AJ Lightfoot
Basic Member
Posts:245
 | | 27 May 2007 03:19 PM |
| My project truck ('87 RRC) is off and running, I got my new ceramic coated manifolds and some new Goodyear MT/R 245/75 16's are on their way and i've been tearing into the interior pretty heavily and am moving electronic pieces all over the place to get them off the floor and mounted in other places and i've been kicking around some ideas of what to mount in my truck as far as GPS and CB. So now is where I get some advice... I was reading Tony's post and I want something different than a hand held option.
I want to mount a laptop in my truck but don't know where to start. I have an iBook G4 that I could use if the GPS software is mac compatible, but I have a feeling that is a pipe dream. So advice? I also want to mount a CB radio which I have a handle on that, but wanted to get some opinions on which unit I should pick up, and also what if anything else should I mount up? Thanks in advance guys. AJ |
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Tony Sims
Veteran Member
Posts:1237
| | 27 May 2007 08:08 PM |
| AJ, I'm going to use a Cobra model 75 (it has a bunch of initials too, W something something). It's the one with all the controls in the hand unit. You can mount the box out of sight, then you can pull the hand unit out of the rig to avoid theftiness. |
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Rick Lindgren
Power User
Advanced Member
Posts:986
| | 27 May 2007 08:25 PM |
| I'll second Tony's input on the Cobra 75 or "Cobra 75WXST Weatherband CB Radio" to be exact. All the electronics are in the handle, easy to mount up, easy to hide, easy to remove if you want. The little box that serves as the interface for the CB and the antenna is very small. I mounted the little box under my passenger seat. Hold on...... I posted a pic that shows where the hand unit is mounted a long time ago. Different discussion but the picture should work. 
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Rick Lindgren
Power User
Advanced Member
Posts:986
| | 27 May 2007 08:27 PM |
| Also, there are several people on here that might have some input on a Mac compatible GPS application. I know Nevak has looked for some in the past.
Rick |
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Craig Miller
Posts:11803
| | 27 May 2007 11:10 PM |
| I saw Kevan's Mac setup this weekend. The software he is running looks pretty darn good.
On the GPS side you have essentially 3 options. USB powered GPS that is magnetically mounted to the hood/roof, USB powered GPS that is permanately mounted to the hood/roof, or a handheld GPS in a rammount style cradle w/ power and PC connection wires running out of the back. What style of GPS do you want?
Craig
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Peter Carey
Veteran Member
Posts:2829
| | 27 May 2007 11:34 PM |
| I third the Cobra. I have it as well and the discreet mount is dope. One of these days I'll replace my broken antenna and use it!!
There is Mac software out there but I can't find it right now.... it's getting better. |
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Peter Carey
Veteran Member
Posts:2829
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Nevak Risew
Veteran Member
Posts:1200
| | 28 May 2007 03:24 PM |
| Hey AJ, My Cobra 75WXST has been good. I mounted the little box under my seat. The weather radio is handy. I'd recommend an external speaker, but my truck is noisy.
On Mac GPS software I can vouch for MacGPSPro. It's a great product and he's consistently upgrading it an adding new features. I've emailed with him directly when I was first figuring it out and he was helpful. You can calibrate your own maps, but it's simpler to use theirs (MacTopos). They're scans of the USGS topos, and if you buy them by the state you get 24k, 100k, and 250k series. Another option is to buy their MacTopos for the whole US at 100k res. Pretty cost effective for what it is. I have that, as well as the individual sets for Utah, WA, and OR. I'd like Idaho someday.
Mounting laptops isn't too hard. Todd has a setup from RAM that is pretty slick. I too used RAM Mount products to piece together a simple one I can install and remove quickly The tray is made by them. Their mounts are hard rubber balls and they flex and absorb vibrations so the laptop sits stable even on really rough roads. Infintiely adjustable. My GPS has only a serial-out connection, so I use a Keyspan Serial to USB adapter. If you need one, don't buy the Belkin; they say it works on MAcs, but there are no drivers for OSX!! (ask me how I know  A couple pics attached. This was from when I was using a PC, but the tray is springloaded so it fits my 15" Powerbook too. I use an inverter to power the laptop and charge camera batts etc. The CB shows in the first pic too (added bonus!) |
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Peter Carey
Veteran Member
Posts:2829
| | 28 May 2007 04:04 PM |
| Personally, I use one of these...... 
Doesn't run on a MAC and I know Luke says he doesn't need one, but I'm no Jedi Knight.... |
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Nevak Risew
Veteran Member
Posts:1200
| | 28 May 2007 06:02 PM |
| Peter has the ultimate plan there  I forgot to mention that to make the puter mount on the floor really solid and not pull the screws out of the floor sheet metal, I put a piece of angle iron under the ps seat rail and then bolted the seat down through it. Not pretty, but not too cluttery either. Also, I don't know if you're running a newer intel mac? If so you could partition the drive and dedicate a little disk space for running windoze/Mapsource. |
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Andy Berglund
Tacoma, WA
Veteran Member
Posts:3453
| | 28 May 2007 06:13 PM |
| don't the newer macs have bootcamp or some other software that allows you to run windows as part of their software package? then you don't even need to do the jedi partitioning trick or anything like that.
peter's plan is so long ago, from a galaxy so far away...pfft. might as well be using a compass.
a |
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Rick Lindgren
Power User
Advanced Member
Posts:986
| | 28 May 2007 09:16 PM |
| Yeah, the newer ones can run Windows apps real time while in the Mac environment I believe. Kind of like running a vmware image of Windows in the native OSX.
Rick |
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Andy Berglund
Tacoma, WA
Veteran Member
Posts:3453
| | 29 May 2007 02:01 AM |
| as far as i know, that's how it's supposed to work rick. i can't wait to get a new intel mac...mmmm
andy |
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AJ Lightfoot
Basic Member
Posts:245
| | 29 May 2007 08:36 AM |
| in my office we run VPC7 on our macs and connect to a term server to do alot of our inventory and invoicing work, it's cool cuz I can work on PC's from my old iBook. But my boss man just green lighted me for my new Macbook and now I can use my iBook for GPS! So i'm excited. Actually when I was in california and still with intel (I used to work for them) my co worker successfully installed XP Pro on to a new Macbook and it ran actually better then on his IBM T41 laptop... weird?!
Anyways, thanks guys for the help, I think I know what I should do for my CB (Cobra 75) and my GPS, get a garmin unit and my mac with MacGPSpro.com and hopefully should be good to go.
Any other advice on items I should have? I've got lot's of room now that I have no interior except seats.... haha.
AJ |
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Nevak Risew
Veteran Member
Posts:1200
| | 29 May 2007 10:04 AM |
| Funny thing is, we got my wife a new 2Ghz Macbook that's really nice. Unfortunately she's become a little possessive of it--and won't let me use it as the rover computer! How selfish |
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AJ Lightfoot
Basic Member
Posts:245
| | 29 May 2007 12:16 PM |
| So, i've got it all planned out....
iBook G4 - Already got it
Mac GPS Pro - 49.99
Topo Map of OR - 29.99
Garmin GPSMap 60CSx - 350.00
Keyspan USB adapter - 44.99
Serial Cable - 15.00
AC Inverter (400 Watt) - 60.00
Ram Mount - 150.00
So all in all about 690.00 and I'll have my GPS... ha!
Can't wait til I have money to actually spend on getting this stuff.... haha. |
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AJ Lightfoot
Basic Member
Posts:245
| | 29 May 2007 12:24 PM |
| Kevan It's funny how that happens.... one of my girlfriends would always steal the new toys we got and had to always be in control of the remote. Needless to say, the relationship didn't last long. HAHA!
Good luck in getting the Macbook Pro and thanks for the great advice.
Now, is there anything else i'm missing? I love planning this stuff out! |
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Tony Sims
Veteran Member
Posts:1237
| | 29 May 2007 12:46 PM |
| Posted By AJ Lightfoot on 05/29/2007 12:16 PM
So all in all about 690.00 and I'll have my GPS... ha!
Ack! I think I'm going back to this...
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Craig Miller
Posts:11803
| | 29 May 2007 01:01 PM |
| Posted By AJ Lightfoot on 05/29/2007 12:16 PM
So, i've got it all planned out....
iBook G4 - Already got it
Mac GPS Pro - 49.99
Topo Map of OR - 29.99
Garmin GPSMap 60CSx - 350.00
Keyspan USB adapter - 44.99
Serial Cable - 15.00
AC Inverter (400 Watt) - 60.00
Ram Mount - 150.00
So all in all about 690.00 and I'll have my GPS... ha!
Can't wait til I have money to actually spend on getting this stuff.... haha.
Yeah.... you can save a bunch of money here and have as good or a better setup.
Replace the Garmin GPSMap 60CSx, USB Adapter, and Serial Cable with a Weatherproof Bulkhead Mounted GPS (20 channels, SIRF III, WAAS, and USB) Replace the AC Inverter with a DC 2 DC power supply. Laptops run on DC power just like your car. Going from Vehicle DC to AC and then from AC back to DC is extremely innefficient and puts a fairly large drain on your battery. Craig |
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Tony Sims
Veteran Member
Posts:1237
| | 29 May 2007 01:10 PM |
| I've had one of those Targus DC adapters for years. Keeps the laptop and phone charged from the in-seat power tap on most biz-class airline seats. Very handy on my manic Asia trips where I'm in a different country every day and get most of my sleep on the plane... |
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