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Here's a tutorial on building a rotary encoder interface. You can get encoders with detents fairly cheaply at newark. Using a PIC, you could easily make a serial interface for this thing & write a quick and dirty keyboard input simulator to drive UI.
The 2nd coolest way to control a carputer seems to me to be a Phillips pronto and an ir remote. Pronto has an easy programmable interface / display. Ability to program 256 macros. All cool and looks good too!
Touch is the way to go
this link will take you to the new pronto's but you can check for older and cheeper ones on ebay
http://www.consumer.philips.com/glob...TE_CONTROLS_SU
I've used the X10 mouse remote in combination with girder and love it. I like the remote because I can control stuff without having to look at the screen, I can keep my eye's on the road. I also like the remote because the buttons are big soft and don't feel cheasy.
One complaint I have about the remote is it is a tad big for my liking.
If you can figure out how to use Girder with this thing (which takes a little bit of reading) then this can be a very powerful combination.
Dont forget about the happy hacker. It is a small usb keyboard with a built in hub. It is a bit pricy ($60), but it feels solid, and works well. My old roommate has one in his car. He actually attached it above his glove box.
http://thomashargrove.com/car/images/overview-large.jpg
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/pfuca-store/
You guys are missing a couple of stuff.
Check out microcenter(www.microcenter.com) for small keyboard and such. I also use keyspan Digital Media Remote as well as USBIR I got on ebay for 9 bucks. They are both amazing
As for voice software, use voiceflux(www.voiceflux.net)
Has someone seen these allready??
http://keyboardspecials.com/oem.htm
What about a rotary encoder for volume and another tuning/scaning?
Logitech also has the new Bluetooth diNovo keyboard system. The keyboard and numpad are spearate, and the numpad has an LCD, along with extra controls designed to operate media software. The whole setup is pricy, but I may take a look at it. It seems like it might work well in myssytem, since I am already using a keypad. Making it wireless and having the LCD (if it works with Winamp) would certainly be a big bonus.
I use a PPC (currently an Ipaq 5450) connected to my carputer with WLAN (PCI card in the carputer, built in to the Ipaq) and NetRemote. With Media Center 9 (from J.River - I wouldn't touch Micro$oft's Meda Center PCs with a ten foot joystick!) I have full control over all aspects, from equlizer and volume to the full media library. I can find any song in about 15 seconds...in a close to 40 000 tracks MP3 library.
Now that sounds cool!Quote:
Originally Posted by Mastiff