Slashdot Mirror


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 ;)

12 of 259 comments (clear)

  1. I really like this idea. by perdida · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.

  2. Clarion Auto PC by King_TJ · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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....

  3. Too much "head-down time" by Animats · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    1. Re:Too much "head-down time" by C.+Mattix · · Score: 5, Interesting

      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.

    2. Re:Too much "head-down time" by Bombcar · · Score: 2, Interesting

      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....

  4. Mobile WLAN server? by DocSnyder · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.

  5. Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited) by DaveBarr · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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?)

  6. What I'd like to see. by Associate · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    --
    Someone hates these cans.
  7. Re:And now the story in English (copy-edited) by LoudMusic · · Score: 2, Interesting

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

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

    They are seperate entities.

    ~LoudMusic

    --
    No sig for you. YOU GET NO SIG!
  8. What??!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

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

  9. why not use the Linux-based Sharp Zaurus? by Locutus · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

    --
    "Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
  10. Re:I really [don't] like this idea. by mbogosian · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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....