Monday, May 21, 2007 - 01:36 pm, by: Ben Slabak(Benniboi)
I'm putting in a car PC (Lilliput) and I was told at the shop that I would not have touch screen functionality within Windows XP, as the drivers for the OEM EMV touch functionality apparently don't exist.
Can anyone confirm that? An option apparently is to replace the LCD with a more recent one that comes with Windows XP drivers.
Has anyone replaced their existing LCD with another one with touch functionality and if so, can you recommend one?
Thanks
Benjamin Spitalnic Tinkerer Victoria Soarer TT V6 Beeman says. Go HARD or Go HOME!
Ben, i cant say that i have played around with the emv touch screen on the limited edition v8 model since i dont have the v8. But, i have played around with touch screens before and yes i do beleive that it is true that the touch screen functionality wont work. i suggest you look in ebay for a touch screen you can hook up to it.. im dying to see what your in car computer will look like. post pics when you can.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - 02:06 pm, by: Ben Slabak(Benniboi)
Ben, I'm installing a Lilliput PC which you can see at http://www.polares.com.au, but I got it from the US as it was much cheaper. It's going to go in my glovebox as I don't have room for it in my dash, but before I do that I need to confirm whether anyone's had any luck in connecting the existing LCD to a computer and retaining the touchscreen functionality.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007 - 12:58 am, by: Jonah Richards(Swervedriver)
M8 your screen has bucklys of connecting to a PC unless the screen has a USB connector, the EMV may have this capacity with some rewiring but i doubt it. you never know tho you may be able to work out the wiring. Considering USB emerged about ten years after your EMV was developed i doubt it very much!
I have heard of USB touch membranes that you could lay over the the top of your EMV tho... but probably expensive and probably a bit of a pain in the rear end.
I may be wrong but thats what i believe the current state to be.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007 - 08:28 am, by: Ben Slabak(Benniboi)
Thanks Jonah. Yeah I pretty much thought that was the case, just wanted to confirm it so I don't waste my time.
I just looked into actually replacing the touch screen itself while leaving the LCD as is. 3m sell them for about $300 and ut comes with a USB interface.
I have to find out more about the EMV though and if there are any implications with taking out the existing touchscreen, hopefully there won't be.
Anyone know of somewhere I can get the EMV technical specs such as exact dimensions of the touchscreen and the LCD?
Wednesday, May 23, 2007 - 09:56 am, by: Ben Slabak(Benniboi)
Yeah I thought of that, but yeah it's pricy.
I just spoke to the guy at the shop where I'm having it installed and he believes the LCD will have to be replaced. He has done several before and had to remove the touchscreen and the LCD, said that an overlay screen won't work.
Looks like that might be my only option, now I just have to source a touchscreen LCD that will fit the EMV.
Daniel Czechowski Goo Roo Western Australia Soarer GT-T & IS300 Sports Luxury
If you are gonna replace the EMV with a touchscreen, you'll make your carPC work, but your new LCD touchscreen won't be able to control the aircon, radio and other usual EMV functions. If you do a search, people have been discussing doing this for years, and the answer was always that it is not going to work because of all the proprietary technology within the EMV computer and the components it controls. Your best bet would be one of those touch screen overlays...
I don't mean to rain on your parade there Ben, but if this guy does figure this out, he will solve an issue that has puzzled quite a lot of soarer owners and more specifically soarer electronics gurus in the last good 6 years or so...
Wednesday, May 23, 2007 - 12:21 pm, by: Ben Slabak(Benniboi)
Yup, just confirmed it. He has done it in the past. Took him 3 days he said but he reprogrammed all the functions incl. aircon to work with the new LCD.
This is Nam's Electronics in Sydney I'm talking about.
Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 09:49 am, by: Ben Slabak(Benniboi)
I'm currently trying to source an LCD with the same dimensions and if I do I'll have it done. The guy guarantees me that I'll have all the functions with the touchscreen replacement.
My only worry is that it won't look as tidy as the factory one and if it's gonna look dodgy then I might just settle for a little wireless trackball in the coin holder to control the PC.
Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 02:52 pm, by: Callum Finch(Sigeneat)
It's not strictly what you are after but here is the headunit i have in my car...
If you do it carefully and it ends up neat it can look respectable and stockish. That particular head unit was actually designed to go in to Toyota OEM stereo setups as well, so cabling in the rear is very simple!
One thing i will note with my setup; that headunit has several inputs, one of which is a regular AV component input. ie, Red, white and yellow plugs for L/R audio and video channels. If i wanted to i could connect up a PC, game console, portable media player etc etc through them. It wouldnt retain the touch screen function of course though.
I went through the whole CarPC stage and am glad that i got lazy with the idea and gave up on working out how to do it =P
Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 03:37 pm, by: Ben Slabak(Benniboi)
Hi Callum, yeah that looks quite good, but probably not applicable in my situation as mine is a V8 Ltd so the entire console is arranged differently.
The main reason I'm putting in a PC is for my music collection, some 80Gb worth and I don't want to fiddle with a whole heap of CDs or DVDs, this way it will be much easier.
Daniel Czechowski Goo Roo Western Australia Soarer GT-T & IS300 Sports Luxury
Ever thought of connecting one of those Mediagate HDD players through your TV input Ben? Will only cost you a fraction of what you'd pay for with the above idea.
Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 10:14 pm, by: Ben Slabak(Benniboi)
Thanks for the suggestions guys but I already bought my car PC a few weeks back. Plus my TV input will be used for TV I'm putting in two digital tuners for better reception.
Friday, May 25, 2007 - 01:50 am, by: Leon Wright(Techman)
Ben Slabak wrote on Thursday, May 24, 2007 - 09:49 am:
The guy guarantees me that I'll have all the functions with the touchscreen replacement.
Isn't the soarer's touchscreen an overlay for the screen that is already there. I've always wondered if this were the case, how well would a touch screen lcd work underneath it.
If that is correct... no re-program required?? But it would pose a minor problem when changing aircon settings activating something on the pc! Also the the extra layer may make the touch screen a little un-responsive.
Or I could just be over-worked and imagining things
Friday, May 25, 2007 - 10:15 pm, by: Ben Slabak(Benniboi)
Leon Wright wrote on Friday, May 25, 2007 - 01:50 am:
Isn't the soarer's touchscreen an overlay for the screen that is already there. I've always wondered if this were the case, how well would a touch screen lcd work underneath it.
Apparently the EMV's touch screen is sensor based. Another solution that I'm looking into is getting a touch screen film to go over the top of the existing screen without having to remove anything and still be able to use the original touchscreen with the car functions like aircon and have the extra touch screen for the PC. I applied a film with similar thickness on top of my EMV today and the touchscreen still worked, so maybe that's what I'll go for, instead of changing the whole LCD, looks like to much mucking around.
Monday, May 28, 2007 - 03:08 am, by: Luke Gomer(Luke)
Good luck in finding your touchscreenoverlay that is the same dimensions as the Soarer LCD.
btw, as Vlad touched on (no pun) in his latest touchscreen mod - you will need to select an EMV mode that is not sensing the IR matrix touch board i.e. TV mode, as your touch control will have double meaning (EMV and PC).
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Beeman says. Go HARD or Go HOME!
I'm putting in two digital tuners for better reception.
