The Carputer – Computing On The Road

Want to access the internet internet on the go? Use bluetooth to tether your phone and get internet where ever you have signal. Lost? Use a bluetooth GPS module and GPS software to navigate your way out. Just want to play music and videos? No problem, install a front end like Centrafuse and have at it.

Hardware

The setup I have right now consists of an AMD Geode 1.4GHz processor with 256MB DDR RAM and a 30GB 2.5? hard drive. The screen is a 7? Liliput motorized touchscreen and the power supply is an Opus 120watt. The whole setup even fits in my glove box. The motherboard is a Mini-ITX form factor board and the dimensions are 7? x 7?. The power supply sits to the right of the motherboard and the hard drive is secured under the power supply in the little corner crevice. Then there’s a USB 2.0 powered hub to hook up bluetooth, wireless keyboard, etc.

Operating System

The operating system is TinyXP Rev. 06. TinyXP is basically a stripped down Windows XP. The entire installation only takes up 400MB and only uses 40MB of RAM. Even with only 256MB of memory, the computer still boots blazingly fast. From POST to the Windows desktop, it takes less than 15 seconds! See the video below for a demonstration.

Peripherals/Addons

To receive internet, I usually tether my phone to the carputer via bluetooth. I’m using a Treo 755p with PdaNet installed to connect to the carputer. Throughput is pretty good while tethering using the Sprint EVDO network, but it’s nothing close to spectacular. Web pages will take an extra 2-3 seconds to load, but nothing major.

For navigation, I use a bluetooth TomTom MKII receiver with the SirfStar III chipset. The software side includes iGuidance v4 which uses Navteq maps. The GPS navigation system is pretty accurate and comes with a ton of POI.

Wireless 802.11 communication is handled by a Zonet ZEW-2500P USB 2.0 card. It has a Ralink chipset which can inject packets and is therefore compatible with many of the wireless penetration tools available today. Eventually, I will replace that wireless card with a Fonera that will stay on 24/7 running in client-mode with AutoAP. That way, the Fonera will automatically find open wireless networks (there never fails to be a shortage of em), connect to them, and allow me to remote control the Fonera from the internet. I could then use wake on LAN (WOL) to turn on the carputer. Furthermore, I plan to use a USB switch module to control different functions of the car such as remote start, alarm arm/disarm, lock/unlock, etc. That means that the car can literally be controlled from the internet!

Want to listen to music or watch movies? No problemo. Front ends like Centrafuse present the user with a nice interface with big buttons that compliment the touchscreen and fat fingers . Within the interface, you can play music, watch movies, check the weather, launch a web browser, and more.

Input is handled by a MadCatz wireless keyboard which is generally used with PS3s. However, there is nothing special about the setup and it works fine when used with a computer. I like it because I don’t have to carry a bulky keyboard around and it can be hidden very easily.