Off the shelf dual DIN Car PC's

USB controlled car radio tuners

Now if only there were car PC software of Empeg quality ...

Pim

Hmmm that G4 (in the first link) looks sweet. Integrated radio and GPS. $2000. Hmmmm.... if I had a double-DIN...

Yes, it certainly is getting there: http://www.hyundai-forums.com/t12685-carpc-installation-in-07-limited.htm

The freeware software I'm using called mediaengine comes closest to replicating the reliability I had grown accustom to with my empeg.

I still miss my empeg for it's elegant simplicity.....but wanted more of a factory look with this install.

a bit more info on that thing

http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/entry/1136/infill_t3_the

If only the Car PC hardware was removable like the empeg. I am not fortunate enough to live in a city where Auto breakins are rare..

empeg dockability could be arranged... if you had a machine shop (sled), plastics fab (dash), and electrical wiring bench (harness).

The website for that software shows several installs where the LCD screen can be detached...

BTW, that hardware is available from the mp3car store. Too bad it's so ugly. Link.

The G4 is far from ugly though...

I agree...and the S3 isn't as obnoxious either (and is single DIN). I'd be interested to see some specs and availability on those two. According to the mp3car forums, the G4 is next year's model of the T3 and will be available from their site at some point. They haven't got their hands on a prototype S3 yet and don't even know if it's a real product. Wait and see I suppose.

Have you tried the Street Deck software? It seems to get a good reputation. That single unit DIN looks good and there seems to be a price on the website. Nothing for the G4 though. Good to see a company actually being brave enough to take some risks.

Yup sorry I confused my model numbers. Will be interesting to see some reviews when they are released.

erp!

http://store.mp3car.com/Mp3Car_Infill_G4_powered_by_StreetDeck_p/sdk-014.htm

Looks like the G4 unit is finally going to be shipping here in the next week or two, and I'm seriously considering it for the Mustang. While I still love my empeg, this solution just pulls at me for allowing so much more in the way of navigation options as well. One thing I might consider is slaving the empeg into the system somehow, via the ideas here. I've backed away from the Mac Mini idea in the car for numerous reasons (lack of car friendly software on OS X, the amount of work to mount a mini over a DIN designed PC), but like the concept of the empeg in the mix still. For me, the use would be that the audio out on the G4 kinda sucks, and using the empeg for the music in a trunk mounted form would still let me have something easily removable to take inside to add more music.

I'll tell ya what. If you do get it, let me know and I'll make a stab at writing a digitalMod for StreetDeck. I'll probably not do it just for my own use, but if I knew someone else would be able to use it, I'd give it a go.

Drakino... the store are offering a $500 discount for forum members (not sure if you have to be registered or not). Code: G4forums

Sorry if you're already aware of this.

Phil, thanks for the heads up. Ended up finally ordering it today, should arrive sometime next week. Still planning out the details of the entire system, but didn't want to let too much time pass for fear that coupon would go away. With it, and StreetDeck included, it comes to about the same price as importing one from Europe.

/me runs to the car to grab empeg so he can start Streetdeck digitalMod.

I am really interested in how this works out. Keep us all posted!

Well, it arrived. Now to get all the other pieces together and look at installing it sometime this month.

It's sitting on my desk at work just taunting me. It doesn't have a normal home power plug, so I need a generic DC power supply to play with it. Might go grab one during lunch.

I want install pr0n, that system looks sweet, and it just might replace the empeg in my car(I know, blasphemy, but it just looks so nice).

Well, all I've got right now is it sitting on my desk here at work with a DC power supply to drive it.

Gogo crappy camera phone pic:

Nice! Whats the build quality like? Is the screen good? Can the screen detatch for security?

Could you run a non-shitty OS on it? Not that you'd have an appropriate application to use.

Build quality seems good so far. Pretty standard case design, looks identical to a factory nav unit you would install in dash, with the exception that it also has a USB dongle connector on the back.

The screen seems pretty high quality, and should be readable in bright daylight inside the car. Might not be a good convertible car screen though, since it isn't fully transflective. Native resolution is 800x480, though it will scale and allow 1024x768.

I don't think the screen detaches, looks to be screwed down to the case.

I suppose I could run something else, but why? I don't really care that it runs Windows as long as it works, and from my quick playing, it runs StreetDeck decently. If they had masked the Windows startup screen and default login screen, one would have a hard time even really seeing Windows under the hood.

For CarPC use like this, Windows has most of the focus for developers. I had considered a Mac for a while, but the OS X attempts for this are much more rough, and really have no navigation functionality.

Startup times from standby seem to be right about 4 seconds. Haven't tried hibernate startup time yet. The BIOS is really customized, all that shows up on boot prior to the OS taking over is a green hour glass that says "Starting up", and is visible for about a second. The hardware is set to put the OS in standby mode when the accessory line loses power, then 72 hours later the system will hibernate. It also monitors the car voltage, so if it starts dipping to a bad level, it will put the system into hibernate mode before the 72 hour timer runs out.