Thread: The future of carputer, especially self made one?

The Avic is good, but is about 3 times the price of a comparable computer and still has no where near the capability of a general purpose computer. They do have a usability and ease of installation advantage at the current point in time, but that should be solved eventually by better software and more carputer specific PC hardware, i.e. more Xenarc/OPUS/ITX type of things.

The clarion was based on windows CE automotive edition, had very little power, didn't normally have a screen and was very expensive. All that being said, I think its failure was due more to poor marketing though then technical capability.

My carputer only cost a grand, is siginficantly more powerful then an AV-Nic looks way better with my directX interface and tons of visualizations, can do things like relay controls, war driving, WiFi uploading support for every media file format that a desktop has, very easy upgradability, I can cheaply and easily tie it into things like my steering wheel controls and OBD II port, wireless internet, and virtually unlimited potential to what it can do and its not limited by laws or manufacturer desires.

the reason I started thinkign of building a pc is because of the winamp visualizations! The poineer does not have games, or email

Originally Posted by god_of_cpu

The Avic is good, but is about 3 times the price of a comparable computer and still has no where near the capability of a general purpose computer. They do have a usability and ease of installation advantage at the current point in time, but that should be solved eventually by better software and more carputer specific PC hardware, i.e. more Xenarc/OPUS/ITX type of things.

The clarion was based on windows CE automotive edition, had very little power, didn't normally have a screen and was very expensive. All that being said, I think its failure was due more to poor marketing though then technical capability.

My carputer only cost a grand, is siginficantly more powerful then an AV-Nic looks way better with my directX interface and tons of visualizations, can do things like relay controls, war driving, WiFi uploading support for every media file format that a desktop has, very easy upgradability, I can cheaply and easily tie it into things like my steering wheel controls and OBD II port, wireless internet, and virtually unlimited potential to what it can do and its not limited by laws or manufacturer desires.

Very well put.

Originally Posted by god_of_cpu

The Avic is good, but is about 3 times the price of a comparable computer and still has no where near the capability of a general purpose computer. They do have a usability and ease of installation advantage at the current point in time, but that should be solved eventually by better software and more carputer specific PC hardware, i.e. more Xenarc/OPUS/ITX type of things.

The clarion was based on windows CE automotive edition, had very little power, didn't normally have a screen and was very expensive. All that being said, I think its failure was due more to poor marketing though then technical capability.

My carputer only cost a grand, is siginficantly more powerful then an AV-Nic looks way better with my directX interface and tons of visualizations, can do things like relay controls, war driving, WiFi uploading support for every media file format that a desktop has, very easy upgradability, I can cheaply and easily tie it into things like my steering wheel controls and OBD II port, wireless internet, and virtually unlimited potential to what it can do and its not limited by laws or manufacturer desires.

My thoughts exactly

Originally Posted by brandon

pr0n! And lots of it!
Seriously, anyone with money can have someone install a high-dollar propretary piece of work such as what you listed.
But not everyone can build their own from scratch, using the components they want, with the aesthetics they want, and be happy with what they have.

Well its not really that high priced compared to how much money people spend here on their ideas, but functionality differs.

Originally Posted by brandon

This is like asking a person who built his 1963 GTO from the ground up why he didn't just go out and buy a Viper.
What I plan on doing with my carputer I doubt any of the major manufacturers of car audio will ever design, and if they do I'll have 50% of the money they are charging left in my pocket to enjoy other things in life.... plus I'll have bragging rights! And I bet to alot of us on these forums, this is worth more than anything Pioneer or Clarion can offer.

I see your point there.

Also... a big point of building it yourself is... building it yourself.

I mean, I could have a TIVO, I still prefer having a homebuilt HTPC...

its something to build, its a hobby, its interesting and on top of that it does more for less.

The self made carputer is for the person who likes to do things himself. The person who can;t stand to see someone else do something for them, and then have to pay for it, especially when they can do it themselves. Especially when they can do it the way they want it. The satisfaction I get from modding my own car (carputer, or anything else) is huge. The fact that I can say I did it all myself is something most people marvel at, because on average most people can;t even change a tire.

There's nothing wrong with buying a premade system. It all depends on what type of person you are. But don't knock the peeps that make their own. It's these people that got the carputer rolling in the first place.