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In-Dash DIN-form-factor Car PC
kraksmokr writes "Xenarc Technologies have introduced a cool new in-dash DIN-form-factor Car PC. It features built in hard drive, audio/video, and GPS, among other things. Estimated price will be about $1200. I can't even begin to list the possibilities for mobile computing bliss." I'm even more impressed that they can fit it into the dash than I am with in-dash CD changers. If you buy this thing, use it safely. None of us want auto PC users to end up in the same category as annoying cell phone users.
.. so we'll finally get people watching DivX while doing 90mph on the freeway.
I'm waiting for the In-Dash Touchscreen Computer Monitor, which I hear will be released at the end of August.
-William Shatner can be neither created nor destroyed.
Officer: "Driver's License and Registr.... say, is that Beverly Hills Cop you're watching there? Mind if I jump in?"
Homestarrunner.net -- It's Dot Com!
Wow and from what I know about cars I thought they already had enough computers in them.
Apparently the studly thing to do if you are a ricer type, is to have pr0n running on the video screens on the backs of your headrests. That way everybody you drive past can get either offended or dangerously distracted. I have personally seen this once, and there was also a news item about it.
N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
Awesome. Now I can finally play Grand Theft Auto while cruising through the Ghetto.
Cole's Law: Thinly sliced cabbage
'Bullitt.' A must-see for that long ride into the Vegas sunset. Then you have an excuse for the cop: "Sorry, officer? I was just practicing those stunts back there! I thought Bullitt was an educational film."
Homestarrunner.net -- It's Dot Com!
Same thing with cell phone users, that you must be able to talk and drive and the same time and walk and chew gum at the same time.
Fight Spammers!
Registering accounts later than some other chrisb since 1997
It's upsetting the $1,200 price-tag pays more for the compact-type computer than for the computer parts itself. I'd like to see a release of a more asthetic and powerful computer. Removing the CDROM would free up some room for upgrades and since many in-dash CD players are regular PC CDROMS some sort of uplink through that doesn't seem so farfetched.
None of us want auto PC users to end up in the same category as annoying cell phone users.
Or the same OS they will likely run
Hey, it's a wardriving machine!
this is all very well but is a pc what you want in your car? keyboard, mouse, tiny icons due to running on a small LCD? unless someone's released "Windows XP Car edition" or similar I really don't see this as all that useful - compared to say a navigation unit and an in car MP3 player. Or a PDA based system that has an OS that's in ROM and can be
Ubiquitous computing doesn't necesarily mean a *PC* is the best tool for the job. I don't fancy driving into the back of someone because I was trying to click on the MSN messenger icon...
...I see shortcomings.
Personally the Pentuim 266MMX is a little underpowered unless you just want an MP3 player or something along those lines. I personally think that taking the approach of what many high end car audio systems do(e.g. put the UI in the dash and the major hardware in the trunk) would have been a better approach. Having the audio, PCMCIA and the like in dash is great, but having a nice long(and heavily shielded) cable running to the trunk would be more effective because the space constraints aren't as big of a deal.
Just my $0.02
Early bird prices - Free portable computer that fits into hospital beds!!
I seem to remember some software being developed which emulated the OBD II car computer. It would be very interesting to load that software, this product, and a DA card to allow manual adjustments.
OTOH, some idiot will probably do this on an unstable OS, brining new meaning to 'system crash'.
Is it just me, or does the damn thing look ugly? I personally wouldn't sport that 'thing' in my car.
I ride a motorcycle. The three times that I have come closest to death in my life were on the freeway when someone with a cell phone held to their left ear did not bother to do a head check before moving left into me. I started coding on PDP-8s and Alpha Micros and I'm all for CPUs everywhere, but I don't like this thing one bit.
If you wouldn't use it while riding a motorcycle, paying attention to the road and to other things around you with both hands on the steering mechanism, then you shouldn't use it in a car.
In-Dash DIN-form-factor Car PC
...huh?
Its all very well having that lil DIN sized box in your dashbooard, and having all those features to hand but its absolutly useless cos theres no way to control it. Lets face it, the main reason you want a computer in the car is to play music or as some kind of satnav device. With no display or input devices it cant be used for that, and every car I've owned only had room for one DIN device. So where do you put the control/display devices?
I know they have a link to their little 7 inch monitors in the article, but again, where do you really put that? Cant go on the dash, its too big. Cant go on the front of the dash cos it would covers the air vents and the PC its connected to. And its a bit too easy for thieves to see.
I like that the computer is small and designed for use in a car, but its better off in the glovebox or under the dash, with a connection to a touchscreen flat panel in the DIN slot.
The best car computer/mp3 player I've seen so far is the Empeg player ( http://www.empeg.com ) but they stopped making them.
If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done?
Since this unit looks to be replacing a head unit stereo, why would you want to use a sound processor like an ESS? I would think that an emphasis on sound quality would be the ultimate thing in a stereo situation. I know that the cabin of your car isn't the most efficent place for quality of sound, but you can still tell a lot. I'm no expert on sound chips, but IMHO, ESS isn't the top choice for high qulity sound.
This design error seems to be common. Out of three laptop 12V adapters I've purchased, only one worked with an old battery (that was still good enough to start the car). The worst is my most recent Xtend PowerXtender, which is rated 12-16V and often refuses to work unless the engine is running - very annoying when I'm waiting in the car and want to use my laptop.
This possibly goes without saying, but it is none too difficult to create a far better solution, for considerably less money, by buying components individually. Mini-itx.com is a good place to start. $1,200 for this is, frankly, too expensive.
((lambda x ((x))) (lambda x ((x))))
Quote: "We are currently working on a version with faster processor speed. Please check back with us in a couple of months for more information."
In other words: Don't buy our current product. We will use the non-existant money we make from not selling version one to make version two.
Didn't other companies go broke due to similar statements?
it is only after a long journey that you know the strength of the horse.
... I want my car hifi to have a simple, cheap, something like "Bluetooth Audio" receiver.. and for something like an iPod with a digital wireless audio SENDER... so whenever my portable is in the car I can hear it over the speakers. Not much to ask, is it? The tech is already here and cheap. Everything that plays back audio should have a transmitter, and everything plays music should have a receiver. Just think of the possibilities. PC in your den plays music, can listen in the living room. TV/VCR/DVD plays something.. listen (and watch) in stereo in your bedroom. Oh yes... video too... :o) .. it's 2003 already!
Come on big manufacturers, catch up
why didn't they use a slotfeed dvd drive? unless... maybe the cd tray really does double as a cupholder
bite my glorious golden ass.
IMHO, the only equipment required in a (real) car is a rev-counter and an oil-pressure gauge :-)
Hrm... Doesn't the design seem sooo PC case-ish?
It looks like there should be a perfectly scale working model crt monitor, all boxy and grey sitting up on the dashboard, with a tiny, loud IBM ps2 keyboard.
Adorable, really...
"Come on, let's go drink till we can't feel feelings anymore."
sure, the cpu is only a 266mhz pentium. but its not exactly a mind-boggling task to simply swap out the processor. even the video cripples this device. 2MB? i guess it wouldnt be more useful than an mp3 or divx box. for that much money though, i'd rather just burn a bunch of cds to toss into the cd player. i'm assuming the video out simply plugs into the video screens in the back of headrests and such. note: it does come with IrDA so kids would be able to pause, rewind, etc if they were watching movies. it's called a "carputer". all they need next is to attach some sort of fishing radar and they'd be all set!
... one migt want to look at the BriQ instead. Not DIN formfactor but you should be able to fit it in a dashboard.
Scitne aliquis remedium potimum crapulae?
If you buy this thing, use it safely. None of us want auto PC users to end up in the same category as annoying cell phone users.
Actually, I was hoping that no-one would end up dead, geek or otherwise. This thing could turn out to be a pretty dumb idea.
Why do they make these things beige/white?? I mean, how many cars have a white dashboard? Perhaps the computers come with front panels in different colors?
Martin
In car MP3 player. That was basically a pc which was removable. It had a docking station which you used to squirt your MP3s onto it with.
Empeg Products Page
Maybe I'm being a bit paranoid, but wouldn't the first nasty pot hole/speed bump kill the hard drive?
Have hard drive manufacturers made notebook drives able to withstand the extreme g forces that could be encountered in a vehicle on a day to day basis? Does someone have real experience/data having a hard drive last for any length of time in a car?
"Every security scheme that is based on secrets eventually fails." - Steve Jobs
On the A2 there is a 12 kilometer beowulf cluster.
h-t-t-p-colon-slash-slash-slash-dot-dot-org
With wireless networking and PalmVNC, you could operate the in-dash computer via a PalmOS-compatible PDA. Imagine that this thing could be very powerful as a combination MP3 jukebox, satnav device, PVR -- toss a 7" monitor in the back seat of a SUV or minivan, which some manufacturers are starting to add in their luxury models, great for the kids -- and with USB ports, the thing could be useful to store files for your digital camera. Sure, some of these things (satnav/gps, MP3 playing) can be done by a PDA, but you're limited by the memory you can stuff into the PDA. A full PC, OTOH, can have hundreds of megs of RAM and hundreds of gigabytes of hard drive storage. That, and the fact that you can combine all those devices into one is going to save you space.
That's why you'd want a PC in your car.
My journal has hot
ok, we are spending $1200 for this thing, and i think it's pretty neat, but sometimes, I just want to listen to my radio.
I had already started to look at building something like this to put in the car somewhere to record video, front and rear so that I could prove / disprove whatever the police were complaining about.
I did see some embeded Linux PC104 boards with PC Card expansion in Linux Journal too : gps or celular modem ? You can call your car and find out where it is !
You slashdotters see this thing as a multimedia machine. I think their biggest market is the enterprise. Base-station in the truck with GPS, handheld connecting with bluetooth, GSM connection to the main office... Think of all the shipping applications, visiting nurses, the guy recording the meter,...
10 ?"Hello World" life was simple then
In Canada, we don't fancy things like socks
This is one of the coolest accessories I've seen for the iPod. Maybe not as geeky-cool as Bluetooth, but it works today, with existing technology.
Combined with OLED (organic light emitting diode) technology, this could be a killer app. OLED displays are a bit like LCD displays, except that they emit light rather than reflect it. They can be transparent in the areas they are not lit, and come in green and orange currently.
Imagine a head up display for your radio/cd/mp3... you could even move your speed- and odo-meters to the windscreen. Thinking further ahead, augmented reality displays will eventually be possible. I'd like to see a kind of mini-radar, that shows other cars near yours (a bit like on Daytona USA, the Sega arcade game). No more blind spots etc.
MoJo
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
"If you buy this thing, use it safely. None of us want auto PC users to end up in the same category as annoying cell phone users."
How does one do a C-x-f safely while driving anyway?
You know you're a geek if you've ever replied to a tagline.
Personally I am looking forward to the release of this system from here. It doesn't have full specs, but it does include a power supply that monitors the input signals from the car and can perform power management functions.
I have been looking into this for a while, and the one linked does seem nice, and the same company makes some higher end models in case 266MHz isn't enough.
XeoMage
"I see you're trying to drive the wrong way on a one-way street. Are you fscking nuts?!"
Seems like this little invention, along with a bit'o wireless gear, should let people swap music files in the safety and convenience of their own car. Car-2-car swapping networks would let you snag files from fellow commuters as long as you were all going the same speed during the download time. So a long commute down a steadily moving highway would make an excellent venue for file sharing. Only problem would be if the person you are connected to takes an early exit and breaks the link.
For extra credit the creators of C2C software (open source, of course) could even patch together a mobile mesh network that lets you swap files from one end of a traffic jam to another. Another nice feature would resume an interrupted file transfer the following day when you and your peer are on that same stretch of road at the same time.
Until RIAA creates roving anti-swapping patrols, C2C networks should be pretty safe because there would be no ISP logs to subpeona.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
None of us want auto PC users to end up in the same category as annoying cell phone users.
You mean dead?
Isn't that the logo of X Window System?
Lesbian Nazi Hookers Abducted by UFOs and Forced Into Weight Loss Programs - -all next week on Town Talk.
300mhz Geode processor (I have seen up to P3 700mhz boards)
256 memory
512 flash drive (for OS)
compact flash (why use a HD?)
OS? Windows to linux to a half a dozen others..
for under 600$
Hmm, now I may have to tinker and build a car PC now... in any case.. I will have 10 of the above in a month :)
info to get ya started:
kontron
winsystems
arcon
versalogic
m-systems (storage)
we're paying $1200 for this device that fits into the same space as our radio, so where do we put our radio? I don't know about you, but sometimes I jsut want to hear my favorite station and laugh at the morning show personality.
I don't want Windows running on the windows of my car. I can see it now; PC-based nav system; I miss my turn; and I get an "Abort, Retry, Fail" message. And if my car runs Windows, will I have to buy Microsoft gas? Otherwise, a HUD would be cool.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
all i want i a system which plays mp3's has a big hard drive a simple interface and i wifi card and some sofware on my pc that updates the mp3s in my car whenever it comes into range of the network that would be perfect every time i park my car near my house it updates my collection
Roses are Red Violates are Blue im not very good a poetry but i have many other redeming qualitys
ctrl alt del
ctrl alt del
ctrl alt del
#&*@&$*$ car pc... grumble
What?
screeeeeeeeeeeeech
CRASH
I have a MPShuttle II in my car, which consists of a 20Gb swapable drive, that can be dropped into your home PC to transfer MP3s. I have had it in my car for about 3 years, and have not had any problems with the hard drive crashing. Don't forget that the HD is only accessed for a few seconds, then the MP3 is in RAM for the duration of the song.
--Note to self. Add witty sig here, someday...
This is slashdot. Simply being able to claim that your car runs linux is sufficient justification.
If I seem short sighted, it is because I stand on the shoulders of midgets
I've had a Neo35 with a 30G drive in my car for several years now, with no problems - and the Neo is CONSTANTLY accessing the drive - it doesn't really cache the data very well, and it uses the drive instead of NVRAM to store where it is in playing the song. I frequently run over dirt roads and potholes. My Neo does quite a bit better than my old CD changer, which would spaz whenever I hit a particularly bad washboard or pothole.
You must remember that what will kill the drive is a sudden, high-G shock. Now, your car is a large mass suspended in a shock-absorbing system (your tires and shocks (unless you are a ricer, in which case you remove the shocks and wrap rubber bands around your bling-bling wheelrims)). So any sudden, sharp shock your tires hit will be turned into a longer, less sharp shock by the time it reaches the hard disk.
www.eFax.com are spammers
Maybe I should just start my own news site?
2003-06-26 14:12:42 How a bout an in-dash 266mhz Pc? (articles,tech) (rejected)
The bus company who I travel to and from work on every day have fitted each bus with a PC. There's a flat screen display attached to the bulkhead behind the driver facing the passengers, and some unit, probably embedded, on the other side.
I believe it's going to be intergrated with GPS to give a read out of the current location and ETA. It's not working yet, so either displays an AMI BIOS boot message with no boot device, or just the bus company logo.
Once I get around to installing a PC in my car I think I'll go the route of a HUD. This way I'll be able to glance at the interface without taking my eyes off the road. I've noticed in the past that papers on my dash in certain places reflect a certain ammount on my windshield. It's enough to see the paper and the road at the same time during daytime. At night it's very hard to see the reflection. I figure that a decent LCD with a brightness adjustment would work wonders. Of course I would have to figure out how to reverse the characters since I would be looking in a reflection. The only issues I can think of is dust collection and heat damage during the summer. A cover would work nicely for the dust, but making it removable for the heat problem would be tough.
Chika Chik-ah... do-e ow ow.
As appealing as a dash-board sized computer sounds, I think its a little pricey. I've had a computer in my car for ~3 years and it cost 1/3-1/2 of what the asking price of this unit is. The only drawback is that it isn't dash-board sized, so I had to install it under my rear seats.
If anyone wants to do it, buy a power inverter (sinewave inverter otherwise you will probably have noise in the sound and video) for about $50, build a low-cost PC (celeron) with video out ($300+?), a car LCD (5" or 6" for about $100 on ebay), and then some sort of input devices. I used a fellowes touchpad mouse($15) that I installed in my center console and I also made an IR detector (schematics are online and can be built for under $15) that plugged into my serial port that, with the right winamp plugin, would allow me to control winamp with my cd player's remote. For the sound, my car cd player (panasonic) had a Aux-In, but if that isn't an option for you, you could use an FM Modulator that would broadcast the computer's sound over a certain FM station (like cd changers do).
Having a car-computer like this definitally took the edge off long trips (especially for the passengers since I couldn't exactly watch the DivX's/Video games they were playing very well while driving).
Also be aware that an LCD in view of the driver may be illegal! I had the LCD installed in my front dashboard directly above the cd player. This was a great place for everyone to view it, but while on a trip from NC -> IA, I was pulled over for speeding and questioned by the highway patrol about the LCD. Luckily, I had the power for the comp/lcd on a switch so it was turned off by the time the officer had come to the car so I didn't get fined.
VW/Audi 1.8T engine: standard 150-170BHP.
Half a day with Mike @ Jabbasport with his laptop and rolling road? 225BHP at the fly, with the dyno to prove it.
Driven one and it's very quick indeed. Handily, the same engine comes in a 225BHP variant with a larger turbo, so you're not even overstressing it.
Keep in mind that the Centrino is returning to the "does more per clock cycle" mantra as opposed to the P4's "Do less per clock cycle so you can clock it insanely fast" mantra.
P4 laptops are AT LEAST to 2.4 GHz, if not more.
Yes, not quite as fast as desktops, but still quite fast. Also, in a car PC, heat isn't as much of an issue, since you don't have to worry about the power consumption of a fan sucking up battery life. As someone else pointed out, unless you're driving a super-high-end BMW or Lexus or Mercedes, you can get away with quite a powerful fan before the noise becomes noticeable. If you happen to be a ricer, you could put in triple 60mm screamers and still have the engine drowning out your PC... Same thing if you're driving any convertible with the top down.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
I was a member of the Penn State FutureTruck program this past year, which had 15 universities develop hybrid-electric Ford Explorers. I know several schools had in-dash PC's of some sort to provide entertainment, telemetry, and navigation functions.
PSU's system (picture here) , which I wrote in Delphi, focused on entertainment, such as the MP3 player screen shown in the picture. The interface is fairly easy to navigate without requiring too much attention while driving. The display itself is a touchscreen made by Xenarc, the company that makes the DIN-PC featured in this article. The PC itself is a Cappuccino Mini-PC running Windows 2000. The PC was mounted in the center console which (after adding some small fans) kept it cool enough to run well.
what's the usual Microsfot lead time between announcement and release?
Uuuuh.. you can get an industrial form factor PC with CF drives and IDE headers for between $300-500. Mount it in the trunk, and run your I/O some other way. Don't see the appeal of the DIN mounting here.. especially with mp3 players rampant / cheap.
I'm waiting to install a Arcom Controls board in the trunk, with 802.11 onboard so I can copy music from my home PC into the car transparently.
..don't panic
Another good site for small PC's is mini-itx.com. Fun stuff.
"Powers. I have them."
This would be a great diagnotics tool and a kick ass music storage holder. I always wanted to install a PC into my car and have some applications that would monitor my engines vitals.
:(
The wiring would be a nightmare though
I've already got this with my empeg (http://www.empeg.com)
It's been around since last century.
-it's insanely slow (who in their right mind wants to run anything on a 266?)
-boot up time is annoying - who wants to wait 30s to a minute waiting for their stereo to boot up, then login, then apply settings and initialize so they can listen to mp3s?
-software interfaces are generally not designed to be easy to use in the car
-using a keyboard and mouse, or even a touchpad, isn't the easiest thing to do while cruising the highway... there's a reason everything in the car is still button controlled
a better option is to go get yourself an xbox, mod it, put a 120gb hd in it, load xbox media player on it, put your mp3s, videos, and games on it, and wire it up in the car. make a simple control panel by soldering wires and buttons to a controller board and mount the thing underneath your seat (or wherever you happen to have room). you've got a five second boot time, an extremely easy to control interface, and a custom control panel on your dash. with lcd screen, wiring, and sweat the setup should cost you around $500... i have my doubts this 1 DIN PC is going to be anywhere near that, especially with the screen.
this is the setup in my car right now, and it's gotten to the point where i can't imagine driving without it... i have linux loaded on the box for those times when i really want to perform some PC tasks in the car, but other than that it's the best way to go with something like this. until the boot time is down and some custom media players are written for it (good luck with that one), as well as a button driven control panel for the dash, it's not going to go anywhere.
http://users.skynet.be/karel.martens/
What? It looks like a PC, same damn color and everything. Who would put this in their car? Maybe 90% of the Pinto owning Slashdot community? And the proc speed; give me a break!
sounds like a bad idea to put electronics rated at up to 120 degrees inside a car. first time you leave your car in a parking lot on a hot day with the windows up, you're probably going to see temps in excess of 120....
"You want a toe? I can get you a toe by three o'clock... with nail polish."
You don't think throwing a neavy object while driving a motorcycle might be dangerous?
am i not seeing something? you will need your stereo head unit power your speakers. i mean, this is supposed to be a dvd/mp3 player for the car right? why design it to fit in a spot that is alread taken? just buy a laptop. built in screen. nice computing power.
Ok, so it's a little off-topic, but I just have to tell my favorite cell phone user story. I drive a [omitted for privacy, but non-SUV vehicle], on which I have found that it is easy to turn the window washing fluid nozzle to the right such that it squirts toward the sidewalk instead of onto the window. This comes in handy when I see a friend walking down the street. A little press on the wahser button, and the friend is surprised by a stream of water (I make sure to remove the soap so I don't accidentally squirt soap in his eyes) dropped from the air onto his head. :)
The best use I ever had for it was one day that I was feeling a little...disgruntled. As I pulled up to a stoplight, a black SUV pulled up next to me. And low and behold, the driver was on his cellphone. It was a warm day, so he had his window rolled down. A wicked through ran through my head, and as the light turned green, I wailed on the washer button. The look on the SUV-drivers face was priceless. He turned right and I went straight, so I didn't have to worry about any retaliation, but you could see his face go from "what the hell?" to "fuck you" in about two seconds. Priceless. I have to say, it lifted my spirits.
Huh? Ever heard of Transmeta? 1 GHz Crusoe...
Onward to the Aether Sphere!
I would like something like this, but the ones companies keep coming out with don't quite get there. the closest physically was the empeg, but it was a music/audio device only. It seems pretty obvious that a car PC would have to have a docking station of some kind due to weather/temperture concerns at least, let along being able to take it indoors to change things on it would be good. And this one doesn't have good power specs (based on other posts) and no radio? how hard would that have been to add? once again, the right idea, but wrong implementation....
You know, I think my one and only DIN space is used by the car radio, so I don't know if following this spec does anything anyway. There used to be holes to put extra electronics in cars, but now it's just molded plastic.
2 PCMCIA slots for WiFi 802.11b cards
a new era of war driving?
Put the PC in the trunk: it's more protected there and there is more room for all the things you might want to plug in. What should go into the dashboard is the user interface--a touch screen or an LCD and some buttons. A Bluetooth or WiFi-capable touch screen in an in-dash form factor, now that would be something useful.
Until then, you might be best off just sticking a Palm or PPC to your dashboard and having it talk wirelessly to your PC.
Better yet, do this in your Mustang GT Bullitt. "I'm just getting ready for the remake, officer."
I don't know about you, but my servers run on the power of cotton candy and happy thoughts. -Anonymous Coward
Clarion has had this type of product for years. www.autopc.com (joyride system) Has USB interface, MMX processor, DVD/CD. And yeah, it runs with Windows.
Hey, the car already has a cooling system. Real Men would just route some of the car's air conditioning to cool the computer (Real Women would probably be doing something more sensible).
Happy Sysadmin Day!
Check it out
I'm sure these cars totally increase your chick appeal too.
"Intel Pentium MMX-266 MHz CPU"
That is not fast enough to play mpeg-4 encoded video, and will only play dvd's at a very low resolution (think 5" lcd).
Log Off And Drive!
Do you think you could drive any better with that keyboard shoved up your ass?
My other car is a G5
And, of course,
:-)
Moderate drunk! It's more fun that way!
http://www.trumanmobile.com/prod/Default.asp
Where it is now specifically illegal to view pornography on your in car system. Due to the fact that some parent actually saw some from a passing vehicle.
If you can't beat someone in a race with your car... the distraction isn't going to help, they've already passed you... All you'll do is offend old ladies and other such slow creatures.
The package mentioned in the article includes software. You are not just paying $1200 for a box, you get the GPS software and the OS installed and configured. Also have any of you considered the whole issue with system power? If you notice there are not any AC outlet in your car. If you are considering a invert then you now have two heat sources to cool, plus you have to worry about draining your battery. These specialized systems come with DC to DC (because the computer PS just turns AC to DC anyway) power supplies that can sense when you power off your car. They also will shut the system down if they sense a low battery. If you want more power check out these PIII and PIV systems:
http://www.i-zone-3.com/components.htm
http://www.opussolutions.com/
You are still talking $2000 to $3000 for complete system (including the touch screen), but now you have a much more powerful computer.
Neat product. Now they just need to pay a graphic artist (and I use the term loosely) to give them a real logo).
.sigs are for post^Hers.
http://www.dashpc.com He has a pretty sweet setup with lots of advice for DIYers. Too bad it's in a Volkswagen though.
Takes War Chalking (or Driving) to a new/easier level.
Visualize Whirled Peas
http://www.roaddesk.net/
Notice the warning at the bottom of the page that it's not to be used while driving??
First of all, why are they putting a vga output on this thing? There are dozens of beautiful fold-out screens on the market that only accept component video. Second, no DVD?!? Last, but not least, 266mhz people! 2-6-6! Also, anyone who says that heat would be a big problem, come feel my Nakamichi CD-700, it runs HOT.
I don't keep a lid on my coffee so when I walk around I look busy -me
My truck, a very nice 4 door pick-up, doesn't have a trunk. I do however have the money to buy something that will fit in the dash.
WTF would anyone put in a keyboard and mouse when a touch screen would do?
Sure, you'd want to make custom interfaces to make them more touch screen compatible, it's not that difficult for a lot of slashdotters.
Something like this is probably for the home hacker.
The bigger companies like automakers can afford to make custom hardware to do the sort of thing that some people might do with this unit.
It also appears to be a relabeling of the Giantec VPC-1000 from Taiwan.
Get an inverter, a regular PC (in a smaller case) and attach everything in the truck.
:) Got a corded/custom (for MP3s) and a regular (but cordless) keyboard that I can put away.
:-)
That's what I did. I ran cabling under the seats and through the foldable backseats. You don't see any cabling. Screwed 4 hooks on the back of the backseat and used bungie cords to attach the PC on the back. My PC is a regular P3 800 and not a whimpy 266 Mhz. Got wireless to upload MP3 and emm.. "test" other nets too
Then I have a small TFT with velcro on the back. That way, I can put it under the seat when I'm parked at the mall. Got full internet access (at home or close to a starbucks, etc), MP3, DivX and DVD playback.
Things I want to try: GPS navigation, internet through my cellphone provider, get a TV/radio card. Why radio? So that I can easily switch from radio to MP3 with a single button
Total cost? I haven't calculated as I already had a lot of parts. I paid for the inverter, small computer case, LCD and an extra wireless keyboard. So less than $200
One trick: put the interver in the truck. That way you won't hear the noise. I can only hear the PC noise when the car is idle. When it's moving, I don't hear anything.
-- Leeeter than leet
A friend of mine had an in-car video display. He also happened to have a digital video camera with so-called 'night vision'. One night, he figured that, since he had a hard time driving at night, he could just prop the camera on the dash, put it in night-vision mode, plug it into his video-display and drive while watching the screen.
Oncoming headlights still prove to be a bit of a problem.
Needless to say... this technology has to develop a little further yet!
Faster machines can be had for free! Really, if they are having heat problems they should be using a transmeta. I've thrown away faster machines.
TallGreen CMS hosting
Looking at the web page, I see that it's rated operational temperature range is up to 122 degrees F. I could see that as a problem in the summer, when car temperatures in the sun can far exceed that. Granted, cars cool off quickly, but that's quite a spike.
Couple that with problem with heat dissapation due to being in the dash - hey, my car CD player already gets pretty hot - and I see problems.
However, he does not use it in a car but on the back of a camel.
Now we not only have to deal with oblivious drivers on cell phones, drunk drivers, senior citizen drivers who should have lost their licenses 10 years ago, soccer moms being distracted by five bratty kids, and the countless number of just plain incompetant drivers, but now we will have drivers reading email, watching videos, and playing games. Perhaps we should create a death mobile and complete the evolution of driving.
Tired of being "punished" by the Slashdot $rtbl since 2002. I'm now over at http://soylentnews.org/ .
there's no long-term market for this thing. Clarion already tried it with the AutoPC. Basically all it could do that a satnav + CD player couldn't do was take notes and work your schedule - do you really want to be working even when you're driving?
Lots of people will go gee-whiz and buy it and then wish they hadn't and it'll die like the CueCat.
For a few hundred you get a much faster processor capable of playing most video files at full speed. Mount the DVD drive in the dash, stow the rest of the system elsewhere in your car and voila, instant music jukebox/movie theatre/arcade in your car. After all is said and done you'd probably come out the same or cheaper and get much better equipment.
I would think due to the interface they would choose linux because it would be easy to build a custom low power device and not have to have a big celeron in the machine. In fact things like GPS Drive are quite usable out of the binary on a system like this.
is 122F.. That is not good enough for Southern California. (Not everyone has A/C car, you insensitive clod!)
Anyone knows what the non-usage temperature is before everything melts and render unusable later even in cooler temp?
Wow, this is so cool, I can't wait to NOT GET ONE!
I've been complaining recently that every stereo should have a USB port for playing music off of USB flash cards or external USB drives. Now there is one! Hope this suceeds in the market!
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
I run an aftermarket ECU in my car. I spend a great deal of time tuning and monitoring what's going on in my car - doing this with a laptop in the passenger seat SUX and also requires too much of my attention. I'm often reduced to datalogging and then perusing the logs to see what went on. This particular ECU, made by AEM, also allows me to create CUSTOM DASHBOARDS. I can create all sorts of nifty graphic gauges to monitor any of about 100+ different things going on with the car. Again, displaying these on the laptop SUX.
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I have a mostly empty DIN slot in my dash with an Alpine MP3 player above it. This box is indeed attractive but the CPU a tad slow. Their other machine is MUCH more interesting to me, faster too. However the big problem is still the darned display. Flip out LCDs can be a PITA - they get in the way of other important controls. While I could certainly use a box like this in my case, to monitor things if nothing else, placing a display somewhere that wouldn't be in the way is still the biggest problem. The only really good space I've got in my car is over the passenger side airbag which is both too far away and is a safety device I'd prefer to retain.
I guess we'll see - I'm looking hard at their other box but I'm just not sure abou the display. Their displays cost BIG bux too - ouchie! I could care less about playing DVDs in the car (helloo, I'm DRIVING) and I've already got an MP3 player. Just something to dislpay ECU parameters and record data would be way cool.
Oh, and in my particular case Windows is a must as this software I need to run only runs on WIN32 platforms.
P.S. Anyone know how this thing acts when power is removed? Does it send a signal to the OS or must we remember to shut it down each time as well as turn it on? That would kind of suck...
Build it, Drive it, Improve it! Hybridz.org
Based on a previous Slashdot story I'm going to need a 36-42 volt version soon.
now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
http://ashleypowers.com/
So what was the point of your story, that you're an asshole, or that you just didn't get the shit kicked out of you that one time?
-- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!
Am I the only one that saw the X in teh logo and immediatly think the X consortium was going to jump all over these guys? : )
No. In order to make a heads-up display appear on your windshield, you need a "beamsplitter", AKA a "partial reflector". It reflects some of the light from your projector, so that you can see the projected image, but also allows you to see the light coming in from the outside of your car (e. g. the road, incoming cars, flaming death). You need a LOT of light to make a HUD work, especially with a lot of ambient light pollution around (like in the day). OLEDs just aren't going to generate that much light.
Is it 6 or 8 pin DIN?
BTW I spoke to the company today and this in-dash car PC is no longer available due to technical problems. A related product or a version manufactured by a partner company may be coming down the line...
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Did you notice they named their product "Carputer?" That is the lamest thing I have ever heard. New Carputer owner: Check it out, its my new Carputer! Friend: You are a loser. Note to embedded computing guys, don't name anything "-puter."
This product has been temporarily discontinued. We are currently working on a version with faster processor speed, possibly Pentium 3 based platform so that it would support Windows XP....
XP? So It can crash...then i can crash at the same time!
it's a pity you're ac, I'd nominate you for the pullitzer prize myself...
MP3 Search Engine
Anyway for a little more space (which involves getting waaaay up under the dash, or having a trunk, which I don't) you can put a full speed system up under the dash.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Can it accept an external display and keyboard/mouse combo?
Can it accept a CD-ROM?
Is its GPS receiver WAAS-ready?
Unless the answer to all three of the above is "yes,' I'll be sticking with what I have now, thanks.
Bruce Lane, KC7GR,
Blue Feather Technologies
Note that the link points to a .45 calibre pistol. Note that bullets of 115 grains generally belong to the 9mm class of handguns. If you didn't make a mistake, then may I ask why you feel the need to take the advantages of a standard .45 and turn it into a gimp 9mm?
Just buy a G17 and have 80% more ammo available.
That's where the power amps are in my car and it seems to works fine. I didn't choose them, or their locations, but if a 100W amp can remain adequately cooled under a car seat, surely a 10W C3 can be accommodated as well. This would greatly shorten the necessary cabling, which is much more complex than that needed for stereos (which mostly just need fat cables if they get long). 3 meter cables (if you even need that) are much less expensive than 10 meter cables, because of the greatly reduced demands for shielding and power dissipation.
How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
its one thing being a geek, but being such a complete nerd as this is somethign else...
"If you buy this thing, use it safely. None of us want auto PC users to end up in the same category as annoying cell phone users."
get a grip!
SURELY NOT!!!!!