Mac Mini as headunit?

[kickass audio]

Alright, so before i get started im sure someone will start saying im copying steve and all that but i really am not for how im approaching this. What i am going to do for myself this fall is going to be purchasing a mac mini (either a new one or older one, im getting it as a refurb from apple for a hell of a lot cheaper and still under warranty and all that good stuff). Im going to be running the mac mini in my room under the mac os so i can play around with it and know as much as i know about windows with a mac os too. Anyways heres my little dilemma.

I really REALLY want to get rid of my headunit (Alpine IVA-W205) and just use the mac mini for ALL the controls in my truck. I never use the radio, maybe once a year will i play a cd and the last time i played one was when i had my truck metered. I dont watch dvd's in my truck either. The big thing i can instantly take advantage of with the mac mini would be first of all a bigger screen in my dash (not too sure on the size just yet, ill get some help and ideas from you all on this), be able to play the movies i download and all my music on the mac, have everything controlled through the mac mini, basically everything through that as if it was a headunit.

Now some things i have been thinking in depth about is how i can connect this to my system if i wanted to rip out the headunit. I was thinking to just install the mac mini either under my center console or behind the dash since theres a ton of room behind there for me to put the mac mini. Then i was thinking about how to connect it to my amps and since i have a 3sixty.2, i thought about using a headphone to rca cable that would connect to the 3sixty.2's AUX input. Now the problem... Im not sure if the mac mini is any exception but with both my dell laptops i have, when i try to scope out the outputs to see where it clips at and everything, i cannot get the sine wave to show enough, it is basically two lines with a small overlap on them with my TPI-440 scope. I tried to press the t.base and then go fast/slow with no success of expanding or zooming into the sine wave any better. Does anyone know any other method to try and scope the output from my mac mini to know how high i can set the volume on it before it starts to clip? Im pretty sure steves dd-1 wont work on this since the voltage isnt that high off a headphone output so i dont think the dd-1 will show the signal at all when i put the leads on the rca end.

Also, i was thinking about easy ways to get the touch screen on my dash. I dont want to do anything insane like steve has done with his 'hoe and chickens hoopty because im not that complex of a guy and am not really showing it off but i do want a pretty clean look to it. What i was thinking to do was to get another center piece of my dashboard that pops off for me to remove the radio, a/c controls, cigarette lighters, rear wiper switch, and my 4x4 switch so i can modify that to make the touch screen fit and be able to swap back to stock when i sell the truck. Can someone tell me how big or small of a touch screen would be good for controlling a mac mini like steve can do? I do plan to use a keyboard/mouse with it but having the ability to skip that and just use the screen would be boss for me.

If anyone can help me with this please reply to this topic and let me know, i appreciate everyones help on all the stupid things i get myself into.

[d3dreaper]

well you gotta start thinking how you want it to be wired up. I.E. Do you want the internal sound card to do the job? or do you want something like an external usb audio driver (like an M-Box)? then you gotta think about primary functions you are going to be using and how you would change them easily while you are driving. IMHO i think the mac mini would be a pain in the ass to do ass opposed to building a mini pc to do what you need it to (the high end audio cards you can get for a pc would be better than the ones that come in a mac... and i am a mac fan btw lol) as far as rigging a touch screen to it all check out a bunch of the DIY sites like Instructables or Make Magazine. Another thing to consider is the wattage you are going to be needing to power everything as well as amp draw on your electrical system. All in all it will be a pain in the ass to figure out and for me (if i could afford such a project) it would be totally worth it.

-Good luck on it and keep us posted on how it's going

(hell you might even be able to make some tut's for others with your research)

[getonerd]

check out mp3car.com

[kickass audio]

well you gotta start thinking how you want it to be wired up. I.E. Do you want the internal sound card to do the job? or do you want something like an external usb audio driver (like an M-Box)? then you gotta think about primary functions you are going to be using and how you would change them easily while you are driving. IMHO i think the mac mini would be a pain in the ass to do ass opposed to building a mini pc to do what you need it to (the high end audio cards you can get for a pc would be better than the ones that come in a mac... and i am a mac fan btw lol) as far as rigging a touch screen to it all check out a bunch of the DIY sites like Instructables or Make Magazine. Another thing to consider is the wattage you are going to be needing to power everything as well as amp draw on your electrical system. All in all it will be a pain in the ass to figure out and for me (if i could afford such a project) it would be totally worth it.

-Good luck on it and keep us posted on how it's going

(hell you might even be able to make some tut's for others with your research)

Thank you everyone for your replies on this. The more that are related to this the better it will help me. For the electrical draw im in no means concerned for it. My electrical is absolutely overkill in my truck. I have 4 xs power d3100's and a s3400 along with a 270 amp mechman alt. The only time i get voltage drop is if i go full tilt at idle and dont rev up my engine to about 1300-1500 to keep it up to the demand from my 5.0kw.

Im really just thinking mac mini because it seems a hell of a lot easier to mod since the newer ones im looking at getting have 9 wires you need to cut, 4 of them are +12v, 4 of them are -12v, and another one is just useless. So getting the mac to run off the power from my truck would be easy but i want a power regulator to help keep the power constant and not have any peaks and valleys are what im watching out for because i do have some moments where that happens. Plus the mac mini is a hell of a lot smaller than most mini pc's ive seen. Even the one meade has on his cart in the shop is fairly big compared to the mac mini. Im just wondering how the mac mini works in the truck for daily use and not overheat because ive been told by several mac owners that the mac mini sucks at cooling.

Ive thought about getting an external sound card but either way i dont think it will help get my voltage up high enough. I DO NOT, i repeat DO NOT want or need to use any voltage boost/line drivers for raising the power from the mac mini to a signal my 3sixty.2 can interpret. The big reason i am not doing that is because i have never found one that actually works well and plus my 3sixty.2 is already a line driver to begin with. I just have to see if it will accept an input as low as the heaphone port will put out for voltage levels. I wouldnt really have much desire for a external card since my 3sixty.2 has a ton of control to my entire system. I am still going to try and mess with my laptop in my truck to see how the output is on my 3sixty and everything and if its practical to do and what not.