I may be one-of-a-kind, but I don't own an iPhone or an iPod.

I am however a system engineer and can virtually make a computer do anything. Does anyone use Carputers anymore? Since the trend of non-volitale RAM devices such as MP3 players, does anyone still have a laptop setup?

 

YEARS ago there were a few good threads about it, they may still be stickied in the C6 Gen section.

Your best bet for info about them would be at one of the car audio fourms.

I briefly thought about doing a carputer, but it's soooo much work for features that I'd most likely never use. I only use the Nav feature of my Nav unit about once a month, if that.

 

here is a bezel we made for a customer in his C5 with a carpc he installed.
He sent us the screen and we made a custom bezel for him

 

Been working on front end software that runs on Windows, it’s a big job! It will take me a long time to finish. I didn’t like the quality and look of the centraforce (sp), but it’s the most popular front end software with several plug-in’s.

Meanwhile I'm collecting hardware that I'll need which includes an inverter, a switch to charge an aux battery with the main battery when it gets low, steering wheel volume/channel control hardware for PC audio control, a Lilliput LCD, several GPS receivers. Out of about 7 GPS receivers, the Garmin GPS 18x 5-HZ Serial (the best reception of all and fast enough) and the QStarZ BT-Q818XT that is Bluetooth , 10Hz and sensitive enough.
Last I will get the actual PC since if I buy now it will get outdated by the time I finish the software! I'd like to use a MacBook Pro 17 laptop and have it in back but am lost on switching it on/off. I need to take it apart to learn how to handle that.

I'm disappointed in the Lilliput LCD, I didn't know anything about touch when I started and have since learned I got the wrong monitor. Look for a capacitive touch (that supports multi-touch w/gestures). So far I haven't found one that will fit in the dash; 15" is the smallest I found. I may use an iPad 2 screen and controller then retrofit that.

Tablets are now appearing in 7" sizes and I'd rather have a tablet, but so far none will fit in my C6 dash. I wouldn't mind learning how to build software in Android, would be much better as the source is available.

I have 2 week old prototype screen shots of my front end project linked here. I have since moved to Google maps because the location marker disappears when going over 40 MPH so the map becomes pretty useless. Hopefully the Google map won't do the same!

 

I ran one years ago, but it got two cumbersome to deal with, and I too am a Systems Engineer I ended up pulln' it and getting an Eclispe Nav/dvd combo. They're so cheap used on car audio forums.