vortmax

Not sure if this belongs here or in the laptop section but here goes.

I'm looking to build a computer to integrate into my truck. I'm going to build a custom case to hold the mobo, hard drive, soundcard and vid card that fits under the seat. So it has to be slim. For this reason I was thinking a laptop mobo would be ideal. I want to place the DVD drive in the dash...away from the mobo, so I'm thinking that SATA is the way to go. Is there a labtop mobo that will run sata drives? I would run a standard board, but I can't have the PCI and AGP risers sticking that far up. (I need narrow). Video will be run to a small LCD touch screen in the dash that will control navigation as well. I'll be running a USB and fire wire port to the dash too, so I can easily hook up a keyboard if I have to and so I can download music to the drive via a portable JAZZ drive. The system will function as a MP3 player (which I'm going to try to interface with my Alpine head unit and make it behave as a CD changer...so the head unit controls will cycle songs and albums), a DVD player which will be wired for 5.1, a GPS navigation system, and a real time OBD (on board diagnostics) scanner. I'm going to have to use Linux, as that's the only platform the OBD software is written for and the only thing I'll be able to configure a custom interface for.

I've never built a system to handle the shock and temps of a car interior....any suggestions on hardware choice? and is there a sata compatible laptop mobo, or one with detachable PCI and AGP risers?

Avant Technologies

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Avant Technologies Allen, TX