Tuning Equipment - Laptops!

[EagleMark]

We've never really talked about a piece of equipment we all need for tuning? Just the cables from to hardware needed, software, drivers and installations.

So I figured a thread on laptops. All this tuning software does not need much. My first was so old and slow it's hardly get on the internet but used WinALDL and TunerPro just fine. 400mhz? Like 256 mb of ram? Need a little more then that today.

I've had a high end HP entertainment/desktop replacement type Laptop for about 4 years now. Spent a ton on it back then just before I built this website and literally wore a grove into the mouse touchpad, along with wearing out a wireless mouse and several keys are worn so bad you can't see the letters. The hard drive has overheated several times because of the incoming cooling air vent on bottom, when I set it on the seat of a vehicle it just does not get enough air. Well it finally died and I replaced the hard drive and now it's in retirement on my desk hooked to a 32 inch HD TV, wireless keyboard and mouse, nety work cables and wireless network.

The portable replacement is a Panisonic Toughbook CF-74 I found on eBay, lots of them out there cheap but most are beat up and lots of hours. HArdly any come with a hard drive. I found this one with 510 hours on it, not a scratch, hard drive removed for $157 shipped! Installed a 128GBB SSD hard drive $100, 4GB ram $32 got a charger $15 and original windows 98 pro install disk, manufactures version for the machine with all drivers etc for $25.

Unbelievable machine for 2006 and was a later version with 2.0ghz Intel duo core, touchscreen, wireless, network, modem, SD slot, PC card slots, bluetooth, serial, USB, anti glare screen, etc... Original retail was $3499. :yikes:

[JeepsAndGuns]

Nice score on that one.
I have a hand-me-down laptop given to me by my sister when she bought a new one. It was right before I was getting into tuning and knew I would need one. She bought a new one and I asked if I could have her old one. Nothing is wrong with it and it still works great. Its a dell inspiron 1100. I have no idea exactly how old it is, or how big the HDD is, but it works great for what I use it for, which is tuning. It runs windows XP. Only thing I have had to do to it was add some more memory. Once it got service pack 3, it was uber slow, I bought a 1 gig stick from newegg.com and its back to working great. Tuning my jeep is the only thing I use it for, I will get on the internet with it every now and then when I need to up/download files to or from this site. Other than that, it sets on the desk turned off.

Pros: price, it was free! Works great, no problems with it.
Cons: only 2 usb ports and no serial port. Batteries are getting older and only last a hour or two.

Mark, you mentioned about the air inlet on the bottom of yours and not getting air flow when on a seat. I have a thin angled seat cushon I bought that fits the angle of a seat real good to make a level spot, then put a thin peice of wood board (I think it was actually the backing for a large picture frame) on top of the cushon to give a flat hard surface for the laptop to set on. That way it sets level in the seat, and has good air flow for cooling.

[RobertISaar]

my tuning laptop is also my only laptop....

bought in early 2008, Acer 5720Z(1.6GHz pentium D, 2GB RAM, 160GB HD). WAY overkill for just tuning, i use it for nearly everything but hardcore gaming and video editing. for that, the desktop i built for my wife does much better.

i never really expected it to last this long, let alone without too many problems. had to replace the speakers, and i'm kind of rough on the power cable, replaced it 3 times now... the back casing is falling apart though.

EDIT: and according to SMART data, this hard drive has been powered on for 852 days, 13 hours.... if that's any indication of how much it's been used.

[1BadAction]

I have a ACER 5738PG. Touchscreen is nice for vehicle use but the screen is a shiny glare monster. It's my only computer besides my tablet and phone.

That toughbook was a helluva buy, Mark. I need to pick up a couple of those, one for tuning and one for my buddy and his alldata diagnostic stuff.

[EagleMark]

Mark, you mentioned about the air inlet on the bottom of yours and not getting air flow when on a seat. I have a thin angled seat cushon I bought that fits the angle of a seat real good to make a level spot, then put a thin peice of wood board (I think it was actually the backing for a large picture frame) on top of the cushon to give a flat hard surface for the laptop to set on. That way it sets level in the seat, and has good air flow for cooling.The new Toughbook has no vents on bottom! On one side and the SSD hard drive runs much cooler so all cooling is for processor.

The SSD uses much less power to. Battery is original and it gets 6 hours!

[daleulan]

I use one of the smaller HP laptops. For an burner I have a Conitec GALEP5 - it programs not only EPROMs but also all of the GALs and single-chip micros that I use for my other projects.

[Nasty-Z]

MSN netbook (Win XP) , Dell E5500 widescreen laptop (Windows 7) , and an older Toshiba Satellite laptop (Win XP) are the three main machines I use in my vehicles . All running TPv5 and all connected to one of 4 APU1's .

I have a few older laptops with Win98 on them I used to use floating around , havent used (or seen) them in a while ..........

TOM

[pmkls1]

After my custom built PC died a couple of years ago my wife and I decided to go with a laptop only. I no longer had the time to play on flight simulator which was the only game I played on a PC so I didn't have a need for a high-end PC anymore because any other gaming I do is on the playstation. We initially bought just one laptop to share, but that lasted about as long as it took for me to find a good deal on a used one. Nowadays, we have 2 identical laptops and 2 tablets. I absolutely hate tablets so I live on my laptop and it goes where I go. I even have a charger for all of my common situations now so I can keep it charged and surf indefinitely. I have one permanently plugged in downstairs in the living room next to my lazy boy, one on my side of the bed, and one in my carrying case that I put my laptop in anytime I step out of the house. Mine has the typical bottom mounted cooling vent that gets obstructed anytime it is sitting flat on any surface, but I always left it in the carrying case with the lid just flipped up while datalogging my hour-plus commute to and from my last job. By the time I got home it would be pretty hot, but it has never had any issues as of yet. The same goes for the previous laptop that only got replaced because we upgraded. My current laptop is an HP G61-631NR with an AMD Athlon II Dual-Core M300 2.0ghz processor, 4gb of RAM(upgraded from 3gb), and a 320gb hard drive that runs Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit edition. It's got 3 usb ports, an HDMI out, multimedia card reader, ethernet, modem, and VGA port as far as connections go. I don't think I've ever owned a laptop that had a serial port, but they've all been HP entertainment laptops. Of course, it doesn't hurt that my wife works for Aaron's so we get a good deal on some electronics. We got our surrent laptops for nearly nothing because they both had keyboard issues from having something spilled on them. I fixed mine by simply cleaning it, but hers needed a replacement. Anyhow, my laptop obviously doesn't have any problems with tuning and whatnot but the battery life is pretty short. If I keep the performance settings turned up it will last about an hour. I can stretch that a little by switching to power saver, but it maybe lasts another half hour. That's the drawback of having an entertainment oriented laptop, but all I do is surf the web and tune with it so the battery life isn't a big deal to me. The carrying case I have is a pretty serious case and if I remember the retail on it was like $75, but I stole it from the wife so it was free to me lol. It is a pretty nice Targus case with lots of protection and lots of compartments. It easily holds the laptop which is a "larger" model with a 15.6" screen along with my charger, Moates ALDU1, Moates Burn 1, extra chips and memcals, usb and hdmi cables, and still has LOTS of room to spare.

[EagleMark]

I've had goof luck with this old, well only 3-4 years, HP 17 inch screen laptop. Pretty tough as it has hit the dash board, then floor three times in panic stops... :rolleye: Guess it's tough? Man I cringe when that happens and always wanted something cheap and tough for in vehicle use.

[Six_Shooter]

I've had several tuning laptops, most of them have been Lenovos. Lenovos are about the only laptop I have found that was "affordable" and would take a beating. I've had a T30, R61i, and one other Lenovo, all have worked great, until they died, or retired. My T30 just up and died on me one night when I was working on it, suspect MoBo issues. Replaced it with my R61i, which has lasted me about 5 years or so. It still works, but had to replace the fan recently. Battery life sucks on it though.

I have another laptop that my Grandfather is using currently, that I think is a Dell, that I plan to make into a dedicated tuning laptop, since battery life is great, and it was free. It can only run XP, not enough power to run Win7. :/

I also have my Samsung that I got for school, that has tuning software installed, but is supposed to be for school only. :innocent2:

So I have more laptops than I need, but the only ones worth selling are not really worth selling, too old, or too many problems.

I also have two of my Girlfriends old laptops that I might be able to get up and running again, well at least the one. Summer break I will spend some time on them and see if I can salvage them. Maybe install one permanently in my car. lol

[pmkls1]

I've seriously thought about a semi-permanent car mounted laptop in my firebird before, but that was when I swore I would never get into OBD II tuning. I didn't think about anything crazy, just building some sort of mounting system and hard-wiring a power inverter and charging cord. I also had several laptops laying around at one time, but they were all in good condition so I sold the older ones cuz I needed the money and I can upgrade easily just about any time. Every time newer models come in at my wife's work they clear out the "older" models so we can get those cheap. For example, they now carry windows 8 laptops so we could have bought any remaining windows 7 models for near nothing. Then, there are the returned units that aren't worth fixing like the ones we have now. Unfortunately, it isn't like that with just any product that they sell, just some. Anyway, I have always been partial to HP products because they are sold just about everywhere so it isn't hard to find parts and accessoriess. I have also always had good luck with their products too. I like their printers and liked their cameras until they quit making them. In fact my printer is an HP and so is my nice camera as well as one of my wife's tablets.

[EagleMark]

If you look around at reviews you'll find Lenovo always very high and seems they always compare to HP. Then look for consumer reviews and again Lenovo always ranks high.

With the exception of my HP laptop I've never owned a new computer, all my stuff is pawn shop, thrift store or eBay... my old desktop I built from left over parts from fixing and upgrading other peoples PCs, had it about 10 years, keep changing or adding, has all my old hard drives in it. Networked to my $3 ethernet box and for monitor has a $10 18 inch flat screen monitor mounted on an adjustable arm hanging off my shelf above my desk.

My 32 inch TV/Monitor off my HP was $40 from a freind at pawn shop when it was returned, some of the gaming cable plugs did not work.

[1BadAction]

Mark, with as much tuning as you do, have you ever thought about an adjustable vehicle mount?

[pmkls1]

I never bought a new laptop or pc until a couple years ago when we went to laptops. We actually needed to have some sort of computer for a few different reasons so when the desktop went kaput we needed to get something quickly. We went ahead and bought a new one through the wife's work because they didn't have any used ones at the time. Every laptop since then was used, but not very old. The wife did buy the last tablet new, but that was done without my knowledge of course. :rolleye:

I built all of my desktops before that and they were built with mostly new or refurbished components save for the archaic monitor that I always reused for some reason :confused:. I've never had an excess of money, though, so I had a method of building them and also shopped around. There are several places to shop around and get good deals like ebay, geeks.com, tiger direct, etc. I would build a decent system and then upgrade it as money permitted until it was time to build a new one. I began with a decent new case, a big power supply, the latest cd/dvd burner, and a fairly high-end mobo. I would then get a reasonably priced processor that was about the smallest the mobo would support, a fair amount of memory, a mid-level video card, and a high-end sound card since they were cheap. Hard drives were reused until they either broke or got full, but I always had 3 in the computer so the second and third drives were units that had been a primary drive until they got too small. Once they came out, I bought a nice wireless keyboard and mouse and reused them until something broke. Network cards were pretty standard and I just got whatever until they started integrating them into the mobos that I used.

[EagleMark]

Mark, with as much tuning as you do, have you ever thought about an adjustable vehicle mount?I have thought about it... but since I almost died once tuning and driving I have a strict rule of not doing both! Click record, drive, park, stop, watch, adjust, upload, record, drive... rinse and repeat. I drive up and down freeway and get on/off every ramp.

[mekkis]

Thinkpad for life.

No disrespect to the Toughbook crowd, though.

[1BadAction]

I know most of you guys are into laptops that are used, but this could be an option to get into a brand new Dell XFR for about 1/4 of the price. http://www.parts-people.com/index.php?action=item&id=13138

[1BadAction]

Here it is if you have a battery and adapter, better pics too. http://www.parts-people.com/index.php?action=item&id=12901

[EagleMark]

That's pretty cool! Never saw one before...

Then theres Itronix!
http://www.gd-itronix.com/index.cfm?page=Products:XR-1

[1BadAction]

That's pretty cool! Never saw one before...

Then theres Itronix!
http://www.gd-itronix.com/index.cfm?page=Products:XR-1

Close to $4000 new, which is probably why. Surprised me they let panasonic have that market for so long, Dell has a major foothold with government agencies and IMO someone there really dropped the ball by not noticing that market sooner. Anyhow, I think by the parts houses selling them as kits, they get around paying big bucks for microsoft licensing and mil-spec. It's also last years model but for what we need them for, the durability and portability is the most important part. Anti-Glare touch screen is nice for a car also.

[bentrod]

Thinkpad for life.

No disrespect to the Toughbook crowd, though.

Agreed. Well, pre lenovo because I think the quality has went down the shitter with them.

Still my tuning computer is a T42. It's officially the last device I own that has a parallel port to run my 10+ year old programmer. (shown in the left corner of my desk here.)
http://i.imgur.com/unpEuIY.jpg


It's the same computer that i use to run my mini CNC too (again because of the parallel port >:( )
http://i.imgur.com/5RGCoib.jpg

[EagleMark]

I hate to ask what the chainsaw is used for... :innocent2:

So what's with the thinkpads? Are they just quality stuff that lasts?

[Xenon]

Mine is a Lenovo ThinkPad T61... It was an off lease corporate unit, got it for ~$200. Cant beat it. Plus it has the little track stick in the middle of the keyboard... I cant stand the touch pad.

[bentrod]

I hate to ask what the chainsaw is used for... :innocent2:
"emergencies" :laugh:


So what's with the thinkpads? Are they just quality stuff that lasts?

Thinkpads are (were) quality computers. Metal cases, great driver support with quality chips from reputable companies, hardware level Fn keys (for stuff like sound, brightness, keyboard light, et c), bitchin' docking stations, keyboard joystick, plus more.

Toughbooks are also great machines. They have different levels of ruggedness, but all seem pretty quality on the outside and also have decent internal design. Problem is they are pretty expensive, like alot more than a top of the line thinkpad. And as far as tech goes, they can be a little behind comparatively.

Dont get me wrong though, they are in their own class of awesome. Seems like you got a pretty good deal on yours. I have a dream of getting a RAM mount for my truck and throwing a toughbook on it like the POs.

[EagleMark]

I have a dream of getting a RAM mount for my truck and throwing a Toughbook on it like the POs.I just ordered one... :rolleye:

I rarely drive anywhere without testing or data logging something and the wife is getting tired of sharing the seat... :laugh:

So far the anti glare screen is the best option this Toughbook has for tuning along with FN keys for screen brightness etc... serial port for wide band, some really quality software for things like battery re calibration, LAN disable time to save power if not in use, Bluetooth and even a switch to turn off wireless for security and power saver. I was lucky to find an original windows for the Serial number and has all manuals etc... neat toy, for the money, I can't see spending that kind of cash these cost new.

[EagleMark]

Have to add the Touchscreen is quite handy too now that I'm getting used to using it!

[damanx]

Have to add the Touchscreen is quite handy too now that I'm getting used to using it!

That was the best part of the CF-29 I have, unfortunately, the touchscreen just died.....:mad1:

Then, I managed to kilk the back light because apparently, you don't want to unplug the connector on the motherboard to the inverter with either the battery or the ac adapter plugged in.

Fortunately, the doorstop cf-28 had the chip I needed to replace the bad OR gate.

Now to figure out how to get that touchscreen fixed.

A couple of pics of the chip that had to be replaced, using a microscope and a VERY STEADY hand......

4596

4597

[1BadAction]

Have to add the Touchscreen is quite handy too now that I'm getting used to using it!


You'll find yourself pressing on the screen of non-touch laptops after you get used to using the TS. I've had my touch screen Acer since late 2010 and the only thing I don't like is the shiny surface. I'll end up buying one of those Dells I posted above and outfit it with a SSD, then I'll be set for all my portability uses, EFILive, Tunerpro, Logging, etc.

I also design and coordinate building systems in Navisworks and Revit, a Laptop just doesn't have the balls to do that effectively, it's much better to have two different computers. A desktop with some horsepower, and a notebook that is durable for toting around and throwing in cars.

[bentrod]

Have to add the Touchscreen is quite handy too now that I'm getting used to using it!

oh yea I can see that, esp when sitting in a car. I was debating getting a tablet or TB for the truck really...still up in the air. BTW I'd be interested in some pictures of how you end up mounting the ram mount just for some ideas!

[EagleMark]

I'm not sure I'm going to like the Ram Mount? Find out when it gets here. It will make some more room when the wife is with me... but like I said I have a strict rule of no tuning while driving after a near death experience! I've gotten used to my route of town and freeway on off ramps and parking spots. Put laptop on steering wheel and stomach and do my thing, record and drive again... no near death experiences since!

But if I make some big dashboards for particular items I can't see it being more then a glance at gauges?

Then where it's mounted will be like typing one hand? Touchscreen may help that, but again only when parked... or I'd have to remove it and put on steering wheel again, back and forth...

Streets and Trips is awesome for planning out a route for friday or saturday garage sales so that should work good in Ram Mount. GPS speed from the software works great for dialing in Speedometer.

[Six_Shooter]

oh yea I can see that, esp when sitting in a car. I was debating getting a tablet or TB for the truck really...still up in the air. BTW I'd be interested in some pictures of how you end up mounting the ram mount just for some ideas!

AFAIK Tuner Pro won't work on tablets. The only exceptikn might be a Windows 8 based tablet, but then hatdware interfacing might be an issue.

[RobertISaar]

IIRC, Mark has stated that normal Win8(not the ARM based one) works fine, but i could be wrong.

there aren't any Win7 tablets on the market?

[JeepsAndGuns]

My new desktop home PC has windows 8 and I have tunerproRT installed on it. Everything seems to work fine. But naturally I cant carry it outside and hook it up to my jeep and test the data logging part. But as far as looking at and changing bins, it has worked fine.

[Six_Shooter]

Yes, Windoze 8 and Tuner Pro get along. My concern is the hardware connectivity of a tablet and the car. ;) I haven't sen a tablet with USB ports.

[EagleMark]

I remember when a tablet was the same as a pill which was different then a capsule! But now a tablet is half a laptop with no USB ports? :laugh:

[Six_Shooter]

lol.

[JeepsAndGuns]

I have never really looked at or paid attention to tablets as I really dont have a use for one. But they dont have USB ports? Strange....
How do you hook anything to them? Or do just not? If not then what really are they good for?

But I saw where some guys have replaced their stero head units with tablets. Looks pretty interesting. That would be cool if you could perminately mount a tablet like that and leave a cable plugged into the aldl port hooked to it and have instant tunerpro hookup anywhere you go....lol. What about bluetooth? Could you use a bluetooth aldl hicky and link it with a tablet?

[1BadAction]

I think the tablet that was referred to for tuning is actually more of a laptop with a convertible screen. These usually run windows 7 and have USB ports. I also believe a few of them still have serial ports if you're looking at "business" laptops, like the Dell Latitude. Another good thing about the workstations is they still have the 4:3 ratio screens instead of the widescreen, widescreens SUCK for tuning unless they are 17+ inches.

[Six_Shooter]

I prefer widescreen for everything, including tuning. My laptops have 15" widescreens and work very well for tuning. I think it works especially well for Tuner Pro, where the parameters tree is on the left, and then the dash and tables on the right.

[RobertISaar]

my laptop is 15.4" at 1280 X 800 and i used some pretty complex/filled dash designs before... kind of an oddball at 16:10 ratio, but i like it.

[1BadAction]

Mine is 1440X768 and it doesn't have enough room. I autohide the taskbar and that helps, but I still would like more. Maybe the extra inch would change my mind, but my work laptop is the older 4:3 and it works great.

[EagleMark]

I'd have to vote for the 15.x screen too. My 17 is to big and the 13 is to small...

[EagleMark]

So how long will a Toughbook last? Well this one has been running for 478 years?

[Six_Shooter]

Pfft! Not nearly long enough...

[1BadAction]

So has anyone used a cigarette lighter power supply to plug their laptop in? EFILive says that it will damage the flashscan and possibly the laptop, but is it the same with APU and tunerpro?

[1project2many]

So how long will a Toughbook last? Well this one has been running for 478 years?
No surprise. Turns out Columbus used a Garmin. He was the first one to type in "new world" so he got here first.

I used a 12V lighter supply with my old Thinkpad for years. TC OBDI and II. Now I use an inverter that plugs into the lighter. Works ok as far as I can tell.

[Six_Shooter]

You mean a power inverter?

I use one all the time with my one laptop, since the battery reserve is pretty much non-existent.

[RobertISaar]

in theory..... i can see it causing a problem, depending on how the laptop's motherboard is setup. if you suddenly lose the ground, but not the positive, from the lighter socket, i would think it would be possible that the ground circuit in the USB plug might be used to charge the laptop.... with disasterous results.

i'm not sure if the same situation would apply with an inverter powering a charger powering the laptop... there might be enough isolation between the devices to where losing the ground wouldn't cause the same issue?

in any case, i've been powering my laptop with an inverter while logging/programming/etc since 2008 with no issues with various forms of GM OBD1 cables. all of the OBD2 cable suppliers seem to state that issues can arise, and i happen to know of someone with a dead HPT cable because of this exact scenario, so i'm not sure if it's a circuit design issue or something inevitable about OBD2 communications.

[1BadAction]

You mean a power inverter?

I use one all the time with my one laptop, since the battery reserve is pretty much non-existent.




in any case, i've been powering my laptop with an inverter while logging/programming/etc since 2008 with no issues with various forms of GM OBD1 cables. all of the OBD2 cable suppliers seem to state that issues can arise, and i happen to know of someone with a dead HPT cable because of this exact scenario, so i'm not sure if it's a circuit design issue or something inevitable about OBD2 communications.

Sounds good to me, guess I'll see what I can find for a decent quality inverter. It'll be nice to have more than an hour of tuning time in one shot. Using the screen at full blast brightness (because of the sun) just kills the battery.

[EagleMark]

I think a 12 volt laptop charger avoids these issues?

I've got 2 ThinkPad chargers that have 110 and 12 volt to charge laptop battery. SO I leave one with 12 volt in vehicle...

[EagleMark]

I checked with EFI Live and no, just because it's 12 volt does not make it safe, may be worse!

Rule of thumb is at no time to have 2 grounds to same source! The Scantool V2 to ALDL port is grounded and attached to USB port and so is the 12 volt cig lighter charger. Bad things can happen including burning up the EFI Live V2 box, PCM or laptop.

That said many guys have used an invertor and 12 volt laptop charger without issue, myself included with OBDI equipment. I've never tried with OBDII stuff and with this info am not going to try!

There is one guy who stays busy replacing the part/chip/fuse that frys in a V2 because of this...

With my setup I'd actually have three gound paths all to 12 volt, V2 Scantool, 12 volt charger and USB RoadRunner. One guy said he runs a 12 volt charger for years and no issues with V2 Scantool, but when he plugs in charger with Scantool and RoadRunner the engine shuts off!

The other rule of thumb in bench flashing or any flashing is fully charged vehicle battery and fully charged laptop battery. Which I have always done including OBDI LT1 and never an issue so why change.

Now I have bench flashed many times with my laptop on AC charger, just because I forgot! But my bench flashing is all 12 volt off a battery. SO 2 different electrical systems, no grounds to same electrical system. Battery chargers on 12 volt bench system can also create issues! But I have a small Battery Tender that never get's turned off. On charge it is very small, like 1.25 amps and at storage so small I can't remember? So it looks like big chargers may cause noise/voltage/amps which can mess up a flash?

[EagleMark]

Well so far I'm liking the Ram Mount! Still following my rule of no tuning and driving! But the clear view of a dashboard set to what you need at time is very useful. I've never used dashboards much even with data logs, monitors are much more useful.

The way I have the Ram Mount it is all the way down, was going to cut to lower it more so laptop was below dash, but then would take up legroom. WHere it is I have no blind spots!

Just a glance at dash board is no differant then a glance at vehicle dash board or Wide Band Lambda gauge while driving! It's not like tryuing to find what you need with laptop on seat which is way to much time with eyes off the road, similar to texting!

You can see my Moates O-Meter through steering wheel. I really like it as it's fully programmable for AFR or Lambda and also does data logging...

But doing some testing with RoadRunner emulator it's easy to set up so change needed to test and glance at dash board is very easy, just click and listen for the Road Runner Beep-Beep! :rockon:

http://www.gearhead-efi.com/Fuel-Injection/attachment.php?attachmentid=4632&stc=1&d=1368035860

[1BadAction]

I checked with EFI Live and no, just because it's 12 volt does not make it safe, may be worse!


This is good information. I've been pretty much exclusively flashing via the V2, I think it's probably been 2 years since I've had the laptop in the truck while I flash. This is the main reason I haven't sprung for a laptop mount yet, until I started on my suburban the only thing I've needed to carry with me is a small handheld that I could stick between the seat cushions securely.


Well so far I'm liking the Ram Mount! Still following my rule of no tuning and driving! But the clear view of a dashboard set to what you need at time is very useful. I've never used dashboards much even with data logs, monitors are much more useful.

The way I have the Ram Mount it is all the way down, was going to cut to lower it more so laptop was below dash, but then would take up legroom. WHere it is I have no blind spots!

Just a glance at dash board is no differant then a glance at vehicle dash board or Wide Band Lambda gauge while driving! It's not like tryuing to find what you need with laptop on seat which is way to much time with eyes off the road, similar to texting!

You can see my Moates O-Meter through steering wheel. I really like it as it's fully programmable for AFR or Lambda and also does data logging...

But doing some testing with RoadRunner emulator it's easy to set up so change needed to test and glance at dash board is very easy, just click and listen for the Road Runner Beep-Beep! :rockon:

http://www.gearhead-efi.com/Fuel-Injection/attachment.php?attachmentid=4632&stc=1&d=1368035860

THIS IS COOL! I want, nay, I NEED this. I can see where it would come in handy to keep the laptop secure. I also like the fact that it's a secondary dash board. Nice when you don't have a tach like my truck. I'm digging the moates-o-meter also... Shit, I need a better paying job. :laugh:

[EagleMark]

That Moates O-Meter is modified to include the LED and button to calibrate the Innovate LC1 WB. I wired up the wideband to be portable with a relay, power, ground and trigger, it also mounts on my AutoProm.

http://www.gearhead-efi.com/Fuel-Injection/attachment.php?attachmentid=2686&d=1320981960

http://www.gearhead-efi.com/Fuel-Injection/attachment.php?attachmentid=139&d=1320981967



I've been pretty much exclusively flashing via the V2, I think it's probably been 2 years since I've had the laptop in the truck while I flash. One of these days I need to try that...

[1BadAction]

Looks similar to my LC1 setup, I wired up a GM fuel pump relay out of a late model fuse center, LED, and pushbutton in a small black box from radio shack. That way I can hook up power, ground, and key on power signal and not worry about any added load on the vehicle electronics. When it's in the truck and under hood, you can't tell it's not a factory piece unless you know these trucks really well.

Once you get used to logging and tuning solely with the V2, you'll kick yourself for not doing it sooner.

[bentrod]

RAM mount looks good, eaglemark. I think i'll pass on that one though because my truck is manual. Maybe I just need to check out other bottom mounts because I really like the top part and how easy it is to change positions.

Also that's the main reason I would get the ram mount too; Streets and trips was a great program really (besides being from msft and only able to run on windows) and newer GPSes are a lot better than they were even 5 years ago as signal lock maintaining and acquiring.

[EagleMark]

Totally different mount for your truck, then there's a flat drill mount, many mounts!

[1BadAction]

The mounts I've seen are adjustable and bolt to the seat base. Then there are the ones that strap to the seat and have adjustable arms...

[roby]

Once a laptop is acquired, what's the safest/most stable configuration of base settings? What background programs should not be installed or running (ie. anti virus, backup, auto update, etc.)?

This is assuming a dedicated, non networked, web isolated, tune only laptop.

[EagleMark]

I still run all that stuff, biggest issue is power managment, make sure the screen goes off so you can touch mouse to turn back on. Don't want laptop to turn off altogether...

I actually leave the tuning laptop in vehicle when I get back and network from office for changes needed.

Windows updates can cause issues on WIndows 7 but real bad on XP. Look at your Start Turn Off button and it will have an icon for restart. If it does need a restart? all sorts of things don't work right.

Flashing OBDII is sometimes tricky and things should be off. No Interuptions!

Although I can get 4+ hours from my laptop battery with screen brightness on high. It did die while emulating the RoadRunner the other day. When the laptop turned off... so did my truck! :laugh:

That does not happen with AutoProm.

Lots of guys have gotten away with running a laptop charger off 12 volt or inverter including my self. This is very dangerous with OBDII equipment.

[roby]

Just trying to make some decisions on setting up an older XP laptop dedicated to tuning. Keep XP or update to 7, run antivirus, if updated to 7 any compatibility issues with any of the "older" tuning suites, etc.

If it's going to be a isolated laptop, seems some of the normally running stuff could be eliminated to lessen chances of conflict.

Seem to remember stories of OBD1(probably LT1 mostly) bricking easily if background stuff would happen to scan or pole while attempting to flash.

[EagleMark]

My dedicated tuning laptop is a Panasonic Toughbook running XP pro. Still has wireless and Ethernet. Still run True Image 2013 for backup once a week and Non Stop backup along with Sync to my other 2 laptops. Really the only thing it's missing as a dedicated tuning PC is no image software? Music? Video player etc...

No problems with TunerPRo, TunerCat, EFI Live, WinFlash, OBDII Winflash etc... same with my desk laptops that runs Windows 7. TunerCat just needs to be installed and run as XP service pack 3 compatibility mode.

Your right about the flashing, no interruptions. But I have had a screen saver come on, screen turn off, email pop up and no issues. Just can't let laptop turn off or restart or something take away big CPU power! Loose USB or ALDL connection. For the power management I have an always on setting! I don't have any other programs running that may cause a big CPU draw, my backup software goes to hardly any CPU draw if anything else is running. Just my experience. There was also reports of some garage door openers causing flash issues? RFI? That is a weird one... CB radios keyed up do cause enough RFI to mess up a flash, onstar or alarm systems can cause issues. Weak vehicle battery is probably more a concern, herd of one brick because the passenger door had opened? So was it an alarm issue or weak vehicle battery? Laptop battery charge is another bigger issue! I have a 60% charge rule that has not failed yet., I do check charging systems and load test battery before doing in car flash.

Your absolutely correct though, the least running the better.

I've got about 100 reflash under my belt and still no bricks or doorstop PCMS!

[pma4x4]

I am running a Panasonic Toughbook CF-29 Full rugged with waterproof lit keyboard.I just upgraded the hard drive to a SSD and removed the optical drive and installed a secondary 500gig slave drive. That means no more moving parts! During our last off road trip it decided to slip off the backseat of the suburban 3.5 feet down to asphalt on its corner. Picked it up and it boot right up no data loss. I am runnign XP ro on it. I will say that the SSD drive really brought new life into this old work horse. It is the Laptop and only laptop we trust out on the trails.

This will be running our Tunerpro software along with Live GPS data logging and a bunch of other fun software.

7332

[joegreen]

Lenovo T500 i bought off ebay for 130+30 for oem charger. took it all apart cleaned and applied new antec formula7 thermal compund. It has 4gb ddr3, dedicated gpu, t9400 core 2 duo, 160gb hdd, and win 7 ultimate. great magnesium chassis for a rugged laptop. Its my take everywhere laptop and it should be great for tuning.:popcorn: