Extending the Car PC
The entire Car PC project is really about how you’ll extend and adapt the idea to fit what you want and what works in your car. That said, here are a few ways you could both refine what the existing components do and extend the concept to an entirely new arena.
GPS WAAS data availability — The DeLorme Earthmate USB GPS provides both the usual GPS data stream and enhancements using the WAAS signal. No third-party software appears to support the Earthmate USB interface, which means you have to use the USB-to-serial port converter software provided by DeLorme if you’re using applications such as NetStumbler or Streets and Trips. The notes with the converter software, however, state that you may lose the WAAS accuracy improvements if you install the converter. If you’re a skilled driver developer, you could reverse engineer the USB data stream with WAAS enabled, then implement your own serial converter driver that preserves full accuracy.
Multiple GPS — The serial port GPS interface, despite using a standard format data stream (usually NMEA 183), is only accessible to one application at a time. That’s inconvenient, because there are concurrent applications that can make use of the GPS data. For example, in addition to a navigation application, you could write an application that monitors and logs trip start and end times and locations, plus mileage, creating an automobile usage log useful for expense reports and tax returns.
The key to running multiple applications would be a driver that splits the standard GPS data stream to multiple consuming applications. You could let the GPS appear on multiple COMx ports to provide an interface, and copy the incoming data stream to all the ports. The complication, aside from writing the driver in the first place, would be providing the necessary control outputs to the GPS (for example, estimated location and time). One approach would be to designate one of the ports as the “real” port, the one that really controls the unit. Control outputs from any other ports would have to simulate the right response from the GPS, if any, and otherwise ignore the command.
Simplified skinning — The FrodoSkinner application is a great idea, but unfortunately incomplete. The ideal application would scan a set of FrodoPlayer ini files to determine what buttons and controls each one supports, and support defining buttons for all the files. The application could also exchange graphics into and out of Photoshop (or any another graphics application) to modify the image. If it could send layers into Photoshop, it could provide outlines for where the button definitions are presently, guiding how to modify the underlying graphic.
Wearable computing — The Segway not withstanding, there’s no reason why the Car PC concept has to be so large that it requires a vehicle to move around. Using hardware such as the Xybernaut MA V wearable computer, you can take the Car PC with you. It’s easy to see how a map in a heads-up display could assist map-based sports, including hiking or geocaching.
The limitations of mobile computing tend to be either lack of storage, such as in MP3 players before they incorporated microdrives, or lack of usable input/output facilities, which limits both the viable applications and the network bandwidth the device can usefully consume (something of great concern to companies that bought 3G spectrum in the very expensive auctions). A Car PC has none of those limitations — you can build in as much storage as you like and as big a display as you like. The limitations relative to your desktop computer need only be that it’s hard to do fine precision work when the car’s moving. Other than that, what you can do with your Car PC is limited only by your imagination.