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Install An Xbox/Linux Media System In Your Car

Posted by timothy on from the after-all-why-not dept.

AltGrendel writes "Bored during those rush-hour traffic jams? An enterprising UK geek has installed an Xbox/Linux system in his car. With a mod chip, Freevo, a LogiTech Wingman, and a 40 gig hard drive, he has access to music, video, and games during drive time. Details and pictures are here."

11 of 248 comments (clear)

  1. car crashes? by YahoKa · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And we thought cell phones were bad. Just wait 'till we all have full multimedia systems in our cars.

    1. Re:car crashes? by ethx1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This is not supposed to be some groundbreaking achievement. It is just a story of a bored guy and his xbox. The /. review says so too.

  2. I hope he has an airbag by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Because if he's playing while driving, he's going to need it.

  3. Ideal use for an xbox by Dajur · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Those things are perfect $200 media servers. Even if it dies early from the hostile environment of a car, they are cheap to replace.

  4. Details? by billstr78 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This site is pretty light on details. I have seen more in depth explantions on HOWTO bake a cake. If this guy did this himself, he must have been way to tired or un-motivated to document any of it.

    A damn cool project though. I'll bet MS would be proud to see thier XBOX used in such a versitle way. They should get some bright ideas from this.

    1. Re:Details? by billstr78 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      They would. They know that the XBOX is positioned to enter into the home entertainment sector. The next iteration of the game console will be something closer to a PVR.

      The would be happy to see that thier is an emerging market for the same use in automobiles. The problem is that there are not enough Gangsta Rappers to make this sector popular. Maybe the minivan crowd will provide enough motivation for them to make the push into developing mobile consoles.

      Funny how kids and gansta rappers are the only ones interested in playing video games in thier cars.

  5. comparison by SamBC · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Has anyone compared this to a broadly equivalent mini-itx setup, in cost or spec? It just seems that an xbox probably has some unnecessary systems...

  6. Re:extremely dangerous by madcow_ucsb · · Score: 2, Insightful

    this is exactly why (in california, anyway) it's illegal to have a tv/dvd player/etc viewable by the driver when the car's in motion. I believe most commercial systems require the car be in park for the systems to do anything but radio controls, navigation, and such.

    Not to be an asshole, but seriously - you'd have to be a retard to try to watch a movie (or play a video game) and drive at the same time...

    My roommate's got a hacked system so it CAN play DVDs, but christ, he's not stupid enough to do it while DRIVING!

  7. oh please by malakai · · Score: 5, Insightful

    in car entertainment centers don't kill people. Morons who try and watch movies while driving kill people.

    The same moron will die when he tries use WAP to buy a book from Amazon while cruising the Autobahn at 120

    Honestly though, if your "cousin" had died while doing this, i'd recm'd you submit his story here. I'd sure vote for him.

    -malakai

    --
    -Malakai
    A Dragon Lives in my Garage
  8. Future Litigation... by telstar · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This will end up in the courts. If you think not, check out this new bill approved in NJ. Though this article doesn't give all the details, the new ban prohibits eating, drinking, cel phone use, faxing, and reading while using your car. Information can be found here.

  9. Not especially exciting by commanderfoxtrot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Not to mention standard software &c., he is using a voltage inverter.

    To those who don't know what these are: they convert the car's (roughly) 12V to mains voltage so the XBox's PSU can drop it down again to the voltages the XBox wants -- probably 12V again.

    This means that when he starts the car, the XBox will turn off.

    You need a DC-DC converter in order to stop the machine turning off when you start the car, as the car's 12V can drop to as low as 7V.

    Look at my page to see how to build a DC-DC power supply. I've had a speaking, GPS-enabled Linux computer system running in my car for a couple of years. I turn when I get in the car, and only turn it off if I will be parking for over six hours, even though it takes about 25 seconds to start up.

    (And another thing: if anyone is tempted to build one of these using standard PC components, please don't use a full size keyboard!! You can pull the keyboard controller out and link in your own buttons directly. It just looks daft having a full size keyboard. Not mention ergonomics...)

    --
    http://blog.grcm.net/