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Don’t like your car’s AV system? Simply install a full PC into it

Picture this: you just splurged on a Jaguar X-Type to use as a family car, just to find out the terrible AV system inside has an old VGA screen, decade-old GPS and a CD changer/cassette deck combo to top it off. What do you do? Well, if you’re one user on Reddit, you rip apart an old laptop and commence a transplant.

Posted on the DIY section of the site, user “Grrrmachine” posted a series of images detailing the build.

As stated, it began with an old Jaguar and an outdated audio visual system. The donor PC was an Atom-based netbook (been a while since you heard that string of words, hasn’t it?) picked up for only $15 (R233).

To avoid the PC being as outdated as the system it was replacing, it was upgraded with 2GB of RAM, a 64GB SSD and a USB 3.0 Express Card.

To start off the laptop was broken in two as the screen would sit five metres away from the actual PC. Tearing it apart further, the power switch was elongated so it could be reached at the front of the car and a touch panel was added to the screen for input means.

Next was the dirty bits. A plastic frame to hold the screen was heavily modified to fit the display and a cassette deck/AC panel from another X-Type model was butchered to fit the fit the screen while retaining compatibility with the hole in the dashboard.

The PC itself was run to the back of the car where it replaced several control modules that were no longer needed. An aluminium mount was created to house it, and it was connected to the screen with an HDMI cable. Finally, a USB GPS stick was added to the mix to navigate around.

While we really like this project and, the comments on it really made us laugh:

  • Very nice!! The only downside is that one morning you’re going to go outside and find out that your Jag upgraded to Windows 10.
  • Will the screen rotate during a rollover?
  • My own solution: tablet + duct tape
  • But can it run Crysis?
  • Glad to see you penny-pinching after buying a Jaguar.

See the full build log and parts list on Imgur

 

[Source – /r/DIY]

 

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