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Inexpensive Dashboard PC
Kristian - Dreamless writes "Wanting to war drive with style? The other day I surfed the web to find a free dash pc solution to my car since the commercial ones cost around 2000-2500$ here in Denmark. I found DashPC.com and I must say this looks promising a very nice GUI and the features seems to be endless: Navigation with War driving, Multimedia and so on. Requirements? Low cost pc and a dash LCD display."
Well, yes. This guy must be a Slashdotter. From the FAQ:
Does the car run Windows or Linux?
"It runs linux. The first generation of it had windows installed. There are still many pictures out on the web of the first generation [windows] dashpc. The pictures over at Parallax are a good example. In them you can also see that the LCD was a 10.4". They are very old pictures, please disregard them. I've moved onto better things. There's a reason that everyone is moving to linux."
"...all the labours of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness..." yada yada
....BeOS?
It's down already and there are only 2 replies. God bless that Slashdot effect.
i wish my server was a c64 like this guy's
Looks like the website was hosted in a car, it's already down.
I've been watching this project for quite a while. Every time I think its perfect they make it a little better. Now if I could only find a cheap touchscreen LCD, I'd be all set.
ok.. so heads you lose tails I win. right?
Another site with a plethora of information on doing this is MP3car.com If you have the time, I recommend going through the site. Tons of information about the kind of power supply you will need (obviously a DC~DC converter).
I want one myself!
-- johntracy.com, because everybody else is wrong.
www.dashpc.com/index2.php seems to be working.
i'll bet you could build one for like 500 usd
Sites down, can someone go clean their spark plugs?
I'm a rabbit startled by the headlights of life
I was surfing pr0n at the time of the accident...
A slashdotting - you get the stick first and then the carrot !
I wrote a pithy note to Forbes five years ago in reply to a story about WinCE-based car computers. What I said still holds true, "Some people can handle any technology while they're on the road and still drive, and some can't. It's the process of sorting them out that frightens me." On a lighter note, it sure changes the meaning of "crashing"
He lists his occupation as professional soldier, does that mean that he wardrives for a living? ;)
For those of y'all just thinking about putting a computer in a car for the first time, here are some answers to basic questions.
d iagnostics.com
Currently, the most popular motherboard for Carputers is the Epia M10000. It's full featured and super low power consumption, runs about $160 US.
http://robots.net/article/983.html
For the monitor, the most popular now is the Lilliput 7" VGA touchscreen. It sells for $300ish with shipping on eBay new from a lot of vendors.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?Y47312DE7 (eBay search)
The best power supply is from Opussolutions.com and is a smart DC-DC power supply with automatic standby handling for when you car turns off and on and can survive the dreaded voltage drop when you crank the engine.
http://www.mp3car.com/store/
For GPS, anything works, but USB GPS 'mice' are popular because they are small and powered over USB.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?O18324DE7 (an eBay search)
For connecting to your OBD-II interface on your car, scantool.net and obddiagnostics.com sell cheap serial interfaces.
http://scantool.net/
http://www.obd
Hope this helps, and for more answers, visit www.mp3car.com and be sure to read the forums. Lots of great info.
The site is already down but there is an example of it in a VW: here
Do they yet have a display for this in which the computer output fills the windshield? This would be way cool....
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Moving someone last weekend I got a scratch on my dashboard and have been agonizing about what to do. Slapping a computer over it might be the trick.
Site's buckling. I managed to make a mirror.
You can mod your friends, you can mod your nose, but you can't mod your friend's nose.
That webserver won't let me see paradise by the dashboard lights.
Linux - Because Mommy taught me to Share.
Get a Hagstrom street atlas, a copy of the local paper, turn on the radio, and call somebody on your cell. All that should be distracting enough to get you killed in short order. That's the whole point of this, isn't it?
When did operating a two-ton piece of machinery at high speeds become relegated to an afterthought?
Research shows that 67% of those who use the term "research shows", are just making shit up.
Cough...Cough....Cough
oh never mind, too much Carbon Monoxide
Who sells that? or Is it an open source project?
threadeds blog
Slashdot tends to link car-pc stuff as if it's new and different from time to time, and they always link to some fringe stuff like one particular piece of software or one person's particular (usually fairly hackish) installation. They have actually linked to the dashpc project before -- when the interface was built in perl/tk and barely worked! (Actually it's still pretty hard to install and make work -- I'd say it's at least as hard to install as MythTV) Anyway, the reality is that there are hundreds or even thousands of computer projects driving around out there, and there are many possibilities for what one can do on any type of budget from an old 486 embedded board with a LCD display that plays MP3's to a full-on LAN of fast pc's for backseat passengers to play games.
The best resource I found when I started looking into car-pc stuff were the message boards at MP3Car.com. They have sections for hardware, software, cabling, audio, gps, networking, OBD-II, etc. There are thousands of users on there, and everyone is very helpful. The archives contain a lot of good information that became invaluable to me when I was building my own car-pc project. It is currently going through a new overhaul where I am fixing some problems with the original design and functionality and adding some new stuff like OBD-II and reversing camera as well.
...and a little work, you could have your own version. Hack an I-Opener! I used a nostromo game controller (bound to winamp) to control the music. Using Earthmate GPS is pretty sweet too.
That picture says it all. No wonder this guy is bitter, he looks like a retard.
http://slashdot.org/search.pl?query=dashpc
"Warning: mysql_connect(): Too many connections in /home/httpd/htdocs/dashpc.com/index.php on line 37
Too many connections"
----------
How did he get MS Access to return this custom error?
If you think
Dont eat yellow snow
"Requirements? Low cost pc and a dash LCD display." If those are all the requirements then I will be very pleased. This is the first dashboard-mounted PC I've seen that does not even require a vehicle! (I'm guessing one will still need a dashboard, but those can be found on eBay.)
10 Bits= $.25
100 Bits= $.50
110 Bits= $.75
1000 Bits= 1 byte
Actually, all that line tells you is that the site uses PHP and MySql ... and that he's unwisely using persistant connections.
It in no way tells you that Plesk is in any way involved.
It's not my fault! It was this way when I got here.
moron
It's a terrific resource for those of us who want GPS, MP3s, wardriving, etc. and don't want to have to haul seperate devices around for all of it. Also, lots of links to free GUIs that people are developing for carputers.
Check out the Show Off Your Project forum for some cool implementations.
"Powers. I have them."
Err...you're quoting an eBay price. That's hardly sustainable or standard. I can occasionally obtain a nice piece of hardware for free, too, but it isn't reliable.
As for the entire concept of using tablet PCs -- tablets are generally *more* expensive than the equivalent laptop, which would make a much better base system.
May we never see th
Not too long ago, some ppl got busted for watching p0rn in a car (the passengers were and other drivers happened to witness it); well...this will add new meaning to the phrase: "distracted drivers."
Offical Group for Dashpc
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dashpc/
Discontinued internet appliance, runs QNX and has been hacked. 7" diag 640x480 touch screen, nice and sharp, cool Jetsons design. $80 on eBay. I bought several to stream mp3 through.
California has a law against having a PC running in your front seat. I'm sure our intelligent and well informeed law enforcement drones will have no trouble with the distinction.("But officer, this is Linux, much less operator intensive...".)
Faith: n. -- That human impulse that drives them to steal appliances when the power goes out
Did you notice the runes in this picture? What's up with that?
Did it occur to you that these devices can and are being used to IMPROVE situational awareness. I make my living in the biomedical/human factors areas of cockpit design. Trust me, there is a lot of value in putting a well thought out design in a car. I also enjoy working on the car pc projects and I can assure you that I have yet to meet a person who is dumb enough to play a movie and try to watch it while driving. Imagine this: A guy driving along, flipping threw pages of a map with one hand, talking on the cell phone with the other, and the annoying sounds of a Home Alone Movie are playing for the kids in the back. On the other hand, the individual with the well designed computer system is driving along and puts a dvd into the console, the kids put on there headphones which so that he can still listen to his radio station while they watch the movie. An incoming call sends out a beep and full caller ID information comes up on the touchscreen he takes the call by pushing a button, which shuts off the radio and uses the car speakers for sound, his voice is captured by a mic in the dash. He hangs up the call with the push of a button and radio returns to it's previous state. He no longer needs to flip through a map because he has a gps display, and as he drives towards a preset destination, a voice comes over the speakers giving him directions.
And other cars that come with full computer systems int he dash? Hell the new 740i's practically run off the new systems and they do everything from nav to controlling the radio, temperature, engine features, etc .. The cars CANT come without them, its an integral part of the car and has quite a large display and control scheme .. iDrive I believe its called.
Another cool thing I'd like is a heads up display projected on my windshield (yes, very much like the cockpit of a fighter jet). The idea is to have things like my tac, speed, etc. directly in my line of sight so that I wouldn't have to divert my eyes from traffic to get vehicle stats.
Do they even exist? Does anybody know of any shops that build and install these kinds of systems? (How about in the Washington, DC area? :) How customizable are they? For example, I drive a Civic Hybrid and I'd like to have the battery charge, assist/charge guage, and other fun stats on the display as well.
Join Tor today!
For the sake of completeness, if you have way too much money to burn, there's also megaCar. They do a complete vehicle outfitting except for a few more zeros on the price.
Join Tor today!
After going through 2 car pc's of my own, I've finally arrived on the cheapest and most practical solution. A modded xbox. If you want it for GPS and wardriving, gotta go gentoox. If not, XBoxMediaPlayer/Center for movies, music, emulator games, etc. Put it in the trunk and throw in a few wireless controllers and you get the added benefit of HALO! All for about $250 with solderless mod chip. Ive spent about $400 for a comparable mini-itx and still the graphics card sucks. The only 2 downsides are the size of the xbox, and AC power, although I'm sure you could find a way around the latter. I basically have an inverter on a relay to power up the whole system. And, there are mods you can do to add a powerbutton to your controller. If im not mistaken, you could also use the dvd remote?
wouldn't it be just as easy to just mount a used decent laptop somehow, with the 12 volt charger? Once you've bought these components, etc, it's (roughly) the same price as for a used laptop or notebook isn't it? Just build a mount for it somehow, or cut the dash out for the screen, or a sliding shelf or something?
No, reading the comments I understand the site is down, so haven't read the article yet, but 12 volt mobo,ram, various drives, LCD screen etc bought separately has got to add up quickly. I understand building neat stuff for fun, but....
When Virgin went out of the Internet access business, four years ago, they behind a lot of of Webplayer personal appliances in their customers houses, and even more in their warehouses. The 200MHz CPU was adequate for most car uses (by the standards of the time), and the low power 256MB DiskOnChip could hold most common OSs. It had IDE, USB, built in NIC or modem, room to wedge in some surplus slimline laptop CD drives, a built-in 800x600 color LCD (the Webplayer was VGA, but the LCDs were physically 800x600, and needed only a simple driver upgrade) etc.
/. today. Sure, it's nice -kudos to the builder- but 4 years is three cycles of Moore's Law, and scaling the cost/performance backwards, I get the feeling I must be missing some key feature. It only seems to be droolworthy for gawkers, not hands-on geeks.
Total draw was under 1 amp at 5v.
You could buy them directly from the company for $100 (Boundless was selling them for a bit more through internet auction houses, years later). I bought a few through a group buy, and one of them ended up in a car, and ran perfectly for three years until the car was rear-ended, cracking the screen (no, the computer wasn't in use - in fact, the car was being driven by a family member who didn't realize it was there at all)
That was a trivial weekend's work and $200 in total parts (hard drive, USB accessories, power supply etc.) four years ago. The GPS was added some time later (it was initially an MP3 player)
There were many other similar 'web appliances' at the time that I wonder what makes this particular project worthy of
Yeah, Moore's Law doesn't apply directly, but it's not a bad scaling metric for hobby project cost.
Car computers based on small surplus off the shelf systems are trivial for anyone interested in using them (vs. bragging rights for tech specs). If this article interests you, you could have a computer in your car two weeks from today, with minimal work (including eBay buying/shipping time)
I do think an onboard computer for things like navigation is a decent idea.
HOWEVER....
I was driving home the other night and noticed this weird blue glow coming from the car in the lane next to me.
The car was very tricked out, you can imagine the type, and had little tiny LCD screens in the backseats for the back passengers.
Then I noticed the little screens in the flipdown sun visors. Both of which were down.
Everybody in the car seemed to be truly enjoying whatever it was on the television.
Including the driver, who was very into whatever it was that was on. The fact that he had to take his attention away from the screen every so often to avoid hitting some other inconsiderate slob who had the gall to actually be driving on the same street didn't seem to be more than a slight annoyance.
At that moment I really, really hoped to God that they would hit a bridge abuttment and die painful fiery deaths.
Televisions. In cars. Is this really necessary?
Are you so unable to concentrate on the one task of getting where you need to go without slamming your ton and a half of 40 mile an hour vehicle into someone else that you need that big of a diversion?
Are you unable to teach your children the discipline to sit the fuck down and shut up for 20 minutes while you get where you're going?
Does the possibility of holding a conversation with the other people in your private little bubble scare you so badly that you need MORE CRAP in your vehicle to avoid possibly having a slight interaction with others?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you're a waste of space.
Mostly offtopic, but I sure do feel better for sayin' it.
s'wut i sed.
What you're describing is a kind of Heads Up Display. The Corvette has had a HUD for years now, in addition to its standard gauge cluster. Inset into the dash, just behind the instrument pod, in a small projecter the creates a translucent HUD on the windshield.
When I testdrove one, the salesperson attempted to demo it, but could find the brightness level controls. The sun was low in the sky, and made reading this display at its default setting very difficult. I image it would have been much more cool had we known how to adjust it correctly.
Anyone know if other GM vehicles use this?
During the Iraq war buildup, they were talking about how you can use camares and sattelites, wireless communications and hud to allow you to see around buildings, mountains, etc it was VERY cool.
I'd much rather buy a BMW 5 series. Has all the gizmos built in including a multi functional head up display.
You have to keep an eye on that v-tech engine huh?
I see plenty of posts here about technology to use in the car, but none of them write about the chassis in which the motherboard resides! carcpu has some enclosuresfor sale. They're expensive though, but it has a anti-vibration chassis for your hard drive and it's protective for your motherboard.
There are quite a few half-height ISA or PCI SBCs on eBay with a Pentium cpu, 32+ mb ram and 16+ mb flash Disk-on-Chip. They'll fit nicely into a small empty radio case, or something similar made manually from Home Depot parts.
Ive won bids on one card with a PCI connector on it, and will plug in a Soundblaster Live, and run Linux on it. It takes standard ATX power and guess what, the car battery is 12V too. My only worry now is adjusting the card output current to what the amplifier takes, and if the PCI slot can take the vibrations of drag races.
"Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you." -Nim Chimpsky
These are pretty cool too..
car pc
Warn me when these guys are gonna be driving around and surfing p0rn at the same time!!!
Whatever happened to DRIVING while driving?
I've got an '03 Murano that I'm winding up to hack. Got the stock GPS and the SAT-ready Bose. Nissan won't sell you a satellite cable for the '03s but there are ways to get them. OTOH, this place is about to release a device that fakes out the radio to accept aux audio in via the unused SAT radio port. The radio controls (next/prev channel, next/prev preset group, presets 1-6) are all passed through their adapter to accessories, and text data is returned to the head unit for display as if it were RDS text. My current idea is to run CAJUN as the jukebox since I'll be able to use the RDS text area to navigate the jukebox menus and browse the music collection. I'd like something no bigger than the new low-profile Linksys routers, with just power, data, audio, a PCMCIA slot, and an internal laptop drive bay. Any suggestions?
Efforts are also underway to document the pinouts of the RGB display so that hopefully an mp3car-like device could share the entire display with all the stock gear. Until then, the 1x20 text line will have to do. Finally, it would also be nice if I could eventually get NMEA GPS **in** since ham radio uses a protocol to place icons on GPS-based maps showing hams' current locations and those of important events. I'd like to have icons automatically appear on my map to indicate the locations of car accidents. That function currently works with Garmin units, but I seriously doubt it will ever work with my Zenrin unit.
Non-hams can try it out with a police scanner tuned to 144.390. If you hear data, you can decode it and display live position data yourself. Linux has had soundcard radio modems for years.
Intelligent Life on Earth
Now please,
"watching TV?", I don't see a TV in his setup. I do see an LCD in the headrest so ppl in the rear sear can watch DVDs, etc. Perhaps you should perform a bit of research before you simply complain? If you are really interested in how technology and Telematics are affecting drivers, then _think_, and perform a little research (Watch Discovery || TLC).
Telematics is the future for vehicles. Ford, GM, Toyota, Fiat, etc are investing quite a bit on the research and development of telematics to improve driver awareness, and information, and balancing the distractions caused by other consumer devices people typically carry (Phone, PDA, etc.). For example, wonder over to AMI-C. Are all of the major automotive manufacturers, ISO, and NIST "Idiots" as well? What about Toyota Prius and Infiniti G35 owners (and too many others to list here)?
Many a times I have wanted this in a car... a device that uses my sprintpcs unlimited mobile internet service and hooks to my treo 600 (has full featured browser) and converts text to speech. So before I head to work, I just get in the car, load a webpage on my phone and plug that device to the car FM transmitter so I can listen to the /. discussion over the radio and still keep my eyes on the road...
The more cumbersome option is to take my laptop with me in car, hack my phone so I can use it as wireless modem with the laptop with 3G fast mobile internet and then use the text to speech software on the laptop....
Im in the process of completely overhauling my car. Ive opted to not use a reciever in lieu of a laptop. Why? For all the reason the site lists for theirs (compatibility with DVDs, mp3s, ECU interface...) but also so I can drive up next my house and download my songs off my computer. Plus I can use my cellphone for wireless internet. Who needs OnStar when I can download a map from Mapquest or another similar site.
Who knows, maybe people will start sharing music in their cars via wireless networking. RIAA can try to ban automobiles next.
If your WebPlayer was integrated with your car's computer, then I'm impressed. If not, your example is sufficiently behind the curve to have fallen off the table in the mean time.
OBD II is the key feature that converges yesterday's non-integrated mobile computer with today's integrated and interactive monitoring, communication and entertainment system.
LinDash!!
isnt it like the sex "orietation" or preference stuff?
dictionary.com says:
abutment--
3.
a) The part of a structure that bears the weight or pressure of an arch.
b) A structure that supports the end of a bridge.