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Inexpensive Dashboard PC

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the everyone-needs-a-project dept.

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."

11 of 149 comments (clear)

  1. Down by beeglebug · · Score: 3, Informative

    It's down already and there are only 2 replies. God bless that Slashdot effect.

  2. Great Idea, but will still cost a pretty penny. by pholower · · Score: 4, Informative
    This is a fantastic idea, assuming you can afford the cost of an LCD screen (you will probably want touch capability) and a cheap pc. (Most likely something based on the Mini-ITX board because space in a car doesn't come cheap.)

    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.
    1. Re:Great Idea, but will still cost a pretty penny. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      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).

      It's probably worth noting that it doesn't take a PC to play MP3's in your car. A (usually) cheaper solution is just to buy a car stereo that does it.

  3. another link by iffer · · Score: 5, Informative

    www.dashpc.com/index2.php seems to be working.

  4. Basic hardware suggestions by Chairboy · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

    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.obdd iagnostics.com

    Hope this helps, and for more answers, visit www.mp3car.com and be sure to read the forums. Lots of great info.

  5. Slashdotted by frostbane · · Score: 5, Informative

    The site is already down but there is an example of it in a VW: here

  6. Re:What of the display for this? by igrp · · Score: 2, Informative
    Cool, yes. Usable, probably not.

    I've seen the head up display in a Corvette and while it seemed like a cool thing to have, it wasn't all that impressive resolution-wise. You could tell the display was engineered for one purpose, to display the current speed and revs, and it did just that. Plus, I really wouldn't want to have a text console, my audio player's interface and an IRC client in my face, all while watching the road. Something like this one the other hand could work quite well.

  7. Re:Can I get a dash prompt here? by mroch · · Score: 4, Informative

    He certainly is a /.er: http://www.dashpc.com/show_picture.php?id=2275

  8. mp3car.com by Ransak · · Score: 3, Informative
    A terrific site for 'carputer' enthusiasts is mp3car.com. I've built a fully integrated PC into my Camaro based off of alot of suggestions on this site.

    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."
  9. Join our group by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Offical Group for Dashpc

    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dashpc/

  10. Car PC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    These are pretty cool too..
    car pc