The world famous Dakota Project Car PC as featured in the book "Geek My Ride" was one of the first Car Computers on the scene to use the Ituner DC to DC Power Converter with the ITPS Controller. TIP - The phrase "car interior" is actually short for "Huge static electricity generator!" Cloth or synthetic seat covers combined with a cool dry environment can create a massive amount of pure pc killing, component frying, miniature lightning bolts from hell! Make sure you use your anti-static precautions when working on your car-pc. If you have ever climbed out of your car and felt that lightning bolt at the tip of your finger as you touch the door to close it, then you know what I am talking about. Remember, you can fatally fry some pc components like RAM with a static shock so small that you might not even feel it. TIP - In 2003, I used the PW70A and the ITPS Power Sequencer Shutdown Controller for the Dakota Project, but now you can get the M1-ATX and M-2ATX Smart Car PC Power Supplies which combine both units into one, and provide up to 160 watts of power!     Update: Since this website was originally launched, Brian has opened his own custom web design business which he now operates full-time. You can contact Brian through his website at: www.briankmedia.com The Award Winning Dakota Project Car PC This is the original Dakota Project as featured in the book: "Geek My Ride" by Auri Rahimzadeh & Steve Wozniak, Wiley Press (2003 Portland, Oregon) The Dakota Project Car PC was initially created as a college grad project to provide a database for storing and accessing thousands of Mp3 files for playback while on the road. That objective has been accomplished, and we have added even more features than originally planned. It is also used to play CD's, DVD's, Mp3's, movies on hard drive, and a navigatrion system. In the future I plan to integrate my security system into the Car-PC using small digital video cameras and the "Wake on LAN" feature with motion detectors, and intrusion detectors tied to a paging system. We have had multiple requests for some examples of our latest Car-PC project so I put these pages together to help give you some insight into what we did and how we did it. This is only one example of a basic car-pc installation that works well in the Dodge Dakota. Many others have come up with truly ingenious ways of incorporating their computers into their vehicles, boats, trucks, airplanes, skateboards! etc. The car-pc featured here makes use of the compact, low power VIA EPIA M10000 1Ghz Nehemiah motherboard and the complete Audioforge "Car Power Package" with our "PW120A" DC DC converter and ITPS Power Sequencer and shutdown controller. The main design consideration was a clean professional looking installation. I wanted the inside of the Dakota to appear clean and as close to stock as possible, while staying within budget. Each page will show you another step in the design and construction process. Although it doesn't go deeply in-depth, I believe the photos and some of the descriptions will give you a good idea of what was accomplished in this project. If you like what you see and would like to construct your own Car-PC, hopefully this website will help with a little inspiration. In the left hand margins of each page, I have included a special "Tips" section that should help with some shortcuts and perhaps even save you a little money through some of the experiences and challenges I encountered while constructing this project. If you have any suggestions, comments or questions, feel free to contact me anytime. And, if you need a solid DC solution for your Car-PC project, you have come to the right place! I will help answer your questions if I can.  Use the link below to email me anytime. Enjoy! And thanks for looking. Brian K. Shoemake (Audioforge) You can contact us through the Brian K Media site for more info. Next> Articles