Friday, 16 January 2009

KITT updated?

OK Wishlist time.

I'd like some sort of navigation system for the car. Yes I could buy a tomtom or suchlike, but whats the geek factor in that. Nope, what I'd really like is some sorta carpc. Now that Atom based motherboards are cheap, and SSD flash (certainly in the small storage capacity I'd need) are cheap(ish) this is becoming a sort of sketch plan. I'd still need to get a nice touchscreen and interface knocked up, and have a connection to the car amp (manufacturer fitted nice system)

So in no particular order:
* Touchscreen fitted 'neatly' in car
-- it needs to have big 'bloke sized' buttons on the screen for doing tasks, so I don't have to look away - do you look down at the car radio?
-- some sort of scriptable interface: eg 'upload all tracks since the last upload'
* GPS receiver
-- Datalogging for openstreetmap
-- Navigation (doh!)
-- Geofencing to allow comms when parked at home
* Wifi and or GPRS/HSDPA connectivity
-- limited storage in the car, download $music from home store - treat it as a small player rather than a full rsync copy.
-- kismet anyone?
-- remote upload of tracks
-- download of traffic reports
* OBD connection for datalogging.
-- correlate engine conditions to position - if you're revving the engine is that because you're going up a twisty hill or because you're a numpty.
* Accelerometer (wiimote velcro'd to dashboard?)
-- Get relative acceleration of car, not just position

Oh, and it should be cheap :-)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Have you considered getting a Nokia N800 or N810? From your checklist:

Touchscreen - yes.
Fitted neatly into car - you can get dashmount kits, as well as cigarette chargers, etc
Scriptable - it runs Linux! And Python!
GPS - N810 has one built in. Both support bluetooth for an external one.
Wifi/GPRS - Wifi yes. GPRS via bluetooth
Storage - SD Cards - hotswappable
Kismet - I believe so, yes
OBD - get a bluetooth adaptor, and use the Carman software

It doesn't have an accelerometer. An N800 should come in around the £150 I believe, and N810 more like £200-£250. (For brand new ones)

Word of mouth Skye History

Many years ago we lived in the Old Manse in Waternish, Skye. If you look on the maps, you'll spot that unlike nearly all the other house...