Fancy those high-tech in car navigation cum entertainment system which can be found in all thos luxury car such as Lexus, Bentley, or Jaguar?If you are willing to spend some money and effort, you can literally bring your pc in your car and use it as you want it. Thanks to in car pc softwares such as the Centrafuse which make it possible too hook up your ordinary Desktop PC to a suitable LCD display Panel in your car.
The idea of having a pc in your own car is simply stunning.Add in a touch screen inteface, you’ll look as cool as James Bond.Even the features is countless from browsing your favourite photo album to diagnosing your own car.
Eventhough it looks complicated, it is not as complicated as it looks.To make it work, you need a set of desktop pc.Even a Pentium 3 pc would be enough.But one problem about your desktop pc is it uses Alternating Current (AC) while your car battery only provide Direct Current (DC). To rectify this problem you’ll need an power inverter which will convert the DC current to AC current.The inverter can be bought at some Accessories shop or electric/electronic shop as well.
The second item you would need is a suitable LCD Monitor.A normal Lcd would do the job, but handling a mouse and steering at the same time is not practical. It is much better to get a Touch Screen LCD. At least it is much easier and safer to use.
And the last but not least is the software itself. You can use your Windows XP for your Carputer but the interface is not suitable to be used while driving.As an option there is tonnes of in car pc softwares and the one im going to mention is one of it, which is the Centrafuse.
With Centrafuse installed, you can have a lot of neat and cool features.You will have the ability to browse internet,watch movies, stream your favourite music playslist and browse photos. If you have a bluetooth unit installed at your pc, you can use it to make calls using your car speaker system. And if you are not good in navigating around, you can get the GPS unit and get the GPS enabled version of the Centrafuse, and surprisingly, Centrafuse does have a Malaysian Navigation version which should includes maps of Malaysia.
And the favourite function of mine is the the On Board Diagnostic System. The centrafuse can display your real time engine parameters such as the engine speed, the engine’s rpm, the ignition timing and etc. But this is only possible is your ecu support OBD II which is what most of our modern car is using.
If you have plan to build your own Carputer ot in car pc here’s a simple list of things to buy or do:
1-Get a working pc
2-Get a DC-AC inverter
3-Get an LCD preferably touch screen
4-Get the approriate software such as Centrafuse
5-Use your skills or “money” to fit everything in place.
And you’re good to go
Some Reference Links
http://carputers.org/
http://www.fluxmedia.net/
So have anyone installed a carputer or in car pc? Or would you like to install one in you car? Share here with all our readers.
nie dh tahap canggih gile nie kalo letk dlm kete aku nie..
Camne dgn sambungan audio..
sambung teruss pada speaker, atau kalo nak bagi begegar sambung terus pada power amp
Kalo korang nak cari sparepart, boleh kontek gua saja.. email kat [email protected] kalau nak advise..
Aku ada install carpc kat beberapa kereta: Perdana, Wira, MyVi, Iswara, BMW, Vios dsb. Skrg ni kurang sikit sebab selalu outstation. Proton baru macam Gen2, Persona, etc tak boleh buat lagi sebab dashboard dia lari dari biasa.. kalau banyak demand baru berbaloi nak design dash unit dia..
Spare part macam gps, touchscreen, motherboard apa semua boleh check kat http://www.nusantech.com, kalau nak aku boleh pos terus ke rumah.
Ni project first aku dulu utk reference, mula-mula buat prototype tahun 2002, last update 2007: http://iride.nusantech.com
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