Pandora As In In Car Entertainment System?

[finlay666]

As a hardware design prospect has anyone thought about combining the hardware with a different opening mechanism to enable it to function as an in car entertainment system?

I just thought considering the hardware included (wifi, bluetooth, touch screen) it would be fairly easy to ensure compatibility with a bluetooth GPS dongle (these are easy to get hold of) and then use the screen and hardware with some sat nav software using the SD card for map storage.

Then there is the option of having music playback on a touch screen device or video playback for passengers, with the ability to send files to it either via USB or bluetooth to add to a music collection on the device (possibly even downloading it via wifi from a NAS while your car is outside your house to change the music on a whim)

Just an idea of course, need to see how the first revision turns out (possibly replacing the hinge with a split push/spring mechanism to fit inside an existing car radio sized slot)

(I know there isn't currently GPS based sat nav software available under Linux, but hopefully one will be developed or a cross platform one available soon )

(Attempting to correct the initial fail of putting it on the wrong board)

 

[levi1123]

Ive seen a few posts referencing this type of thing.. i think its a golden idea honestly, if theres a car dock for the panda being made somewhere

 

[emcp]

As a hardware design prospect has anyone thought about combining the hardware with a different opening mechanism to enable it to function as an in car entertainment system?

I just thought considering the hardware included (wifi, bluetooth, touch screen) it would be fairly easy to ensure compatibility with a bluetooth GPS dongle (these are easy to get hold of) and then use the screen and hardware with some sat nav software using the SD card for map storage.

Then there is the option of having music playback on a touch screen device or video playback for passengers, with the ability to send files to it either via USB or bluetooth to add to a music collection on the device (possibly even downloading it via wifi from a NAS while your car is outside your house to change the music on a whim)

Just an idea of course, need to see how the first revision turns out (possibly replacing the hinge with a split push/spring mechanism to fit inside an existing car radio sized slot)

(I know there isn't currently GPS based sat nav software available under Linux, but hopefully one will be developed or a cross platform one available soon )

(Attempting to correct the initial fail of putting it on the wrong board)

Sure when the pandora was meant to be released, there was lots of talk about this
the discussion is now probably buried under thousands of threads though

also no gps on linux, strange
anyway you could use chrome 5 (new) geotagging in google maps

 

[droneb]

i recall Gruso having a pandora ready car

 

[rabidpoobear]

also no gps on linux, strange

Ah but there may be soon...

 

[Tempel]

also no gps on linux, strange

I don't know what you're saying here. I have a USB GPS dongle that I've only ever used on Linux, along with GPS software (TangoGPS and Navit, though there are others). So there is GPS on Linux, unless I misunderstood you.

 

[greendots]

also no gps on linux, strange

There is OSS for gps navigation and even open map data. You can leave a bluetooth gps receiver in your car and then just set the pandora on your dash. It should be really simple.

 

[rabidpoobear]

also no gps on linux, strange

I don't know what you're saying here. I have a USB GPS dongle that I've only ever used on Linux, along with GPS software (TangoGPS and Navit, though there are others). So there is GPS on Linux, unless I misunderstood you.

tangogps and navit don't do very good routing (if you can get it to work at all), or geocoding.

when he said 'gps' he meant 'navigation'.

 

[rabidpoobear]

There is OSS for gps navigation and even open map data.

Yes but the OSS for gps navigation is absoutely terrible. The commercial solutions (garmin, tomtom) are pretty awful from a UI standpoint but still slightly better.

You can leave a bluetooth gps receiver in your car and then just set the pandora on your dash. It should be really simple.

That's what I'm going to do. I also have a bluetooth OBD II scanner that I'll leave on.

 

[Squidge]

I'd use (and have used) a cheap chinese tablet PC. $100 gets you a pretty decent one and no need to saw the keyboard off your brand new Pandora

 

[finlay666]

Sure when the pandora was meant to be released, there was lots of talk about this
the discussion is now probably buried under thousands of threads though

also no gps on linux, strange
anyway you could use chrome 5 (new) geotagging in google maps

I did have a search when I just joined up but I didn't see anything in the 200 or so results so I'm not surprised it's been buried

The problem with google maps is that there isn't an option to cache a large amount currently. This is a killer as it would mean having to tether a mobile phone to it for a data connection (mainly defeating the point as I could just use my phone straight off)

I think tomtom on the recent devices is written for Linux (although no doubt the source code is closed)
http://www.tomtom.com/page.php?Page=gpl

And the TT software is written for a linux kernel (a heavily modded one) it would be a case of getting the code from a device and then modifying a kernel, possibly emulated (depending on how obfuscated/esoteric it is) should be more than likely the most intense task

There is also the possibility of finding a Windows CE emulator to run the older software on it as the older software supports external GPS devices (I have a version running on a 3rd party sat nav running Windows CE), however obviously it would need it's own paid maps/key

Although I have experience with C#/C++ dev I am very limited with my experience in Linux dev work and working with kernels etc... So I don't know how the best approach would be



Squidge, my idea was have a split device so the keyboard is connected via ribbon to the device so on opening it the display on its own can be shown
http://www.articlesbase.com/technology-articles/2din-7-inch-touch-screen-car-media-system-and-gps-navigator-1171592.html
kind of like that, but the keyboard and screen are on separate mechanisms to allow the screen to be used on it's own if required

Other option is porting Android to the devices to take advantage of the turn by turn navigation options available for the smartphones available, although there is still the issue of cached data

 

[emcp]

btw just to let people know i wasnt the one who said there was no gps on linux
finlay was
i thought it was strange the fact that there wouldnt be GPS software for linux considering the user base

btw theirs a few 3rd party gmap tools which can cache

 

[finlay666]

btw just to let people know i wasnt the one who said there was no gps on linux
finlay was
i thought it was strange the fact that there wouldnt be GPS software for linux considering the user base

btw theirs a few 3rd party gmap tools which can cache

I didn't say no gps on linux, just no gps based sat nav software

I know there isn't currently GPS based sat nav software available under Linux,

Which gmap tools are these? would be interesting to have a look

 

[Farewell]

Navit works okay on my laptop... I wouldn't say it is reliable but it can route one way or another and I have been known to use it as a navigation aid. It is not a replacement for a sat-nav as OpenStreetMap is unreliable and Navit has a tendency to speak commands a little too late. But it is well worth looking into!

 

[paulguy]

It's kinda funny that the Pandora is superior in hardware and not too far off in software from those fancy car systems, but they are unbelievably expensive. I hate the auto industry so much, it's a ripoff at every corner.

My sister's car has some kind of fancy interface thing but it's really limited, and very unresponsive. The kinda familiar "kiosk lag" of a badly coded interface that's way too heavy for the hardware it's running on.

 

[rabidpoobear]

Navit works okay on my laptop... I wouldn't say it is reliable but it can route one way or another and I have been known to use it as a navigation aid. It is not a replacement for a sat-nav as OpenStreetMap is unreliable and Navit has a tendency to speak commands a little too late. But it is well worth looking into!

Where is OpenStreetMap unreliable? In the areas I live in, it's better than the commercial maps. Maybe you don't have a good community of editors near you; you could be the first!

Yeah Navit is okay... but it's not good or great.

Hence why I'm writing my own satnav Pandora software.

As I said last time I mentioned it, though, it's not #1 on my pandora software list (although it's close ) so don't expect a release super soon. but there should be geocoding, route planning and turn by turn spoken directions in the first release. more info pending. It's already significantly underway.

 

[rabidpoobear]

It's kinda funny that the Pandora is superior in hardware and not too far off in software from those fancy car systems, but they are unbelievably expensive. I hate the auto industry so much, it's a ripoff at every corner.

My sister's car has some kind of fancy interface thing but it's really limited, and very unresponsive. The kinda familiar "kiosk lag" of a badly coded interface that's way too heavy for the hardware it's running on.

It's funny that you mention kiosk lag - I actually worked for a company that made photo kiosk software for 6 months and one of the things that we did better than the other guys was threading stuff in the background so the UI stayed responsive. It's like the self-checkout in Walmart that takes 25 minutes to figure out that I've bagged something... whereas the one at the neighborhood grocery store that has a way lower budget is super fast and awesome - better hardware and better coders. Walmart is too obsessed with saving money and they don't factor in user experience in their cost analysis. It's one of the reasons I go to Target most of the time. Target at least has ceilings instead of girders. (once again, user experience!)

That's one of my primary goals - a great user interface and NO lag. There's no reason that route calculations should make the UI unresponsive... it's one of MANY things on my list of 'things the other guys do wrong'. So simple shit that you wish were in other systems (eg. super-easy waypoints (multi-stop routes) - you would be surprised how difficult / impossible this is to do in many commercial GPS interfaces) will be in mine.

 

[Farewell]

Navit works okay on my laptop... I wouldn't say it is reliable but it can route one way or another and I have been known to use it as a navigation aid. It is not a replacement for a sat-nav as OpenStreetMap is unreliable and Navit has a tendency to speak commands a little too late. But it is well worth looking into!

Where is OpenStreetMap unreliable? In the areas I live in, it's better than the commercial maps. Maybe you don't have a good community of editors near you; you could be the first!

Yeah Navit is okay... but it's not good or great.

Hence why I'm writing my own satnav Pandora software.

As I said last time I mentioned it, though, it's not #1 on my pandora software list (although it's close ) so don't expect a release super soon. but there should be geocoding, route planning and turn by turn spoken directions in the first release. more info pending. It's already significantly underway.

OpenStreetMap is fine in urban areas but try going to Sardinia with it (as I did) and you will find that some areas have no mapping at all! Navit is... a little shoddy, so good luck on your own satnav software.

 

[nanderv]

Navit works okay on my laptop... I wouldn't say it is reliable but it can route one way or another and I have been known to use it as a navigation aid. It is not a replacement for a sat-nav as OpenStreetMap is unreliable and Navit has a tendency to speak commands a little too late. But it is well worth looking into!

Where is OpenStreetMap unreliable? In the areas I live in, it's better than the commercial maps. Maybe you don't have a good community of editors near you; you could be the first!

Yeah Navit is okay... but it's not good or great.

Hence why I'm writing my own satnav Pandora software.

As I said last time I mentioned it, though, it's not #1 on my pandora software list (although it's close ) so don't expect a release super soon. but there should be geocoding, route planning and turn by turn spoken directions in the first release. more info pending. It's already significantly underway.

OpenStreetMap is fine in urban areas but try going to Sardinia with it (as I did) and you will find that some areas have no mapping at all! Navit is... a little shoddy, so good luck on your own satnav software.

It might be easier then you may think.. http://tomtom.com/gpl
TomTom is partly gpl.. Navigation should be possible with Dijkstras algorithm..http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dijkstras_algorithm

Also: Check gpsdrive

 

[rabidpoobear]

It might be easier then you may think.. http://tomtom.com/gpl
TomTom is partly gpl.. Navigation should be possible with Dijkstras algorithm..http://en.wikipedia....stras_algorithm

Also: Check gpsdrive

If I wanted to start with someone else's codebase I'd probably use navit. I doubt any useful parts of tomtom are open.

I'll take another look at gpsdrive.

There's no point to using Dijkstra. A* is a much better algorithm in route planning because you have a very simple admissible heuristic (the geographic distance between a node and the goal node).