Seattle Area Meet

Dan Marsh · 12-19-2003, 09:16 PM

Since everyone has had ample time to comment on meet location and time, I thought I would announce final arrangements for the meet.

Starting Location: University of Washington parking lot N5
Time: 1 PM - Saturday, January 10th
Map:

Directions: From I-5, take the NE 45th street exit and head east through the U-district until you reach 17th AVE NE. Take a right onto 17 AVE NE (you will be heading south). You will see two toll-booths and a small observatory. Take the first available left after the tollbooths and lot N5 will be on your left.

Rough schedule: We will arrive at lot N5 and probably spend a couple hours checking out each others systems. N5 is a big open lot, so dress warmly and it might be wise to bring an umbrella if it looks like there will be rain. After we get done at N5, we will walk over to one of the nearby cafe's to warm up, chat and do some informal seminars. Afterwards, we will head over to either Northlake Tavern or Atlantic Street Pizza and cap off the night with some of the city's best Pizza.

Here is a list of the tentative seminar topics. If you have suggestions for other topics, or wish to volunteer for a subject (very informal, just talking about your experience with the subject) please do so ASAP.

Definate:

- Wireless Networking/Internet Access
- User Interface Design
- Power Systems
- Audio Integration
- Boot-time Optimization

Possible:

- Custom Fiberglass Dashes
- Input Devices
- Voice Control

I am looking forward to meeting you all!

Daniel Marsh

SiGmA_X · 12-20-2003, 04:31 AM

I'm in to be there, sadly if I am driving that far I can't take a passanger (I'm not legal to carry them yet.. ******* laws!) so I'll have to use my car pc to its fullest

Music, movies, and GPS..

gospeed.racer · 12-20-2003, 01:03 PM

Sign me in...Im there. My system still wont be complete, but should be done to the point of needing just the monitor. I want to see some before i buy one!

GScherler · 12-21-2003, 01:51 AM

Dan,
The 10th of January is now marked down for me to attend the Seattle Carputer Meet.

Everyone else in the NW, mark it down it down in your calendar to be there. Show off what you have or come on down just to get or exchange ideas

Anyone out there know of a good location that has coverage?

Hope we can get a good number of people to attend. Everyone that can come please let us know. The sooner the better.

Looking forward to meeting everyone,
Gary

Quote: Originally Posted by Dan Marsh

GScherler and I are taking point on planning a Seattle meetup for Saturday the 10th of January. We are hoping to make this the biggest northwest regional meet yet and are planning early, accordingly. Besides being a chance to meet and check out each other's systems, I would like this to be a chance to gain from each other's skills and experiences. As such, I would like to start planning some informal seminars/talks. I suggest the following topics for seminars and welcome suggestions for others:

- Custom Fiberglass Dashes
- User Interface Design
- Power Systems
- Audio Integration
- Boot-time Optimization
- Input Devices
- Voice Control
- Wireless Networking/Internet Access

I am hoping we can start the day's events around 1pm, which should give people from Oregon and BC to arrive, to be followed by dinner around 5-6pm.

Location is up in the air at the moment, but I have a few ideas. I am hoping for a garage or warehouse with good lighting. If anyone has access to a suitable location, please contact me privately.

Can I start by getting a list of prospective attendees, a link to any project webpage, what seminars you would be interested in seeing and whether you would like to volunteer for a seminar?

Thanks,

Daniel Marsh
http://www.seattlewireless.net/index.cgi/CarPuter

Dan Marsh · 12-22-2003, 11:32 PM

I have a tentative location in mind for the meet. It has the advantage of being a 6 block straight shot off I-5, so it should be very easy to find for those coming from out of town. In short, the University of Washington has a parking lot that is ordinarily a permit only lot of weekdays, but after noon on saturday it is a free lot open to the public. I have never seen more than a few cars parked there on weekends. It isn't covered, but provided we aren't crawling under cars, we should be ok. There are a number of good tea/coffee houses within 3-4 blocks walking distance, and at least one has a good sized back room that should be able to accomodate upwards of 15 people. There are also a number of pubs and quite a wide variety of ethnic restaurants nearby. Unless anyone has a better suggestion, I would like to make this the location of our meet. If no objections are raised, I will make out some maps and directions.

orangewhip · 12-23-2003, 12:08 AM

I can hopefully make it as well. Yeah U or W would be good, can go to Atlantic Street Pizza , the best pizza I have EVER eaten, and I have eaten a LOT of pizza. I could challenge anybody!! hahaha

Ohhh I am in BC....just so ya know.

Dan Marsh · 12-23-2003, 02:44 AM

Yeah, Atlantic Street Pizza has consistently ranked as one of the top 10 pizza places in the Seattle area, but http://www.northlaketavern.com/ is even better!

orangewhip · 12-23-2003, 03:03 AM

Ahh man, now I have to make a trip down there BEFORE the meet!!

Dan Marsh · 12-23-2003, 01:13 PM

Northlake Tavern has consistently ranked as one of the top 3 pizza places in the city and it is pretty close, but I am not sure whether they allow minors. There are plenty of good places to eat in the U-district, so I am not going to sweat it too much.

Since it looks like the Seattle meet is a go, I am going to try and start organizing the talks. If you have some valuable experience that you would like to share, please volunteer. These aren't going to be formal (or for that matter very organized )talks in the least bit, so don't be intimidated. I am going to take a leap and volunteer to talk about:

- Wireless Networking/Internet Access
- Boot-time Optimization
- Power Systems (specifically tank circuits)

gospeed.racer · 12-23-2003, 01:19 PM

Man, Pizza is good no matter how bad it is

I am up for anywhere, as long as the date doesnt change!

I would volunteer to talk about soft hard drive mounts, but i dont know s^&$ about em after all

LOL

Look forward to seeing lots of people there---------Jeff

spectrumzz · 12-23-2003, 01:59 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by gospeed.racer

Man, Pizza is good no matter how bad it is

I am up for anywhere, as long as the date doesnt change!

I would volunteer to talk about soft hard drive mounts, but i dont know s^&$ about em after all

LOL

Look forward to seeing lots of people there---------Jeff

I'm in for the Seattle meet. I can talk about carputer software design and hosting controls, etc. My car is fully based on .Net.

Dan Marsh · 12-23-2003, 06:28 PM

I can't wait to see what everyone is doing for interfaces! I have tried a number of off the shelf ones, but most seem very heavily geared towards touchscreen use. Effective and safe interfaces are, in my mind, one of the biggest challenges in building a car computer.

Spectrumzz, do you have a page about your car project where we could maybe see some pictures of your interface? What do you mean about hosting controls?

spectrumzz · 12-24-2003, 01:07 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Dan Marsh

I can't wait to see what everyone is doing for interfaces! I have tried a number of off the shelf ones, but most seem very heavily geared towards touchscreen use. Effective and safe interfaces are, in my mind, one of the biggest challenges in building a car computer.

Spectrumzz, do you have a page about your car project where we could maybe see some pictures of your interface? What do you mean about hosting controls?

I don't have a page up yet (maybe when I get done), but I primarily have mine set up for touch. One technique for making them safe is that you disable the touchscreen when the car is motion, reducing the inclination of the driver to use it (like Lexus does).

By hosting controls, I mean integrating MapPoint and other components (ie. ActiveX user controls) into your own software through COM and other technologies.

SiGmA_X · 12-24-2003, 05:09 AM

This is kickass! I can do the front end swap with my car on the same time as the meet! I'll be doing the front end swap (Jetta -> Golf and Golf -> Jetta) at 10am until (At the latest) noon. Where ever we go, it’s got to be able to have us under aged kids, because I really don't want to get blocked from coming

1pm somewhere sound good?

spectrumzz - Do you have AIM? Or another chat app like that?

Dan Marsh · 12-24-2003, 09:34 AM

The plan thus far is to meet at 1 at the UW parking lot and spend some time looking at each other's systems. Once we get bored with that, we can walk over to one of the cafe's and chat it up and do the seminars. I am thinking the Cafe Allegro as it has a pretty decent sized backroom, is within easy walking distance and has good drinks and munchies. If we really get hungry, there are a number of good pubs/restaurants. We will make sure to pick someplace that accepts minors.