It’s been a while since I last updated this blog… Why ? Because it’s been a while since I tinker around the car and the car pc.
So why update now? Well, I just want to announce that the CPU from the car / car-pc will be turn into a completely working desktop computers.
Couple of days ago, I bought a 17″ Asus LCD (not wide) monitor… I have put back the stand of the Asus EE pC and plug in the VGA cable to the LCD monitor, put in a mouse and keyboard and all boom…
The Car PC project has been stalled for a while because of number of reasons. One of which is the lack of device driver for the TFT touch screen LCD color display, the output device of our Car PC on Mazda 3… Of course the main reason why this project was delayed is because of me, too lazy… That’s me, lazy me.
Anyway, this post is about the TFT LCD monitor driver. The touchscreen monitor is apparently known in the internet as VM80B TFT LCD XGA/VGA touch screen color monitor.
The VM80B 8″ TFT LCD touchscreen color monitor is the perfect vehicle monitor for your CarPC. Featuring a sharp 800×600 VGA color screen (supports up to 1024×768), you can run regular PC programs as well as specialized car PC software.
With the built-in touchscreen monitor, you can use your fingers instead of a mouse. Not only does the VM80B display computer video, but with the A/V RCA inputs, you can also display video from DVD players, VCRs and other devices.
The VM80B includes several accessories: remote control, dashboard mount, VGA cable, AV cables, as well as an AC adapter. Also includes a CD with touchscreen drivers for Windows, MacOS, DOS and Linux. Vista Compatible.
First thing, here are the features of the VM80B TFT LCD VGA Monitor:
Now that you know the basic components of a Car PC, or the basic parts of a computer PC, let’s dive deeper and look at each particular part in details.
In this post, we will take a look at the output device that I will be using for my own car PC project.
Output Device: TFT LCD Monitor
Basically, the output device is a TFT LCD Monitor device which I bought online in E-bay. The seller from Taiwan shipped it here in the Philippines. The total cost, if I remember right (will check my Ebay account later), is $250 US including shipping.
The TFT LCD monitor is an 8-inch, touch screen monitor. It comes with a stand that the height can be adjusted. It has a power cable and a USB cable for the touch screen funtionality, I guess
Which reminds me, I’m actually having problem with it right know. The device driver CD that comes with the monitor doesn’t contain the driver for the monitor. Instead, it has a sound/mp3 file… what’s the deal?
Any tips?
