As far as controlling the power up/power down sequences..
A thought just occurred to me. Many systems, these days, have network cards with Wake On Lan capabilities, which means that the network card is always drawing limited juice, and powers the machine on when it receives certain commands to do so.
I think it would be entirely possible to build a small "box" that, when power is applied (via starting the car), the box sends the wake up signal to the lan card, automatically powering the computer. Then, the reverse happens when the box loses power.
The power down sequence would have to have an application monitor the network port, though, for that to happen correctly, I think.
Couple of issues to be determined first, though.
1. How much power does the network card use while idle.
2. Power switch between power and "box" so computer can be turned off automatically.
3. What is needed for a miniature box to do this?
4. What "commands" are sent to the lan card to turn it on?
Anyway.. just some minor thoughts..
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