Home Grown GPS?

stueng

stueng

stueng

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30 Dec 2011
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London
Hi,

I am thinking of busying a second Audi A4 Estate, I am quite a long way off being in the position where I a) can afford it and b) need a second car

I realise its a mistake to start looking for "something to do" before even buying the car but I find myself bored and looking for something to do

I want to go for the 2009+ model because of the built in LCD screen. I would like to build a car PC and in the likely event that the car wont come with NAV I would like to install some kind of NAV on the PC and use that - this had the added advantage of being able to play music and have NAV both coming from the PC (same input)

I would use something like this to connect the car PC to the built in LCD screen
http://www.xcarlink.co.uk/product.php?productid=63&cat=4&page=1

Does anyone know if a good linux/windows navigation program that supports voice directions, something hopefully as good as the Tom Tom iPhone App which I currently use?

Is it worth me replacing the built in LCD screen with something else?
 
You do not want a car PC. You just think you do. This is a paste from another thread a few weeks back:

This is the coolest thing ever on paper. I mean who wouldnt want all that functionality in a car?

The answer is you, 2 weeks after you fit it and the novelty runs out. Because day to day nobody really uses apps in a car. You just want decent music/music library, a good navigation system and and a decent radio. Thats it. Other stuff, even DVD players etc, are just gimmicky **** you soon tire of.

Focus on the best solution for entertainment and nav. Thats all you need.

Just buy a 2009+ A4 with Audi MMI. Everything you want, working perfectly.
 
I agree with you and have thought the same thing for many years I have put off creating one for that exact reason

I was wondering though; with the advent of Android and the release of some custom PC's designed to run android this whole process should be a lot easier and more integrated with Apps which are well known, well supported and widely used?
 
If you're talking about comparing them with a 10+ year old nav system then yes I'd agree but if you're buying a more modern car with a fully integrated system, why would you want to change that?
 
I agree..I put a £1800 system in my Type R for movies etc but only used it once.. After that I just... used it for music..
 
Car PC is overkill but if you want an update-able/expandable device then a dedicated appliance is likely not too much hassle.

Something like Android is ideal. Not overkill but not so locked down it becomes out-dated in 12 months.
 
stueng said:
something to do :P
Click to expand...

Build an awesome gaming PC or a low power highly functional media PC or something then. Something that isn't a totally retrograde step :p

It's like reverse-engineering a Samsung TV in order to install Hanns-G firmware. Silly and unnecessary :p
 
Howard said:
Build an awesome gaming PC or a low power highly functional media PC or something then. Something that isn't a totally retrograde step :p

It's like reverse-engineering a Samsung TV in order to install Hanns-G firmware. Silly and unnecessary :p
Click to expand...

Build an awesome gaming pc IN YOUR CAR! EPIC!!!!!!
 
stueng said:
This would be better done after the car has an entertainment PC/device :)
Click to expand...

No, it would be better done in an A4 with factory fit MMI.

What exactly what you do with a PC in your car that you can't do with the standard fit MMI system? And think about it before you say things like 'omg, internet and games'. Just when are you going to sit and browse the web in your car or play games? And whats wrong with your tablet PC or Smartphone for that anyway?

A decent car system should:

a) Have all your music easily accessible
b) Have excellent navigation
c) Be integrated with the car as seamlessly as possible.
d) Have properly integrated telephone system

Thats pretty much it. Everything else is gimmicky cack you will not use beyond showing people your super-cool-car-pc.

My car has an integrated DVD player. I can watch movies with full surround sound. Awesome!

I've never watched a movie in my car. I never will. It's just gimmicky :p By contast, I listen to music and have the navigation system map on display every single time I use the car.
 
nothing will do the job better than the MMI already does, and you won't pay much more for an A4 with MMI than one without either. Listen to Fox :)
 
I just use my phone for this anyway. 4" screen works fine, can use it for NAV and for spotify (or any other media needs).

If anything even put a a holder in for a tablet, bluetooth to your stereo. Can put it away everytime you don't need it.

Personally my phone does a great job combined with a decent pioneer head unit.
 
Begbie said:
I just use my phone for this anyway. 4" screen works fine, can use it for NAV and for spotify (or any other media needs).

If anything even put a a holder in for a tablet, bluetooth to your stereo. Can put it away everytime you don't need it.
Click to expand...

Yea, this is too far the other way. Using your phone for nav etc sucks. Sticking stuff to the windscreen sucks. Integration is the way forward.
 
Remember the most important thing by far on these systems is software. Software software software - anyone can plug a lcd with a touch screen to a pc/tablet/phone and a gps. There is no software for pc/tablet/phone that is designed from the ground up to be used in a car situation, and is totally stable and works out of the box with the hardware and config you have. This is why integrated systems win, really really win.

I've done it, and believe me, after the tenth time you've drained your battery, tried desparately to grab at the keyboard hidden in the glove box to press escape or ctrl-alt-del, or strained to see the screen on your dodgy non-transflective touchscreen, you'll wish you just got the build-in one.

To be fair that's all using a Windows PC, Android tablets wern't around at the time.
 
[TW]Fox;22472348 said:
Yea, this is too far the other way. Using your phone for nav etc sucks. Sticking stuff to the windscreen sucks. Integration is the way forward.
Click to expand...

I find the TomTom app on the iPhone really really good, the fact that the phone pretty much always has an internet connection means that the maps are always up to date (as are the speed cameras) and with the new advanced voices it even tells you direction to head towards rather than just the exit number on the roundabout, so for example rather than saying take the second exit it will actually say take the second exit towards London or whatever.. I find this helps a lot. Im really impressed by the App

I will try and find an Audi with NAV

The reason I want the car PC is mainly for a project, but also to keep kids entertained I want to put screens in the headrests for kids on long journeys, I don't do DVD's or blu Rays all my media lives in XBMC and on a Synology NAS so I would want a PC in the car to power XBMC with some storage so that I can send movies to the car when its in WiFi range of the house. I have two Raspberry Pi's at the moment, I find them almost good enough but a lot of the movies stutter a lot so something a bit more powerful than the Pi.. they use hardly any power at all and run silent with little heat output

the alternative would be to use some kind of tablet device which can be docked somewhere in the car with internal and/or external storage. I imagine I could connect some kind of splitter which would allow the video signal to be displayed on multiple LCD's in the headrests?
 
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