Aftermarket Nav + In-dash Computer with full wireless internet

jamcro

This setup has been a dream of mine for quite some time.

In addition to navigation, having the ability to browse the net, look up movie times, send email etc from my car... yeah my iphone already does this, but to have this built into the car would be sweet.

I have yet to purchase my Z, but it's almost a certain thing; this is what I plan on doing... as illustrated in the following photoshopped pic... (I edited this pic that someone else posted.. I hope they don't mind!)



Need:

• Laptop + Power Inverter
• Mini Surge Protector (might be wise)
• 7" Touch Screen
• Aftermarket Nav (AVIC-Z3 depicted)
• iPhone

After installing the screen, mounting the laptop in the back, and wiring everything together, I'll just need to set my iphone up as a wireless hotspot for the laptop to connect to. I found this link to do so:

Has anyone ever done something similar to this? Thoughts?

This will be one of my first projects when I get my Z. They still haven't hit my local dealerships yet (I'm in western Canada).. but I expect they will very soon.

DIGItonium

IMO, Internet surfing in the car is not very practical. The only use I see with Wi-Fi is real-time weather, traffic, and navigation updates. Another good use is wireless synchronization of your music and files while the car is parked in the garage.

I don't see lugging a laptop is practical either in the passenger side. With computers getting so small these days you may be better off with a nano-ITX computer squeezed into the glove compartment.

The 7" monitor can have RGB and A/V inputs. From there you have the option of connecting the rearview camera to your headunit or monitor (has 12V trigger to switch to rearview display). If you opt for touchscreen, the interface is USB. You can then hook up computer audio to one of the headunit AUX inputs.

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Crash

Product Specifications <-- Good VGA / RCA with the sunlight-readable filter...

Product Specifications <--- Another, but with touch screen.

LCD TFT Touch Screen Monitor and Module <-- This site has a LOT of good screen options.

I also agree that a laptop isn't practical. Using an ITX board is a better way to go. Smaller footprint and there are cases designed for cars that look similar to amps.

I used to do my research on the latest ITX stuff at mini-itx.com - news. There prices are absurd, but it's a good place to find out what hardware is available, then just buy it in the states.

Also, may want to look at MP3Car.com - Your source for mobile computing solutions! - All Blog Entries, you can buy an entire car-puter from them for about $300.

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2002 Corvette Z06 - Totaled
2003 Corvette Z06 50th Anniversary

jamcro

"Surfin the net" in the car isn't the real goal here, it's just simply having connectivity. I'm a software developer with a creative imagination... there's lots of possibilities with an online "car-puter" always connected to your house via vpn.

For example, I've got security cameras around my house I can tap into and check to see who's home, or if guests have arrived before me. The 3G connection speed isn't going to be the same as cable, but I'm sure it would suffice.

Regarding the laptop, I wasn't thinking of just leaving it on the seat, rather mounting a small ventilated metal housing in the back that could hold a Dell Inspiron Mini 9 (9"x6.7"x1"). I do see the logic in installing one of the "brick"-like computers meant for vehicles, but the downside is it would have no use outside of your car; a laptop can be removed to take to a meeting, etc etc.

There's lots of options to consider... the great thing is there's no shortage of solutions/products for this sort of thing!

Thanks for your input, opinions & links! Sometimes the things we do for our cars aren't too practical, but dangit they're lots of fun!

Crash

I agree. I love that stuff. When I start working on my electric car project, the gauges, radio, AC controls, etc will all be carputers. I'll need 2 of them (4 screens and I need the gauges to be independent) so I'll be doing all that stuff too. Very impractical, but damn fun.

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2002 Corvette Z06 - Totaled
2003 Corvette Z06 50th Anniversary

DIGItonium

I built a CarPC for my Z 2 years ago. It was a mini-ITX board with nVidia 6150 chipset, and it had a Turion64 processor and 1GB of DDR memory. It had a pair of CF-to-SATA adapters. The first slot had a 4GB Sandisk 5000 CF card with a 230MB nLited XP. The second slot was for music storage. The sound card was an X-Fi with Burr Brown OPA2107 op amps. The sound card outputs were wired to an 8-RCA jack panel. I even rigged a 10 segment bargraph LED to indicate various voltages (i.e., ensure various rails were active and not burned out) as well as power and drive indicators.

The PC was really nice, but it never saw the light of day. Something killed the motherboard after leaving the computer in my closet for months.

I managed to salvage the parts to build a media computer for my gf at the time. Other than her, it wasn't a total loss. :-P

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theDreamer

If you are going PC in the car (plus a nav unit), I would look into widgets or RSS style feeds. I have been planning something similar, but not sure exactly what I would use the PC for or what purpose it would be. Though adding in the ability to have wifi (3G tethering) would add some great mobility use.

Crash

Personally, I wanted to leave the GPS in the carpc. Destinator had an SDK that I used for building some GPS based software a while ago. I was going to use the same SDK to build a HUD with some of the GPS stuff in it. Never got around to it, but thought it'd be cool to have a HUD with the GPS turns and distances besides the speed and RPM.

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2002 Corvette Z06 - Totaled
2003 Corvette Z06 50th Anniversary

theDreamer

Something I have always been wanting to do, more likely a friend since I do not program, is to bring a GPS unit and a valentine one together. The V1 already determines direction, by writing something that can estimate time between the read and the return signal you can estimate distance. Then calculate your position, GPS already does this, then apply that distance and put a ping on the screen of where it mostly likely came from.

You could use the idea of the EDGE iPhone (some what 3G iPhone), where you have the pin and then a light blue circle flashing of the possible location around the pin since it is not 100% accurate.

Note sure if this is possible, but working in under water survey and with sonar has brought that idea to life, just a different use for it.