PC in your C

[quicky1980 0]

Henny, what software you going to use? think i might use road runner.

Im in the middle of doing this with my car, got the hardware except for the power adapter but as soon as i get that the unit will be in the car.

im blending the screen into the dash.

[Scruffythefirst 0]

I've got built-in 11b wifi and Bluetooth on the lappy, but it's pretty wussy, so not sure if it'd connect with a GPS unit in the front of the car and/or an external wifi network in the house.

 

One way to find out tho... Very Happy

 

Ahh now thats something I can help with. cantenna anyone?

 

I need stealth screen mount options though, in a capri which has very little dash area.

[Henny 0]

Scruffythefirst, I'm considering sticking in a high-gain Yagi aerial for the wi-fi just for the best in wi-fi range.... :geek:

[Scruffythefirst 0]

The yagi's are a pain to build and not that good. If your after a directional antenna on the cheap do a google for cantenna, some people have had 802.11 links of 12 miles with 2 dog food cans and some wire :)

 

I've got one working so i can pick up the house wifi in the garage and its pretty good although the can isn't quite the correct diameter. Cost less than £15 and I went a bit overboard on the cable spec.

[Henny 0]

pringles tubes work VERY well... ;) Oh, and the Yagi wouldn't be a self built one... my mate can get 'em tuned to any frequency range I like... (being a broadcast engineer's useful like that! :lol: )

[herisites 0]

There's a guy on the Zetec-S Owners Club and UK Fiesta Network that done it in his car and it looked awesome.

 

Here's a link to his thread:

 

HERE

[Walesy 0]

herisites, Please do not post links to filth such as that on here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

( I thin you need to be a member to read the threads fella :wink: )

[Stan 24v 0]

Give him a break Walesy, he's buying a VR to replace his Fiesta ;)

[biggrim 0]

Check this out http://www.bornrich.org/page/13/

 

A GUY'S GOT SOMETHING SIMILAR IN HIS fOCUS

[dinkus 10]

So, time for a very quick update...

 

After playing around with the idea of putting a modern VAG wheel with volume control buttons on into a C, I decided it's going to be far too expensive to do at the moment, so have put that on the back burner.

 

I thought it would be a better idea to get the damned PC installed first, so I've enlisted the help of one of the R&D guys at work to design me a circuit that will power on/off the laptop with the ignition.

 

I've already got a circuit diagram for a system to remotely switch the amp on and off based on a COM port signal, so will hopefully be able to order parts to make it all soon.

 

The whole control of PC thing is a bit tricky - I think for the short term, I'll just use a touchscreen but I really would like some other means of controlling the basics like volume and track selection.

 

If nothing else, it means you don't get as many grubby finger prints on the screen, but it would be ideal if I could get a completely separate control mechanism for the PC.

 

The ccStick would be ideal, but there's not really a suitable place to mount it in a C.

[Phil K 0]

have you considered anything like this?

 

It's what I've got at home and the remote gives you control over the basic controls in media player and volume and will also allow you to move around a desktop...

 

You're more than welcome to come over and have a look at mine at some point if that helps?

[dinkus 10]

Yeah, I've looked at a few of those remote thingies, but they seem to be pretty expensive and also not wildly convenient for operation while driving.

 

I think a (probably hacked-up) mouse will do until I sort out a better method of control though :)

[Phil K 0]

I know what you mean but I got the keyboard, mouse and remote for £35... but yeah I guess a touch screen will be just as easy to use while driving :?

[dinkus 10]

Hmm, £35 for the lot, you say?

 

The main problem is so many buttons to have to deal with while you're driving. I don't personally like the idea of the touchscreen much, tbh, but anything else needs to be simple to use without actually looking at it. Buttons on the steering wheel and/or the iDrive type system would do the trick, but I need to have a good look around the C and see what could be mounted where.

[Lippy 0]

dinkus, what about voice operation? if mobile phones can do it.....

 

(shooting from the hip so don't know if poss)

[Dub_nut_g60 0]

Neural interface perhaps?

[Andi 2,147,483,647]

dinkus, wassup with your Jedi powers?

[dinkus 10]

Yeah, you can do voice recognition, but how much of a tool will you feel like doing it? :lol:

 

Plus I like having knobs to play with...

[Jim 2]

Worth mentioning that Vista is going to have voice recognition in which can control the whole system. I know it was a bit of a joke at the recent Microsoft demo but i've since seen another demo online that lasted about 10 minutes and it was honestly quite impressive - could control everything, including web page browsing, drawing in MS Paint, and so on - would be ideal for a car-puter...

[Trig 0]

Sounds impressive Jim but like dinkus says, voice control is always going to be seriously embarasing and even more so when it doesn't work! Hand clapping on the other hand is cool, although not that safe when driving a car... ;)

[Dub_nut_g60 0]

Worth mentioning that Vista is going to have voice recognition in which can control everything, including drawing in MS Paint would be ideal for a car-puter...

 

really?? think i must be missing something.......

[dinkus 10]

Yeah, I use Paint all the time while I'm driving - even better if I could control that with hand claps tho :lol:

[Jim 2]

The point I was trying to make is that the voice control lets you control any aspect of any program on the screen.. not just speaking "File, Open" type stuff but it actually draws a grid on the screen and you narrow it down by speaking a number - that then selects that grid, and so on until you get to the exact point on the screen you want. So regardless of the applications you want to run, you would be able to use the voice control to manipulate it!

 

Sheesh ;)

[dinkus 10]

Yeah I know, but it's more fun to wind you up :D

 

I think the feeling like a tool aspect is going to far outweigh any advantages it has though. Plus all you need on a car PC is fairly basic navigation anyway.