It’s working – but can’t find a new case
Well, the Car PCs been working great for little over a week now, so I"m pretty chuffed 
However, still no sign of a candidate for a new case yet. A trip to a car boot sale at the weekend proved fruitless. Except for the fruit stall there of course 
I"ll be goiong back this weekend to see if I have any better luck. I"m after a Metal or Plastic with Metal inside case about twice as big as the EPIA board. One will turn up somewhere eventually.
Money wise this month I won"t be spending much on the Car PC as I"ve got to get the car serviced and had a few BIG bills this month. So the big stuff this month is going to be software. FREE software, and a redesign of the website.
I"m looking at using FreeBSD or possibly Linux as my backend, mainly because of the amount of customisation available. It mainly depends on whether I can input the GPS signals into a script and then call back a map file, and plot the position. If so, then I will be buying some OS maps and scanning them in (Unless I can find a better free map files graphics with longitude/latitude)
I really want to write a custom interface as nothing so far fits my bill. Basically I want to have at the top of the screen the car speed, and if I can get it working the RPM etc, in front of a mad 2Fast2Furious style background. Below that, I want to have the features of the system. I want my mapping mode, Video mode and my MP3/Radio mode. The last mode could possible have input from a webcam mounted at the front of the car (or behind) displayed. By using an open source OS, it should be a LOT easier to do this thanks to having access to the source code for the applications I will use as a backend. When I do the new website I"ll have some design shots for what I"ve got in mind to give you all an idea of what I plan.
I"m also going to re-do the website a bit as well, as the project has moved on a lot since the initial design. I was thinking about making a forum, but to be honest there are others about where most people already go. I"ll also be looking into compiling a step-by-step guide to building the car PC in a more easy to read format.
