So just giving a little more thought to my “carputer” idea thing, I came up with a wish list.
- Should have an Intel Atom processor
- Micro ITX case and motherboard with horizontal PCI slots
- 4GB DDR3 RAM
- 1GB Radeon series GPU for 2 independent zones (front and back)
- 500GB 2.5” HDD
- Creative Sound Blaster X-fi low profile, second sound card for zone 2 maybe?
- 7.1 SPDIF output to go straight into the AMP
- Windows 7 Home premium OS
- HDMI + DVI + D-Sub out
- Wifi 802b/g/n (Should be good with the built in wifi access points in my smartphone)
- 7 inch double din capacitive touch screen 800×640 res minimum (HDMI + D-sub + DVI)
- Touch capable software based car home screen with big buttons
- Bluetooth for phone calls, BT Audio and keyboard + mouse
- Garmin or Tomtom SatNav application for Windows
- FLAC Audio playback (possibly best with Winamp list management)
- Slot loading Blu-Ray ROM
- Intelligent power on and hibernate/shut down via ignition switch
- Rear view camera automatic switch on reverse gear (ideally not controlled in Windows but a video source instead)
- Front view camera via manual switch (separate video source)
- Some sort of DVB receiver via USB or built in for TV and Radio channels
- Internet radio HUB accessible with fat fingers on the touch screen
This can all go under a seat somewhere, I don’t think we can build an all in one double din that sits behind the screen in the dash.
I can already see flavors of Ubuntu being customised specifically for in car operation. I am all for innovation.
Food for thought.
