Linux Based CarPC

Uber-Review writes "If you have been looking for a Linux based car PC. One man has made this a reality and documented putting together a Linux based car PC. Some of the features of this on board car PC is it can automatically sniff and record locations of wireless access points and plot them with GPS. You can watch a movie, browse the internet, get weather forecasts and stream Direct TV from your house right to your car. For an added bonus, you can remote start the car, and connect to it from inside the house and use SSH in, and transfer files without even getting off the couch."

Comments

I can't wait

[Anonymous Coward]

For the first remote exploit that makes your car drive off the road.

Re:I can't wait

[Anonymous Coward]

did you miss the Linux part of the article ?

Re:I can't wait

[jamesgriff]

Normally I only want to start the car when I'm actually driving it

If I want to transfer files from place to place I use email or a USB flash drive (not a car)

Whilst driving I'm already distracted enough by the 100 or so buttons and lights that clutter the dashboard that I don't want a screen as well

Can anyone find a useful purpose for a carputer? I know that my engine is controlled by a computer and my windscreen wipers come on automatically (by a computer) and so on but I'd rather not have one waste my time finding wireless hotspots whilst I'm trying to negotiate a difficult junction

And, of course, it'll be hacked into my some idiot

No way!

[pmdata]

I love it and I'm not sure why. I can barely drive, talk on my cell and check my Blackberry email without driving into the river. Now I have to try and not surf the web? Not a good idea.

Re:No way!

[NEOtaku17]

" I love it and I'm not sure why. I can barely drive, talk on my cell and check my Blackberry email without driving into the river. Now I have to try and not surf the web? Not a good idea."

Hey atleast he's honest...

Re:No way!

[dzafez]

You are kinda right, but still I think this would be the kind of thig, that could save me the rent for a apartment :-)

You can sleep, eat and code in there!!

(truth: I really like to shower sometimes)

Re:No way!

[GoldAnt]

for us, wonder what he'll tell the cop.... =D

Re:No way!

[zippthorne]

You are clearly undertasked. You could also be using that time to eat and shave. the cell phone doesn't need any hands, the blackberry shouldn't need more than one, that leaves you with two perfectly good knees for the wheel and a free hand and face.

Re:No way!

[Aeiri]

for us, wonder what he'll tell the cop.... =D

"Hi officer, my name is Jeff Gordon, was I driving too fast back there?"

Re:No way!

[GoldAnt]

"I don't think either of know what happened, it just happened so FAST, lets Reenact it briefly =D"

voice recognition

[Dogun]

Is the thing that's keeping me from putting on in my car (manual transmission)

Re:voice recognition

[xenotrout]

You could give sphinx a try. I don't know how good it actually is (it didn't work so well with a headphone as the microphone and no vocabulary teaching).

Segfault...

[__aaclcg7560]

Sorry, officer, I ran the red-light because my CD player segfaulted at the same time I was pressing on the brakes. :P

Re:Segfault...

[PsychicX]

EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA

Slashdot population drops drastically after the widespread emergence of Linux based cars. The unbelievable number of fatal crashes has been attributed not to technical failure, but because the driver was too busy watching a movie, listening to music, compiling his latest modifications to the linux kernel, SSHing to a remote server, forwarding X from another remote server, FTPing to his webspace, and writing in his blog to remember that he needed to

DRIVE!

Re:Segfault...

[brandolomite]

Officer, I didn't panic and swerve to avoid the rabbit in the street causing a 5 car pile-up. It was the kernel I swear!

Re:Segfault...

[NanoGator]

In other news, the real estate bubble finally burst when a flood of basements suddenly became available for rent.

Re:Segfault...

[oakgrove]

That was hilariously funny! If only I had mod points today. Thanks

Re:Segfault...

[Tony Hoyle]

Can't wait for the gentoo car.

It arrives as a kit of parts, but the owner swears it runs faster because he built it himself.

OK, this might work

[jlrowe]

This is what I want to hear, not a system built on Winows that might bluescreen going down the highway (Ford, others?). And make it useful and handy.

Might it just be that the best system is designed by some guy in a garage? (aka Apple)

Re:OK, this might work

[CaptainCarrot]

BMW for the most part, although others are mentioned in this particular article. Oddly enough, they have had the occasional problem although I think by now they've worked most of the bugs out.

Re:OK, this might work

[MustardMan]

Yeah because I really want a wifi enabled computer able to start my car... because we all know wifi is SO secure. And we all know SSH is IMPOSSIBLE to penetrate, right?

I'm sorry, but I don't want to have to worry if my car has the latest patches.

Re:OK, this might work

[RPI Geek]

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f =71
- Help for Mac based car computers. The biggest reason that not many people use Macs in their carputers is because there are no decent frontends for MacOS. No one has made one with all the features everyone wants. Check out the forum though, someone just offered a cash proze for the first person to do it... maybe someone reading this post might be interested ;-)

Re:OK, this might work

[amper]

I'm a little confused about "no decent frontends for Mac OS". What's wrong with Aqua? I assume you meant "Mac OS X" rather than "Mac OS".

And how difficult could it possibly be to mount a Mac Mini in your car?

Re:OK, this might work

[mr100percent]

Mac Mini in the car? It's been done.

Re:OK, this might work

[RPI Geek]

I assume you meant "Mac OS X"

Yes, my bad; a typo.

What's wrong with Aqua?

Aqua (if this is what you mean) isn't the kind of frontend you'd want to use in a carPC setup. I refer you to this thread to learn what is wanted.

And how difficult could it possibly be to mount a Mac Mini in your car?

Not difficult at all.

Re:OK, this might work

[uncle_riley]

And we all know SSH is IMPOSSIBLE to penetrate, right?

kinda like the drivers side window?

Re:OK, this might work

[MustardMan]

The driver's side window is a whole lot more difficult to penetrate silently while sitting around the corner at a cafe pretending to check your email.

Re:OK, this might work

[amper]

Ah, I see...you meant a simplified interface. I guess I'm really thinking more about having access to a computer while I'm in the car--not having a computer to control my car's systems.

Re:OK, this might work

[Anonymous Coward]

No you get to see a "PANIC..." *nix* for bluescreen...

HA HA HA

Re:OK, this might work

[amper]

Thanks for that link. I especially like the Griffin PowerMate in the brake handle well.

Now to see what my wife thinks when I start cutting up her Jetta...

Re:OK, this might work

[amper]

And of course, the only thing that could make that install better is if Uwe Ross would just get over his aversion to Macs and port VAG-COM to Mac OS X so I could have on-board diagnostic software...I suppose I'll have to hack in a PC as well with a KVM to switch between them.

Re:OK, this might work

[FidelCatsro]

I wouldn't really worry about that , It's far quicker to break into it and hot-wire the machine.

Re:OK, this might work

[zakezuke]

Yeah because I really want a wifi enabled computer able to start my car... because we all know wifi is SO secure. And we all know SSH is IMPOSSIBLE to penetrate, right?

If you live in a place that has cold winters, you probally do. Gotta be more secure than those wireless remote systems so common on Montana and the Dakodas. While there is the likelyhood that some jackass could break your security and start your car, they still have to worry about that pesky issue involving the steering lock.

The key switch that turns on the ignition and cues the starter are one aspect of preventing any old joe from taking your car. Anyone for the most part could come by... pop the hood, bridge the fuse box, and use a coat hanger on your starter and voom... even if they don't know what wire is which. Folk who know the wiring diagram could short the right wires to enable the ignition and the starter. But it takes a wiser person to bypass that physical lock on the wheel... and anyone who can do that doesn't need to fuss around with remote systems... cause once you got the wheel bypassed everything else is very trivial, cause you can then start the car with a screw driver. Not to speak of the fact if they really really really wanted your car... and I mean really... they could just use a tow truck.

Security through apathy. Cause anyone who really really wants your car can get it via much easier means.

Re:OK, this might work

[glib909]

but I don't want to have to worry if my car has the latest patches.

That's why god invented apt-get.

Re:OK, this might work

[Gordonjcp]

Not to speak of the fact if they really really really wanted your car... and I mean really... they could just use a tow truck.

Funny story about that. There was a guy who I used to work with had a Ford Sierra Cosworth, which he had spent an insane amount of money on taking it far beyond the normal Cossie spec. To secure it, he had various locks and pins, and electronic goodies, and then two bloody massive steel rings cast into his concrete driveway which he chained the front and rear subframes to with the kind of chains more generally used for mooring fishing boats.

One night while he was at home in bed, someone came up, *turned the car around* so it was nose-first up the drive, and left a note on the instrument panel saying "If we want it, we'll have it"...

Re:OK, this might work

[kinema]

Especially when your current security measures are so sound.

Re:OK, this might work

[Anonymous Coward]

Damn windows security problems again!

Re:OK, this might work

[nuckin futs]

if a car thief can crack the wifi encryption or break into an SSH terminal to start a car then he's in the wrong business.

Re:OK, this might work

[Jens_UK]

I'm sorry, but I don't want to have to worry if my car has the latest patches.

Too late - Toyota Prius needs software update to prevent stalling. And it is hardly the first or the last.

At least with cars, the notification process is a little more formal.

Re:OK, this might work

[MustardMan]

Yeah, but everything you're talking about is someone stealing the car. What about the smartass kid who lives next door and doesn't want to get caught spraypainting bridges, so he gets his antisocial kicks other ways, like screwing with my car? When there's basically no chance of getting caught, no way to prove he did it, what's gonna stop the computer savvy dick down the street from screwing with the car from the comfort of his parents' basement for his own amusement?

Re:OK, this might work

[ampathee]

interesting :)

Re:OK, this might work

[Tony Hoyle]

SSH with RSA auth and no passwords *is* pretty damned near impossible to penetrate.

Re:OK, this might work

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, I'm wondering what the grandparent is talking about. Key-based ssh is a lot harder to penetrate than just about anything else on the car.

Re:OK, this might work

[zakezuke]

Yeah, but everything you're talking about is someone stealing the car. What about the smartass kid who lives next door and doesn't want to get caught spraypainting bridges, so he gets his antisocial kicks other ways, like screwing with my car? When there's basically no chance of getting caught, no way to prove he did it, what's gonna stop the computer savvy dick down the street from screwing with the car from the comfort of his parents' basement for his own amusement?

That is a valid point... which is a good reason not to consider a remote control start switch for your car... let alone a wifi enabled carputer.

However a carputer is pretty isolated from the rest of the car... with the exception of one which could in theory start your car. So let's say a jackass with nothing better to do could hack your carputer. Good reasons to

1. Boot from a DVD... This would be hard to hack
2. Switch off the WiFi when you are crusing the cafe circit
3. Depend on HD only for mass storage of media, not software or data.

Make damn sure the worst thing they can do is delete a bunch of music. And if, and I mean if your neighbors are like that the last thing you have to worry about is your carputer.

Re:OK, this might work

[MustardMan]

I think the main difference between a remote controlled start switch and wifi is the fact that most kids with a computer already have the equipment neccesary to screw with the wifi. You'd either have to go buy, or build, a specialized device to mess with a normal remote start. To mess with wifi, all you need to do is start googling.

I agree that all the precautions you mentioned are good steps, but unless music is ALL I'm using the carputer for, I'd rather use something other than linux.

Re:OK, this might work

[zakezuke]

I think the main difference between a remote controlled start switch and wifi is the fact that most kids with a computer already have the equipment neccesary to screw with the wifi. You'd either have to go buy, or build, a specialized device to mess with a normal remote start. To mess with wifi, all you need to do is start googling.

This would depend if the kid's parents had a remote starter of their own. Those things are pretty simple, it's easy enough to adapt one to be universal. But valid enough point, the PC is a universal tool

One could always put the starter switch on a timer where one can only trigger the relay at specific hours... this way if some jackass managed to crack your security they could only turn on and off your vehicel and pre-determined hours. I don't have cold winters so it's not something i've considered.

But yea, use whatever makes you happy for a carputer.

Ok

[PunkOfLinux]

So... i hate ms and all, but is there any real difference between this and a WINDOWS computer in a car, hardware-wise?

Re:Ok

[Anonymous Coward]

Linux will run on anything Windows can and more, so hardware-wise, no, there is no difference.

Re:Ok

[eddison_carter]

Other then the remote start, no. I didn't see any details on how he's doing that. I'd be kinda nervious about anything critical using *either* windows, or linux (or any other OS that's targeted more for desktops, servers, clusters, mainframes, set-top boxes ....)

Then again, when I work on "mission critical systems", I'm talking about flight control hardware/software ... But that's the same mentaility you *should* take.

Just wondering..

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

What's the pricing for that Verizon cell intarweb thing?

Re:Just wondering..

[rob_squared]

Its about $80 a month for unlimited access. For that speed, its worth it if you use it at home too.

That wasn't too hard, I wonder what those other guys issues are. In fact I bet a lot of people looked it up just because of your question, I didn't even know.

Re:Just wondering..

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

Thanks, I checked the site to see if it was available in my area.. Of course not, don't be silly. Why should a place 41 miles from Albany in a place that New Yorkers love to spend their vacation time in have cell service?

My town is an equal distance between Springfield, MA and Albany, NY, also an equal distance between Boston and NYC. And we have NOTHING here. The joys of living in the Berkshires.

Re:Just wondering..

[oakgrove]

Also, you can get EVDO access on one of their PDA based phones for about 45 dollars a month. And if your skills are up to the challenge, you can enable DUN via bluetooth on said PDA and save the 35 extra bucks monthly. I know, I have both.

Re:Just wondering..

[oakgrove]

You may not have access to the EVDO service but if Verizon actually has their own towers set up in your area and aren't leasing time on some other carriers towers, you can get the slower version of their internet service (I forget the name). Basically, if you have a Verizon phone and your phone says "extended network" all the time, then you can't get it. If not, then it should be all good.

Re:Just wondering..

[pip-PPC]

Often, the price is free! That's right, it just uses minutes. If you go to HowardForums, you will find many people who use hundreds of minutes of data per month (both the slower 1XRTT and the new EVDO), and it only uses minutes. Most Verizon plans have free night and weekend minutes too. Now, this is very much against Verizon's TOS, but they really can't enforce that. All of their money-grubbing services (VCast, Mobile Web, Picture Messaging, GIN) use those same data services, and they can't tell the difference.

Too much work

[golfsportila]

Truthfully, theres so much support and info out there to set a carputer up with windows, I find very few reasons to make me want to spend more time with linux for it. I guess its just not my thing. I'm shopping around for parts for a "truckpc" for my new dakota. Can't wait to set it up. http://www.freestufftimes.com/

Re:Too much work

[Spacejock]

I'd install Gentoo on my car, but it doesn't sit in the garage for more than 10 hours at a time so the compiling would never get done.

Re:Too much work

[superpeach]

Truthfully, theres so much support and info out there to set a carputer up with windows, I find very few reasons to make me want to spend more time with linux for it.

The hardest part of getting a computer into your car is the getting the computer into the car part, not the installing of the OS. Once the hardware is in there you can install whatever you want on it.

That might just be me though, trying to do it cheap :) I found that just getting an old laptop and sticking it in the glove box was easiest. It even shuts itself down nicely when you turn the engine off thanks to acpi telling it when the "AC adapter" is disconnected.

Re:Too much work

[P0ldy]

Oh my god... think of what CFLAGS could do for my car!

Re:Too much work

[Anonymous Coward]

emerge -f to get the files while your car is sitting in the garage w/ wifi, then compile as you drive?

Re:Too much work

[Spacejock]

Judging from the number of tricked-out cars on the road, plenty of enthusiasts already discovered how to apply cflags to their vehicles:

USE="big_fat_exhaust massive_spoiler neon_underbody_light bloody_bright_headlights furry_dice performance_cams side_skirts air_dam"

emerge -Dpuv ricer

Re:Too much work

[sxpert]

my carpc is based on gentoo ...

Re:Too much work

[VIPERsssss]

Shouldn't that be "performance_cams_sticker"?

Re:Too much work

[DavidTC]

I know, I'm confused by this.

Get an old laptop, make sure it doesn't do something stupid powerwise like keep the LCD on even when closed. (If it does, figure out how to unplug it.) If you can, turn the speed down all the way...MP3s can run on 300 Mhz computers easily. Don't suck needless power.

You'll probably want a USB wifi adapter, even if one is built in, because trying to get a signal through inches of steel is stupid. Grab a USB one and an extension cable and mount it in your rear window or something.

You'll also need some sort of control device. You can get a USB joystick for 15 bucks to control music and whatnot. You'll need to turn off when the car stops, which is trivial if you know how car wiring works, or if you're willing to spend 20 dollars at Radio Shack for a 'Turn on when your car comes on' cigarette lighter extender.

If you want to get fancy, you can get a screen for it, they make thing specifically for cars.

For security, you have two options. Either make it not connect to any wifi network until you push a button (That's what I'd do.), or use the ever popular boot CD with the hard drive merely storing music files, and not worry about it. Someone hacks in, just resync from your desktop.

Actually, I'd have it as both. And only connect to known networks. Driving around autoconnecting to random wifi networks is dumb, as it constantly scanning to see if a certain one is in range. (And sucks power.)

If I was really clever, I'd get something that merely sensed if the engine was on, and would let me turn on and off power from the car battery. So if the engine cut off, it'd normally shutdown, but if I'd pushed the 'wifi' button when I parked, it would stay on but cut off power from the car battery so I could resysnc.

Then if it hadn't finished by the time its battery was dead, it could flip back on the car battery and run for another 2 hours or so. Then force a shutdown no matter what I thought. All it would take is some 12-volt computer controlled relays and sensors.

Also, it would be nice to make it automatically boot when you turn the car on. Can't think of a way to do that without opening the laptop up, though.

And I'd be sure to have a crossover cable leading to the driver's seat, so you can hook in another laptop.

You may have....

[flawedgeek]

...a 600-hp v-12, but my car runs LINUX!

Re:You may have....

[Zero to Hero]

but my car runs LINUX!

Which basically means the only person who can drive it is MacGyver.

Divided Attention

[Tiberius_Fel]

Whatever happened to focusing on the road when driving? I would be curious to know what statistics are like for collisions in vehicles with lots of advanced toys. If you're playing with the GPS / WiFi sniffer / $random_electronic_car_toy your attention is off the road, which is dangerous...

It seems we're putting more and more neat features and displays into the vehicles, but how carefully are we considering how it affects the behaviour of the drivers?

Re:Divided Attention

[ErikZ]

Seriously, you need to focus?

I lean back and let my awareness spread out. My eyes actually *unfocus* and I take in the general shapes and movements of everything around me.

I focus on things that I need to focus on. But the rest of the time is like being in a daydream.

Re:Divided Attention

[Anonymous Coward]

I have trouble tuning the radio or rolling up/down windows when I'm driving. You just have to hope he doesn't have movies on when driving, but you can only hope...

Re:Divided Attention

[Vellmont]

Please tell me where you live and work so I can stay as FAR away from those places as possible.

Re:Divided Attention

[Ozric]

I agree...

Did anyone see the Myth Busters compare Drunk Driving to Cell phone use? I knew it was bad .. but they PROVED it to be as bad as drunk driving.

Re:Divided Attention

[rooftop11]

It does make traffic jams more fun

Re:Divided Attention

[DavidTC]

There are only three causes of car accidents, no matter what anyone says.

1) Driver impairment. Despite what people think, the major thing causing impairment is sleep deprivation. Not that drunk driving isn't bad.

2) Driver distraction. Cell phones, eating, radio/AC adjustments. Also distractions outside the car, as I learned when I rear-ended someone because I was watching weirdness on the sidewalk. (They were stopped because that weirdness had escaped onto the road ahead.)

(Arguable, those two are the same thing. Being distracted is being temporarily impaired.)

3) Speed difference. People driving near other people going more than 15 mph faster or slower. The faster people often end up misestimating what they can do, and clip the other people. (This is not to put the blame on the faster people.)

90% car accidents have been caused by one of these things, or combinations of them.

The rest being caused by random mechanical failures like brakes failing and tires popping, or road conditions. Or random traffic violations like running red lights.

Re:Divided Attention

[Technician]

If you're playing with the GPS / WiFi sniffer / $random_electronic_car_toy your attention is off the road, which is dangerous...

Don't knock GPS. When lost a GPS is better than a folded map and trying to read the street names on the signs in the trees instead of watching the road. A GPS with voice turn by turn directions beats trying to read the street sign while missing the light turning red.

I drive in unfamiliar areas all the time. Putting in an address before leaving home and having the GPS navigate is a winner.

Re:Divided Attention

[Anonymous Coward]

There are only three causes of car accidents, no matter what anyone says.

You butt hole. There are many more than 3 causes of accidents. You acknowledge several of them on the last line of your post.

Love the idea but...

[jhfry]

I have planned to build one of these for a long time, but everytime I start to price components I realize it's not worth the money and time it would take me.

What I really want is a video server for DVD movies for the kid's tv in the back seat. I mean the tv/vcr combo thats there now is great... until the tape ends and needs rewinding. Not to mention that VHS tapes are so bulky that we only keep 5 or so in there.

Give me a video server that fits into the opening in my minivan and I'll be as happy as a fly on s#!t on the next road trip!

Re:Love the idea but...

[Eccles]

How about a Mac Mini? Pretty easy to get set up.

Re:Love the idea but...

[AchilleTalon]

You can do this with this CarPC. Knowing MythTV, you just have to copy all your DVD on the HD and you have a movie/music jukebox. And if you have a MythTV at home, you can even transfer other shows you recorded.

Re:Love the idea but...

[zootjeff]

Yaa parts can cost a lot. I make a controller that lets you use the stuff you already have, and all you have to buy is a 20 dollar inverter. Check out my site at www.mpegbox.com. Also, the M1-ATX has problems as stated by the fourms on www.mp3car.com

No Carputer (tm) is complete without this....

[Goyuix]

Mp3car MTSVO-SC Fully motorized VGA Touch Screen
http://www.mp3car.com/store/product_info.php?cPath =25&products_id=120

(not affiliated in anyway)

Careful

[Work Account]

Spending $500-1000 to put a computer in your car will cost $500-1000.

But insurance will not appraise your vehicle at its fair market value + $500-1000, so if someone smashes and grabs your penguin box, it's gone for good.

Re:Careful

[spiralscratch]

Why wouldn't comprehensive insurance cover this?

If you can provide receipts and evidence that the equipment was actually mounted in the car (i.e. take pictures), then yes, they will replace any stolen equipment. Depending on the policy, you may have to inform your carrier of the upgrade at the time of install. Some may charge you a small premium for every $1000 or so you add in equipment.

This would be no different than having an upgraded stereo system.

Cool but

[$0.02]

Does it run on Diesel?

Re:Cool but

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, just get him to lie down on the road... /G

Scary.

[BitwizeGHC]

I worry enough about people using replay attacks by recording the signal from my remote-unlock keychain; the last thing I need is a car that can be started remotely via ssh.q

Re:Scary.

[VoidWraith]

Usually remote ignition still means the steering wheel is locked, so you would need the key or the knowhow to unlock the wheel like a carjacker anyway (which is a good deal harder than unlocking a door). And since this is via SSH, you don't have to worry about an interceptor gaining control, assuming its not exactly the same transmission every time...

Re:Scary.

[Anonymous Coward]

And since this is via SSH, you don't have to worry about an interceptor gaining control, assuming its not exactly the same transmission every time...

Great, so now I have to change transmissions every time I sart the car. No Thanks.

Re:Scary.

[Lord Crc]

I worry enough about people using replay attacks by recording the signal from my remote-unlock keychain

Hmm, I read that the keychain door openers uses a technique similar to the "password calculators", in which case a replay wouldn't get you anywhere?

Re:Scary.

[kd5ujz]

its pretty easy to hack together a car/garage door lock key fob "cracker". Just find one of the many user setable devices. If it is set with dipswitches, you can use a 4040 binary ripple counter (all of the ones I have are 12bit), and use a 555 as your clock/pulse for the ripple counter. Tie the outputs to the dipswith outputs, and let it run through the codes automaticly. Might take awhile, older ones were 8 bit, but some new ones are getting up there. If you need more than 12 bits, tie two together for 24 bit.

Just Use Open Wireless Access Points

[dduardo]

Did you see all the open wireless APs plotted on Google Maps? He could just use them instead of paying Verizon. Free Internet!

Re:Just Use Open Wireless Access Points

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

Nice work replying. Too bad it has NOTHING to do with my question.

He said he streams video over his cell connection. I was wondering what the pricing on that kind of thing was.

Re:Just Use Open Wireless Access Points

[jawad]

So if you just want fact, rather than opinion... why the hell wouldn't you just check out Verizon's website on your own?

Rather than look it up for you, here's some help. Their site is http://www.verizonwireless.com/ and the streaming video is part of VCast.

Feel free to peruse the rest of the internet while you're at it.

Re:Just Use Open Wireless Access Points

[WhatAmIDoingHere]

Opinion? I asked a simple question that has a simple answer. If I wanted an opinion, I would have said "What can we do if we live in areas with a shit-ton of open wireless access points?"

Unfortunatly, I live in a smallish (7500 people) town and like 4 of them have Magic Intarweb Boxes.

So, you didn't answer my question either.

What's the rate on the Verizon intarweb cell thing?

When I was tempted to go with what Cingular (My current carrier) offered, it was like $1/10meg... this guy is streaming video from his home box and I'd hate to get that cell bill.

Re:Just Use Open Wireless Access Points

[jawad]

That's exactly the point. If it's "a simple question that has a simple answer" you can look up yourself, then why don't you just.. look it up yourself?

Finally...

[Mastadex]

I can read the newest slashdot articles at 60Km/h!

Been doing this myself.

[shotgunefx]

I've been working on this for a couple months now. Though I used a laptop mounted in a docking station bolted to the top of the trunk using a VCR bracket.

Outside of the lilliput 8" touchscreen, most of it has been pretty cheap. The laptop was a Dell CPTv I had. Slow but fast enough. I got a docking station,dvd, dc adapter and some more memory for around $150.

I use a lilliput 8" touchscreen molded into the double din radio slot. Dumped my head unit totally. Put a small Sirius Skymate radio and embedded it into the dash. The Starmate goes to the laptop which goes to the amp.

I found some Hitachi Endurastar automotive 2.5 HDD s on ebay for about $60 shipped a piece. Good deal. A little slow but I got them working at zero degrees.

For input eventually I'll finish my indash keyboard, (A hacked up Traveler PS3100), but now I'm using a Dreamgear mini usb keyboard made for the PS2. I hacked off the cord and replaced it with a retractable usb cord.

Mostly everything has been pretty easy as far as setting things up, but bluetooth connectivity with a sprint phone has been problematic. As this is my first linux install on the laptop, (and more multimedia than I've set up in the past), I was suprised how easy it's been going.

Re:Been doing this myself.

[shotgunefx]

Oh yeah, running Debian Woody. And bluez is kind of a bitch to setup. I'd like some better docs.

Re:Been doing this myself.

[Triumph The Insult C]

do you have any links for your project? i'm particularly interested in the sirius part (i have xm now thru my deck and an xmpcr) but am switching to sirius here soon

Re:Been doing this myself.

[shotgunefx]

Yeah I do. Though I'm afraid to post em here :)
Lot's of large pics. Never thought to look, is there some sort of pm function here?

Re:Been doing this myself.

[kevcol]

Nope, but if it's not the main article, you usually don't get that much of a traffic boost. I've done it several times. But if you post them tomorrow, most people won't come back to this article.

Re:Been doing this myself.

[shotgunefx]

That's what I was thinking.

Re:Been doing this myself.

[shotgunefx]

my blog at dashboardmonkey

and this thread here

Re:Been doing this myself.

[shotgunefx]

Done. Look at the reply to the post you replied to :|

Re:Been doing this myself.

[kevcol]

Impressive!

Re:Been doing this myself.

[shotgunefx]

Thanks. If I get most of what I want done, it should be pretty damn cool.

This is dangerous, stupid, and illegal (in CA)

[Anonymous Coward]

In California, it's illegal to have any kind of video display visible to the driver except for navigation.

Hang up, log off, and fucking DRIVE!

Re:This is dangerous, stupid, and illegal (in CA)

[Anonymous Coward]

In California, your car can also be taken by the state with no reimbursement if it doesn't have VIN numbers in each appropriate location. Just in case its stolen. 30 days later you get a hearing, because SCOTUS required them to add that provision (gee, thanks). CA denies that the hearing actually relates to whether you get your car back.

CA also has about 12000 other ridiculous laws. The fact that something is illegal somewhere has absolutly no significance.

Re:This is dangerous, stupid, and illegal (in CA)

[Anonymous Coward]

It's just fucking stupid to let drivers watch a DVD or futz with a computer while hurling 4000 pounds of steel down the road at any speed.

Re:This is dangerous, stupid, and illegal (in CA)

[catprog]

Australia is better.

Install a thing to stop it showing anything but

->Vechiles diagnotist.
->Navagation
->dispatch (Taxis,fire trucks etc ONLY)
-> couple of others things as well

So when the car is stoped (IN ACC) you get your movies but turn the engine on and no more movies

Re:This is dangerous, stupid, and illegal (in CA)

[catprog]

Sorry not clear. The thing would might it legal.

Re:This is dangerous, stupid, and illegal (in CA)

[mysticwhiskey]

Still clear not. What mean you?

Re:This is dangerous, stupid, and illegal (in CA)

[catprog]

If you have something connected the the ignition so in ON,START it stops the screen showing any but the above but on ACC or OFF you can show any thing, then that is legal

Sure looks cool, but....

[mjh49746]

....isn't it just one more distraction to deal with while driving? Maybe I'm just old school, but I think it's nerveracking enough dealing with other drivers as it is. Let alone $2.70 for a gallon of unleaded. :-(

Re:Sure looks cool, but....

[shotgunefx]

It certainly could be. Good knows enough people can't drive even when concentrating.

The project I'm working on isn't about watching movies. It's a digital dashboard with a rearview cam and realtime diagnostics. Though I'll certainly be playing mp3s in it.

Re:Sure looks cool, but....

[mjh49746]

Realtime diagnostics, now there's an idea. I could collect the data and upload it wirelessly to my desktop for further analysis. Unfortunately for me, I'm not that good of an auto mechanic, nor do I have the kind of equipment you'd really need for larger jobs, computerised diagnostics, and things like that. Besides, I don't like blue collar shirts nor do I like grease on my hands. On top of that, my car's not worthy of having computerised bling like that. It looks more like it belongs in a junkyard instead. Then there's the body damage I've done to it myself in the past few year I've owned it. With the way I drive on the rough terrain around here, I don't think a car computer would take the beating, and I doubt I'd be willing to change my driving habits just so it would survive. ;-)

just something about it...

[v1]

SSH'ing to your car... there's just something about it that makes me want to try it...

"Man, my car crashed." "What'd you do?" "I rebooted it of course."

Re:just something about it...

[arbitraryaardvark]

"where do you want to go today?"

I know what it CANNOT do - GPS-based directions

[Anonymous Coward]

Wake me up when a cheap and good GPS mapping/directions data becomes available. - IMHO the only worthy role for a CarPuter.

So far, we either have to grab PNGs from commercial sites (and have NO spoken directions) or rely on Census maps that are +/-300 feet accurate.

Ugh, going back to MS MapPoint

back in the 80's

[daxomatic]

they had this already, it was called Knight Industries Two Thousand that car could talk and jump and stuff he also needed a wimpy driver, still don't know why but the car was cool! daxomatic

Re:back in the 80's

[macdaddy357]

That car was so kool 'cause it ran Linux, silly!

Re:back in the 80's

[Anonymous Coward]

Now combine the technology from this article with the remote control system the MythBusters from the Discovery Channel hacked into a car, and you would have something awfully close to KITT.

It's nice to see the stuff of one of my favorite childhood TV shows being brought to life. And it only took about 20 years.

Real-Time Navigation with Google Earth

[kai.chan]

Instead of plotting Access Points, getting a GPS Receiver that feeds GPS location into Google Earth to make a real-time navigation system would be quite beneficial to the user. With streaming high-res maps and Google Earth's built-in route directions, I'm sure that a navigation system like this would be a good market. Especially if Google decides to release a Linux version of Google Earth to lower the cost of production of a non-Windows-based navigation system.

Re:Real-Time Navigation with Google Earth

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, I know. Google ought to release a GNU/Linux version of Google Earth. I wonder what's stopping them.

I haven't tried yet, but maybe it works under WINE. Anyone had success?

My poo is also quite smelly - I wish they made mints for bumholes.

Why not a Mac Mini?

[amper]

Wouldn't it have been easier to just pop a Mac Mini under the seat? Seems like a no-brainer to me...you could even run Linux on it, if that's what you really want. I can envision one mounted on a little shock-mount kind of thing.

Or, if you really want to go crazy, an HP nr3610 rugged notebook PC, or something like it. That'll only set you back 4 big ones, right? But at least using it in a car won't kill the warranty!

Dupe

[Anonymous Coward]

or it will be...

graeat hardware crappy interface

[Lumpy]

Ive been watching this stuff for over 4 years now and everyone can install the hardware nice but their interface sucks eggs. the closest thing I have seen is the 1/2 finished pycar project. a CAR Pc needs a real easy to use and simplified user interface to make it easy and SAFE to use on the road. most of the functions need to be able to run in the background while you do other things and someone needs to get off their arse and make a REAL vector based mapping/ navigation system. Linux has some psudeo gps moving map displays but absolutely NO navigation apps. (sorry but unless it gives me turn by turn showing the road route like the $49.00 windows delorme apps or the super old AutoPC car stereo from 1998 then its not navigation.

honestly installing the hardware and fabricating the faceplates in the car is the easy part. getting a bunch of people together to make a useable and safe UI for a car system is not.

dashwerks dashpc is close (although still 1/2 way as the interface is really klunky and not safe to operate at 80mph in 4 lanes of bumper to bumper traffic.... my pioneer double din navigation/dvd/cd/mp3 player is...

Re:graeat hardware crappy interface

[extrasolar]

Honestly, I think 90% of the interface should be voice. It should be both voice recognition and voice synthesis. I suppose I can see the point of having a monitor, if used rarely. But I honestly don't see myself watching DVDs in a car PC.

But it's a really cool project, something I've thought would be cool before. As for navigation, honestly, a close substitute would be just to scrape the directions off of MapQuest or some other website and have the software dictate the directions to you on the road.

Re:graeat hardware crappy interface

[Lumpy]

bingo. the pioneer navigation and the really old autopc are both limited vocabulary voice control with some buton control. and work great except for 2 situations.

1- you are cranking the stereo
2- all windows are down and you are doing 70mph

my pioneer will play DVD's but it really is a useless function. it is illegal in all states for a DVD or TV to be playing within view of the driver, granted most people do not care about the law espically traffic safety laws but it's still illegal and the unit I have disables DVD capability when the vehicle is in drive and the parking break is not set. but it really is a non issue playing DVD's portable players for the kids are dirt cheap, roof mounted and Sunvisor mounted for the passenger side are also dirt cheap compared to the in-dash units.

Navigation and interface to odbc2 data is important. if you have a car pc then it should damn well tell you how many miles to your next oil change or service needed on the vehicle, tell me that the air flow through the air intake filter is lower than the threshold and I should replace the air cleaner, the outside temp, direction of travel, average speed, speed graphs over time, average MPG and alert me when MPG drops that there is a potential problem.

scraping directions off mapquest does not work, have you ever used real turn-by-turn navigation? having the car tell you to get in the left lane as the exit that is 1 minute away is on the left side of the highway is invaluable. having a bargraph showing you time to the next turn is also extremely useful as well as a position plotted exactly on the screen and that it recalculates the route when you turn off to avoid traffic to construction can not be done with mapquest.

I agree, the person did an awesome job on the installation.... but there is nothing else to it after that. now designing the software and interface needs to be #1 priority.

What about some web cams

[Anonymous Coward]

mainly in the back. Can be automatically set when the vehicle is placed in reverse (we've had two kids under 9 backed over slowly (if you can imagine) resulting the deaths of both).

On a lighter note, mixing in ImageMagick to look for geometrically steady lines.
Modify a web cam to infrared.
A hud for a windshield (display could be as simple (relatively speaking) as a laser trace seen at laser light shows.
A move away from the direction Ford is going for on the spot diagnosis. Instead of banking on running up maintenance costs, lowering them would be the immediate result.
USB memory sticks for greater certainty with core processes.
Extremely advanced security systems.

(I really wish things could be more private sometimes. Allies could benefit from stuff that ought not be mentioned).

jokes aside...

[ghee22]

this is INCREDIBLE. this is referring to the documentation. It's very complete, the only thing missing is how he hacked his verizon phone. this, lo behold, was in a previous slashdot story

I did a little research myself and it turns out that there is one project on sourceforge in prealpha for linux that's GPL'd. Maybe after my finals i'll help with some patches..

i see a way to use google maps API by continuously updating the source address when your GPS "address" changes and using the number of miles left until the next turn, and using EPOS to convert text to speech: turn right at upcoming ford street.

ps: this guy made me want to save up some cash and have one of my own

DON'T CLICK THE LINK

[meeotch]

If his server crashes, he could be killed!

What really matters is ...

[Anonymous Coward]

I just saved a bundle on my car insurance!

two things

[genommen]

1. A helpful suggestion, I once saw a program on freshmeat.net called dashboard that was designed to be used for an easy interface for a linux car pc. 2. Is there anyway of contacting this guy? I saw no link on the site, he is local for me and i have been planning a similar endeavor for a while.

Imagine

[Anonymous Coward]

A Beowulf cluster of these.

GPS tracking

[mauthbaux]

I think the only real advantage that something like this would have are these:

1: being able to log into and locate (using the GPS) your car prettymuch no matter what happens to it or where they take it. Let's you know where the kids are at night, or where the theif is who stole the thing.

2: massive portable file storage. You could drive cross country in the thing and never have to hear the same song twice and never worry about losing reception to radio stations. It theoretically could act as a (relatively) secure storage place for sensitive personal files in case your house gets raided or something. I realize that this last suggestion isn't at all likely, but then again, this is the /. crowd.

Hurray For Procrasinators

[hode]

Procrastinators everywhere rejoice! Now you can compile your homework on the way to school.

Windows is actually better for the car

[egeekial]

As much as I hate Windows, it is actually much better suited for a car (right now at least). I have a carputer, and I'm a regular visitor to the mp3car.com forums.

GPS navigation for Linux is basically nonexistent. Also, there are several very good frontends that are being developed for Windows (Frodoplayer, Centrafuse, Roadrunner, etc.) Check out the http://mp3car.com/ forums if you're curious.

I would love to run Linux in my car, but until I have a decent frontend and GPS navigation, I'm going to stick with Windows.

Re:Windows is actually better for the car

[sxpert]

tried roadster ?

Nice Try

[Anonymous Coward]

Worse than http://www.dashpc.com/. DashPc is definately cooler. But i suppose all this bloatted stuff is really usefull if you have your own driver and you are sitting in the back seat, or it is your fathers car and you use him for your wardriving experience.Anyway i would like to see a project that uses eyewear like those ones that can be found on http://www.microopticalcorp.com/ instead of a display mounted on the car.

Gr-fricking-rrrowl

[parasonic]

Slashdotted after like 30 comments.

You have a point.

[Stoutlimb]

That was funny, but it also points out something all too true. Computers in cars are at best useless unless they provide something to help you to drive. I can see this system being good for the passenger, but what about the killer app for the DRIVER? I mean so far the best this thing can do is keep the kids in the back seat quiet, and a few other things that can often distract as much as they assist.

I think about the only killer app in a car would be something voice activated, and provide roughly the same services as a computer abord one of those Star Trek shuttles. I mean, how hard would it be in this day and age to make something that could respond verbally to "Computer: Where is the nearest grocery store?"

Until it gets to the point where a computer can actually help me drive effectively, I do NOT want one in my car.

Bork!

Re:You have a point.

[Alex P Keaton in da]

Once we can integrate a PC into the whole thing with voice activation, it will be awesome- Some cars have features like instant MPG and GPS/Nav- but these are expensive options. Imagine your head unit controlling your many song music collection all while monitoring your exhaust to see how your motor is running. Add some sex somehow and it is the geeky man trifecta- Cars, Computers and women.
Sure all these features may distract a driver, Except the remote start- My summer car and my wife's car are in the garage- so my truck sits out. Being able to start it and have it warm and have the ice defrosted when I go outside is great. If you live in the south or west, you can't imagine what it is like to get in a truck that has been sitting outside all night in below 0 weather... and then scraping the ice off it.

Re:You have a point.

[Anonymous Coward]

i see ooooone little problem with the remote start idea... someone might eventually notice and decide to nick the car while you're still inside, without having to go to all the pesky trouble of hotwiring etc :P

Re:You have a point.

[kd5ujz]

Quite a few cars( even low end dodges) are displaying MPG nowadays. It does not require GPS, just the injector size, pulse width, and speed/odometer readings. Everything is already on the car/truck.

Re:You have a point.

[YetAnotherLogin]

I think about the only killer app in a car would be ...

I don't know about you, but the last thing I want in my car is a killer app!!

Re:You have a point.

[nospam007]

>> ...My summer car and my wife's car are in the garage- so my truck sits out. Being able to start it and have it warm and have the ice defrosted when I go outside is great. ...

There are heating systems available for this situation which don't need the motor running and waking your neighbours, polluting the air etc.

http://www.webasto.us/am/en/am_auto_heaters.html

Not to mention that running the motor without a driver inside is against the law in many countries.

Re:You have a point.

[Alex P Keaton in da]

I have a block heater- The problem is that it doesn't help with the iced up windows.
As far as the pollution- I start it only 10 minutes before I am ready to leave, and the neighbors aren't close enough where it is a problem. And actually, it is much better for the engine for it to be warm before I start driving, and actually better for the enviornment. A cold motor idling isn't that polluting, but driving the vehicle before it is warmed up is awful- uses a ton of gas and pours pollutants into the air.

Re:You have a point.

[Alex P Keaton in da]

I worried about that too, but it has an interlock. You still have to put the key in it to unlock the steering wheel and get it into gear. Also, the doors are locked when it remote starts (that is actually requirement by law, that the doors have to be locked with a remote start system) so if someone would still have to break in, and that would fire off the alarm system.
My situation is also unique- I live in a fairly rural area, and my driveway is about 1/4 mile long so the truck isn't easily accesible.

Re:You have a point.

[Neurotoxic666]

Until it gets to the point where a computer can actually help me drive effectively, I do NOT want one in my car.

Well, some car tuners are actualy using laptops to replace/complement the ECU's. They use them to manage the air/fuel mixture, ignition, timing and other settings one would like to improve to have either better mileage or performances. So I guess laptops CAN be useful and improve one's driving experience...

Re:You have a point.

[nospam007]

>..I have a block heater- The problem is that it doesn't help with the iced up windows.
---
The brand I suggested can do all that, it depends on how you mount it. You can give preference to the block or the inside or both and once the water is heated enough, the car fan starts (usually in position 1 to save battery power) to de-ice the windows.

Re:You have a point.

[Bloke down the pub]

Wouldn't a better solution be to keep the vehicle is some kind of building? I guess it wouldn't fit in the house, but I've seen houses with small sheds attached at one end - some appear to already have large doors fitted. Should I patent this idea?

Re:You have a point.

[DavidTC]

That's idiotic.

You'd have to open the 'car storage' door, drive the car out, park, get out, close the door, and drive off.

When you return you'd have to do the same thing in reverse.

And, even more fun, you'd have to keep a key to this door on something besides your car key ring, otherwise when returning, you'd have to turn the car off, get out, unlock the door, go back, start the car, and drive it in. (Hopefully it would lock automatically so you don't have to do that in the morning too.)

And bear in mind this is a solution presented for extremely cold climates. Have fun hiking around in the snow for five minutes when you get back from work to get your car under-cover.

I think you need to go back to school, Mr. External-Car-Storage Man.

Re:You have a point.

[Alex P Keaton in da]

Yeah- that would work. I have an attached garage, but it is full (If you are married, then you know that the wife's car is inside...) and a barn, but the barn is an eighth of a mile away which at 5:30 am in below freezing, blowing weather is more than I can handle.
Remote strting systems are really inexpensive compared to their benefit.
I beleive my remote start system was around 80$, allthough I installed it myself.
One of the issues with any building with a non roll up traditional garage door is that you can't open swinging doors in the snow. The snow blows, and sometimes the drifts are as high as the roof, and you just can't push the doors open with that on the other side.
Perhaps a better solution would be to move South :)

Re:You have a point.

[Bloke down the pub]

You'd have to open the 'car storage' door, drive the car out, park, get out, close the door, and drive off.

You're right. Clearly that explains why my car-o-shack(tm) idea isn't already in common use. It's a pity that somebody doesn't invent a kind of clever gadget (using, I dunno, those magic radio waves or something) so that you could open the door without moving your big butt off the driver's seat.

Re:You have a point.

[ultranova]

Computers in cars are at best useless unless they provide something to help you to drive. I can see this system being good for the passenger, but what about the killer app for the DRIVER?

Well, how about a P2P system that lets you to download whatever good songs you happen to hear from the car radio ? It could use an audio-based search criteria, allowing it to find the song based on the tune and not the name.

That, and a HUD display for movies, pictures and WWW - you could post witless comments on Slashdot while you drive ;).

Tux racer anyone?

[timboc007]

Cool - does this mean I can play Tux Racer in my car now?

zarus?

[Anonymous Coward]

How about something similar based on a sharp zarus or pocket pc hardware? You get a nice touch screen (ok, maybe not as big), very small computer with built in battery backup, no heat/fans to deal with. It may be a little less versitle (no mythtv) but a touch screen would be ideal (keyboard and mouse in a car?) and the small form factor nice for in-dash installation. Add wi-fi, bluetooth, gps, a small hard drive and you have a nice system. Makes sense to me, but what do I know? Ok, I'll get right on it...

Re:zarus?

[Luke-Jr]

OpenEmbedded has BitBake recipes for MythTV, so that shouldn't be a problem... but you'll have a hard time getting WiFi, BlueTooth, GPS, and a HD all at once... You have at most two CompactFlash slots (C3100) and one USB or serial port. Unless you can find a CompactFlash/PCMCIA WiFi+BlueTooth/GPS combo or such, all 4 are impossible..

its been done...

[Avohir]

Kind of old news. Theres an entire section devoted to linux carputing hobbyists at http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/

I'm impressed...

[Adammil2000]

OK, usually the rigged-up gadgets described here on Slashdot are pretty ridiculous. Linux-based coffee cups and crap like that. However, I must say for the first time I am very impressed by what this person has created. Very useful, very smart!

Cool..

[MSDos-486]

Some stuff software stuff could be more tightly intergrated though. that screen seems kinda small though.

What I would like to see

[serutan]

you can remote start the car, and connect to it from inside the house

Now that my car has turned 21, I want the ability to send it to the store to get beer.

Panic...

[Anonymous Coward]

What is a PANIC and why won't my car start?

Nice

[interstellar_donkey]

I have something similier in my car; an older 600mhz dell laptop connected to a power inverter in the seat and a Garmin handheld GPS. I have an 802.11b Orinoco card with a 5dbi mag-mount antenna connected to a pigtail to the card, and another 803.11b/g card with internal antenna. This setup can do just about everything the setup in the article has, with the exception of the live TV (though I can stream mpg video over the wireless lan), the cell phone interface (I have Sprint... ugh), and my system is not connected to my car stereo (though, in a pinch, I can burn a CD-R with MP3s and throw it in the car player).

The main difference though, between his setup and mine is, mine looks like garbage. When it's setup the passenger seat has the laptop (making it unusable) and there are wires running everywhere. To me, that's what makes this guys setup so friggin' cool. When this guy goes out on a date, he doesn't have to spend 20 minutes packing everything up and storing it in the trunk (because, believe it or not, most girls are not impressed by a car full of lose computer equipment and wires running everywhere).

I think when someone gets around to making custom kits for various vehicles for mobile computer installation--that blend in with the interior of the car like this guy's setup does--they'll do pretty well. While I wouldn't really care for streaming video (how am I supposed to watch TV while I'm driving?), I would like to see systems that made it easy for the car computer to connect to your wireless network, and from your desktop computer copy whichever mp3s (or OGG or whatever) you felt like having in your car's library.

I could imagine going over to a friends house, and him asking me "Have you heard XYZ's new album?" "No.. any good?" "It's great. Here, I'll burn you a copy" "Don't bother. I noticed you don't have WEP running on your wireless, so my car has probably already negotiated a connection and is on your LAN." (clicks on 'my network', and my shared folder configured through samba shows up) "There it is. Just drag and drop the music files into there".

Again, this all could be done using existing technology. The only hurdles are getting the dang thing configured for what you want it to do, and getting it installed into your car so it looks nice.

Re:Nice

[interstellar_donkey]

Boy I'm getting tired. Sorry for all the typos above. It's my own dang fault for not hitting preview.

Re:Nice

[KevinColyer]

When this guy goes out on a date Now that is a good question...

But what about...

[weaszel]

You're gonna have to watch those dependencies...

error: Failed dependencies:
                gas >= 1.00 is needed by accelerate

NO turn-by-turn gps navigation on linux

[nxs212]

From the horse's mouth: "Turn-by-Turn navigation. There just isn't anything out there for Linux."
Why even bother? w/o turn by turn, gps (and this guy's linux carpc) is pretty much useless.

Music? I have a Motorola E685i cell phone that has gprs (internet access), bluetooth (sends audio to any a2dp enabled car stereo receiver), plays mpeg4 movies, syncs with my home pc (usb or bt), has web browser and FM radio. Oh, it runs LINUX and is blazing fast.
No, it won't do turn by turn gps navigation BUT neither does his.
So if you insist on running Linux in your car, get a phone that does. The best part is that it's very small (smaller than sidekick) and I can take it with me. ...If you get lost easily, like me, turn by turn navigation is a must-have.

Ya know, as soon some car company does offer a

[multiplexo]

car with a built in PC that it's first going to get hacked to run Linux with a really ugly GUI and then someone is going to port NetBSD to it but installing NetBSD won't always work and you'll have to do lots of patching to get the system running (don't even think about making it stable). Then of course when you want to download software updates you'll have to run Ford Genuine Advantage to make sure that you didn't just pirate a copy of FordPC and install it on a cheap Korean import.

Re:Ya know, as soon some car company does offer a

[megrims]

Do you come in a coherent model?

Re:Dog Sex Scandal Rocks GNAA.

[Anonymous Coward]

Unfunny. Do better next time.

Kudos

[extrasolar]

I just wanted to give this guy kudos for this project in case he browses around here. I know that here he'll probably get the standard slashdot asshole treatment, but honestly, most of us are salvating at your in car 3D Matrix screensaver :)

See, once we get lots of people with in car computers then we can transmit our road-rage frustrations wirelessly. But seriously, I wonder if he has it attached to his gas gauge and speedometer so he can keep track of mileage, something I'm too lazy to do. Of course, when he comes in range of his house he can have his scheduling and appointments synchronized.

My next project is pretty simple, I want to use my computer for all telephone operations. That means answering machine, voice mail, call log, and of course the ability to get weather information and headlines by calling home. Eh...I'll have to look into this eventually.

Preposterous

[Doc Ruby]

With all those computing features just rolling down the road, that's a PC car. A car PC helps you drive better, not compute while driving. Like GPS navigation, VoIP, audio from a server that gets 3G Internet radio or your own streams from your home server. Google maps with "you are here" and local search. Finding the nearest biodiesel dump (fast food dumpster). Letting the passenger drive by joystick from any seat while your take a nap. Upgrading your fuel injection. Maybe backseat games against other cars in the convoy, and certainly messaging so everyone's conferenced together.

This "PC car" sounds like a way to make computing more distracting, by putting your life on the line as you compute. The real "car PC" will make driving a lot easier, safer, more fun, and more social. Let the rubber meet the road!

Indirect Slashdotting?

[GoRK]

I must say that I got a good feeling seeing an install on slashdot that my own install helped in part to inspire; although I did pretty much give up on Linux on the EPIA board for my install despite getting everything set up and configured correctly (Including LinuxBIOS, mind you, which was no easy chore) Good job on the install and good job sticking through on the software side!

Old News...

[dos4who]

I've been doing this since 1999 - Got my start on this website forum - MP3CAR.COM

AND... Let's not forget www.MEGACAR.com

~m

Killer app? (Re:You have a point.)

[m0nk3ym1nd]

Middle-of-the-night-strangely-related-weirdness: I just closed the door after talking to a cop (OK, OK, I told my wife first, then had a snack, and then insomaniacally logged in, so it's not *just* closed... it's not like I immediately must login to Slashdot every time I talk to the cops) who rang my doorbell to tell me 'some cat' had been sitting in my car parked on the street in front of my house. I'd forgotten to lock the doors, d'oh! She chased him off, nothing was taken, we've been having a rash of crimes in the area and could I please be more cognizant (her word) of keeping my doors locked, thankyouverymuch. And yes, she was hot, thanks for asking.

Would I love to have on disk a nice, clear, 3.3 megapixel self-portrait of this 'cat' sitting in my driver's seat? Yes, indeed I would. Having the door lightswitch trigger the shutter should be trivial. I'd like to have a portrait of my hero chasing him off, too, but designing an app to choose only the attractive plainclothes (Did I just say plainclothes? Ignore the honking two-way radio and clipboard and she'd have looked like she was on a date) policewomen instead of filling my HDD with pictures of traffic would exceed my skills. Bayesian filtering?

She is a neighbor, as well, which I guess is how she knew the guy, or 'cat' in pretty-cop-lady-lingo, didn't belong in the car he was in. Seeing as how we're neighbors and all, aren't I obligated to stop by and, um, thank her?

Re:Killer app? (Re:You have a point.)

[oldwolf13]

I have no idea what you're talking about... all rambling on and such...

but if you can nail her dude... go for it. :)

Re:Killer app? (Re:You have a point.)

[Anonymous Coward]

cat = slang term for a male (usually) person. ie: I know this cat who can get that for you.

Re:Killer app? (Re:You have a point.)

[m0nk3ym1nd]

Yeah, you're right, in the context my post makes no sense whatsoever. What I should have said, but didn't: This article, plus the car breakin I just endured, move me to investigate a CarPC-plus-camera sort of tech to take photos of the interior of my vehicle whenever the door is opened. If I'd had such a thing in place already, the perp would have taken a self-portrait. Could be useful as a deterrent (plastered around the neighborhood, if I wanted to be nasty) if not in gaining a conviction. [Next time I hope I try to stick to what I mean instead of trying to sound clever....first time I ever got modded down, ouch!]

What about the battery?

[mustafap]

How long before the battery goes flat?
Then the car becomes just a big custom PC case :o)

Illegal/uninsured in the UK?

[Linker3000]

I seem to recall it may be illegal in the UK to leave an unattended car with the engine running. Also, many insurance companies will void the insurance during such periods...

"Motorists are being warned by British Insurance Brokers' Association (BIBA) and insurance companies that they will not be covered if they leave their car unattended with keys in the ignition and engine running..."

I wonder what would happen when you also explain that the keys weren't actually in the vehicle and were not needed to start it!?

Have Skype running on my carpc

[Anonymous Coward]

I have the same setup. The touch screens out help with driving and using the computer at the same time. Just like using your radio.

The best is I can use skype in my car and talk for free. The audio is even piped to my alpine deck in the car.

Thought so...

[Linker3000]

"...users of remote engine starting systems in the UK may encounter problems with the police, as it is illegal to leave a vehicle unattended whilst the engine is running, and they do not meet insurance criteria in the UK, Belgium, Holland, Germany or France." [Security by Design newsletter]

Software details

[Anonymous Coward]

Ok so what software did he install and what problems if any did he have getting it working. What choices did he make and why.
The detail on how to paint a piece of plastic is fine, but as for as DIY projects go you're not going to get far following instructions which just say "I installed Gentoo".

Now onto the hardware questions.... he says he's feeding the TFT with the TV out from the EPIA. Isn't that going to give crap video quality for anything but watching videos? Wouldn't you want to drive the TFT at native resolution from the VGA out instead?

Shameless Commercial Plug

[Slugster]

While his workmanship is fairly nice, he seems to have reinvented the wheel more than a couple times. At least one website ( hXXp://logisysus.com/ ) has been selling in-dash car PC's for at least the last couple years, that I've seen. Since some P-II models used to be available, I'd bet it's been longer than I've seen. Non-Mac-Mini anyone? Or (now) Mac-non-Mini even....

Include the usual disclaimers here;
I've bought other smaller items from them but never bought any if their PC's, so I dunno how they stack up value-wise or how they take the Penguin.
~~~

I don't get it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Why are you worried about cats on your car, and why do you want to take their pictures?
Are you afraid that they will scratch the paint or something, and you want a picture so that you can contact their owners?

Why hasn't anyone actually monitored their car?

[illumina us]

Everytime I had ideas to build a car PC (always lacked the funding) I always wanted to not just play movies, mp3s, wardrive, checkweather, browse the web, etc.; I also wanted to know what was going on with my car. Driving a 1993 DSM this is a fairly easy task since the car already outputs data from the computer in standard RS-232 format and at least a couple of dataloggers is readily available from sourceforge for DSMs. I would think this would be even easier to do for any car manufactured after 1995 (or was it 1996?) which support the very standard ODBII. I mean c'mon? Who doesn't want to see the exact statistics of their RPM, Knock, O2, air temperature, coolant temperature, etc. as a nice screensaver?

Re:Why hasn't anyone actually monitored their car?

[teaserX]

Go one better and adjust fuel trims and the like on the fly with this http://dsmlink.com/($$$) Set up preset fuel maps and go from economy to full battle mode with a key press. Logs everything, too. Sorry, no Linux version :(

Re:Why hasn't anyone actually monitored their car?

[illumina us]

Actually if I remember correctly you can adjust fuel trims without replacing your car's computer by knowing the correct memory locations and just adjusting the information to them.

No matter though, my DMS is but N/A and I doubt I will have the money to do a motor swap on it to make it a turbo. Soon though, I plan to get a '99 GSX and do a 6-bolt swap on it or just an Evo setup. Then install the ultimate car computer. :)

What I'd want in a car PC...

[QuietLagoon]

Would be the ability to have the car know when it is parked in my garage, and connnect up to my home wireless network. Then it would refesh and/or update media files and playlists.

I currently do this manually wih my iPod, i.e., dock it and synchronize it. Why can't the blasted thing understand my wireless network and just synch up whenever it is in the garage at night.

Wireless network location with GPS

[CProgrammer98]

I'm interested in how you map wireless access points with the GPS

How does this all work? You need to triagulate the position of the AP somehow, (by just driving around?) is there a package that does this? How does it do this magic?

Re:Wireless network location with GPS

[Anonymous Coward]

most wardriving software just logs the location that the signal was recieved from and doesn't bother with any kind of triangulation. Ap coverage isn't really that large, so the reading is close enough.

Old news - Empeg went there long before...

[cheros]

The Empeg URL is still up, but the company's long gone (wonder where Hugo went).

Empeg did just that: build a formal DIN sized Linux system that had as main aim playing MP3s. The platform was basically overengineered (well done ;-) so it should have had plenty spare capacity to add features or, alternatively, maybe time for a hardware upgrade to bring it out again. It worked, and I was personally quite sad to see it go.

If anything, THAT's the kind of stuff I'd like to see in kit form ;-).

too far behind

[rotagivan]

I've been wanting to put a linux pc in my truck since 1999. I am in the process of building a mini-truck and am planning on intergrating a linux pc into it. I just haven't had the time or funds to finish it, so its taking me a while. It will be made to fit along with a custom sheet metal dash with plenty of monitors for viewing pleasure. I have ideas and the know how to automate alot more than you think you can on a vehicle. Sorry this is so vague, I gotta keep my good ideas for my project to myself or else someone will steal them.

some more people done it with via itx boards

[Kombinat]

some more guys done that with via Epia boards, here is a german community: http://www.car-pc.info/ and here is a special version of Gentoo for Epia: http://www.epios.net/

Some Infos on a Tablet PC I use in my car...

[Neufrank]

...can be found at: http://www.neurath.org/
It is easy to get the hardware (eBay) and I got many responses on successful installations.
Frank

Some Infos on a Tablet PC I use in my car...

[Neufrank]

...can be found at: http://www.neurath.org/
It is easy to get the hardware (eBay) and I got many responses on successful installations.
Frank

pr0n

[TeknoHog]

The article mentions the possibility of watching movies on the road. If that weren't bad enough, scientists have now proved the age-old truth that watching pr0n makes you blind, at least momentarily.

It's neat but...

[TarryTops]

heck you could ask for a designated driver and have a laptop with all the gizmo's fitted in. It is definately cool stuff, what the guy made up , but you don't want your whole family leaning on your gear box fighting for their favorite channel ;-) Tarry

clarify?

[timhillu03]

does he start the car with remote start, which starts the linux box up, or does he start up the car with the linux box? i'm hoping it's the former, and not the latter. also, how does a system like this handle in temperature extremes such as -20F (-30C) and +100F (+37C)? i know back when i was in school, if i left a calculator in the car overnight in january, it was veeerrryy veerrryy slow until it warmed up. just curious.

Cars that run Linux never crash

[grok42tampabay]

If the car is running Linux, does that mean it will never crash?

http://www.linuxhotbox.com/fun/linux-wallpapers/fu ll_CRASH.jpg

Useful

[iphayd]

C'mon people, give me a GPS (or tie it to the car's mileage for bigger points) enabled computer with two buttons. One that says "business" one that says "personal". That way I don't have keep a logbook for the freaking IRS.

I don't give a flying fark about DVD, random WiFi hotspots, or weather forecasts (if you can't see the weather when you're in the car, you're blind, and you probably can hear it.)

I just want a car computer that allows my car usage to be simpler.

Turn by Turn Navigation App

[stevenm86]

There is a nice Linux turn-by-turn GPS navigation program called RoadNav (http://roadnav.sf.net./ It uses TIGER data, which it auto downloads, to give you step by step directions. It also gives you satellite image overlays. I am surprised so few people have heard of it.

Re:Turn by Turn Navigation App

[Change]

TIGER data is insufficient for route planning. It lacks road directionality (to indicate one-way streets) and Z-axis separation (overpasses appear as intersections).

Re:Turn by Turn Navigation App

[stevenm86]

That is true, but it is a whole lot better than nothing at all. I mean, a program based on TIGER data will not be as accurate as one based on some of the commercial things out there, but it can still be used. Occasionally it will ask you to turn onto a one-way street or onto some pedestrian street, but you can always write an extension which lets you add "corrections" to the existing data. Soon enough, the software should work well for your local area. Then it would be possible for the software to learn average travel time for each road, etc.
If I ever get free time, it would be nice to implement dijkstra's algorithm for another nice program- roadmap - it is much smaller and faster than roadnav, but it does not do autorouting unfortunately.

Re:Turn by Turn Navigation App

[Anonymous Coward]

dude ALL mapping software is based off Tiger data and then they apply their "adjustments" delorme and MS maps have huge errors that funny, are identical to the Tiger line data maps.

There is one company that makes their own map database and they have very little data compared to tiger line data.

"Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these"

[Anonymous Coward]

I believe that is called a parking lot. ;)

Well...

[Gordonjcp]

... you're talking to the original.

touch screen?

[brad3378]

is there a way to may Linux work with a touch screen monitor? I'm not so sure I want to do everything with a keyboard.

How lazy do you have to get?

[Anonymous Coward]

Just the thing for modern-day America. A remote-startable car for those too lazy to open the door and turn the key.

Re:How lazy do you have to get?

[cornface]

Remote starters have been around for a while, usually on keyfobs. They can be nice if you're stuck somewhere that gets extremely cold or hot.

Props

[TheRealZero]

Theres a lot of hating going on in these comments, n ya i agree a computer in your car is for the most part useless to the driver. But we're computer geeks, a lot of things we do are for nothing. It's all bragging rights, and the sence of accomplishment. (Todays headlines on /. for example: Japenese man overclocks pentium 4 to 7.132ghz) I think he did a great job with his CarPC and it looks real nice n clean. I have the same Mini-ITX board laying around n might just do the same. Props to you.

Talk about irony.

[Anonymous Coward]

Car PC = "Killer App" (as a lead cause of accidents).

Community Sites for Car PC's

[Anonymous Coward]

I have personally been involved in all of this for quite a long time. Some sites well worth checking out if your into such things would be:

http://www.dashboardmonkey.co.uk/ / .com

http://www.mp3car.com/

http://www.carpcspecialist.com/

http://www.digital-car.co.uk/

and the car pc directory
http://www.carpcspecialist.com/dir/