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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.
Officer: "Driver's License and Registr.... say, is that Beverly Hills Cop you're watching there? Mind if I jump in?"
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DivX ?
With a Pentium 266 MMX ?
I hope you're not expecting all the FPS.
Trolling using another account since 2005.
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
Registering accounts later than some other chrisb since 1997
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 $0.02
For more information check out mini-itx or the super small case offerings of casetronic or Morex. Both of Casetronic and Morex make at least one case that has the same physical dimensions as a car stereo. Keep in mind these cases typically require the 2.5" hard drives and "slim" CD/CDRW/DVD drives which drives up the overall cost of the system and limits performance.
Galium Arsenide is the material of the future, and always will be.
Is it just me, or does the damn thing look ugly? I personally wouldn't sport that 'thing' in my car.
You could always build your own using a EPIA-M (or other EPIA) motherboard/processor combo from VIA, a car-stereo sized case from Casetronic or Morex, and a "slim" CD/CDRW/DVD, and a 2.5" Harddrive (and ram). Alternatively, if you already have wireless networking in your garage, you could skip the optical drive and just transfer files to it that way. When I built my slightly larger "living room" PC I think I ended up spending about 600-700$, so I'ld expect to pay about that for a car stereo sized one.
Galium Arsenide is the material of the future, and always will be.
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.
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.
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.
They should have used the C3 processor instead of the an old Pentium chip.
:)
Linux is the ideal OS since you can recompile plenty of apps to work with the particular CPU. Although I don't want to leave the car engine running while doing a Gentoo build
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
With a car, fan sound is less of an annoyance than in an otherwise silent office of living room. A car already makes quite some noise. As long as the fan noise stays under the car noise, it's not a bother.
Maybe you'll say that modern luxury cars are actually more silent than a 'puter fan. I do not think that is true, except for the high end lexus, volvo and bmw. Those are always equipped with airc, so they need less ventilation because they can are cooled with cool air anyway.
the pun is mightier than the sword
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
we're paying $1200 for this device that fits into the same space as our radio, so where do we put our radio? I don't know about you, but sometimes I jsut want to hear my favorite station and laugh at the morning show personality.
Yep. Especially in the days of Via Centaur this device is outright stupid. Using components from www.linitx.com I can rig the same thing for around 600$ assuming that 260$ will go for a motorolla GPS to hook up to the serial port.
Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
http://www.sigsegv.cx/
There's a hefty amount of profit in there too. I'm building one of my own. The cost breakdown is about as such:
EPIA M10000 mobo: $175
80 gb slim hd: $200
512 mb pc2100 ddr sdram: $80
slim slot loading dvdrom: $40 (used, I can't find a new one)
ATX DC power supply: $35
Assorted cabling and casing: $50
Front mount LCD panel: $70
About $650 total. You can add a GPS for $100, wireless networking for $50, a regular VGA screen from $250, or a VGA touchscreen for $550.
funny munging