Carputer Ideas

Carputer Ideas

Here are a few of my scribblings on what could go into a carputer that I’ll be building. Don’t expect it to be coherent or make much sense.

  1. Basic Computer (VIA C3 667Mhz [Bought])
    1. Hard Drive (Mounted on its side!)
      1. Laptop Hard Drive [Have] (Vibration-Resistance)
      2. Regular Hard Drive with vibration damper (rubber or springs)
    2. Monitor
      1. LCD Display, 6-7″ (EPSON 6″ LCD Monochrome [Bought])
        1. Need Controller
        1. Touchscreen?
      2. LCD Display, 13.3″ (Sharp LQ13X02C, from Dell Latitude CPi [Have]) 
        1. Need Controller
        1. Vertical display replacing center console?
        2. Replace the center panel with screen, and have computer- or PIC-managed temperature control
      3. LCD Display, 2×16 Characters (Dashboard) [Have]
      4. Nokia 3310 LCD (HUD) [Have]
    3. Music Storage/Playback
      1. Aux In on head unit
    4. Hacked Kenwood CD Changer Interface?
  2. Inputs
    1. PS/2 Laptop Touchpad w/2 buttons [Have, from Dell Latitude CPi]
    2. IR Keyboard [Have, from MSNTV2]
  3. Car Alarm
    1. Interface
    2. PIC-Based
  4. GPS [Bought]
    1. GPS Trip Display on LCD
    2. GPS Trip Logs
    3. Wardriving
  5. Webcam(s) [Need] (IR Lights for nighttime driving)
    1. Video Recording
      1. Sync against GPS for speed+heading overlay in a process later
      2. Rolling buffer: Button press to save X minutes of video
    2. License Plate Recognition
      1. Sync against GPS for database of where/when’s
    3. Back-Up Warning System (Wired to reverse lights)
      1. OR Ultrasonic Sensor for back up warning
    4. Car Alarm That Takes Pictures
  6. Wifi Antenna [Have]
    1. Wardriving
      1. Kismet (Win/Linux)
      2. Netstumbler (Win)
    2. Auto-Upload of trip telemetry to Home Server later
    3. Send files through ssh/vpn tunnel through open AP’s?
  7. WRTSL54GS [Have]
    1. Kismet Drone OR Server
    2. Automatic Open-Wifi Connector
  8. OBD-II Interface (Kit or Chip)
    1. Digital Telemetry
      1. Speedometer
      2. Tachometer
      3. Trouble Codes
      4. Temperatures
      5. “Digital Dashboard”
  9. Directional Microphone [Have]
    1. Voice Recognition
  10. Power
    1. DC-DC Converter [Bought]
    2. Inverter [Have]

[Bought]: Bought specifically for this project
[Have]: Had from another project, or just had laying around.

MP3Car Wiki

Multi-Antenna

Mini-Keyboard

X-Car

How-To Linux CarPC – Gentoo

Mazda3 CarPC – Linux

LinuxICE – In Car Entertainment

Carputers: Software and How-tos

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