Dashboard Monkey - CarPC News, Reviews, Downloads and more

Speed Up Your OS Boot Times

admin — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:02:47 -0400

One of the draw backs of having a Car PC is your boot times. Unlike having a system in your home that you can put into sleep or stand by mode, you have to completely shut down a CarPC. If you don't, then you could be facing a dead battery when trying to start er' up.

So, you generally always have to deal with cold boots when starting up a CarPC. Here are some tips to shorten those times:

- Remove unnecessary features at startup which should free up space with the boot image and load faster.

- Make your boots for different drivers parallel so that they load all at once.

- Utilize a microcontroller so that you can run the current of your CarPC off a separate battery.

Soak Tests For Car PC Monitors

admin — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:23:04 -0400

Would you like to know how companies test their products before sending them out for production. Well have a look at this video, as it goes behind the scenes of Car PC testing. They call it the 'Soak Test'.

Bang For Your Buck Touchscreen Monitor

admin — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:21:03 -0400

If you have a good amount of money lying about and are looking for a high quality monitor then check out the Xenarc 805TSV Touchscreen Monitor.

Here are some specs for the device, which sells for $329

- Screen Size: Diagonal 8"

- Physical Resolution: 800 (H) x 600 (V) SVGA
Supported Resolution: 640 x 480 ~ 1024 x 768

- Contrast Ratio: 400:1

- Power Supply: DC 12V

- 18 Month Warranty

Ingenius Car Computer Installation Video

admin — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:25:36 -0400

This is a video of a car computer installation, and it provides insight into the installation field. Notice the tight fit as it's built into the interior.

Skip to 1:34 to view installation:

AFKfest 2009 - Greg Planthaber Car Computer Installation from Robert Wray on Vimeo.

Intel PRO/Wireless Network Card 3945ABG

admin — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:10:30 -0400

If you're looking to get your CarPC online, then MP3Car has a new wifi card you should take a look at.

They're selling it at an affordable price of $29.99. Here are some of the specs, and below a link to the purchase page.

Interface: Mini-PCI Express

Dimensions: 0.2 in x 1.2 in x 2 in

Data Link Protocol: IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11g

Data Transfer Rate: 54 Mbps

System Requirements: Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition

New Fanless Micro Computer

admin — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:47:06 -0400

This is a video over at MP3car.com, and it is a tour of the new Intel Micro computer. Wray walks you through all the various components of the system, and goes into detail about the function of the device.

Fanless Micro Intel Vehicle Computer (Built by Mp3car) from Robert Wray on Vimeo.

D945GSEJT Intel Mini-ITX Board

admin — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:57:45 -0400

If you're looking for a computing solution for your car that won't break the bank, and look good at the same time then consider -- D945GSEJT Intel Mini-ITX board. It has a slim design that gives your some leeway with your installation, and can help prevent some problems.

Here are some of it's specs, and where you find it for a purchase.

Dimensions: 6.7 in x 6.7 in

Chipset Type: Intel 945GSE Express / Intel ICH7-M

Supported RAM: DDR2 SDRAM

7 USB Ports

p5USB Hub

admin — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:26:55 -0400

Take advantage of the p5USB Hub. It truly is a handy device with a slew of applications.

Here are some features...

Take voltage from 7-32 volts
guaranteed 500 mA to each port.
Each port has it's own self resetting fuse
Reverse polarity protection
startup and shutdow controller
Delayed startup and shutdown (5 min and 25 min)

and a video

New Product: p5 USB Hub from Robert Wray on Vimeo.

BU-353 Weather-proof GPS Receiver

admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:41:18 -0400

If you live in a location that receives a lot of rain, or if for whatever reason your car will be getting wet then have a look at the BU-353 GPS Receiver. This rugged piece of equipment connects to the mini-ITX computer by USB.

Here are some of the specs and features of the device:

Chipset: SiRF Star III v3.1.1 firmware

Frequency: L1, 1575.42 MHz

C/A code: 1.023 MHz chip rate

Channels: 20 channel all-in-view tracking

Sensitivity: -159 dBm

Accuracy Position: 10 meters, 2D RMS

The receiver includes an antenna and receiver, which means all you need is the software. There's a drive that utilizes the USB port as a COM port so that you can use NMEA mapping software.

Ford Sync Version 3

admin — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:36:56 -0400

If you've been wondering about what updates could be coming with the next version of Ford Sync, you'll want to watch this video...

Ford Sync version 3 at Detroit Telematics 2009 from Robert Wray on Vimeo.