Dashboard Linux

zebziggle writes "The dashPC has Global Positioning (GPS) and Navigation, DVDs, Games (Quake 3, SoF, UT), Address book database, etc. It can run any programs that will run on an Intel/AMD i686 class computer. There is a Basic Stamp micro-controller that interfaces the Linux box to the car ignition for controlled boot/shutdown." The article says Linux, but that screenshot tells a different story. The website has other stuff and a lot more pictures.

Comments

Basic Stamp?

[EvlPenguin]

Uses a basic stamp for interfacing? What a piece of shit (not to be base or anything). I'm sorry but any product that needs a eeprom dedicated to interpriting serial BASIC code is not something I would buy (not to mention it is slow as hell).

If they needed to use basic, they should be using something like the PicBASIC Compiler, which will optimize the equivalent code and compile it into hex (so there's no need for a basic interpriter on the board). It still boggels the mind as to why they would use a basic stamp when something like picbasic (or just learn pic asm! It's not hard!) on one of the new higher end PIC Micros (like the 17Fx series... here) with 16K of flash memory. BS Stamps use one of these themselves (though I think they use the older 16F84), but the code is stored onboard as BASIC and then interprited through a seperate serial line and micro controller.

Other than that, i still think it's just stupid. There's only one good reason to have a computer in your car....

So if most of your apps are Windows...

[fmaxwell]

Why run Linux when your GPS software and other apps are native Windows apps? Just so you can say "Look at me! I'm one of the l33T linux dudez!"?

If you want to run Quake, UT, Winamp (or equivalent), and commercial GPS mapping software, you need Windows, not Linux. Of course, there's always someone with a really big hammer, a square peg, and a round hole...