Ultimate Automotive Computer Installation

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Ultimate Automotive Computer Installation

Posted by pudge on Friday January 23, 2004 @03:36AM from the i-have-seen-the-future-and-it-is-good dept.

ErnstKompressor writes "I came across a story detailing an awesome car mod out of the Czech Republic. The author undertook what must be the most impressive exercise in computer integration I have ever seen, installing an extensive Mac system with custom Cocoa software controlling nearly every aspect of a 1993 Tatra 613. On-board systems monitoring, navigation, entertainment, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, plus much more, are all rolled into a tight, extensible, package. Check it out."

27 of 294 comments (clear)

Steam coming out of... by Anonymous Coward · 2004-01-23 03:41 · Score: 0, Funny

...the web server's radiator. Is there a AAA for Slashdotting?
Remote access by cwernli · 2004-01-23 03:41 · Score: 4, Funny

Unfortunately the site's already /.ed, so I can't verify if it has remote access - I always wanted to ssh into a car and fire up my favourite text editor at 60 mph :-)
1. Re:Remote access by awtbfb · 2004-01-23 05:08 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  You need to hang around auto research labs more often. This is a common event when dealing with instrumented R&D cars. Of course, you have to be very careful since, unlike this car, many of these vehicles have data flowing in both directions. Accidentally spiking the steering actuator is bad. Very bad.
Shouldn't that be... by imsmith · 2004-01-23 03:42 · Score: 4, Funny

Czech it out?
1. Re:Shouldn't that be... by Anonymous Coward · 2004-01-23 03:51 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Shouldn't that be...Czech it out?
  Hahahahaha good one! See, he's making a funny because of the similarity of the sounds of Czech and check. Woo hoo, hang on, let me catch my breath before I finish this post!
  OK, there. Thanks. What makes this post so great is that Nobody Before in the History of the Planet has thought of that funny joke! Hahahahahaha oh man there I go again...
2. Re:Shouldn't that be... by djdanlib · 2004-01-23 03:58 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Uh-oh, here comes your reward for noticing that... One day, a man from the Czech Republic came to visit his friend in New York. When asked what he wanted to see, the visitor replied, "I would like to see one of the zoos in America." To his delight, the New Yorker took him to the Bronx Zoo. They were touring the zoo, and standing in front of the gorilla cage, when one of the gorillas busted out of the cage and swallowed the Czech whole. Shocked, his friend from New York quickly called over the zoo keeper. He quickly explained the situation and the zoo keeper immediately took steps to save the man's friend. The zoo keeper got an axe and asked the man, "OK, which gorilla did it? Was it the male or the female?" The New Yorker pointed out the female as the culprit. Quickly, the zoo keeper split the female gorilla open and found nothing of the Czech. He looked at the man from New York, who shrugged and said, "Guess the Czech is in the male."
3. Re:Shouldn't that be... by splattertrousers · 2004-01-23 06:57 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  No, then the RIAA would storm you for stealing from John Mellencamp. Only Springsteen is allowed to do that.
  But that's okay, because it's obvious that John Mellencamp stole all his stuff from Johnny Cougar anyway.
A bientot, M. Server! by American+AC+in+Paris · 2004-01-23 03:43 · Score: 5, Funny

[mycar:~] bob% ignition
Connecting to ignition...Connection refused: too many users. Please try again later.
[mycar:~] bob% ignition
Connecting to ignition...Connection refused: too many users. Please try again later.
[mycar:~] bob% ignition
Connecting to ignition...Connection refused: too many users. Please try again later.
Damn you, Slashdot...

--
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
1. Re:A bientot, M. Server! by cwernli · 2004-01-23 04:00 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  It would probably be:
  
  bob% /etc/init.d/engine start
  engine: permission denied
  bob%
2. Re:A bientot, M. Server! by Mr+Guy · 2004-01-23 05:45 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  That's FRENCH ?!?
  
  GET HIM!
  
  --
  Never confuse volume with power.
Great for Traffic Jams by zgwortz962 · 2004-01-23 03:43 · Score: 5, Funny

Now *that* has got to be a great car to have in traffic jams. With just one click, Expose will move all the other cars out of your way...
Requisite commentary... by griffjon · 2004-01-23 03:44 · Score: 5, Funny

With wi-fi, does that mean you can see a beowulf cluster of these on any sufficiently packed freeway?

I'd post something of content, but the site is already severely /.ed...

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Returned Peace Corps IT Volunteer
Dude, where's my... by Anonymous Coward · 2004-01-23 03:45 · Score: 5, Funny

...web server?
Re:we meet again... by djdanlib · 2004-01-23 03:48 · Score: 3, Funny

Or, perhaps in another fantasy hero's life...

From an upcoming cancelled James Bond film:

007: What do you have for me today, Q?
Q: Well, I had a bugger of a time getting all the software mail-ordered, but I have finally finished this Macintosh powered car. It goes from zero to Sad Mac in under two seconds.
007: I think I'll stick with my Aston Martin, thanks.
Time for some bad unix puns? by Viol8 · 2004-01-23 03:55 · Score: 2, Funny

I bet he really shelled out for that system. Mind you , all the software should help him thread his way through traffic driven by the usual zombies
and the GPS will help with those confusing forks() in the road which can be very awk-ward sometimes. I don't imagine his passengers will have normal regular expression when they get in the car for the first time
but I'm sure he'll mktime() to explain it all to them.
Re:Fastest Mac on four wheels? by chunkwhite86 · 2004-01-23 04:01 · Score: 3, Funny

I doubt it, seeing as how he replaced his ENGINE with a POWERMAC!

You DO know that this is a rear-engine car? Unless you live in the US in the deep south, rear engined cars are commonplace. VW Beetle, VW Bus, Porsche 911, most Ferraris...

--
I'd rather be a conservative nutjob than a liberal with no nuts and no job.
New(Old) Meaning by Manassas · 2004-01-23 04:02 · Score: 2, Funny

Gives a whole new(old) meaning to the term: "It crashed on me."
Re:Fastest Mac on four wheels? by wwest4 · 2004-01-23 04:05 · Score: 3, Funny

oh yeah? then why do they always blow up when they nose dive off a cliff in james bond movies? ;)
It's not Slashdotted by MattGWU · 2004-01-23 04:14 · Score: 5, Funny

He just drove into a tunnel.

--
"These people look deep within my soul and assign me a number based on the order in which I joined" --Homer re:
Re:Another reason Apple should let us change color by gorfie · 2004-01-23 04:26 · Score: 2, Funny

Gotta love the slideshow functionality. A good one for PC is ACDSee. You can have multiple instances so you can view $x slideshows at once, it's great for... um... yeah, you know. :D
wow! by deviantonline · 2004-01-23 04:28 · Score: 2, Funny

wow, that is one neat setup! i can only imagine how much time he devoted to that!
never heard of those cars before either - the things that one can learn from slashdot!

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spend money here
I think you are thinking of 'Xgrid-lock'... by ErnstKompressor · 2004-01-23 04:34 · Score: 3, Funny

...and don't get me started on the potential problems of 'threading' through traffic and the ever-present danger of 'race conditions'...

*bows*

--
We apologise for the fault in this post. Those responsible have been sacked. -- Signed RICHARD M. NIXON
Does he park his car in an airport?? by Botchka · 2004-01-23 04:47 · Score: 3, Funny

gah...i got nuttin..

--
Money not found! A)bort, R)etry, D)eclare Bankruptcy
Re:Fastest Mac on four wheels? by kfg · 2004-01-23 04:48 · Score: 5, Funny

Airspace; it's all plastic.

Well, that and a couple pounds of graphite and a few scraps of balsawood, but then the same is true of every F1 car these days.

American cars make great boat anchors, if even the sea will take them.

Well, we haven't done so well lately. I've actually owned two Fords, but then they were both German. I'd take a Cord L-29 in a heartbeat though if someone would be so kind as to bestow one upon me.

As for leaking oil I've always found that the British are the masters of getting cars to do that. As well as leaking tops.

For a long time I couldn't understand why my cars from sunny Italy all had tops that never leaked a drop that you could operate with one hand at a stoplight and had heaters that could give you heatstroke in the middle of a Canadian winter; but all my British cars had tops that took three men an hour to erect that then leaked like sieves and heat that only worked in July.

And then I had a revelation. The Italians are used to being warm and dry and take that state seriously, whereas being warm and dry is simply a concept that has never even occured to the British.

KFG
Re:I said it before... by notbob · 2004-01-23 05:04 · Score: 1, Funny

Yes... thats soo 1998.

Cars are more then transport, trains are transport.

Cars are death traps and financial revenue generators for the government and drainers for the owner.

Talk about a great idea, its the perfect money funnel and it can even kill you!

Proud owner of 5 money suckers + 1 wife.
Big deal by Animats · 2004-01-23 06:00 · Score: 2, Funny

I refuse to take seriously any car computer system that doesn't drive the car.
case mod? by theCat · 2004-01-23 08:22 · Score: 3, Funny

So does this qualify as a modded car, or as a masterful case mod? As a car, it's a great hack, Detroit should steal it. But if this is a case mod it shows l33t m4d skilz. Drive this baby to the next LAN party, watch the gurls got nuts; "Hey baby, let's do some lagers in the back of my computer."

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=^..^= all your rodent are belong to us