Thread: I have so many newbe questions

Be prepared for a very long post:

I own a non-DSP 2000 BMW E39 528i. Today I caught the CarPuter bug. I have a candidate as far as the pc goes, and the 7" touch screens seem reasonably priced, but these are my questions:

1. Is it necessary to purchase a car2pc (or similar) adapter? Or can I run the pc separately from the car's audio system (making OEM system obsolete)... I would use a 6 channel sound card and two amplifiers to power the speakers and subwoofers. Then I would use an FM radio card for radio.

2. If not using the adapter, is it possible to still add gps and Sirius Satellite?

3. Would I be able to find a user interface that makes the pc work more like a car entertainment system than a PC?

The reason I ask is because most of the posts I've seen use the car2pc adapter, but my understanding is that you would still have to use the OEM system to control certain features. It also seems like you wouldn't be able to remove the OEM system completely. I'm just trying to figure out my options. I'd like to run the carputer as if it were a mobile entertainment system (with added benefits) instead of using it as a pc where I would have to click on icons on the desktop, start menu, etc. I also wouldn't mind using something like the car2pc interface as long as I can control every function from the carputer's touch screen.

Thanks for being patient with me. This is something that I find incredibly fascinatingbut don't know very much about.