Thread: Windows 8 - Problems,Solutions, Tips & Tricks.

I am thinking of following the very same path.
My front end of choice, centrafuse, hogs RAM.
I have 4Gb of ram my carpC and when centrafuse is running a I get poor performance from my onboard cameras.


Anyway is the Win 8 interface for touch skinnable?

Originally Posted by Dluvr22

I am thinking of following the very same path.
My front end of choice, centrafuse, hogs RAM.
I have 4Gb of ram my carpC and when centrafuse is running a I get poor performance from my onboard cameras.


Anyway is the Win 8 interface for touch skinnable?

The current version of Centrafuse, running on Windows 8, uses less than 80mb of RAM while playing Pandora. For comparison, IE uses about 250mb of ram. Generally speaking (but not always), the more third-party apps you have loaded, the more ram you'll use.

You can of course select different themes for the desktop background, window borders, fonts and such, but you can't control what the tiles look like, or what the application interfaces look (and work like). This is where things start to fall apart with using Win8 as a frontend replacement. Suppose, for a moment, that you're listening to music or maybe the TuneIn Radio app. You switch to another app (the Inrix traffic app for instance) while music continues to play. All good so far.

Now you get a phone call. You have to swipe to change apps, then pause the playback, since there probably isn't an readily available mute button anywhere. All of this is pretty straight forward on a nice new tablet in your lap. Now try it on a 7" resistive touchscreen at arm's length while driving. Not so much fun.

In fact, I think most folks will find most Windows 8 gestures unusable with their typical 7" Lilliput monitors, unless they have a mouse attached. It's almost impossible to get your fingers into the right locations, and swipe behaviors are not accepted by the standard touchscreen drivers. It really is kind of a mess.

Now before anyone thinks I'm Mr. Negativity, I've been running Centrafuse and Windows 8 for months now. I love how fast it boots, how fast CF runs on it, and having access to some of the Metro apps. The major obstacle is the touchscreen. I have a daylight-readable and I love it, especially out here in Vegas with all the glare. But it is not well suited (nor would any 7" screen) for use with Win8. You really need the 10.1, preferably running at 1366x768 to make use of side-by-side Win8 apps.

The short: It's not a frontend replacement by any means, but it DOES offer a lot of nice performance improvements and the opportunity to access a growing number of useful apps in the Win8 Market.

Cheers!

VegasGuy

I just got the Surface. Looks promising to replace my 8.9" Tab. Will see.

What I like most so far: how easy it is to split screen apps. Any size. Very cool, not found any where else. You can always have say, NAV and Music on at all times. Not sure what nav I'd use on it though, bing? Still exploring the thing, but:

1. FULL USB compatibility (unlike android, you could hook up a 3TB drive here, or a printer, a microphone, whatever.)

2. The screen is beautiful, gesture response and precision is amazing (compared to, say, Windows 8 running on my two-point touch Dell 22"screen).

3. It already has up and running 64GB micro SD card in it.

4. HDMI for the reas screen ready, no dongle.

Another cool feature for in car use is the fact that power is separate from USB and HDMI. What I hate on Android and iOS is the fact that you need dongles for those, and in my Android, you can't use USB AND charge the tablet at the same time in the car...

Hey Rip, good to see you back on here, it's been a while, don't be a stranger!!

I know, thanks for the warm welcome!

It's been a while, just lurking here and there. Kids are growing, getting busier and busier, also spent some time abroad. I'm really disappointed with my carputer in the FX, I'd like to salvage something without ripping it all off, but we'll see.

Originally Posted by VegasGuy

The current version of Centrafuse, running on Windows 8, uses less than 80mb of RAM while playing Pandora. For comparison, IE uses about 250mb of ram. Generally speaking (but not always), the more third-party apps you have loaded, the more ram you'll use.

You can of course select different themes for the desktop background, window borders, fonts and such, but you can't control what the tiles look like, or what the application interfaces look (and work like). This is where things start to fall apart with using Win8 as a frontend replacement. Suppose, for a moment, that you're listening to music or maybe the TuneIn Radio app. You switch to another app (the Inrix traffic app for instance) while music continues to play. All good so far.

Now you get a phone call. You have to swipe to change apps, then pause the playback, since there probably isn't an readily available mute button anywhere. All of this is pretty straight forward on a nice new tablet in your lap. Now try it on a 7" resistive touchscreen at arm's length while driving. Not so much fun.

In fact, I think most folks will find most Windows 8 gestures unusable with their typical 7" Lilliput monitors, unless they have a mouse attached. It's almost impossible to get your fingers into the right locations, and swipe behaviors are not accepted by the standard touchscreen drivers. It really is kind of a mess.

Now before anyone thinks I'm Mr. Negativity, I've been running Centrafuse and Windows 8 for months now. I love how fast it boots, how fast CF runs on it, and having access to some of the Metro apps. The major obstacle is the touchscreen. I have a daylight-readable and I love it, especially out here in Vegas with all the glare. But it is not well suited (nor would any 7" screen) for use with Win8. You really need the 10.1, preferably running at 1366x768 to make use of side-by-side Win8 apps.

The short: It's not a frontend replacement by any means, but it DOES offer a lot of nice performance improvements and the opportunity to access a growing number of useful apps in the Win8 Market.

Cheers!

VegasGuy

It seems like everything you have mentioned is a consideration for how Windows 8 won't just be "plug and play" as a front end replacement, but I don't see anything insurmountable. You could still use separate USB input devices to give yourself a few buttons or knobs that would supplement the touch features. The mute button is a good example. I would be pretty happy with having a USB volume knob and have pressing in mute the media app. That seems like it would be pretty simple to set up.

Also stuff like a bit more visual customization isn't readily available now, but how hard will it be for a couple of the savvy programmers that work with car PC setups to make slight alterations like that?

I will agree that I doubt I would go this route without a better touchscreen than the typical 7" that a lot of people have. I'm considering how hard it would be to modify my dash to fit the bigger screen, because this route definitely appeals to me.

I have the same issue with resistive touchkit driver as well, anyone has a solution?

I don't see how Windows 8 can possibly replace a proper front end designed for an automotive environment.

I'm not bashing Windows 8, but I don't think it's fit for a front end. Sure, use it as the OS and have CF/whatever front end start on boot but that's it. I don't want to swipe between applications, I want media controls to be persistent regardless of what other application is embedded and active, such as iGuidance. Having music mute when a call comes in, having the music volume turn down when iGuidance gives a spoken direction, etc...

Windows 8/Metro doesn't do this. A front end does (well, in theory, I'm still waiting for something to work properly )

Originally Posted by sebberry

I don't see how Windows 8 can possibly replace a proper front end designed for an automotive environment.

I'm not bashing Windows 8, but I don't think it's fit for a front end. Sure, use it as the OS and have CF/whatever front end start on boot but that's it. I don't want to swipe between applications, I want media controls to be persistent regardless of what other application is embedded and active, such as iGuidance. Having music mute when a call comes in, having the music volume turn down when iGuidance gives a spoken direction, etc...

Windows 8/Metro doesn't do this. A front end does (well, in theory, I'm still waiting for something to work properly )

The OS is only a few weeks old, give it some time and i'm sure it'll get there. The new platform is designed for touch apps, and it'll help bring out a lot more carpc friendly apps soon.
But resistive single touch is very limited, you'll need capacitive screen to really make it functional.

Originally Posted by Punky

I have the same issue with resistive touchkit driver as well, anyone has a solution?

Found a solution using this driver: http://187.53.197.240:8080/Bibliotec...2.0.0.0525.zip
Need to recalibrate, but it worked great after.