An Introduction to Car PCs

What is a Car PC?
A car PC is a personal computing system that you can install and use inside of your car or other vehicle. A car PC can do everything your home computer can in terms of music/movie/DVD/video playback and much more. You can install an operating system such as Linux or Microsoft Windows, just like your home computer, and use any and all of the same applications you use at home. Having a car PC will allow you to consolidate all your peripherals as opposed to having a separate unit for everything you need.

A complete car PC system is built with the same basic components as any home computer:
- The physical computer system - motherboard, memory, processor, storage device, optical drive(CD/DVD), etc.
- Human Interface Devices - Wireless Keyboard/Mouse, Touch-screen controls
- Display - LCD Touch-screen monitors, LCD monitors


Here are some examples of applications:
[Music + MP3 Playback]
- Install Winamp, use Windows Media Player, VLC media player, etc.
- Access your iTunes library, Zune library, etc.
- Put MP3's on a USB thumb drive and copy the music to the hard drive, or just play directly from the thumb drive.
- Play any audio CD or audio/video DVD

[Movie + DVD Playback]
- Install PowerDVD, Interactive DVD player, etc.
- Watch your DVD movies at full quality
- Watch DivX encoded movies, AVIs, MPEGs, MOV, RM, etc.

[Bluetooth Hands-free Devices]
- Use any USB Bluetooth adapter and use your phone hands-free inside your car.
- Sync your PDA or smart phone with your car system.

[Video Camera applications]
- Use any pc-compatible video camera to monitor and even record events.
- Use as a back-up camera for tight parking spaces.

[Wireless Internet]
- Use any 802.11 hotspots to access the net.
- Use your cellphone internet service to connect to the net.

[Mobile Gaming]
- Install emulators and play all your backed-up games.
- Use any USB-compatible gaming controllers.

[Car Diagnostics]
- Display real-time information for your car with diagnostic software.

[Mobile GPS]
- Install software GPS tracking.
- Monitor real-time traffic.



Installing your Car PC:
[Audio Hookup]
There are a few ways in which you can hook your car PC's sound in to your car.

[Existing Audio System]
- If you have an existing audio system consisting of a receiver and speakers, you can plug your car PC's audio out into the AUX-in.
- If you have a tape receiver, you can use a cassette tape adapter or FM-transmitter from the audio out of the car PC.

[Non-existent Audio System]
- Without the need for an additional receiver (using the Car PC as the receiver), you would just need an amplifier (to speakers) plugged in from the PC's audio out.
- As a makeshift solution, you could use un-powered speakers straight into the Car PC or powered speakers using a 12V inverter.

[Power Hookup]
Although you can use a switch to turn your car PC on and off, there is no need for an on/off switch. Mobile ATX power supplies are designed with auto-on/off functionality. They also are designed to withstand a wide input range (voltage) in order to insure stability.
For the cleanest install, you should directly connect your Car PC to your car's electrical system. Another option is to use a power inverter along with an AC/DC adapter.


Software Recommendations:
If you don't want to use a traditional operating system, there are many alternative sources specifically designed for mobile computing. Check out software recommendations page for more information.
http://www.mitxpc.com/softrec.asp