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• LCD (duh)
  
• controller (either PCI card or inline vga "analog" converter)
  
• inverter - converts DC to AC for the BACKLIGHT
  

There's a better solution on the horizon: Dashboard Linux! Let's beat the closed source fatcats to the next big industry.

The dashpc has this functionality. If anyone would like to contribute to the proejct, please feel free to.

I will add this functionality to the dashpc now that I have the ODBII link working. I will config it to snap a pic every mile and upload them to the website. Since it's automated, you'll be able to get the pics ever time I pull into the parking garage...

Cheers,

CB

Here's the link for those whom care:

dashpc.com
sourceforge.net

The article Slashdot should have posted...

DashPC

The article Slashdot should have posted...

DashPC

Frankly, we're kind of bored by all these spyware/shareware stories (don't people learn?) so we let it sit around in the submissions bin for a few days, until, say, a slow Saturday night.

Well then Michael, you should have fucking posted my story about the DashPC that was rejected 10 minutes ago. When will editors fucking learn?

On this page I hightlight how I made my car's dashPC. The dashPC is an integrated computer console
built on the Linux operating system, and integrated into the dashboard of my car. The
computer is interfaced via a 6.4" Touchscreen VGA LCD display mounted in the
center console. In addition, a wireless keyboard / mouse combination is used for text entry.
The dashPC has Global Positioning and Navigation (GPS), Digital Versatile Discs (DVDs), Games (Wolfenstein 3d,
SoF, UT), Address book database, etc.
I can run any programs that will run on an Intel/AMD i686 class
computer.

It's very similiar to the non-commercial open-source dashpc project. The link is: dashpc.com. It's been slashdotted before. I think it was called "dashboard linux". The code for it was just submitted to sourceforge recently.

Something about this "commercial" vehiclepc seems very fishy though...

Dude, check out GPSdrive for linux GPS navigation software (shameless plug: like that used in the dash pc.

You can see something like this in action already here. And it runs linux.

Update #61 ( 11/23/01 - Happy Thanksgiving! ):
Due to the overwhelming number of requests that I've gotten for schematics, I've decided to put them up online. This is the design of the system, and this is the electronic schematic of the BS2 boot module. Please Note: This schematic is not 100% accurate. If you build this it will not work properly. I will post the "corrected" diagram shortly. I just didn't have the "actual" pinouts handy when I did the diagram. If you know anything about electronics, and read the BS2 documentation you could easily figure this out. I will answer questions if you have any.

Update #61 ( 11/23/01 - Happy Thanksgiving! ):
Due to the overwhelming number of requests that I've gotten for schematics, I've decided to put them up online. This is the design of the system, and this is the electronic schematic of the BS2 boot module. Please Note: This schematic is not 100% accurate. If you build this it will not work properly. I will post the "corrected" diagram shortly. I just didn't have the "actual" pinouts handy when I did the diagram. If you know anything about electronics, and read the BS2 documentation you could easily figure this out. I will answer questions if you have any.

I'm guessing that's where the screenshots of the Windows desktop come from.

Further down there's also this question, which explains why he made the switch:
What plugins do you use with Winamp?
I no longer use Winamp. I use XMMS for linux now. Windows sucks. Period. But you knew that already.

Yes, we did know that already. :)

I'm guessing that's where the screenshots of the Windows desktop come from.

Further down there's also this question, which explains why he made the switch:
What plugins do you use with Winamp?
I no longer use Winamp. I use XMMS for linux now. Windows sucks. Period. But you knew that already.

Yes, we did know that already. :)

The listed software includes VMware. So it looks like your windows theories are true, but only by emulation.

JOhn

I use bulletproof window film on the linux car. A thief could break the window out, but it's much, much more difficult; and the time it would take would eliminate the idea of "smash and grab". It'd be more like: "smash, smash, bash, bash, bash, hit, pull, tugg, tug, smash, bash, rip, and try to grab without getting cut." It's not foolproof, but it's a healthy deterrent. It's expensive too, but that's the price you pay (no pun intended).

Can be found here, for those interested. It uploads GPS data at boot to tell the owner it's location. In dash VGA touchscreen, MP3s, etc.

I get ethernet connectivity once in a while in the Linux Car. There's some details in the news section of the page.

Enjoy.

This is most excellent news! I'll be able to use ricochet on the The Linux Car again. It makes the dashboard PC worth doing again. Without 'net access it's just another carputer / MP3player / glorified DVD machine.

There are no banner ads on www.dashpc.com (at least there shouldn't be). The site was just recently moved from geocities, to a hosted T1. Did you mean that it _had_ banners and now no longer does...?

That's exactly what the dashpc is. It's 6.4" touchscreen, linux, Xfree86, wireless keyboard, mp3s, dvds, etc.

The hard drive doesn't crash and I don't even get any data errors on it. It's mounted sideways, so that's probably why. Worst case scenario, the heads just need to realign.

It's already been done...

I don't use a DC powersupply though.

I just added a wireless nic to my car. My linux box is fully booted before I pull out of the garage. Before, I've gone out of range, the carpc has downloaded the latest slashdot headlines, weather, and traffic. Here is a link to the car.

I just added a wireless nic to my car. My linux box is fully booted before I pull out of the garage. Before, I've gone out of range, the carpc has downloaded the latest slashdot headlines, weather, and traffic. Here is a link to the car.

I was streaming audio into my car at 128k when ricochet was here. but then they went broke. bah! oh yeah, here is how I did it...

...in a few weeks. Here is a link with pictures. It features in dash 6.4" LCD touchscreen, DVD, GPS (via VMware), MP3s, 5" LCD's in the headrests, integrated PSOne, etc... It currently runs Gnome. See the pictures on the page. It's a homebrew project costing much less than emPeg.