Pandora As A Carputer

[Spray190]

i have been thinking about putting a carputer into my car for a while, but financial constraints have meant i have had to keep postponing the idea. but i am thinking of using my pandora as a carputer till i have the funds for a more permanent fixture.
I was just wondering if anyone else had had this idea and what uses they were intending to put it too

 

[gruso]

Check my sig. Media center & GPS are my initial goals.

Who knows how far it could go though - reverse camera? Infrared camera for night vision?


[edit]

Some more things just popped into my head. These ones in particular aren't necessarily suited to Pandora, but they give you an idea of the possibilities.

"SIxO is a software project for odometer, tripcounter and multimeter, suppporting many more features for any kind of vehicle."
http://sourceforge.net/projects/sixo/


"Engine computer system scanner for GM OBD-I style automotive computers. Initially to run on PalmOS and later on CE. Scan and tune your vehicle via a PDA."
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdaobd1/


"TaskMetrics is an open source tool for On Board Diagnostics (OBD2) vehicle scanning via a ELM323 computer interface."
http://sourceforge.net/projects/taskmetrics/

 

[Spray190]

Check my sig. Media center & GPS are my initial goals.

Who knows how far it could go though - reverse camera? Infrared camera for night vision?

actually a reversing camera was one of my ideas, you can pick up infrared ones for less than £15 on amazon, if i can get an rca adapter rigged up to the pandora it is more than possible to be used for a reversing camera. in fairness i need one, not because i can park but i have a vitara 5dr and the combination of brake light and spare wheel practically eliminate all rear vis making parking very difficult

 

[gruso]

A USB webcam would be your best bet.

Googling IR webcams, I just stumbled across this cool DIY: http://www.hoagieshouse.com/IR/

 

[quote]

Nice! That was a good read

reverse camera would be a cool addition

 

[bzar]

Now why do I continuously read the topic as "Pandora As A Carpenter"?

 

[Kyo]

Why don't you just use the beagleboard?

 

[mindlord]

Why don't you just use the beagleboard?

The OP says: "financial constraints have meant i have had to keep postponing the idea. but i am thinking of using my pandora as a carputer till i have the funds for a more permanent fixture."

But, I agree. Once the OP get some funds built back up. A Beagleboard would be an excellent choice for a base carputer system.

 

[n3x]

On the last s-class mercedes there is a front facing IR camera.
If you are getting one for the back why don't you put one more and save a lot of trouble when driving in a fog or at night.

It'll be cool if the display is in a more comfortable position - not in the middle of the console.

 

[Spray190]

i have actually been thinking about building a carputer based on the beagle board but as i said i presently cat afford to do that and get a pandora, as the pandora is slightly more important to me than a dedicated carputer at the moment that was my decision.

 

[TaG]

Plus if you go the beagle route you will also need to buy various bits and bobs to get it up (see their 'shopping list') and a screen.

Then you have to leave it in the car as a dedicated carputer, making it even worse value, or you have to take it with you. If you take it with you, then you can easily take the screen too if it is packaged as a Pandora. This just fits in with the 'one device' ethos, especially if you've already stumped up the cash you are just getting more bang for your invested buck/quid/euro.

I wonder if you could hook up a couple of PDCs (parking distance controls) too? Those plus camera(s) and media centre, with or without gps/satnav, could make a very attractive proposition.

 

[Kyo]

but what's the advantage of using the pandora as carputer instead of "car-compatible pandora" (in the sense of being able to be used in a car)

 

[TaG]

but what's the advantage of using the pandora as carputer instead of "car-compatible pandora" (in the sense of being able to be used in a car)
Je ne comprend pas, innit. Do you mean that because it has been called carputer it is fixed permanently? I don't see why it should be, and OP has said "till i have the funds for a more permanent fixture".

 

[Kyo]

Not permanent, just fixed at all. Why don't you just use your pandora... in the car?

 

[TaG]

I'm assuming to work well you would make a kind of dock that was wired to all the peripherals and you would start the apps once it was in place. Then you'd take it with you wherever. I thought this was the basis of Gruso's idea.

 

[aconsumer]

Carputer seems like an interesting concept for Open Pandora but im guessing for it to be a reality we will have to wait at least a few months if not a year till the drivers to pull it off are available

 

[TaG]

Carputer seems like an interesting concept for Open Pandora but im guessing for it to be a reality we will have to wait at least a few months if not a year till the drivers to pull it off are available

There's a terrible pun in there somewhere...

 

[gruso]

Carputer seems like an interesting concept for Open Pandora but im guessing for it to be a reality we will have to wait at least a few months if not a year till the drivers to pull it off are available
What kind of carputer functions are you thinking of? (I'm interested). If you're referring to engine management type stuff, then yeah, there won't be much action on that any time soon. That area is always going to be DIY heavy anyway, so it won't be a matter of waiting for support, it'll be a matter of getting in there and making it happen yourself.

For more pedestrian things like multimedia, it can all happen right out of the box. And will. Just watch me.

Satnav will have to wait until the right software is available, and that timeframe will depend on how much interest there is out there. I don't plan on waiting a year for it - there are numerous ways of helping to make it happen.

 

[pelrun]

Nothing's stopping you doing satnav right now, using OpenStreetMap and Navit, for example. Well, except for not having the Pandora yet, obviously.

I'm using both on my Zaurus, so the Pandora would be a piece of cake

 

[jdh2550]

If you're referring to engine management type stuff, then yeah, there won't be much action on that any time soon.

You could use one of these to access the OBD2 channels: http://www.obd2allinone.com/sc/details.asp?item=obd2usb - http://www.obd2allinone.com/uploads/scantool.jpg

That would allow you access to read only data on cars 1996 and newer. Not sure if they have a Linux driver though - it probably wouldn't be that hard to develop the driver.