Quote: Originally Posted by
ichpen 
That is an interesting idea. I wouldn't know where to begin though with this. I assume you mean hacking a video input for the screen and have a switch to go between nav and carputer. Carputer would be tucked away somewhere. Question is how would I control the carputer without a touch screen interface, would it be a trackball that could be located somewhere visibly? Resolution on my navi is also pretty 80s looking.
Exactly. My CarPC is tucked away in a corner in the trunk. My navigation system 'brain" is in the trunk so, it's actually more convenient for me to tap into the video back there (I bought a plug-and-play module for my specific car). I'm running 800x600 on my factory Nav screen and yeah, it's not super-crisp like a dedicated TFT display but, I'm not running MS Word and trying to type a document on it. The front end has nice, big buttons, big fonts. It's designed to be easy to read at a glance on a small screen.
Here's a picture of my screen (not a screen cap)...
I use an
Ergonomic touchpad to control mine. I mounted it on the center console. blends in very nicely. Looks like this... (You can ignore the Motorola Hands-free control module...it's no longer there. Bluetooth phone is handled via CentraFuse now)
I'm in the process of changing my controller to a
Space Navigator. Should be fun!
I'm not saying you have to do what I did...or even that you should. Just letting you know that options are out there that would give you both...factory control AND a full-blown CarPC.
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