The new car is here and new install is in!
Wednesday, May 5th, 2004It"s been a while, but we"re back in action!!! Sorry for the lack of updates over the last month, but it has all been happening behind the scenes.
Here"s a quick run down…
The New Car is here
Regulars to this site will know the MR2 is no more – see the March archive or the gallery for the pictures. However all is not lost – the Car PC is reborn in something a bit more up to date – a new Ford Focus!
Here"s a pic…
As you can see, my attempts at copying the techniques of Max Power photographers aren"t amazing, this was taken at an industrial estate in the countryside near my house!
The car itself is a "Ford Focus MP3" – honestly, it"s a coincidence! I fell in love with the car before I notcied it was a special edition with MP3 player etc – pity really that it"ll be ripped out. However it does make it slightly more special in a small way, as it means the computer connection is even on the V5 logbook, as it"s the official model name 
I didn"t waste time once I"d got it though. The death of the MR2 only made me more persistent to make sure this project didn"t die on the rocks, after all I"d only just got the Opus Car PSU, one of the keys in making the system work as if it was a factory item.
The new install
You"ll be able to read more about this in the Install section, but to quickly give you a run down – I"ve re-built the system with help from my power drill to integrate the Power Supply into the small case, and finished the case off nicely with professional speaker box carpet to help the current incarnation blend smoothly into the boot.
The Second UK Car PC mini-meet – Santa Pod, 18th April 2004
One of the driving factors of getting the car, and getting the Car PC working was to make sure I had something to show at the Car PC meet! After almost a year of work it would have been very dissappointing if I hadn"t been able to show off at least some of my hard work and compare it against some other installs (even though I only had a day to build and install it!)
New software
V.O.I.C.E.S is the driving software behind the Navigation features of the installation. Using MapPoint 2004 as it"s engine, VOICES is controlled by voice commands and responds over the speakers. This allows you to tell the computer where you want to go, what changes you want to make and get it to tell you useful information (such as time to destination) without look at the screen. It also tell you your next turns (including what road to turn onto – useful if the roads have been dug up and changed since the last map update) over the speakers without taking your eyes off the road. It"s being developed to fulfill all the functions of the Car PC – so eventually it will be possible to control the entire system just by talking to it.
You can read more about VOICES at the MP3Car.com forum
Still to come soon
I"ve just ordered a slightly larger case for the Car PC – that"s on the way right now and will be installed ASAP – I need more space to fit a PCI card to allow FM Radio and Video-In
I"m also going to be ordering in the next day or two a device to connect into the Car engine management system, from ScanTool.net. This will bridge the missing link between the two computers in the Car – the one you can"t mess with that manages the engine, and my System. Soon I"ll have custom gauges for various engine levels, and be able to replicate the feature found on many cars – How many miles are left until the petrol runs out. You can imagine how this will integrate with the rest of the system. There"s 20 miles left on the tank of petrol, I"m on the motorway and need a petrol station. The computer will automatically find the nearest petrol station and tell me the way to it.
