January 11, 2005

GPS Receivers for CarPC Use

09:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (195) ~ CarPC

Most GPS receivers these days are USB, but this post on the MP3Car.com forums says, "...then I decided to go with a deluo serial gpsr, my favorite. because it's serial, it powers on as soon as my computer does and usually has a strong signal by the time windows boots (depending on location) the Delorme usb one wouldn't start tracking until software was loaded." Since the motherboard I'm going to spec will have a serial port, I think I'll get a serial GPS receiver. Here's a link to a serial Deluo GPSR.

CarPC Keyboards

08:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (7) ~ CarPC

Dream_keyboard_2Perhaps the touchscreen will suffice as the only input device for CarPC applications. However, I doubt this. What would be the killer text input device would be a battery-powered, lighted, RIM-style, bluetooth-enabled micro keyboard like the vaporware pictured on the right, but I have not been able to find one of these. Check out the MP3Car.com's forums on input devices. Here's my lame list of keyboard candidates.

  1. LITE-ON SK7551 -- It's cheap at NewEgg, it's got a built-in pointing device (one of those rubber nubbers), but it's IR, is not especially small and has no backlight. I have older model that I have used with my home music system, and it works pretty well. Heck, this is what I'll probably install since you can't go wrong for $20.

  2. Stowaway Bluetooth Portable Keyboard -- Made by ThinkOutside. Hella expensive ($150), no light,  PDA/phone mount that would just get in the way.

  3. Zippy EL-610 -- Linked to J&R's product page. Relatively cheap, but wired. Here's a review.

CarPC Software Frontends

07:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (4) ~ CarPC

I still haven't decided which frontend I am going to use on my CarPC project, so I've created a list below of the frontends I have found. This list is based on the traffic the frontends get on the MP3Car.com's frontend forums. The name of the frontend is linked to the frontend's website, and I've also included a link to the frontend's forum subgroup at MP3Car.com.

  1. Media Engine -- CarComp's Car-Computer Interface. Written in Visual Basic. Has the most posts on the forums. Looks to be supported by donations ans is skinable (forums, screenshots).
  2. FrodoPlayer -- Frodobaggin's FrodoPlayer. Hey, with a name like that, maybe I gotta use it (forums).
  3. MediaCar -- Created in Europe I think (forums).

The other frontends I have found so far that don't have a lot of traffic on the MP3Car.com frontend forums are: Mobile Media Center, NeoCar Media Center, PyCar, MediaCruiser and Centrafuse.

CNX-P1260 DC-DC Regulator

06:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (315) ~ CarPC

Cnxp1260_dcdc_regulator
The CNX-P1260 is a DC-DC regulator designed for AutoPC use. It connects on one side to the DC source (the car battery) and on the other to your PC, amp and touchscreen. It includes a startup/shutdown controller, so for example, you can have it automatically power down the PC 4 seconds after the ignition is turned off. Although some AutoPC power supplies have shutdown controllers, I haven't found one that has the ability to power the touchscreen and turn on the amp. It's about $85 at MP3Car.com.