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23 Jan 2010
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In Car PC
After talking to a friend who s building a car PC with a primary function of navigation I’ve been pondering my own solution, but adapting his ideas.
So if I acquire a Panasonic Toughbook which are available for £80 or less second hand.
Connect a remote touch screen monitor with say a 2 metre umbilical cord.
Install Windows XP and MemoryMap or OziExplorer. I prefer MM.
Then install this software, which is the crucial bit (thanks Paul if you read this!!)
Centrafuse™ | A Whole New Way
Centrafuse™ | A Whole New Way
Oh and a GPS receiver, the tough book can live under either the drivers or passenger seats which fortunately in a G Wagen are steel, lockable boxes.
I know I could continue to use my PDA with OziExplorer or just buy a Garmin but I like the idea of this solution and it gives me something to do between now and the next trip
Russ
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23 Jan 2010
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RussG
After talking to a friend who s building a car PC with a primary function of navigation I’ve been pondering my own solution, but adapting his ideas.
So if I acquire a Panasonic Toughbook which are available for £80 or less second hand.
Connect a remote touch screen monitor with say a 2 metre umbilical cord.
Install Windows XP and MemoryMap or OziExplorer. I prefer MM.
Then install this software, which is the crucial bit (thanks Paul if you read this!!)
Centrafuse™ | A Whole New Way
Centrafuse™ | A Whole New Way
Oh and a GPS receiver, the tough book can live under either the drivers or passenger seats which fortunately in a G Wagen are steel, lockable boxes.
I know I could continue to use my PDA with OziExplorer or just buy a Garmin but I like the idea of this solution and it gives me something to do between now and the next trip
Russ
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A couple of potential probelems:
would the slave touchscreen be "tough" enough? also, toughbooks at that pricepoint will be of very low spec. This will likely mean you wont be able to store all your maps etc and have connectivity issues.
from my point of view, this way seems to over complicate the issue. For the same or even less £££ you could buy a more advanced, lighter netbook to run things and using bluetooth, utilise a Garmin GPS with no wires.
worth thinking about.
I recently upgraded my PDA for a HP TC1100 slate/tablet PC. Its working great with my Garmin GPS10 and I just made a sturdy mount for my Defender the only issue is it can only really be seen properly by the passenger. It needs a little modifying... work in progress 
G
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23 Jan 2010
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Toughbook
Yes I had thought about those issues. Even at £80 I should be able to get one with 40Gig HD and 512Mb of ram. With a processor more than sufficient to run XP and MM. I would keep anything else installed to the absolute minimum. Should come with built in wireless as well.
40G HD should be sufficient? Important as these things are not the sort of thing you upgrade!
As I ran this stuff on a 5yr old PDA on our last trip to Morocco I’m not worried about the spec. of the toughbook.
Re. the touch screen. I guess it should be at least as robust as any other screen on say a PDA or notebook.
How much was your notebook? I like the idea of keeping things std. and simple.
We use toughbooks at work, some now of the same vintage as the £80 ones to run reasonably demanding mapping software at work and they really are pretty much indestructible, superb build quality and very stable, something I’m not sure about with a notebook, or indeed a custom built DIY PC in adverse conditions.
Still pondering really.
Russ
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23 Jan 2010
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RussG
Yes I had thought about those issues. Even at £80 I should be able to get one with 40Gig HD and 512Mb of ram. With a processor more than sufficient to run XP and MM. I would keep anything else installed to the absolute minimum. Should come with built in wireless as well.
40G HD should be sufficient? Important as these things are not the sort of thing you upgrade!
As I ran this stuff on a 5yr old PDA on our last trip to Morocco I’m not worried about the spec. of the toughbook.
Re. the touch screen. I guess it should be at least as robust as any other screen on say a PDA or notebook.
How much was your notebook? I like the idea of keeping things std. and simple.
We use toughbooks at work, some now of the same vintage as the £80 ones to run reasonably demanding mapping software at work and they really are pretty much indestructible, superb build quality and very stable, something I’m not sure about with a notebook, or indeed a custom built DIY PC in adverse conditions.
Still pondering really.
Russ
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oooo, that spec is better than I thought you would get. Must admit, last time I looked was a little while back. 40GB should be fine. MM takes around 13-14GB of maps if your using 1:25k and want all of the UK. 1:50k can be had for 3GB. depends on your usage. Sounds like your in the same boat as me mine is here: HP Compaq TC1100 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
also a 40GB HDD. The good thing about this is that I can just fold up the keyboard and just have the screen. It also weighs in less than 2kg. considerably less than a Toughbook. I know someone who has taken his TC1100 (in a land rover) down to Mali/Mauri over 7 times and its still going. So thats good enough for me right now.
Will post pics of my mount at somepoint. all it needed was a piece of Alu channel and velcro straps. job done. its solid too.
currently have MM, mapsource, N route, Fugawi, photoshop, and MS office installed  hopefully it will do everything i need on a longer trip.
Now the REAL question is, how can I link up a colour reversing camera for trailer hitch-up?!?! possibilities are endless.
G
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24 Jan 2010
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Toughbook on the Way
The project is a goer. I have a toughbook on the way, thanks Chris
80Gig HD, running XP, wifi.
Just need to get the touch screen and away we go
I’ll keep you posted on progress
Russ
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25 Jan 2010
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I've just installed a car pc using a Sumicom mini car pc which is a great bit of kit, and a small lilliput touch screen mounted in the dash.
I've installed centrafuse which I've been pretty impressed with, and is a must have really if you're using a small screen as otherwise the standard windows desktop icons etc are all a bit too small to use and see.
I think they may still have the centrafuse offer running at the moment, so register on the centrafuse home page and you may get an email with an offer on.
I wanted to get some internet access as well so just bought the cheapest 3G dongle they had in Teco - £10 for the dongle/sim if you buy £10 credit - but best of all, when I registered the sim and went to add the credit to it they are running an offer for unlimited useage for a month for £2! not sure if this was a regular offer or how long this is running for though.
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25 Jan 2010
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Hi Russ
I've been running a very similar system for a few years now.
(Itronix Gobook + 10" touch screen on the dash + Gps + Oziexplorer + GE). It's taken a while to get it working reliably but it is pretty sorted now.
A few things learnt along the way:
*PC's are inherently fiddly things, they need attention. The gobook started in the back in a case and ended up in the front where I could get to it quickly.
*I don't know about MM, but Oziexplorer does not suit a touch screen interface and neither does driving offroad. My solution in the end was a usb glide pad glued to the centre of the steering wheel. Perfect.
*Pay attention to the connections or the wires and plugs will drive you mad!
*If you are feeling James Bondish you can incorporate reversing cameras/night vision/ICE systems etc. but simple, I think, is best.
Good luck with your project,
Richard
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27 Jan 2010
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard K
Hi Russ
*If you are feeling James Bondish you can incorporate reversing cameras/night vision/ICE systems etc. but simple, I think, is best.
Richard
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Richard, I like the sound of the toggle in the steering wheel. neat.
How would you go about rigging a reversing camera? I have not looked at the wiring needed. What ports would I need on the laptop 1st?
cheers
G
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27 Jan 2010
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Griffdowg
How would you go about rigging a reversing camera? I have not looked at the wiring needed. What ports would I need on the laptop 1st?
cheers
G
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I found it simpler to bypass the laptop and run a video cable directly to one of the monitor ports. You can then switch on the camera (normal 12 volt supply) and flick between input channels on the dash screen without interfering with the PC.
Really easy to do, but of course more cables and more to go wrong...
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28 Jan 2010
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard K
I found it simpler to bypass the laptop and run a video cable directly to one of the monitor ports. You can then switch on the camera (normal 12 volt supply) and flick between input channels on the dash screen without interfering with the PC.
Really easy to do, but of course more cables and more to go wrong...
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Dash screen? I have my tablet PC mounted to the dash, a slightly different system to those spoken about about. Will have to take some pics for you guys this weekend my ports are pretty limited to a seriel port, USB, some internet ones and a PCMCIA (?) card. thats it.
could do with the camera for when i eventually build my trailer.
G
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28 Jan 2010
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Hi Guys,
Would a simple USB web cam not have the desired effect?
Sam
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6 Jul 2010
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Maybe you guys would like this sort of thing.
Also looks like it might be a good way to protect a netbook used in a bike.
MiniMount - Home
John
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