be solid state I will be all over it.

For software I use Oziexplorer on the trail and Streets and Trips for highway stuff. Ozi requires a bit of manual input to get stuff going. I had to download the geopdf topo maps and reference them. For sate imagery I pulled images down via googleozi. Mapped pretty much from Silverton to Ouray to Lake City. It took a while to do, but I had more time than money.

For mounting, I used a Ram Laptop mount base, pole and arm bracket. For the actual laptop mount I used the one that came with my Xplore tablet because it was built for that exact tablet. I also put an inverter, slot load dvd player and usb hub onto the mount as well. The base that mounts to the set bracket was something I fabbed up. It has two 12V sockets for accessory power and is tied to a 3rd battery that is isolated so to not drain the starting batteries. The terminals are properly shrink wrapped now =)

This setup worked great for our trip to the Colorado last year. I looked at a lot of different software and there is not one turnkey solution is pretty much what I came up with. A lot of them do something really well, but not quite everything. Hence my reason for having S&T and OE. Overland Navigator is pretty slick. All the maps are coded, satellite imagery available. Large buttons! This is useful if you are using a touchscreen. While the price for imagery may seem high, I spent a LOT of time downloading my own images, organizing them, loading them into Ozi and such. It was a good learning experience to do it all because it made me learn the software, but it's not as turnkey as ON.
 

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etbadger

Adventurer
We just use a few general purpose RAM mounts with industrial velcro, matching velcro on the bottom of a small lap-top.

LaptopMount.jpg


Since that photo I have added a cross-bar extending a few inches perpendicular to add a bit of fore-aft stability.

Here's the laptop on the mount:
Laptop%20Mount.jpg


On really rough trails we have a tweaked L bracket that matches the velcro on the right side of the laptop to hold the screen/keyboard angle. Probably not sufficient if you are racing, but good enough for the speeds we travel.

We use a GPS mouse in a USB port, and usually use Delorme Topo USA for navigation in the states & Canada.

The laptop is not at all ruggedized, but survived well enough for the years we were on the road. The optical drive did not work too well after about 1 year (probably dust). The hard-drive did die after 4 years, but within 1 week of the same in an identical laptop we have that wasn't subject to the same stress.

-e
 
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SAR Jeepster

Observer
Laptop Mount

I have a bar mounted to the side of my center consol with 2 short arms using polyurethane bushings. Toped with a flat plate with a lip to hold the back of the laptop and a cable on with spring and draw catch. This has allowed the driver or passenger to work the laptop though I strongly recommend being parked when the driver is using the laptop. The power supply is mounted under the plate. I have rolled the Jeep while the computer was running with no damage to the computer. I have traveled many thousands miles and the mount and computer continue to work.

picture.php
 

soonenough

Explorer
I have a bar mounted to the side of my center consol with 2 short arms using polyurethane bushings. Toped with a flat plate with a lip to hold the back of the laptop and a cable on with spring and draw catch. This has allowed the driver or passenger to work the laptop though I strongly recommend being parked when the driver is using the laptop. The power supply is mounted under the plate. I have rolled the Jeep while the computer was running with no damage to the computer. I have traveled many thousands miles and the mount and computer continue to work.

picture.php

Do you have any other pictures of this setup? Sounds interesting but I'm having a tough time visualizing it.

PS your dash looks like an aircraft cockpit :sombrero:
 

esh

Explorer
I have fooled around with a lot of mounts over the years and the best thing I've done is to switch to a tablet PC. Keyboards are pretty useless with mapping software and just waste space. There are plenty of cheap touchscreen tablets, even ruggedized, on Ebay that do the job. Mine (Itronix duotouch) even has a custom fit RAM mount for it.

I got the idea to bend up some tube to follow the dash contour and use handlebar/u-bolt RAM mounts. They are extremely sturdy and keep everything out of the way. The problem with floor mounts were they just got in the way of everything. Having a bar across the width of the dash lets you mount things in any orientation you want.

IMG_2443.JPG
 

angusdevil

Adventurer
Here is what I had in the truck until about 2 weeks ago. Switching laptops so going to make the same style mount but a little more beefy.

IMG00082-20090825-2259.jpg
 

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