Carputer project
 

Well, winter is almost here and I just found a nice little project for those dark winter weekends. Anyone here embark on a similar project and would like to share experiences?

For those not familiar with the term, Carputer means a computer setup in your car (music/car diagnostics using OBDII/GPS and anything else you fancy) :cool:

There are some good bits and kits on www.Mini-itx.com I've not dived in yet too many PC's / bits of PC's around the place at present.

WiFi between the car an home seems a must, as is a touch screen for display / control (expensive!) and a graceful start and shut down when the ignition is switched on / off. Delaying start up while cranking the engine and saving safely as you switch off.

Will you be blogging the project?

hmm never thought about blogging...don't have a digicam so not sure if I will do it or not.

My Ver.1 will just have bare minimuns and a solid power supply base to build/upgrade on. Good Touch screen and Power supply will have the priority. I will use my 'old' PII for experimenting with the power supply.

Lots of information around the net still in the researching phase, but looks like a lot of fun. Ebay is worth checking too.

Smurfjet,

The old Linux Web Appliances are very popular for the mod you want to do. They make great MP3 Jukeboxes for your car.

If you want something simpler, just stick in an iPod. ;)

Take Care,

Richard

Have you read the november issue of Custom PC (in the uk) its got a feature on some chaps ford focus.
He has kitted it out with a dashboard touchscreen satnav, digital music and movies. wifi LAN, Bluetooth Current traffic and speed camera locations etc etc. Looks quite cool.

Ah here it is. I was looking for this topic on page 2 and 3 when it got bumped by Daysleeper :ok:

Richard, my first task was to decide on the OS platform to use. At this point Windows (:}) has scored a lot of points due to the fact that there are lot of Software out there available for this kind of application. Otherwise you will need to do some stuff in-house, like some very crafty and talented people!

Personally I want music, car diagnostics and GPS.

Daysleeper I'll see if we get this mag over here, though the internet is full of Carputer blogs.