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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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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 :-)
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
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
Another good site for small PC's is mini-itx.com. Fun stuff.
"Powers. I have them."
Well, for starters, the reason you don't want to use a Compact flash for a HDD is because they wear out after about 100,000 read/writes. That will last you about a month. HDDs OTOH, will last you about 2 years, even with the shock of everyday driving. You decide.
Actually I'm counting on it. Which is why I'd toss them over my shoulder.
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.
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!
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.
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...
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