Complete PC instead of a Car Stereo

An anonymous reader submitted linked to a PC that fits in your car stereo slot. It's a bit spendy at $1k, but its got CD/DVD, PCMCIA, USB, Keyboard, Mic, Headphones, VGA, more. And besides being powered by your car, it also has built in GPS. Lots of interesting hacking ideas here for people who prefer to spend more time in their cars then me ;)

Comments

I really like this idea.

[perdida]

Unfortunately, if it becomes widespread, more jobs may require computer use and more jobs may force commuter time to be worktime.

I for one will miss my opportunity to sing at the top of my lungs while I sit there trying to drive on the freeway while fielding phone calls and writing voice-controlled spreadsheets.

Others, though, may like the notion of getting paid for their commuter time.

Will you be able to use these in New York State, which outlawed hand held cell use while driving? Not until voice control technology gets richer and broader.

Re:I really like this idea.

[bergeron76]

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...

Re:I really like this idea.

[Anonymous Coward]

I have no friends and nobody likes me. I will do anything to get your attention.

Re:I really like this idea.

[praktike]

Not until voice control technology gets richer and broader.

i think this could be a huge area--developing intuitive AUIs (aural user interfaces). i guess "tell me"'s voice-xml thing is one potential model, but it seems like there's got to be a better way to navigate out there somewhere. imagine trying to do some of your common tasks by using only your voice. this is difficult.

Re:I really like this idea.

[dattaway]

New York State, which outlawed hand held cell use while driving?

Those laws don't cover it all yet... I often type emails into my cell phone more often than I talk into it. The joys of slashdot on the road. Watch out!

Re:I really like this idea.

[big_hairy_mama]

VoiceXML would be a great add-on to this... but VoiceXML is mostly designed to work with telephone systems, and, like you said, many common tasks are not easy to emulate with voice (especially using VoiceXML, which is essentially limited to the "ask a question, get an answer" model). While it's theoretically possible, VoiceXML doesn't support continuous recognition (you have to program grammars with for all intents and purposes a fixed number of phrases). You will never be able to say "Computer, transfer all of the files that John sent me last week to my home computer". Not to mention that this computer's CPU is only 266Mhz, which is just on this side of barely adequate, and that there isn't currently a good VoiceXML interpreter designed to be embedded in a PC platform like this (most require multi-thousand dollar telephony cards).

There are voice technologies out there that could support such a model, but there are additional problems when you consider the limited power available and that you're inside a moving vehicle (road noise).

I've been involved in VoiceXML for the past two years, and I wish it nothing but the best. But I think people should put energy into telephone systems, where VoiceXML shines.

Slot Loaded...

[jawad]

They should have used a slot-loaded optical drive instead of the tray. It would be less of a jump for people to grep if it was more like a regular car cd-player.

Re:Slot Loaded...

[Anonymous Coward]

That, I'm sure, is easily fixable. Toshiba makes some very nice 10x DVD slot loading IDE drives.

Re:Slot Loaded...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes but the tray can now really be used as a cup holder!

Obligatory

[chas7926]

Imagine a Beowulf Cluster of these!!!

Re:Obligatory

[lastninja]

It's called a traffic jam.

Re:Obligatory

[hrieke]

Stuck in a (data) traffic jam, of course.
Of course, some l33t kiddie in the mini van next to you just r00ted your car and now you have to suffer with Berry Manalo's greatest hits at full volume.

Re:Obligatory

[Murmer]

Imagine a Beowulf Cluster of these!!!

What, you mean a forty-car pileup?

Re:Obligatory

[Anonymous Coward]

Where's the obligatory redundant moderation? =)

Re:Obligatory

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, I can see it now...

"And in other news, there was yet another 100 car pile up on [insert local freeway here] at rush our this evening."

Just great.

Re:Obligatory

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't have to imagine...

we already have a beowolf cluster of OT beowoofing posts...

Road Rage

[Anonymous Coward]

I can see it now... Most people hate drivers speaking on their mobile phones whilst driving, too deep in conversation to notice the road conditions. Just imagine what's going to happen when they're busy downloading porn...

Empeg?

[strags]

Although the Empeg (now known as Rio Car) isn't Intel-based, it runs on a decently powered StrongARM CPU, and includes a nice screen as well. Runs Linux, and I believe is somewhat hackable.

Since they've stopped production, they're selling off the last ones really cheap - $399 for 60GB version. If you want a nice, hackable in-car computer to hack around with you might want to snap one of these up before they're all gone.

Re:Empeg?

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you know how deep it is? I bought a NEO a while back only to find that it was about twice the depth of a normal CD player and therefore would not fit in my car!

Re:Empeg?

[crimsonhead]

"Although the Empeg [empeg.com] (now known as Rio Car) isn't Intel-based, it runs on a decently powered StrongARM CPU"

StrongARM is an Intel product, so your system isn't Pentium based but it still is Intel based.

Re:Empeg?

[strags]

You're right of course, but I think most would understand what I meant. Incidentally, how much of the StrongARM is actually Intel-designed? Does Intel actually design a chip around the ARM instruction set, or do they actually use ARM-designed hardware?

Re:Empeg?

[skivvie]

It's standard DIN size... the same size as any head unit.

Re:Empeg?

[Bert64]

Hmm, according to the site.. the empeg is actually sold out, all the versions are sold out infact..
If i had known earlier they were now so cheap, i would have gone an ordered one!

Re:Empeg?

[Cryptnotic]

Intel couldn't design a decent architecture to save the company. All of their expertise lies in process technology. They can shrink the die down so that they have higher yields and the thing will run faster and get less hot.
In that way, they beat out the competition.

The StrongARM is just an ARM core, only built by Intel so that it runs at 200+ MHz. There might be some modifications or extensions to it, but I don't think so.

Cryptnotic

Re:Empeg?

[Raleel]

I actually ordered one after you posted this and had no problem getting one. Eariler tonight I checked and they still had 40 and 60 gig models

Re:Empeg?

[Toraz Chryx]

a lot of the work that went into the StrongARM was actually done by Digital (in cooperation with ARM, before intel purchased assorted bits from both companies)

Re:Empeg?

[pslam]

The StrongARM is just an ARM core, only built by Intel so that it runs at 200+ MHz. There might be some modifications or extensions to it, but I don't think so.

As another reply points out, the StrongARM core design was actually done by Digital. It's a far better core than, say, an ARM7TDMI, and faster in some ways than newer ARM9 cores.

It's basically an ARM7TDMI with a few improvements:

The pipeline depth is 5 instead of 4, so it can run at a somewhat higher lock (220MHz instead of 74MHz).

Digital managed to make branches take only 2 clock cycles instead of 3 - without the need for branch prediction.

The cache is a split code/data cache so data loads don't stall instruction loads.

You can perform arithmetic simultaneously to loads and multiplies (unlike ARM7).

If only desktop CPUs (read: Intel/AMD) were this simple and elegant in design.

The new X-Scale CPUs from Intel are ARM instruction set based, but bare little resemblence to any other ARM cores. They run potentially up to something like 700MHz with very little in the way of penalties for the extended pipeline. I get the impression sometimes that Intel/AMD CPUs would have an elegant design if it weren't for the shoddy instruction set.

Re:Empeg?

[Bert64]

Only on the US order site, The european site has sold out of ALL the models, which doesn`t much help me much since i live in europe..

Connecting a Mainboard on your car tutorial

[DrD8m]

You could try to do it yourself if you dare follow this link or in spanish It's simple a conversion from car 12v to the voltage needed by the mainboard. (no monitor yet).

Re:Connecting a Mainboard on your car tutorial

[Anonymous Coward]

The trick there though, is getting the motherboard in your dash.
One idea I've thought about is using a biscuit PC, which would not only fit easily, but runs off a single 5V supply that can be obtained by putting a regulator on the car's DC power system. The downside is it runs around $325, which, to me, is a little rich for what's esentially a novelty item. But maybe it's not for someone else out there.

Probably - from their 'jobs' link

[Anonymous Coward]

SmartVehiclePC.com doesn't have position opening right now, we'll post any job available on this page; if you do have any idea you can help this company, you are welcome to send us your resume to:

"if you have any idea you can help this company?" Broken english? There's a lot of it on this site. It isn't professional. There's places with "Specificat" listed for Specifications and something they call a "hot swarpable bay." Plus they are appearing at this convention under the name 'Giantec.'? Why not appearing under 'Action, computer, Inc?'

As if cell phones weren't enough

[Hollins]

Now the bozo in front of me is going to be tweaking perl scripts instead of getting his lazy ass through the next yellow light.

Re:As if cell phones weren't enough

[Anonymous Coward]

Yet another reason to switch to Python.

Gives a new meaning...

[rickthewizkid]

to the term "crashing your computer..."

"But officer, I was only trying to reboot linux..."

-RickTheWizKid

Re:Gives a new meaning...

[s20451]

Of course he would arrest you, linux doesn't need rebooting. He might buy it if you said you were rebooting Windows ... new meaning to "blue screen of death".

Re:Gives a new meaning...

[Ldir]

"But officer, I was only trying to reboot linux^H^H^H^H^H Windows ...

Just curious, on a car PC, do you reboot by hitting [Brake], [Accelerator] and the [Glove Compartment Knob] simultaneously?

Is the horn the [Any] key?

Are you comfortable with, "A Fatal Exception has Occurred ..."?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Re:Gives a new meaning...

[Anonymous Coward]

Getting pulled over by the (MS) police for Licenses & registrations...

Sure hate to register for XP every few times you have a oil change. Does it comes with a family licence or car pool options ?

Re:It's a HOAX!

[tom.allender]

Check out the cable kits - they look pretty genuine...

And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[BadDoggie]

You really outdid yourself here, Rob.

An anonymous reader's submission linked to a PC which fits in your car's stereo slot. It's a bit spendy at $1k, but it's got CD/DVD, PCMCIA, USB, Keyboard, Mic, Headphones, VGA and more. Besides being powered by your car, it also has built-in GPS. Lots of interesting hacking ideas here for people who prefer to spend more time in their cars than me. ;)

There's people out there who have to "fish" this site and come up with garbage when you write "then" instead of "than". IIRC, you were supposed to learn the difference in 2nd or 3rd grade in the US.

woof.

Spelling doesn't matter? So where do I get a compiler that can handle IF...THAN statements and won't bitch that some variable hasn't been declared simply because I misspelled it on second use? Sheesh!

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Anonymous Coward]

Here, here, well sed. !

I do however strongly agree with your point.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Luminair]

It's "There're", not "There's". There's would be There is. ;)

But you're correct, he is pretty retarded :)

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Anonymous Coward]

There's people out there who have to "fish" this site and come up with garbage when you write "then" instead of "than". IIRC, you were supposed to learn the difference in 2nd or 3rd grade in the US.

Perhaps There are people. Pluralize! You only make yourself look like an idiot when you fuck up a roast.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Anonymous Coward]

What's wrong with reader's and car's?

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Anonymous Coward]

... and it should be "people who prefer to spend more time in their cars than I" unless you're referring to people who like being inside you.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[DaveBarr]

Mod me down, but I for one appreciate comments like this.

Proper spelling and good grammar is one of those things that matters only when it's lacking. Being good at grammar and spelling won't make you more persuasive, but the inability to understand the difference between "its" and "it's" or "lose" and "loose" will ensure many people (especially influential people) won't give you the time of day.

If we expect ourselves to be taken seriously by the world, this is one of those things we just have to suck up, turn off your spell checkers, and learn to do it right.

(Sure, this is just an article about a dash PC, but if you can't do it now, what will you do when an issue about privacy or intellectual property or individual freedoms comes along?)

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Anonymous Coward]

Ouch!

My post wasn't meant as a roast or a troll. Honest. It really hurts screwing up like that myself, though. I previewed a few times to make sure all was OK, but missed the quantity-mismatch colloquialism. I plead guilty, with the mitigation that I live in a foreign country and was talking on the phone in German while posting.

Really. And the phone call was with a girl. And it wasn't about computers.

Anyway, it is a colloquialism, and one I've rightly been called out over[1], especially when I scream bloody murder about "Everyone... their..." -- which really drives me up a wall.

woof.

[1] That crap about not ending a sentence with a preposition? Fuhgeddabowdit! Made up by some 19th century non-linguist. Can't find the Bill Bryson book for the cite, though.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[beanyk]

Not quite:

An anonymous reader's submission linked to a PC that fits in your car's stereo slot

or

An anonymous reader's submission linked to a PC, which fits in your car's stereo slot

Using "which" requires a comma, as it introduces a subordinate clause. "That" doesn't.

Oh, and unless some people like spending time in Rob, the last two words should be

than I

I see your woof, and raise you two barks.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Anonymous Coward]

Nothing - bold items have been corrected from the original.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[LoudMusic]

"Proper spelling and good grammar is one ..."

"Proper spelling and good grammar are two ..."

They are seperate entities.

~LoudMusic

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[bastia]

for people who prefer to spend more time in their cars than me

I spend much more time in my car than I spend in CmdrTaco. If anyone here doesn't, we probably don't want to hear about it.

Who said grammar wasn't important?

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Cryptnotic]

It absolutely should not. "I" is the nominative form, and cannot be used as the object of a preposition, which is "than" in this case.

Grammar is necessary in human language to avoid misinterpretation, just as strict syntax is necessary in programming to ensure unambiguity.

Cryptnotic

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[djocyko]

if you wanna correct someone, make sure you are right:

the word 'which' should come after a comma. rob's use of 'that' is actually correct.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Pope]

While we're at it, what the heck does "spendy" mean?

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[ari_j]

Still not quite correct. An anonymous reader's submission linked to a PC which fits in your car's stereo slot. It's a bit spendy at $1k, but it has CD/DVD, PCMCIA, USB, Keyboard, Mic, Headphones, VGA, and more. Beside being powered by your car, it also has built-in GPS. Lots of interesting hacking ideas for people who prefer to spend more time in their cars than I. ;)

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[LeBain]

"Spendy" is sorority for "expensive."

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[NMerriam]

It absolutely should not. "I" is the nominative form, and cannot be used as the object of a preposition, which is "than" in this case.

I'm confused on this. My understanding is that the actual sentence should be:

"Lots of interesting hacking ideas here for people who prefer to spend more time in their cars than I (do)."

Where the "do" is understood, as in the sentence "Go.", where "(You) go." is the understood complete sentence.

It certainly doesn't make any sense to me to say that the sentence should be:

"Lots of interesting hacking ideas here for people who prefer to spend more time in their cars than me (do)"

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Roto-Rooter Man]

You're wrong. Only a minority of grammarians consider "than" a preposition.

Try this on for size (from the University of Oregon's grammar site):

Use the objective case after "than" if the pronoun doesn't compare or contrast with the subject, but is being compared or contrasted to an object or complement.

* He likes us better than them. (objective case)
This means that he likes us better than he likes them.

* He likes us better than they. (subjective case)
This means that he likes us better than they likes us.

Use the objective case after "than" if the comparison features a noun or pronoun with the adjective.

* There is no faster runner than her.
If the sentence included only the adjective FASTER, the pronoun would be subjective (There is no faster than she)."

Taco's usage falls under the first case, and should be "I".

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Anonymous Coward]

Seperate. 90% americans make this mistake. And they are proud of it.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[me0]

How do english people ever get anything done when they are so preoccupied with finding errors in each others grammar? Surely there must be an english teachers newsboard somewhere where you could all get together because the rest of us just don't give a damn!

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[QuickFox]

things that matters

Ahem...

Give a man a fish and he eats for one day. Teach him how to fish, and though he'll eat for a lifetime, he'll call you a miser for not giving him your fish.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[me0]

Language is dynamically changing. It evolves. You should thank CmdrTaco and his kind for the fact that you're not still writing your posts in latin. I guess you don't give a damn about broken latin, do you?

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, yeah, missed it the second time around. Had to back up and check the "story" and lost some changes. I changed "spendy" to "pricey" the first time around, but I wiped too in an edit and didn't want to be accused of misquoting Taco.

Mea culpa.

I'll accept that perhaps I should have changed the comparison to "...rather be in their cars than I", but I left the "it's got" because this is a "news" site & bulletin board, and not an OED or a.u.e hangout. There's no need to be a total pedant.

I'm just wondering about the moderation. I expected +1 Funny, -2 Overrated and -2 Troll. Wasn't meant that way, but that's what I was waiting for. Once you're capped, the only thing left to do is troll or flame so that you can try and get back to 50 again.

woof.

"A man, a plan, a canal... Nasser!" Still doesn't work, but I think I'm getting close.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[discovercomics]

An anonymous reader's submission linked to a webpage about a PC which fits in your car's stereo slot. It's a bit spendy at $1k, but it's got CD/DVD, PCMCIA, USB, Keyboard, Mic, Headphones, VGA and more. Besides being powered by your car, it also has built-in GPS. Lots of interesting hacking ideas here for people who prefer to spend more time in their cars than me. ;)

I know that the link goes to a PC but really the link is to a page on a PC. If your going to pick at the nits pick at all of them.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[QuickFox]

english teachers' newsboard

:-) I'm sorry! I just couldn't resist!

Of course you're right. This subthread is horribly offtopic. But i find it hilarious, the subthread getting more and more out of hand. Tastes in humor differ, I find this unstoppable, escalating subthread veering off in such a crazy manner really funny. Can it ever stop?

Of course, even if spelling is often important, it's very marginal in this case. Also, lots of us don't have English as our native tongue, but should participate anyway. Dyslectics have every right to participate... I could go on...

Still, the use of "it's" instead of "its" jars me every time... Though of course this doesn't really matter.

And now... I defy anyone to try to correct me! Ha!

Give a man a fish and he eats for one day. Teach him how to fish, and though he'll eat for a lifetime, he'll call you a miser for not giving him your fish.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[slashdot.org]

I am not a native speaker, but doesn't:

An anonymous reader's submission linked to a PC which fits in your car's stereo slot

read like:

An anonymous reader is submission linked to a PC which fits in your car is stereo slot

??

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[cymen]

That was a great troll. You handled it just right with an authentic tone and just a few spelling and grammar mistakes. Just enough to get the people now focused on grammar and spelling to reply. The authentic tone resulted in the famous "moderators on crack" result. Great job. Have one on me...

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Anonymous Coward]

It does, but only if you don't speak much English. The ____ 's construct can either be a contraction for ___ is, or it can indicate the possessive form (as in this case). Rob's correct use here indicates that the submission belongs to the anonymous reader.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Anonymous Coward]

an English teachers' newsboard

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Anonymous Coward]

An anonymous reader's submission linked to a PC which fits in the stereo slot of your car. It's a bit spendy at $1k, but it's got CD/DVD, PCMCIA, USB, Keyboard, Mic, Headphones, VGA and more. Besides being powered by your car, it also has built-in GPS. Lots of interesting hacking ideas here for people who prefer to spend more time in their cars than I. ;)

/T

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[slashdot.org]

Ah, it's been confusing me a lot, but I think I get it now. Thanks.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes it should. Look at it this way:

Lots of interesting hacking ideas here for people who prefer to spend more time in their cars than I do.
Lots of interesting hacking ideas here for people who prefer to spend more time in their cars than me do.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[dglo]

There's people out there who have to "fish" this site and...

Ummm, you mean "there are" rather than "there is"

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Anonymous Coward]

"You're," not "your."

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[DrSkwid]

Proper spelling and good grammar are the things that matter when they are lacking. Being accomplished ate grammar and spelling will not make one more persuasive, however the inability to comprehend the difference between "its" and "it's" or "lose" and "loose" will ensure many people (especially influential people) will not give one the time of day.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[nathanh]

There are people out there...

Spelling flames are lame because everybody makes mistakes. There is no reason to hold Rob to higher standards than you set for yourself.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Cryptnotic]

Oops. I was wrong here. "Than" is not a preposition in this case, but a conjunction. I got too excited, I guess.

Cryptnotic

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Anonymous Coward]

No, those are possessive uses of "'s". Dumbass.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Anonymous Coward]

the curious thing about it is that Commander Data on STTNG could never grasp how to make contractions. You seem to have that down but can't form the possessives... that would be correct. what part of the galaxy are you from?

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Anonymous Coward]

I love to make corrections, but only on one occasion. In comes in verbal communications. I am a white male, and every once in a while, I'm confronted with a situation of another white male attempting to share some racism. It will usually run something like, "Those such-and-such can't even talk. 'Axe me a question' Ha! How stupid." I'll play along and somehow trick him into telling me the name of the symbol above the Eight Key on a computer board. Inevitably, every racist knowingly rattles off, "You mean the Asterick?" And I drive it home, "You make fun of people who say "axe" instead of "ask", and you can't even say asteRISK" Care for another slice of humble pie racist idiot?!

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Anonymous Coward]

>Really. And the phone call was with a girl. And it
>wasn't about computers.

So let me get this straight. You were talking on the phone, with a real live girl, and you didn't even bother to leave your Slashdot post for a few minutes?!? Pull yourself together, man! Either you're plain crazy, or you have too many women! Would that I were in your shoes (assuming the latter case, of course)...

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Anonymous Coward]

Tastes in humor differ, but I find really funny this unstoppable, escalating subthread veering off in such a crazy manner.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Anonymous Coward]

What do you do when they get it right?

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[QuickFox]

90% of the Americans

You probably don't mean people with 90% American ancestry.

Give a man a fish and he eats for one day. Teach him how to fish, and though he'll eat for a lifetime, he'll call you a miser for not giving him your fish.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[QuickFox]

Spelling flames are lame because everybody makes mistakes.

In this case of runaway pedantery they become a surreal expression of the strange craziness of our world and our priorities.

Give a man a fish and he eats for one day. Teach him how to fish, and though he'll eat for a lifetime, he'll call you a miser for not giving him your fish.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[LoudMusic]

"Being accomplished ate grammar and spelling ..."

Ate grammar? How did it taste? (:

~LoudMusic

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[QuickFox]

Aaaaaarrrgghhh! Not a single word of your own that I might correct in retribution! Not even a nick or sig to know you by!

You are sly. I bow to your superior strategy.

Give a man a fish and he eats for one day. Teach him how to fish, and though he'll eat for a lifetime, he'll call you a miser for not giving him your fish.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[DrSkwid]

bitter, as expected

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[nathanm]

It's "There're", not "There's". There's would be There is.

No, it should be "There are."

"There're" is not a proper contraction in the English language.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[nathanm]

/. wouldn't be /. without Rob butchering the English language. If he started posting in coherent English, we'd all think something happened to him. :)

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Anonymous Coward]

Gzee mfoblop gren glemgar?

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Asterisk]

The asterisk is actually above the numeral eight, but on the same key. There's nothing directly above the key itself.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[rixkix]

I believe he was referring to it (Proper spelling and grammar) as a singular entity. Nothing wrong with that.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Anonymous Coward]

lol. I'm using a different computer, and I can't remember my password. This thread brings back childhood memories of being corrected at every turn by my father the writer. I try to avoid repeating the behavior, but sometimes I can't stop myself :-)

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Anonymous Coward]

Good point. Man, ya can't get away with nuthin' around here.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Jasn]

Like others said, if you're going to step up and correct people, be sure you're not making it wrong instead, or you just look dumb.

Beside with no 's' is a positional statement: The phone is beside the monitor. Rob was right to use besides as the correct way to suggest "in addition to." Honestly, people, you're Internet users, Merriam-Webster has this stuff out there for your spare-time education or quick checks before you introduce an error.

I suppose as long as I'm here, you didn't fix PC which fits back to Rob's correct form, PC that fits. I'm sure Rob's happy enough with his current errors not to have every self-ordained grammar teacher attaching riders.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[cantanker]

There's people ...

There *are* people.

Pot, meet kettle.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Anonymous Coward]

There's nothing wrong with "car stereo slot". It's not a stereo slot in a car, it's a slot for a car stereo.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[alexpage]

The perl community have been working on this - check out Symbol::Approx::Sub for starters... there was an RFC submitted to the committee about having approximate names for subroutines, variables and keywords turned on by default to avoid discriminating against dyslexics.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[jcoleman]

Almost right.

It's a bit spendy at $1k, but it has CD/DVD, PCMCIA, USB, Keyboard, Mic, Headphones, VGA and more. Besides being powered by your car, it has built-in GPS. There are lots of interesting hacking ideas here for people who prefer to spend more time in their cars than I do.

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[ari_j]

Touche. (Note that your point is the one I was trying to make, although a bit less succinctly, I might say.)

Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[Jasn]

Yeah, I figured. I didn't mean to be harsh in tone ... I'm a copy editor and it's a pet peeve.

hmm?

[Anonymous Coward]

nice going editors, two fakes in a row.

argh . . .

anyways, this does look pretty neat, if it was real . . .

officer, I can explain!

[Anonymous Coward]

"I didn't see the stop sign, sir, a program caused an Illegal Operation - why don't you give IT a ticket?!"

Re:It's a HOAX!

[pangloss]

it does sound like a hoax. on one of their pages, they say they were at the CES in vegas last week. anyone here who attended that saw this?

lol. try calling the phone numbers listed on some of the contact/service pages.

and wtf, who uses a tray-loader for vehicles anyway?

Re:It's a HOAX!

[b0r0din]

He's right, it probably is. Check out this. Half the stuff on this page is very poorly worded or broken english and there's a link to a bogus pdf on the bottom that says 'Catalog.'

Creative idea. Just totally bogus.

My Setup

[Accipiter]

I have a computer in my car.

No display, but it's got plenty of music. I got a cheap 300w Power Inverter for something like $50 from Wal Mart. Plugs into the cigarette lighter.

From there, I have a P166 in a tiny little case under the passenger seat plugged into the inverter. The computer has a network card and a Sound Blaster Awe64. Line Out from the sound card runs to a Ground Loop Isolator (to eliminate the interference buzz from the inverter, $14 at Radio Shack), and from there, connects to my car's factory radio via one of those CD-Player Cassette adapters.

The computer has no display, and is controlled via PS/2 keypad. Around 370 mp3-format songs are loaded on the Western Digital hard drive, which has proven remarkably hardy in all kinds of driving conditions. It also has a built-in NIC, so I can upload new songs.

Cost? About $200. (Computer was around $70, wires - $20, inverter - $50, keypad - $10, GLI - $15, Sound Blaster - $10, Cassette Adapter - $3.) Much cheaper than the above novelty, and much more flexible and expandable.

Re:My Setup

[sporty]

Perhaps you should write something to copy the ones you want to ramdisk and let the drive auto sleep. OR use dvd-ram or something similar.

Re:My Setup

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey, that sounds great and all. I'd like to do something much like this, but I'm indecided about how to have the computer (running Debian GNU/Linux, of course) power up and down with the car. I don't want to hook it up directly to the battery via inverter, as you seem to have done. That is how you did it, I suspect. How do you handle the power cycling of the compuer?

I was peronally thinking of splicing a test circuit into the ignition solenoid, and have that operate a controll of some sort on the computer that is monitored by a perl script that could then shut it down once the car has been shut off. It could also hook directly to the moterboard (ATX) and power it up when the car is started. It'd also be nice to eliminate most of the kernel stuff to be very specific to my hardware, as to eliminate as much boot time as possible. Anyone have any other ideas?

Re:My Setup

[Anonymous Coward]

have a seperate 12v car battery, and have solar panels on your roof to charge that battery (when it's not charging via the alternator of course.) it would be the ultimate nerd mobile.

Re:My Setup

[Accipiter]

Well, I don't know if it's a feature of the Car or the Inverter (I suspect most cars are wired the same), but when the ignition is turned off, the inverter is off.

This way, the computer is only on when the ignition is. That, coupled with a Read-Only file system, no need to unmount to shut it off. Just kill the power.

Re:My Setup

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah, great help, thanks. On all the vehicles I have owned, an inverter would stay powered on (through the cigarette lighter hole thingy). I was envisioning something perhaps a bit more useful (read only is the clincher). An SQL database for keeping track of all the mp3s, playlists (and what not) would hardly be possible that way :)

I guess I'll just have to work on it when I'm not panhandling on the local offramp. I suppose it would help if I also had a car, but I digress.

It sure is great that the wide coverage of 802.11 in SiValley allow me to post to /., and manage to hold my "God Bless you, but all I want is a goddamn beer" sign simultaneously. It is a great world, indeed.

Now, off to find a cheap whore. Take Care.

Re:My Setup

[kwishot]

There are a couple of ways to do it. The cigarette lighter is, in many cars (such as mine) on all the time. However, there are many other electronic devices in the car that are 12v and are not *always* on. You can tell which turn on and off and which voltages they use by hooking a multimeter up to your fusebox. So that you don't overload whatever else is hooked up to that connection, you can wire your computer the battery directly (much cooler than having it plugged into your cig lighter!) and use the fuse connection to setup a relay system. Many car audio sites should tell you how to setup a simple relay system, too.
-kwishot

Re:My Setup

[Suidae]

you can wire your computer the battery directly

This is generally a bad idea for several reasons. First, the 12v electrical system on most cars ranges from a bit over 12v to around 14.5v, which your computer may not like. Second, the cars electrical system is very noisy, lots of power spikes and whatnot, also probably not good for your electronics. Third, the system will also need 5v, -12v and -5v supplies, so you'll have to supply appropriate voltage regulators that can handle the load. Be sure you use low dropout regulators for the +12v side, a typical regulators require several volts of headroom to provide stable current at their rated voltage.

If the power supply isn't right, you can easily kill the electronics, or end up with flakey, hard to diagnose problems that will leave you wasting time chasing weird bugs.

It can work of course, lots of people have done it, but for most people its worth the time and effort to just snag a cheap inverter and let the PC power supply do its job, plus you have the convienance of having an inverter around.

Since a UPS is basicly just an inverter and a battery, you can salvage a UPS to work for you too. Just be sure it can handle a 100% duty cycle. Might be useful to rig up the power fail circuit on it to auto-shutdown the computer when you turn the car off too.

Re:My Setup

[kwishot]

Ahh sorry...I actually meant
computerinverterbattery

I know it came out wrong...sorry...
I was meaning to say that you use the battery to directly power the [inverter] and use the other power source as a "switch" with the relays. Having it directly tied into the battery was to avoid having a plug in your cigarette lighter....
-kwishot

Re:My Setup

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds like we need a how-to written up for this one!!!!

Clarion Auto PC

[King_TJ]

It seems to me like Clarion's "Auto PC" was almost the perfect device of this type. I guess the price was too high for people though, so it got discontinued.

It gave you a pretty normal car stereo/CD player with MP3 capabilities, built-in GPS, and anything else you wanted to develop for its Windows CE environment.

I see them on eBay all the time - and wish I thought to buy one before I blew $350 or so on my new double-DIN head unit for my car. Oh well....

Re:Clarion Auto PC

[Chaos Engine]

I beleive Clarion's AutoPC was discontinued because it was underpowered, impossible to upgrade, hard to use, prone to failure AND really expensive.

Re:Clarion Auto PC

[ThatComputerGuy]

Damn right it was expensive.

1600 bucks for the damn thing.

Re:Clarion Auto PC

[Lumpy]

now that is funny... Hearing the name Autopc and perfect in the same breath.

The autopc was/is crap. (I know I have one) the Nav system sucked horribly, but this was due to the really brain-dead decision to use a over-priced and crappy to begin with map data set from Navtech. Most cities are sparse, and most towns are simply not there. (they intentionally left out cities and towns with less than 500,000 people.) the hardware that the Autopc uses is horrible. The tuner module is based on a phillips low end car audio tuner module The audio section was limited to 12 bit and 18Khz stereo and the CD changer is a horribly overpriced and over engineered device (The cd changer CAN read cdroms but clarion refused to enablethat feature... later it was discovered that the Autopc was so under powered that it COULDN'T read data from a USB drive without causing nasty delays. The choice of the Hitachi SH3 processor was a great idea, but they stuck with the 1995 66mhz version instead of updating the processor when it went into production in 1999. The cellphone cradle for it only worked with 2 ORA cellphones that were out of date by the time it launched (NO DIGITAL CELLPHONES SUPPORTED) It's email and messaging reciever usually made the GPS fail to operate unless you mounted it as far away as possible (under the other seat or in the rear) and didnt work most of the time and was horribly overpriced... ($29.95 a month for traffic reports in cities that I dont live in? and one way email (incoming) that usually failed and was limited to 500 characters, and limited to 20 messages per month) and finally the car interface that allowed you to read the car's rpm. speed, fuel mix, etc.. only worked with non US cars... if you drive a dodge, GM or ford it WOULD NOT WORK until 2001.

Sorry, everyone I know that has owned an autopc and bought it when it cost $1600.00 has been pissed cince day one. Also every owner I knew reccomended to people to NOT buy them.

Oh and a side note. it had a major hardware bug that Clarion REFUSED to admit... if you turned the unit on, and then turned the ignition on,off,on you will lock the unit up hard and require a hardware reset. I have yet to find an autopc that I can-not reproduce this bug.... making the autopc hell for anyone driving a sportscar with a stick shift and a racing clutch (or people that stall a car alot)

Autopc? it sucked... and it sucked bad. I'll probably give mine away when I have time to rip it from the dash, the firewall, under the drivers seat, trunk and the damned GPS antenna.

Re:Clarion Auto PC

[King_TJ]

Hmmm... Thanks for posting that. That's really the first time I've heard all of that negative info about the unit, and it makes me glad I didn't buy one after all.

Nonetheless, I wouldn't have paid $1600 for one even when it first came out. Seems ridiculous to me to pay over $500 or so for any car audio device, honestly. I guess some people spend a *lot* of time in the car, or just earn a lot more than I do -- but I can't cost-justify it for the hour or so per day I spend in my car, max.

My thinking was this: Auto PC's (even new in the box) go for around $400-500 on eBay all the time, and that's including the optional GPS device and map CDs. Therefore, you get an in-car GPS system, a CD player stereo, and an MP3 player, all for around $450. People are spending more than that for Kenwood MP3 CD car stereos, and not getting any GPS functionality with those.

The ability to read the car's diagnostic info is another "free bonus" for those of us (like me) who own foreign cars.

Now, if you're saying the tuner and CD player itself are poor quality (sound bad) - then *that's* a really good reason to skip one of these things. That, after all, is the *primary* function of a car stereo. Some of the other stuff, like lack of cellphone support, I couldn't care less about. None of my previous car stereos interfaced with my cellphones, and it's never been an issue for me. (Wow - I hit one "mute" button to silence the thing if my phone rings... I can handle it.)

I can see it now..

[aao-brad]

Someone goes to overclock the computer, and the headlights go dim. Instead of people buying high-powered batteries and alternators for their stereos, they'll be doing it for their overclocked bay of 8 networked PCs.

Cost Benefit Analysis?

[KhanReaper]

I have been wanting to build an in-car MP3 player for sometime now. For 1K, I don't know how economical one of these systems would be. I mean really: get a power inverter, rig up some input interface, and hook up the sound and you've got an in-car MP3 player.

Sure, I will admit for 1K all of that in one combined unit is pretty cool.

Re:Cost Benefit Analysis?

[yomegaman]

Why not just get one of the Aiwa car stereos that can play MP3 files off of a CD-RW? They're less than $200 last I looked.

Costs of this thing.

[Chaos Engine]

I have been shopping around for something like this for quite a while. This thing is not very impressive to me. I haven't really cared much about the computer component of the thing. I can grab a small footprint pentium something-or-other for really cheap.

This is just the PC part, for $1000, why bother? You still need to spend another $800-$1000 for a TV BASED screen for in the dash, and that's only if you have a 2DIN stereo hole. Otherwise you can't get video into the front seat without mounting something onto the dash instead of in it.

I would rather see a 10.4" VGA/SVGA screen in a 1DIN footprint for $1000, that would be usefull.

Just my 2cents

Re:Geeks own cars?

[randal_hicks]

Speaking as a car-less geek, I wish that a similar product would come out for motorcycles with a heads up display.

Do the hack yourself...

[Calle Ballz]

...and save your stereo slot.

My stereo slot is very very important to me since I like really really loud music. But I also wanted a computer in my car so that I can have mp3's piped through my stereo. I have the World's Smallest PC with it's audio output going into my car stereo. As a screen I am using a 5" LCD screen very sloppily mounted in the passenger side sun visor. With a happy hacker keyboard and a wireless trackball... I don't need to leave my car.

Re:Do the hack yourself...

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd beg to differ as there is also the power supply and screen (yes, you mentioned it) to go with it.
Something along the lines of the IBM PC110 (6.2x4.4x1.3in) http://apj.co.uk/pc110/pt_hw.htm
or Toshiba Libretto is rather more "The World's Smallest PC"

Operating temperature?

[Anonymous Coward]

Will it work in a heatwave or at -20?

Re:It's a HOAX!

[Anonymous Coward]

There are links to 2 pdfs. The second, smaller, one is genuine and is about the product. ( The first was too big for me to bother downloading. PDF sucks BTW ).

Moderators: Beowulf posts rate 2, but informed debates over the veracity of a story rate 1 ??? COME ON. DO THE JOB.

Too much "head-down time"

[Animats]

Auto dashboards shouldn't have something of that complexity. Too distracting. Pilots call this "head-down time", time spent looking at the controls instead of the window, and a big problem in modern cockpit design is reducing head-down time. But aircraft have autopilots, big planes have two people, and in cruise flight in uncongested airspace, near-term trouble from the outside is unlikely. None of this applies to automobiles.

Re:Too much "head-down time"

[C. Mattix]

Why can't the auto manufactures develop a decent HUD. Imagine something that could project the centerline of the road on the window when it is snowing or raining hard. Or perhaps, it could incorporate itself with the collision avoidence systems and show when obstacles are in the way.

You could even have a game in it, you know. . if someone cuts you off on the highway, then you press a button on the stearing wheel, and it sends a projected missle at it or something.

Seriously, I think HUDS in cars would be great, and it would definitly limit the above mentioned "head-down" time.

Re:Too much "head-down time"

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, something like this already exhists. It was available as an option on a friend's car. I've never seen it in use, but saw it in the manual. It'd project the line, show the speed, etc. However, it was overpriced and underused, and as one would expect, discontinued.

It was on a Cadillac, I believe, mid 80's.

Re:Too much "head-down time"

[Bombcar]

My dad was actually working on this for Ford Motor company over four years ago - they got as far as a system that would fit in a van, recognize the road and draw lines accordingly, recognize vehicles in the road of differing shapes, etc. IIRC, there was even an ad during one of the olympics. But then Ford pulled the progect....

Re:Too much "head-down time"

[Boiling_point_]

Few people complained about "head-down time" when all you could do in your car was change the volume or find another radio station (I'm ignoring HDT activities that involve a passenger and a front bench seat, obviously!).

Why not integrate the dash PC with the car's gearbox, or the car's own computer -- locking off all but the semi-autonomic interface options (eg. volume, radio pre-set, play, stop) unless the car isn't moving?

Sure it could get hacked, but the majority wouldn't bother, especially if it involved opening the case (once it's installed, Joe Sixpack won't want to pull it out again).

Re:Too much "head-down time"

[Bert64]

Because one of the primary uses of an in-car computer and even audio system, is for the entertainment of passengers... being a passenger on a long car journey is VERY boring.

Re:Too much "head-down time"

[ripaway]

A company called Defi makes small pager size devices with a lcd that can be used to display speed, rpm, boost/vacuum. Here is a store that sells them

Re:Too much "head-down time"

[warrior389]

You know, I've been thinking about that too. How would you account for different positions of the drivers head? I have a simple HUD in my car with RPM, speed, gas, oil, etc., but if I move more than a couple inches in either direction, I have to adjust it again. Now if this setup covered the whole windshield I couldn't just shift the thing left or right when I moved my head. And that completly leaves out the front passenger. They wouldn't see the right thing at all.

Ideas?

Re:Too much "head-down time"

[nathanm]

Why can't the auto manufactures develop a decent HUD. Imagine something that could project the centerline of the road on the window when it is snowing or raining hard. Or perhaps, it could incorporate itself with the collision avoidence systems and show when obstacles are in the way.

This already exists. Some snowplows here in MN (& some in Iowa) have HUDs that show road boundaries & markings so they can plow in even zero visibility.

I did a Google search & found this link to the research done at the Univ of MN. Unfortunately, one of the researchers now works for Microsoft.

Re:Too much "head-down time"

[mbuckley]

I agree with this, I know that I even get distracted looking down at the cd player. I know in a few days I would most likely total my car. This is a neat idea, but something I wouldn't install in my own car.

Huh?

[$lacker]

Lots of interesting hacking ideas here for people who prefer to spend more time in their cars then me ;)
Uhh.... I spend a LOT more time in my car than I spend in you....

Re:Huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Poor stupid Rob. I almost feel sorry for him. But then I just end up wanting to kill him again.

0 to 50 degree operating temp

[loftwyr]

It's really nice except where I life it vcan get below -20C and it's normal in winter to be below 0C. What this means is, I have to get some kind of device for it that keeps it warm if it gets too cold and another that doesn't let it turn on until the car is warmed up.

Who is this for? People who live in Florida or California?

Re:0 to 50 degree operating temp

[Anonymous Coward]

They should offer a slide-out version that you can take with you for both anti-theft reasons as well as damage caused by excess heat/cold.

Here is the aerial photo of this fake

[Mabidex]

CMD TACO You suck as a newsperson... no wonder people don't take Slashdot seriously

This link shows that the address on the company's website is a cul-de-sac in the middle of a regular neighborhood. Not some company location, or warehouse, or buildings...

This is a bad fake.

Mabidex.

It strikes at the root of our confidence ever after - Hazlit

Re:Here is the aerial photo of this fake

[Thugwold]

It looks like Slashdot should be called:

"All Hoaxes, All The Time..."

Re:Here is the aerial photo of this fake

[DrNibbler]

This link [mapquest.com] shows that the address on the company's website is a cul-de-sac in the middle of a regular neighborhood. Not some company location, or warehouse, or buildings...

That's right you can't start a computer company from someone's home or garage. That's never happened in this industry before. {cough, cough, Apple cough}

Dangerous?

[seymour]

This does seem pretty neat, if used for things like Police cars, ambulances, etc. For regular people though, I just see it as yet another way to cause an accident. Cell phones are bad enough...

Re:Dangerous?

[davidhan]

I always wondered if those laptops some cops have in their cars ever get stolen.

Re:Dangerous?

[SmartSsa]

Dangerous? NO WAY!

just turn on NFS[insert your favorite version here] and drive like the game!

Hell, let the game control your car!

zoom zoom.

;)

Re:Dangerous?

[PygmySurfer]

NFS? Why not GTA? :)

Re:Dangerous?

[seymour]

That's what I was thinking, GTA is a much better game for driving!

Mobile WLAN server?

[DocSnyder]

These things are great with WLAN, to use the car e. g. as a "mobile storage" for MP3 or such things. Fill up your car's harddisk with music which you have ripped at home, drive to work, download them onto your workstation (or get them on-the-fly) and listen to them. Of course a Freenet-like P2P filesharing network on the motorway would be great, too, to enlargen your music filebase while driving across the country. As a more useful purpose, information about traffic and weather conditions could be gathered by the cars themselves and shared among each other.

What I'd like to see.

[Associate]

1. A machine that interfaces with the on board computer so you can see what codes, translated into meaningful messages, are being sent to the car's computer.
2. With the above, remind you when to perform routine maintenance like oil change, tire rotation, coolant flush, transmission flush, usw. This would also give you a good idea if your mechanic is honest or not. (Don't give him root.)
3. Firewire
4. Voice control
5. HUD
6. There might be some benefit to incorporating the security alarm.

From what I know, all of these things are possible. But someone, maybe one of our own, need's to build it first.

I can't think of anything else right now.

Re:What I'd like to see.

[fiber_halo]

Oh, I know how to do this! I just bought an adapter plus software to interface a PC to the on-board computer. This thing works like a charm.

I don't know that all on-board computers know when the oil was changed or coolant was flushed, but I'm sure a couple perl script could take care of schedule maintenance.

Re:What I'd like to see.

[WildBill1941]

I've got a Pontiac Grand Prix, and this car does some of the things you mention already.

1) The OBD-II computer system that manages the engine does have great troublecode information. However, it's stored as a code which is not human-readable. There is a dongle and software called "AutoTAP" that will let you see what the OBD-II system is doing in real time, but that requires a laptop or other PC to be hooked to the car. The AutoTAP also allows the operator to upload new ignition timing and injector parameters, as well as transmission shift points, to further tune the car's performance.

2) The car has an onboard display in the dash that displays:

Oil Life in % of estimated life

Tire Pressure Warnings

Various fluid level warnings

Fuel mileage and estimated range-to-empty

3) No firewire. :(

4) No voice control, but it does have steering wheel mounted controls for the stereo which also feed into: THE HUD.

5) Yes, the car has a Heads-Up-Display. This is my favorite part. It displays current MPH, along with blinker status, Hibeam indicator, and fuel warnings. When you hit one of the buttons on the steering wheel to control the stereo, the HUD displays what you're doing - I love being able to change the radio station without having to take my eyes off the road.

6) No alarm tiein, other than the factory security system.

I dig the car - it's fun to drive, has lots of room, gets decent mileage, and has lots of geektoys. I'm working out how to interface an old laptop into it so I can have MP3 and other multimedia tied into it. I don't want to lose the HUD functionality - it's one of my favorite features. Now, if some manufacturer would figure out that all of these features are what people want...

Re:What I'd like to see.

[thogard]

When LED's where new (1970s), a company built a production car that had a roof console with lots of warning lights. There may have been over 50. Does anyone know who made it?

Carmageddon...

[Shark]

Just imagine playing Carmageddon while you're stuck in a trafic jam...

Nav software

[wowbagger]

They mention using navigation software and GPS. This pretty much leaves Linux out unless there is a good navigation package for Linux of which I am unaware (and I've looked long and hard, beleive me).

The closest I've been able to come is using older versions of Delorme's MapNGo under Wine, but that is still rather twitchy.

I've pestered Delorme to make a port, but they don't seem interested.

Re:Nav software

[Lumpy]

a decent one is GPSDRIVE it is actually useable but you will need to build your own map sets with the "download map" button. it doesnt have any automated nav system built in (and let me tell you that is a GOOD thing... the few times I tried my autopc nav it bitches constantly if you deviate from the route a bit or the GPS get freaked for a moment nothing like "off route, recalculating route" every 15 seconds while you start mashing buttons and swerving at 70mph (yes I drive the speed limit unlike the other turds on the road)

I have used gpsdrive and it works well except for the extra work needed to download about 30-40 maps for your general area to get good detail.

Re:It's a HOAX!

[PyroMosh]

My Asus motherboard manual reads like this too. Does that mean that the motherboard in the system I'm trping this on is a hoax too?

If you check out the "contact us" link, you'll see that the company has ties to Taiwan (supprise, supprise, same place Asus is based out of). I think that would explain the broken english. Would it have been more professional if he had a native english speaking person do the web site for him (or at least proof read it) yes. However if this is a small one person (or even if it's a handful of people) company, I can understand why it's quite rough.

Okay, let's say it is a hoax? What makes you think so other than the poor quality of the site?

Is the technology unfeasable? Is it that hard for you to wrap your mind around the possibility that someone managed to fit a 266MHz screamer in a Din slot? I know... I know... that kind of seems like an unbelievable amount of power, huh?

Seriously though, if you think this is a hoax, please point to something more solid than just poor web design and english.

ya right

[Anonymous Coward]

Since we all make fun of the people that buy prebuilt pc's (except you alienware and falcon-nw people) why is everyone praising this?

Right, these guys can make a comp for your car, but can't do java script image rollovers on their web site (http://www.smartvehiclepc.com/)-2nd row, broken.

Re:It's a HOAX!

[Anonymous Coward]

It has to be. Check out the size of the Alpine nav system (both their CD and DVD based ones are the same size.. and the Pioneer and kenwood systems are really close in size also). Alpine Nav Also, how does it display the nav? (or even feed the analog signal for that matter? In most cars, this would end up replacing the radio). Also, that's a really broad power range. Most car systems have a tolerance of 9v to 15v. Not 12 to 24. And one other thing, how the hell does it have room for all those ports? It can't. Any system, such as the alpine with the flip out screen, uses a seperate box that everything plugs into. This has to be a Hoax

Theoretical HUD HowTo

[namespan]

Just thinking about this... all you really need in order to get a half-decent HUD would be a monitor/light source you can stick on your dash, and a driver that can enable you to correct for the deformation of the image that occurs because of the shape of the windshield.

Since LCD panels are now affordable, the first requirement is met. Now all we need is someone to
write the video driver....

Re:Theoretical HUD HowTo

[Suidae]

If you dont' want to mess with drivers, just get one of those aftermarket LCD panels they use for installing TV's into headrests and such. Most have NTSC inputs, so you just use a video card with a TV out, like a matox or something (or a scan coverter). A few have VGA inputs, but they tend to be pretty pricy.

My dream is to remove all the dash equipment, install three wide-screen 7" LCDs (two vertical beside the steering column, one horizontal above it) with touch screen controls on them, and have a fully configurable dash running linux.

Re:Theoretical HUD HowTo

[KILNA]

I had a bad experience once trying to hit the reset button on the trip-o-meter while turning once. The steering wheel tends to want to remove your hand. Steering wheel mounted controls is a much better idea than in-dash touchscreen. Also, I think what he was getting at regaridng the "driver" was something that compensated for the distortion of the windshield in software.

Three!

[20721]

If you consider the dumbass 100:1 compression article.

Game Boy Steering Wheel

[simetra]

That's what we need... a Game Boy Advance ported to a steering wheel... display in center, buttons on wheel. Or, projected hologram-type screen which appears to float about 10 feet in front of the car.
Now that would be cool.....

I need a short english lesson...

[kghougaard]

I am currently writing my master's thesis, and it is in english, which is not my native language.
I have actually wondered i bit over when to use "that" and when to use "which". Could anybody clear that up for me in even more detail, than the parent of this post? It would be appriciated...

Please wait a bit with the off-topic mods.

Re:I need a short english lesson...

[patco15]

I have actually wondered i bit over when to use "that" and when to use "which". Could anybody clear that up for me in even more detail, than the parent of this post? It would be appriciated.

Going way OT here, but I've never cared about karma before, so why not? By the way, this comes from one of the writing stylebooks on my desk, it's not my lame-o example. I keep it handy there because its one of the things that the Word grammer checker gets (sort of) wrong.

From The Little, Brown Compact Handbook (page 385).

That always introduces restrictive clauses: We should use the lettuce that susan bought (that susan bought limits the lettuce to a particular lettuce). Which can introduce both restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses, but many writers reserve which for only non restrictive clauses: The leftover lettuce, which is in the refridgerator, would make a good salad (which is in the refrigerator simply provides more information about the lettuce we already know of). Restrictive clauses (with that or which are not set off by commas; nonrestrictive clauses (with which are.

Also, note that, according to this usage guide, your parent post is wrong. Using which does not necessarily require a comma. Which can be used for restrictive clauses without a comma although the Microsoft Word grammer checker would not have you believe so.

Re:I need a short english lesson...

[Kiwi]

Keep in mind, of course, that "which" is an interrogative word (which book should I buy?), and that "that" is a demonstrative adjective (this car; that book; etc.).

In the context being discussed, "which" and "that" are syonyms--they are both clauses which indicate that we are specifying or describing in more detail a noun. "Which" is a little less common and a little more formal.

In paragraphs which a lot of these kinds of subordinate clauses, it is a good idea to switch between "that" and "which", so that the paragraph does not use the same word too frequently. In addition, it is better to use the word "which" in a sentance which already uses "that" as a descriptive pronoun (e.g. this book and that book)

Finally, 'which' is never placed after a verb, e.g. one can say "I think that Slashdot has too many trolls", but one can not say "I think which Slashdot...".

I fantasize about, one of these days, moving to a foreign country and becoming an English teacher for the foreigners there.

- Sam

Re:I need a short english lesson...

[beanyk]

Oops. I bow to your superior reference. The last two words should still have been "than I", though.

Re:I need a short english lesson...

[Anonymous Coward]

I fantasize about, one of these days, moving to a foreign country and becoming an English teacher for the foreigners there.

Taken literally, that's an odd fantasy. Do you really want to teach the foreigners, or do you mean the native people?

Re:I need a short english lesson...

[QuickFox]

which is in the refrigerator :-)

Give a man a fish and he eats for one day. Teach him how to fish, and though he'll eat for a lifetime, he'll call you a miser for not giving him your fish.

Other examples

[interiot]

This is good. Previously, the best commercial computer-in-car setup was the Q-PC.

Otherwise, many people have just hacked an old PC to work in their trunk or under the passenger's seat, see MP3Car's registry.

Hopefully my car will be on there soon. I'm going to try straping a wireless keyboard around my neck, and type with my right hand with a half Qwerty setup, with sound output only, for safety's sake. There's already software written for this setup-- visually impared people have to work with this type of setup every day.

Re:Other examples

[Hershmire]

The half-Qwerty would be nice, except the software costs US$400 per single user copy.
Little steep, I should think.

Re:5 most crappiest websites!

[lposeidon]

die you dick sucking coward

What about the weather?

[loydcc]

Doesn't cold ruin electronics? I love all these new gadgets but what happens if my car freezes in a snow drift before I can dig it out? Will I have to plug my car into a heater when I come home every night?

Nice, but...

[hrieke]

I see this more of a fleet vechical system than something that you'd want in your car. Memory and CPU speeds aren't really up to snuf to do the things I'd wanna do, like a HUD on the screen with night vision and directions / mapping, and a entertainment system for everyone else (something that allows both DVD and audio playback at the same time).
Also, a lot of legacy system support is provided, which just isn't needed.

No anti-theft

[Nastard]

As the victim of a recent stereo theft, I'm doing some hardcore shopping with the insurance company's money. I had a Kenwood z919 (MP3), but the problem was no removeable faceplate. I read the link (couldn't get the PDFs), and it looks like it has pretty much the same problem.

Considering that I'm shopping with someone else's money, I'd like to get something with the all-important geek factor. I just don't want to have it ripped out of my car again.

Re:No anti-theft

[Lumpy]

removeable faceplates stop ZERO car thefts. that removeable faceplate doesnt slow them down or even deter them because replacement faceplates are very very easy to come by. the only safe solution id to undock the whole stereo... or better yet, add supplimental insurance and hope it keeps getting stolen.

I leave my car unlocked all the time and never remove the faceplate to my autopc. but then I dont park where my car can get ripped off, or broken into. nor do I live in a crappy neighborhood. It's choices...and I found the easiest is to keep the car unlocked so I dont have to pay for windows or doors and have my insurance company buy me a new stereo every X months.

removable face is NOT anti-theft. the only car stereo I have ever seen that is anti theft is Blaupunkt. if you remove the stereo fromthe car next power up it display's STOLEN STEREO, enter 6 digit pin. and you have 3 tries to enter the pin, after that the stereo is trash. and yet it still didnt stop them from getting stolen... Thieves are the stupidest people on the planet... otherwise they would actually have jobs.

Re:No anti-theft

[Nastard]

You'll probably never read this, but I was parked at a somewhat upscale movie theater in a good neighborhood. If you were a car theif, would you rather hit a parking lot full of nice cars with potentially quality stereos, or bank on a shitty neighborhood where the original VW bug is the most commonly sighted car?

Bottom line: if you have a car, and you want to keep it safe, leave it in the garage and take the bus. And pray your home doesn't get broken into.

Re:It's a HOAX!

[Anonymous Coward]

some pictures of this unit http://www.denpo.com.tw/dvr/vpc1000/vpc1000.html look pretty similar to the pictures from http://www.q-pc.com/product.overview/index.shtml

i dunno. maybe the two companies just happened to use the same car with the same interior

Ewww

[Anonymous Coward]

Lots of interesting hacking ideas here for people who prefer to spend more time in their cars then me ;)

So how much time does the average slashdotter spend inside CmdrTaco?

/T

pictures

[asv108]

I'm a bit sceptical of this since there doesn't appear to be any pictures. Is this thing actually in production or did they put up some specs that could turn in to vaporwear real quick?

LAN Party in the carpark

[Andy.T.BOFH]

Just watch out driving home after 24 hours solid of carmageddon ;-)

so it has ha harddisk

[fenux]

hmmz, just a question i ask myself... did those people tried to move their pc from one lan party to another? my experience learns me that that ain't to good for your harddisk. now imagine driving day in day out with a pc powered on (not parked) through a bumpy road.. how long do they pretend to offer a warenty? I mean, after one day your stuck woth a broken harddisk... just a question, anyway, i want one of those magic HD's

Great Hacking Opportunities!

[Murmer]

It will allow the rescue workers a chance to hack your broken body out of the charred remains of your vehicle, for example.

Christ, drivers with cellphones are bad enough.

Irony

[Ezubaric]

> Lots of interesting hacking ideas here for
> people who prefer to spend more time in their
> cars than me.

It should be "than I." It's an understood clause with the pronoun acting as the subject of "than I do." So it would have to be nominative case.

Let he who is without sin . . . [ouch]. Where did that stone come from?

Re:Irony

[QuickFox]

expert in electricity

:-)

Give a man a fish and he eats for one day. Teach him how to fish, and though he'll eat for a lifetime, he'll call you a miser for not giving him your fish.

Correct Prices

[Knunov]

You said, "...they're selling off the last ones really cheap - $399 for 60GB version."

They said, "Rio Car prices have been further reduced for final clearance. The 10GB model now costs just 140 UK pounds, with the top end 60GB model at 350 UK pounds. Add VAT to these prices if you order within the EC."

At current exchange rates, £350 = $506.91.

Knunov

Re:Correct Prices

[strags]

Whoops - my mistake - thanks!
Still a fair bit cheaper though :)

Re:Correct Prices

[ksheff]

You can buy them directly from the SONICblue Online Store for $499. Here is the catalog page

Re:And now the story in English - 2x translations

[friscolr]

translations into, spanish; then to english, using the fish, we arrive at:

An anonymous program of reading put under connected a PC that fits in its groove of estereofonia of the car. Spendy in $1k is a bit, but its obtained CD/DVD, PCMCIA, USB, keyboard, Mic, earpieces, VGA, more. And in addition to being driven by its car, also it has constructed in GPS. Lots of ideas that cut here interesting for the people whom it prefers to pass more time in its then cars I;)

It would seem that my car can learn to read for only $1000, and that by learning to read my car can gain a bunch of computer gear too.

What??!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Learn how to read and write English before you post stories. What the hell does "submitted a linked" and "spendy" mean???

if you want a portable x86~

[Cinematique]

want something small, x86, and 1ghz? check check this out. slow bus speed... but it's $500.

Specs (truncated)

1. ~ Intel Celeron 1GHz processor (FCPGA) ssor socket w/ 66MHz bus
2. 
   128MB SDRAM; Upgradable to 256MB
   ~One 144pin DIMM slot for PC100/PC133 SDRAM
   ~10GB UDMA hard drive
   ~24X Max. CD-ROM drive ( swap for dvd / cd-rw )
   ~56k modem & 10/100 ethernet
   ~Intel 82810E built-in full motion video accelerator w/ 4MB shared video memory
   ~Supports 1280 x 1024 pixels resolution at 24bit color
   ~S-Video / RCA composite Out ports
   ~Speakers and Audio: Built-in 16-bit stereo (Sound Blaster / Adlib compatible)
   ~Built-in speaker
   ~microphone in / line out port
   ~IrDA
   ~Peripheral Connections: Two USB, one 9-pin serial port, one 25 pin parallel port (EPP / ECP) PS/2 mouse & keyboard ports
   ~Dimensions: 157mm x 146mm x 45mm (6.18" x 5.75" x 1.77") & approx. 950g (2 lbs)
   
   * One Year Manufacturer Warranty
   * No Operating System Included

Re:so it has a harddisk

[Bombcar]

Good point! Does anyone want to KW and give us a link to some site that has different experiments with fullsize harddrives under laptop style conditions? I have a 80GB hd & P 233 mounted in a cardboard box, and it runs fine (but skipped on one song when an idiot pulled out in front of me). I'd like to know what the chances are that I'll be using my warranty! :)

IE Some site with G force ratings, and also some tests.

If we're going to bitch about grammar

[g0at]

From this comment:

Proper spelling and good grammar is one of those things...

Proper spelling and good grammar are one (two?) of those things...

From the parent:

There's people out there...

There are people out there...

Don't get me wrong; I concur completely with the sentiments expressed in this thread. Reading mangled English, especially from people who write text intended for mass consumption (and education), peeves me right off.

But at least we should be consistent. :)

then me

[Anonymous Coward]

Lots of interesting hacking ideas here for people who prefer to spend more time in their cars. Then me need to study grammar ;)

Re:It's a HOAX!

[gewalker]

I really doubt its a hoax. What I say below is true.

I called the number, someone answered.

I told him I was calling about the SmartVehicle, and he said "We are closed today". I said, "OK, I can call back Monday." He said "Thank you, goodbye"

According to this, the name listed for the phone number is:

Chen, Phon Keng
5330 Wickershire Dr NW

Hmm, broken English may not be that surprising.

If you have any idea you can help this company...

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.engrish.com/

How much time do you spend in CmdrTaco?

[Anonymous Coward]

Personally, I spend a lot more time in my car than in CmdrTaco.

Re:It's a HOAX!

[coolgeek]

No it's just that the NIH wave is now reaching slashdot. If *I* didn't think of it, it must be a hoax. Either that or some really good dope. Anyone reading /. for a while has seen the Espresso PC, which is actually much smaller than a DIN slot.

why not use the Linux-based Sharp Zaurus?

[Locutus]

http://developer.sharpsec.com/

Put a cradle and power supply in the aux slot of your car and then put your music(mp3's) on a CF card. There you have it. You could use the rs232 port for gps features too. If you want more disk space then use the IBM microdrive (1GB).

The iPaq would work too but the Zaurus has both CF and SD/MMC slots along with the IR and RS232 ports and it ships with Linux already installed.

Thanks for bring this topic up because you made me realize I already had the solution to getting MP3's into my Toyota Prius. This will be very cool and when I get the VGA CF card I can drive the touch screen built into the Prius too.

LoB.

Re:why not use the Linux-based Sharp Zaurus?

[Anonymous Coward]

Because the developer version is still a bit sketchy, the consumer version isn't proposed for release until the second quarter, it doesn't use ROM for the OS so you really have under half the specified RAM, it's damned expensive for what you get, and the damned ports are on the wrong side.

Re:why not use the Linux-based Sharp Zaurus?

[Locutus]

if very large apps were to be used then a large CF or SD card could be used for that. My MP3's will be on SD or CF (CF more likely) so again memory is no big deal.

You are right about the audio port being on the wrong side though. I've not looked at the Sharp connector to see if audio is there because that would be great if it was.

I will be using my Zaurus in our Prius in the near future. I'll eventually have a CF slot on our home MP3 jukebox too.

At US$400 the Zaurus(dev) not cheap but with all the capabilities it has I'd rather use it in my car then buy another computer I can't use as my PDA also. Heck, my PDA is always with me anyways so why not use it to monitor/control my cars systems too?

LoB

http://www.keithandbarry.btinternet.co.uk/

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.keithandbarry.btinternet.co.uk/

in this case the bad english was intentional....

[frostman]

...because he was obviously trying to match the style of the linked article:

"Makes Car Smarter", yes, SmartVehiclePC.com has worked out an intelligent vehicle PC system for solving worldwide solution of how to make automobile more vivid.

all your worldwide solution are solve by us!

Re:I really [don't] like this idea.

[mbogosian]

Unfortunately, if it becomes widespread, more jobs may require computer use and more jobs may force commuter time to be worktime.

Yeah, that's exactly what I want. It's not enough already that people try to talk on the phone or read ( READ! for ****'s sake!) while in bumper-to-bumper traffic. No, I want them to be playing UR2 over 802.11b with the guy next to them.

Eh, what the hell.... The increase in commuter accidents and deaths will help perk up the economy by increased cash flow into the automotive repair, health care and funeral services industries....

burner

[kEnder242]

what? no option for a CD-R?

Re:burner

[Anonymous Coward]

Why would you need that in a car?

Oh, great...

[Brendan Byrd]

Another distraction while driving. It was bad enough with the car DVD players with their own TV screen right on the player! Now we have a full-fledged computer to spend time with:

Wife: "Honey! Look out for that deer!"
Hubby: "Not now! I'm killing this troll in Everquest!"

Count me "in"

[Anonymous Coward]

Lots of interesting hacking ideas here for people who prefer to spend more time in their cars then me ;)

Indeed, I myself prefer to spend more time in my car, then I like to spend some inside of CmdrTaco. And yes, I found these hacking ideas interesting, too!

What about the Pathintosh?

[krugdm]

This was done in a fashion about a year ago.

This guy has a mount for a Powerbook in the back of his Pathfinder wired up to an LCD touchscreen he installed into his dashboard. It was done mostly to run SoundJam to play MP3's. He hacked his keyboard so that switches on the steering wheel issue commands for skipping, volume, etc. Finally, he has an AirPort card installed so when he is parked, he can upload songs from the Mac in his house.

A pretty cool hack, if you ask me.

MMX-266?

[Anonymous Coward]

With a MMX-266 CPU, I have to say this is one giant step back to, what, 1998? At this price, why is it not a Mobile P-III of at least 1 GHz?

Not in the desert southwest.

[fjm03]

The interior temperatures of parked cars reaches between 65C and 85C in the southwest. This gizmo lists a storage temperature limit of 60C.

Operating Temperature

[z4ce]

Anyone else notice the operating temperature of this thing is 0C-50C. I hope that no one buys this thing somewhere it freezes. You would think in a car stereo replacement they would design the thing to handle freeze...

Ian

Have a Computer in my Car

[Dwaine Garden]

I have built two computers, one for myself and the other one for a friend.

Regular Case with inverter/300watt
Garmin Trakpac 35
An Analog LCD with Case. http://www.flat-panel.com
Wireless Keyboad with the mouse built-in.
DVD with Sound Blaster 16. Manual switch form
the car deck to the sound blaster. No ground loops.
Creative Labs DVD hardware decoder for the DVD movies.

Perfect Setup........

Re:Have a Computer in my Car

[Dwaine Garden]

There's no problem with temperature. They have been running for two years and counting.

Also have the ECM interface hooked up to the computer. There are some nice programs which let you change the information in the car's ECM.

Great, it's empeg all over again.

[Anonymous Coward]

A cool product thats way overpriced, and will probably die...that I want really really badly

Re:Correct Prices - get it right

[Anonymous Coward]

http://store.sonicblue.com/dr/v2/ec_MAIN.Entry10?S P=10024&PN=16&V1=39400&xid=25971&DSP=&CUR=840&PGRP =0&CACHE_ID=0

They're not all sold out. 30gig for $399. I got probably the last 20G yesterday for $299. I'm a lucky boy. Of course, i was on the waiting list back in '98 but balked at the raised prices...$1000 for a 4gig model sounded good when I was an overpaid dotcommer, but I'm back on planet earth now.

Hacks...

[Shanep]

Years ago, I thought how great it would be to combine GPS with an organiser, so that you could be reminded of something you wanted to do at a particular location(s). For example, "get toner cartridge" linked to computer shops in your organiser To-Do list, would cause an alarm when you are close to a computer store according to the GPS+map.

How about online petrol prices? When you drive up to a cheap petrol station, you could enter the petrol prices for that station, which would then be entered into an online price database. Meaning that when vehicles are approaching a cheap petrol station, the driver could be alerted to the price and location if the car is low (defined by user) on fuel.

How about this computer hooked up to not only the GPS but also your GSM mobile phone with caller ID? Someone calls you, and depending on what disturb/do-not-disturb setting you have for them, they may or may not be able to disturb the mp3/ogg you have playing. If disturb is OK, your music should pause, and the car PC announce who is calling, allowing voice prompting for "pick up" or "ignore", leading to either a phone call or hang-up with the music resuming.

Since our car PC has GPS and GSM, what say we turn this bad boy into a car alarm also, complete with a few CCD cameras? If the car alarm is triggered, the PC could take a shot of the offender, dither it to 1-bit fax resolution, then fax it and the car location to the local police station! To boot, display the offenders full colour image on the internal display with a voice warning of what is occuring, regarding thier soon to be imprisioned (sore) arse. Hopefully this will cause the offender to flee on foot. Of course, this car has multiple points of immobilization right?

Now back to all those CCD cameras... pop your car in reverse, and the display switches to the rear CCD (mounted on the top rear spoiler, pointed downwards) to assist reverse parking. Indicate right below a certain speed (say 5 kph) and the front right CCD is displayed (mounted near front right bumper, pointing to the right) giving greater visibility to the right, past parked cars etc without having to put your nose out too far, when turning at an intersection. Indicate right at a speed higher than 5kph and the top right mounted CCD is displayed (pointing backwards), for lane changes etc. Vice-versa these for left, etc.

With a larger display, or two displays, both indicate cameras could be shown for more flexibility, etc etc.

With voice prompting, usage of sampled phonetic voice "synthesis" could be employed, for natural sounding prompting. Warning of fuel, temp, etc, illegal speed in zones that according to the GPS+map indicate legal speed, school zones, etc, etc.

Speaking of speech synthesis, I want that british womans voice from Forsaken, "So-lar-is!". She sounds like a babe. And when the alarm is armed, it should be complete with her voice (with echo added), counting down from 10 to "Warning: system alarm activation complete, all systems halted, core de-activated." "Core" of course being the engine, at which time a "turbine powering down" sound effect could be nice. ; ) And of course, turning the key in the ignition to "ignition" could activate the "turbine powering up" sound, REALLY LOUD, with "Core status: OPERATIONAL!"

Man, I want one! All I need now is a car!

HDD's in Cars

[byron150]

Has anyone dealt with or know how these people deal with the problem of shock to Hard Drive's in cars? How do they keep it from getting scratched or damaged when you go over a bump or some crap like that. Hard Drive's were never made to be moved around while accessing that I know of.

Re:HDD's in Cars

[redikim]

How do they keep it from getting scratched or damaged when you go over a bump or some crap like that 2.5" laptop drives are more robust, and I mount them vertically...

Wave of the future

[Anonymous Coward]

First radios, then cell phones, next came VCRs and DVD players with mounted television sets and headphones for the whole gang, and now computers. Remember when the sole purpose of a car was to get a person from point A to point B? :)

So ,....did you like the AutoPC or not?

[Anonymous Coward]

see subject for sarcasm

Re:No anti-theft, UNLES

[Anonymous Coward]

If you actually had a PC in your car, maybe you could develop sone type of home-made LowJack that auto-initiates after the power is yanked out. Are there any Tools out there that would allow for a home-built version of LoJack anybody?

Re:It's a HOAX!

[Anonymous Coward]

What's the link for the Espresso PC? I've seen the toater that's operable over the internet athat allows you to slect differnt images - cool, but useless technology. I just love it!

Re:Nissen Bluebird has simple speed HUD

[Anonymous Coward]

In the SSS model. Also displays highbeam indicator, fuel warning etc. However it is mounted right at the bottom of the windscreen, making it only slightly higher then the normal displays, but at its the first use in a production car that I am aware.

Games?

[Dyolf Knip]

I suppose playing Carmageddon on this thing while driving whould be a Bad Thing?

OT: Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited)

[slashdot.org]

I'm from the Netherlands, but in the US right now. The problem arose when I read the Palo Alto Daily about a week ago, where a professor was trying to explain how to use the 's.

Ever since, I've been horribly confused. :o)) I was never very good at foreign languages. In fact, not at my native language either.

Anyways, I read up on it, after my blunder here on /. so hopefully I have it down now. ;)

Probably not useful for most of us here...

[SoLoatWork]

This made me think of truck drivers, who can have a legit excuse for an automotive PC. I have an uncle who does this for a living, and he can send e-mail on the road. A full PC would be a logical extension from this system. He could listen to MP3s, listen to web sites via TextToVoice applications, transcribe emails, etc while driving. A whole voice control system might not be feasible.. I don't really know how well this technology is. When parked for the night, he could even play games and do anything a computer user at home could do.

Here is a link to a maker of GUIs (!) for trucks: http://www.diversifiedsoftwareindustries.com/ivis/ index.shtml
I have more faith in these companies merging PCs and vehicles than a pc maker just making a computer to fit the stereo form factor.

I don't want to spend time in you

[Anonymous Coward]

Lots of interesting hacking ideas here for people who prefer to spend more time in their cars then me

That's disgusting man. Why would I want to spend time in you? I think you mean "than I".

C'mon people, this is nuts.

[Anonymous Coward]

Driving a car is a full-time job. Period. Just because we *can* shoehorn this stuff into a dashboard doesn't mean we should, or that it should be made available to the public.

To restate the well-worn refrain: Do we really need more distracted drivers on the road? I don't think a HUD would help things much. You're attention's still diverted. And read another post further up: when you're in a plane, it's unlikely you'll rear-end somebody if you're distracted for a few seconds.

Re:C'mon people, this is nuts.

[Anonymous Coward]

I want one. Not so much for while driving; although the GPS/Map applications would be nice. Which is more distracting, shuffling through a paper map trying to find where you are, or glancing at a screen and following a line that shows you're going to have to make a right turn in 2 blocks? I'm interested in it to run tuning/datalogging software.

I realize that most people on slashdot appear to be anti-car (especially performance). But for those of us interested in hi-tech car performance, what better way to datalog your car and adjust your fuel trims/timing than with a built in computer?

Yeah, you can use a laptop (what I currently do), but you have to watch out for it sliding off of the seat, etc. Same way you could put batteries in a portable stereo and use that in place of a radio. Works, but not nearly as cool.

Just another application that I haven't seen mentioned yet.

If you're interested in this type of thing, check out, www.tmo.com/prod/datalog/datalogger.htm or www.dsmlink.com. Both are specifically for DSM cars (Eclipses, Talons, Lasers), but there are some general OBD2 loggers out there too, www.obd2.com/personal/personal_scantool.htm for one.

ENGRISH !!!

[chicks_dig_it]

taken from site:

"Makes Car Smarter", yes, SmartVehiclePC.com has worked out an intelligent vehicle PC system for solving worldwide solution of how to make automobile more vivid. Also, it brings the computer into the vehicle, and is working to make it as common place as your car radio is today.

The VPC-1000 presented an in-car technology for featuring a fully integrated PC fitted in a conventional car stereo one-DIN slot in the vehicle.

The VPC-1000 featured an integrated GPS navigation system that correlates these location data with the digital map from the CD-ROM and provides a position with an accuracy of several meters. Also, it is capable of accessing the Internet for the up-to-date information on weather, traffic and tourism; and playing audio and video through the CD-ROM. On requests, the VPC-1000 picks up the users incoming e-mails. The LVDS connector expands another LCD panel at rear seat for entertainment purpose. Furthermore, the integration of voice recognition technology for the driver, along with the emergency call capability make this a safe and easy to use environment.
Facing to more and more competition in automobile specification. The VPC-1000 will be the key factor to success.

It looks very much like we should have very good time together and buy many action car pcs!

- WTF!?

- matt w

its just a little a little airborne its still good,its still good! - homer simpson

Snap one up before they're all gone?

[Anonymous Coward]

Gee, thanks for telling me on SLASHDOT. Just the quiet nudge I needed =)

I can't wait

[modemboy]

For all cars to have pc's with wireless in them. I can finally code a decent distributed radar trap tracking program. Truckers would love it.

Re:No anti-theft, UNLES

[Anonymous Coward]

the problem is that if you start transmitting you have maybe 1-2 hours of transmitting until the battery in thr unit dies. and that is at about 500milliwatts transmit power. so then you need to be within 1/2 of a mile of the unit to even recieve the signal...

Nope, it wont work. on a CAR level it does because you have a nice unlimited power source and every cop has a reciever and tracker in their car.

and such a system would probably add 200 dollars to the cost...

nope, the best anti-theft is to not park where your car get's broken into. (I.E. crappy neighborhoods or universities.)

Re:I really [don't] like this idea.

[Anonymous Coward]

I read in bumper-to-bumper traffic if I'm alone. In fact, I leave whichever book I'm reading in the passenger seat just in case.

Of course, Seattle bumper-to-bumper traffic is invariably stop-and-go. Read a page, see the next car creep forward about ten feet, creep forward behind them, read another page....

Troll MY FUCKING ASS!!

[20721]

Come on you piece of shit moderators, get with the program! This is OBVIOUSLY A HOAX. Just because SumDeusExMachina is a fucker doesn't mean you have to be.

Assholes.

Car PC

[Baseballfreak31]

I think this could be a good thing or a bad thing. Good because it is a really neat idea to have a PC in your car. It could save some time on may things. Bad because, like the cell phone thing people could be using the computer instead of concentrating on driving.It could even cause a law suite.

A great idea, but is it safe???

[Enrique84kk]

I believe the "In car computer" is a great idea for the working american, but with the great problems we have with simple cellular phones, think of the great problems we will probably have with the use of computers while driving. Even if it is voice activated, it would take a lot of concentration to make one of these useful during a commute.

Car PC

[makoner1st]

I like this idea of having a computer in the car that fits int he stereo slot. I personally like having gadgets in my car and I think it is very convient. This can also lead to new advances where the cpu can control the heating and cooling of your car by your voice.

pl/1 compiler

[oomcow]

a compiler that will handle misspellings and if-than's?

i thought pl/1 was supposed to compile anything you gave it. ;) the result just might not be what you expect. heh

car pc

[frd1983]

now days they are making it where people will never leave thier car.

By what do you mean by $1k

[Microsofts slave]

Did you mean 1000.00 American cause that aint bad, or did you mean 1$ a kilobyte? or even 10000.00 american?