StevieG's Car PC Blog

Earlier this week I ordered and received my Opus Car PSU (from www.linitx.com) – Ordered Monday, received Tuesday. See the Hardware section for more details.

DISASTER STRUCK though this morning (Thursday) – One the way to work I’ve totalled the Car. Into a wall. So this site might being renamed to whatever replaces the MR2. All the pictures are in the gallery, here’s one of them below L

It might not look THAT bad, but both front wheels are pointing different ways. Busted is some part of the steering, the front suspension, both front wings, front bumper, the metal under the bumper, the headlight, the headlight cover, the bonnet, the fixings under the bonnet, the back wheel, the back passenger side wing. Not good, is it?!

I’m determined not to be set back with the Car PC so whatever replaces the MR2 will be the Whatever Car PC, so keep watching this space.

I’ve added a gallery hosted at www.fotopic.net – see the link at the side. This will let me add hi-resolution photos to the website in addition to the install, hardware pics etc so you can have a good look at the system itself.

Car PC itself has been working reasonably well – I may need to reposition the GPS sensor to a better position under the dashboard for better reception; the other day it cut out on me for about 30 minutes for no apparent reason, just when I needed it while driving to somewhere I’d never been before! Typical!

I’ve also got to do something about something that’s not a major problem but could be. The inverter that powers the system isn’t ideal, and must use masses of power, I ended up with a blown fuse the other day due to it’s ultra-high power consumption! I need to look toward getting an Opus car PSU from www.opussolutions.com when I’ve got the money. Initial reading of the MR2 electrical manual suggests there’s some decent places to plug directly into the car power system safely. (More research may be required before I do anything!)

Software wise, I’ve decided to have a proper look at GPSS from www.gpss.co.uk . Although this doesn’t appear to be a vector based GPS system, like mappoint or navigator, It looks a good option mainly as it allows customisation of the map data. I’m thinking along the lines of attempting to use some aerial pictures with map data overlaid with help from Paint Shop Pro J – I’ll see how I get along. I’m also keen on the voice guidance/recognition features and the speed displays. Once I’ve got it installed to test on my laptop (and connected my extra long serial lead out to the car to connect it to GPS!) I’ll see if Robin at Sunninghill Software will be kind enough to send me a free key code. I’ll keep you all posted.