Personal Computers in 4x4s

Fire Departments and Police Departments have been using mounted laptop computers in their vehicles for many years. The hardware and mounting equipment has been around for a while. Check with your local agencies and see what they are using.

Cheers - Jonathan

***Ug, cross posted... ***

If money is an issue, just use a notebook. I've had the (same) notebook in my Hummer for about six or seven years now, and it still works. Try local comptuer stores for a traded in notebook, or eBay.

If money is not an issue, there are several really (*REALLY*) nice solutions with heavy duty boxes, remote LCD touch screens, wireless keyboards, and the works. But these are expensive. Designed for commercial duty, they will stand up well.

Try

under vehicle equipment they have a laptop shelf and a mounting arm. I've bought from them several times in the past and had very good luck.

is probably the best resource. I wanted mine to be sturdy so I used a small rack mount case with a mini-itx fanless system and a laptop hdd. Its very similar to but without the display on the front of the chassis.

Panasonic (toughbook) These are generally meant for construction, mining and military use. Get out your checkbook, they run 2x, 3x, 4x or more than consumer grade models.

-John

Thanks everyone, actually I am putting a 1/2 rack into the bed under my Leer Cap. Into this I am putting in a UPS that is 12 volt to 12 volt regulated supply that will supply the PC with roughly 24 hours of battery run time if needed.

Below this I am mounting 4 1U Linux based servers using shock proof (we will see) Hard Drives. If worst case come salong I can always run solid state memory drives up 50 gig they have now but. the price is HUGE.

Below the PC/Servers I will mount a KVM up to a flatpanel touch screen mounted to the right of the GMC's cluster (above the radio). I figure the touch screen is more viable then a mouse in a truck.

Plan's are to run Verizon Wireless Internet to 1 unit w/ a Proxy Server/Log In Server. Then one unit will handle MP3's, one will push video (movies) and the 3rd will be used for the GPS/Mapping and Video Broadcasting.

I've done the laptop bit for some time, it just can't handle everything I have in mind for the truck.

You want a RAM mount. From their website:

RAM's patented solid rubber ball and sturdy metal socket mounts have been tested by some of the following companies: Intermec, TRW, FMC, Rockwell, Lowrance, Garmin, US Navy, US Army and many others. In every case, RAM exceeded the required demand and was surprisingly accepted as the standard mounting solution from then on. All 160 RAM components are 100% interchangeable so if you decide to alter configurations or applications simply switch out the components or the device RAM's holding. Convenience and quality without a big dollar expense is what RAM brings along with lifetime warranties, electronic protection and perfect viewing angles.

Good stuff!

You may want to consider the cooling of the computer. If it gets to hot the CPU will shut down. You may need to add a cooler system with refrigerant to keep it within operating temperatures. Many vehicles today are equipped with regular PC computers but they are used in emergency services are other services that usually AC controlled environment around the PC. Mounting the PC itself in under the Leer cap where there is no air circulation may get extremely hot from the sun not to mention the heat from the PC equipment and from the vehicle's exhaust.

Sarge

What do you do to spend that much time in your mobile office?

I am working on that. Currently I am going to "insualte" the shell with this material that keeps the solar emissions lower, you can buy it at most home stores looks like bubble wrap w/ tinfoil on it. But its supposed to drop the E rating down to a 3, from 100 natural. This stop solar "radiation" heat, and in turn cuts ambient. I have found some chips that run at 1gig that are fairly stable in all but say August in Las Vegas but I will need to circulate air and possible cool the units. I have looked at a couple of solutions. I can mount the half rack inside a half size 12 volt fridge or I can break down go to 1 unit larger unit and run a PC Cooler w/ Fluid and AC. The trick is which will handle the roads the best w/ least problems if they give way.

I am leaning towards the 12 volt fridge solution. I have done this for systems in metal buildings in the middle of the desert and it works wonders.

I work for a Grading and Asphalt company and they call my job "security", which in a nut shell means I drive around 10 hours a night, baby sitting security guards, auditing all the equipment on numerous job sites, responding to alarm calls at one of our multiple facilities/offices. And in my spare time (cough) I watch a lot of DVD's, play my PSP and PS2 while watch to make sure no one messes with our equipment on sites where we don't place outsourced guards.

Now since I retired in 1999 from a computer career in network design and implementation, almost everything I do I automate. I stayed retired for a while, updated my Microsoft and Novell certs and have done some smaller consulting and convergence jobs. My wife had been working with this grading firm for 3 years and their then current security guy, had a heart attack. They asked me to fill in while he recovered. I did, and as soon as he heard he had a replacement, he passed away. So, since I told them I would stay, I've sort of grown found of the company and the job. The IT Manager of the firm used to work with me at a DOT com we both worked for, so he is very helpfull with work related toys and gadgets and my "boss" doesn't care what we do as long as we maintain a low rate of incidents.

Up until January 24th of this year, I worked 7 10's, until I had a mild heart attack (any of them you walk away from is mild) and the company at that point asked me and my co worker to start taking a day off. So now Im down to 60 hrs a week just for work, and another 20 personal time.

Some guys trick out their rides w/ stereos... I am going the geek route, just to do it. Laptop is too easy, probally tthe easier and wiser route, but, that would not be as fun.

That foil bubble wrap stuff works well, I insulated my last truck with it and am thinking of doing this one. Is your cap fiberglass or aluminum? If Aluminum you can put 1" thick insulation between the frame then cover with the bubble wrap, then get the thin blue insulation stuff and cover it with headliner material to match the truck. Via makes a couple mini-ITX boards that run fanless, thats how I ran my mp3 player, they are not real fast but if you run a decent os like Linux/bsd they are plenty fast enough.

I used to work for a small contracting company, everything from fix your printer to design your active directory. I carried a PDA and was going to get a CF wireless card to communicate back to a "server" in my truck which has all kinds of reference books and such and updates my time tracking database. Thought of doing the proxy server thing too so I could have internet on my pda via the server in the truck. Was going to store all my mp3's (ripped from all the cd's I own) so I could stream them to the PDA from the truck computer. GPS to track all my mileage to and from customer sites, OBD-II to log everything from the truck, etc. Just never had any of the $ to build it.

Alas my shell is an 88 Leer Fiberglass. So I am going to use this really nasty loctite onstruction adhesive and apply the insulation to the cap that way. Then I will remove the bedliner and add insulation there as well.

I have looked at the via, problem is I have to assume a tempature of 180 degrees ambient in summer. Though someone did show me a little solar panel, I was thinking of putting it on the shell top, linked to some 120mm fans, so when the sun is out, the fans are moving.

I never measured the temp of mine, it rode in an overhead console in my cab.