It's carputer time

[Sabz5150]

New phone. My old Katana finally bit it. The phone itself is a phone. It makes calls. Does what a phone does. Don't need anything special for that.

However where I made the big upgrade was getting unlimited mobile broadband and unlimited phone-as-modem tethering. Now a carputer becomes useful I did some testing... it'll stream 128K net stations without skipping a beat and have bandwidth left for other things. Nice.

I'll be slowly researching and building a car PC. Perhaps give it Myth capabilities. 1Mbps sync should be enough to handle what I need without a problem. I'll definitely go the Linux route... Windows just doesn't have what I need.

Wish me luck

[codyJDM]

Sounds bad ass to me, keep us posted!

[partyharty]

I have a tablet that I use in my honda (and in my dodge truck whenever I am driving that), it works great for GPS, camera, and mp3's). I have a pretty long commute during the day so I am working on getting a video of my drive into work (and other stuff).

My tablet has a touchscreen and a docking station so all I have to do is drop it into the docking stations already setup in the car/truck. All in all its pretty cool thing to have.

[Dr_Snooz]

You da man. Keep us posted.

[Sabz5150]

Sounds bad ass to me, keep us posted!

I had always mulled a carPC but the lack of real net access always turned me away. Now I have a seamless coast-to-coast connection. I gave it the "test" on my way home this evening... streaming SomaFM at 65 on the highway (used an old lappie piped through my stereo). 100% badass. Not once did it lose connection or need to buffer.

Pairing the two and initializing the connection looks to be simple and straightforward... something I was worried about with Linux. I was able to pair with my wife's Palm and get that on the net with its universal settings (just tell the phone to dial #777 and it goes), so Linuxifying the whole shebang should be a cakewalk. That's pretty much the hard(est) part. All I need now is hardware. Something that does proper shutdowns is paramount, and I am quite certain such things exist.

Research time

[2ndGenGuy]

There are 12 volt ATX power supplies designed just for running in your car. They have an ignition input on them that will bascially send your computer the shutdown command. Use your car's battery like a UPS without the inefficiency of using an inverter for 120v then back down to 12/5. I think mini-itx.com has em.

Socket 775 mini itx motherboard FTW.

Also, GrooveSalad FTW!

[Sabz5150]

There are 12 volt ATX power supplies designed just for running in your car. They have an ignition input on them that will bascially send your computer the shutdown command. Use your car's battery like a UPS without the inefficiency of using an inverter for 120v then back down to 12/5. I think mini-itx.com has em.

Socket 775 mini itx motherboard FTW.

Also, GrooveSalad FTW!

Right on, another Soma fan I'm all for Groove Salad. Beat Blender is good late night chill and Lush is all around excellent female vocals... sort of like a Hed Kandi station.

I don't need much in the way of sheer horsepower, newegg has a 60 buck ITX board that isn't pure firebreather but should provide enough power to handle what I throw at it. Linux is efficient that way. I think the single most expensive part will be the touchscreen. I'll keep looking for a deal there, but I know it will hurt the wallet a tad.

[AccordB20A]

Sounds cool.theres three words that make me jelous, unlimited, mobile, broadband. over here if you use any internet data it will cost you like $10 per mb or something gay like that

[2ndGenGuy]

Comcast is setting a new prescient for limited bandwidth here in the US. 250GB / month cap WITH bandwidth throttling. Fuck Comcast. Others will soon follow.

[Sabz5150]

Comcast is setting a new prescient for limited bandwidth here in the US. 250GB / month cap WITH bandwidth throttling. Fuck Comcast. Others will soon follow.

My buddy moved to FiOS the instant he caught wind of that. No limits, 20/20 sync. Talk about FAST.

[2ndGenGuy]

Yummy. I wish I could get FIOS. Too far away from town, I'm stuck with 1.5Mbits/512Kbit at my house. At work though, we've got something insane. A DS3 I think? 100mbit synchronous. Oh yes...

What is it with Linux users and SomaFM? How does that always happen? LOL

[2oodoor]

Ctrl+Alt+Delete? shutdown

[Strahan]

Cool. I'm contemplating the same thing myself. I was looking at those Xenarc touch screen LCDs and thinking hmmmm could build a nice carputer with that. As far as internet goes I was thinking about getting one of those cellular modems from t-mobile or something.

[Sabz5150]

Yummy. I wish I could get FIOS. Too far away from town, I'm stuck with 1.5Mbits/512Kbit at my house. At work though, we've got something insane. A DS3 I think? 100mbit synchronous. Oh yes...

What is it with Linux users and SomaFM? How does that always happen? LOL

We know quality, what can I say?

[Sabz5150]

Cool. I'm contemplating the same thing myself. I was looking at those Xenarc touch screen LCDs and thinking hmmmm could build a nice carputer with that. As far as internet goes I was thinking about getting one of those cellular modems from t-mobile or something.

Liliput has a nice selection of touchscreens. They're Linux ready, which is why I chose them. Unfortunately we'll either have to mount something on the dashboard or below the headunit. Motorized screens in a 3g are a bit... cumbersome. I plan on putting a screen on the dash. Nothing huge, but something I can swivel for driver or passenger use.

Most carriers have SOME sort of mobile internet access plan... trick is finding one that is unlimited. I had to call Sprint and talk to them directly in order to get unlimited tethering... the guys at the local store said that they would not give me that service whatsoever. Guess who I am not visiting anymore. My buddy is going through T-Mobile, and his tether service is decent, but not 3G EVDO (what I have), and the speed difference is definitely noticeable.

IMHO Sprint has been the pioneer in that area, so they're the ones that know it best. 40 bucks tacked onto your current bill isn't too bad considering current pricing for the service through other carriers.

[Strahan]

I'm planning on making a mount on top of the dash in front of the clock, it'd be nice and visible. Just have to engineer it to be a quick-release style mount so I can remove it when I leave the car. An LCD on top the dash just screams please break in, heh. I thought about mounting it down low, but then I have to move my eyes pretty far from the road when I want to check my GPS map or something. Another cool alternative would be a flip-down from the roof, but I have a feeling it'd be too bulky.

[Sabz5150]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813135095

I am heavily considering this board. Its main advantages are the CF-II slot on board and the dual ethernet ports, which using a bit of Linux router magic, can be translated into live ports in the car for friends who tote their laptops around. QoS will make sure they don't stomp all of my bandwidth (and they will if I let 'em). Also it's passively cooled, so the thing won't eat itself due to a dead proc fan.

Next up... a case

[2ndGenGuy]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813135095

I am heavily considering this board. Its main advantages are the CF-II slot on board and the dual ethernet ports, which using a bit of Linux router magic, can be translated into live ports in the car for friends who tote their laptops around. QoS will make sure they don't stomp all of my bandwidth (and they will if I let 'em). Also it's passively cooled, so the thing won't eat itself due to a dead proc fan.

Next up... a case

Consider getting something with a Parallel port. That way you can control door locks, windows, etc with EASE. Check this article I found the other night, kinda gets me all excited, I've got this stupid EPIA MiniITX board in the house that's been sitting for 3 years. You're making me want to put it to good use.

http://www.make-digital.com/make/vol03/?pg=55

[Sabz5150]

Consider getting something with a Parallel port. That way you can control door locks, windows, etc with EASE. Check this article I found the other night, kinda gets me all excited, I've got this stupid EPIA MiniITX board in the house that's been sitting for 3 years. You're making me want to put it to good use.

http://www.make-digital.com/make/vol03/?pg=55

It has an LPT port, just not on the ATX backplane. Don't ask why it has a full complement of serial ports (3 on backplane, 1 via header on board). I'm sure I can find neat things to do with those. GPS, debug terminal, etc... I'll do something with 'em

[frantik]

cliqhop idm pwns all

[Hazwan]

Consider getting something with a Parallel port. That way you can control door locks, windows, etc with EASE. Check this article I found the other night, kinda gets me all excited, I've got this stupid EPIA MiniITX board in the house that's been sitting for 3 years. You're making me want to put it to good use.

http://www.make-digital.com/make/vol03/?pg=55

Do this: http://translate.google.com/translat...-8&sl=de&tl=en

Man, I've wanted carPC for a long time already. I have miniITX system I build few years ago with leftover parts, just never got around to get it installed. I can't afford the screen and power supply

[Sabz5150]

Ooooh, I just saw my bill. It's a bit bigger than I expected, but not unaffordable bigger.

It did have one thing in the description of my net services I wasn't expecting: Worldwide.

Wow. That's why it's pricey.

[clint999]

There are 12 volt ATX power supplies designed just for running in your car. They have an ignition input on them that will bascially send your computer the shutdown command. Use your car's battery like a UPS without the inefficiency of using an inverter for 120v then back down to 12/5. I think mini-itx.com has em.

Socket 775 mini itx motherboard FTW.

Also, GrooveSalad FTW!

[ChaseR]

www.mp3car.com

[Vanilla Sky]

I wish Sprint in my area were better. I get an 18% discount at work, and not even that it making me bite. I'm up for a new contract come March, and I'm shopping around. Something like this is something I've been interested in for a while. I would go about it a different way, though. You can get EVDO routers. That's the way I'm looking to go.