Help Bugbyte kill his car PC with an iTouch/iPhone install

**Pyrotek** · 03-04-2009, 11:25 AM

I haven't been around these parts for awhile, but your iPhone/iTouch project caught my eye.

My Biostar mobo chipset fried a long while ago, which has left me without my beloved CarPC. Not wanting to rebuild the whole deal - and being lazy, i've been trying to find a m7ncg mobo but they just aren't around.

In the meantime, I've connected my iPhone output to my infinity amp breakout box that I made/used for the CarPC. It sounds great and you have to love Pandora. Also, i've been using an app named CastCatcher. It will stream any Icecast/Shoutcast station. Since these stations typically have a higher bitrate then Pandora, they sound MUCH better.

I've been considering purchasing the A/V cable for awhile now to connect to my Xenarc that has been collecting dust in my dashboard. But i'm kinda feeling like it wouldn't serve much purpose.

In the end, my feeling is the combination of a PC & iPhone in the car is the best functionality wise. You can eliminate some components from the PC end (GPS/XM/Sirius), and drive those functions via your iPhone. (Sirius is releasing an iPhone app soon) I envision controlling the CarPC volume, actions, etc. via the iPhone as well.

**freeflashstuff** · 03-04-2009, 01:01 PM

It's nice to know that I'm not the only one catching ***** from BioStar's Pieces of ***** mobos. I had to RMA 3 times before I got a good one, and it just went belly up on me. But, Bugbyte, I admire the way you are going about all this. If you need help with jailbreaking, jailbroken apps, etc., PM me. I've been doing iPhone and iPod Touch stuff sine they came out.

**Bugbyte** · 03-04-2009, 02:00 PM

What would be nice is a way to:

1. Rotate the icons on a screen with a swipe or something

2. Additional functionality to the ScreenSplitr or TVOut app that allows you to command the iPod to rotate the screen without having to flip the iPod physically on its side. Then, you could mount the iPod in a holder and not have to worry about flipping it.

**Bugbyte** · 03-04-2009, 02:11 PM

The ability to go from something like this:

To something like this

Would be nice.

Combined with the ability to command a screen rotation, you could do some interesting things.

**respo87** · 03-04-2009, 02:57 PM

hey in the above comments someone noted that using the ipod/iphone with a carpc would yeild the best functionality. verrry true, i just installed an free app from the apps store (search mouse in the apps store) that turned my gfs ipod into a touchpad for her compaq laptop. She didnt care for have 2 touch pads Lol but i thought it would be great to use with a carpc. if u have an iphone i think u can do it over edge somehow or if u already have wireless in ur car, u would be able to use it

**Bugbyte** · 03-04-2009, 06:13 PM

xGPS just released the new version of their app with turn-by-turn instructions. The phone now speaks to you and works pretty much like a personal navigation device (PND) such as Tom-Tom or Garmin Nuvi.

The app requires a jailbroken iPhone/iPod touch to load, which is not an issue for the hack-minded.

It still needs some improvements like auto screen dimming, but at least it does have and option you can call up that allows you to dim it.

Also, many of the functions like auto reroute are not there. I know one of my favorite things about my Tom-Tom is you can tell it to avoid a roadblock ahead and it will reroute. Also, while you can get traffic on your regular Google map app on the iPhone, it doesn't appear on xGPS. Nor does weather or flight information.

Again, you can get all of that if you have the iPhone, it's just not integrated into xGPS. Still, this is a great update for xGPS and it's clear to me that the PND is a dead duck in the near future.

**super-fly** · 03-04-2009, 08:27 PM

Originally Posted by Bugbyte

The ability to go from something like this:

To something like this

Would be nice.

Combined with the ability to command a screen rotation, you could do some interesting things.

you should be able to do this soon...[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ-iW5VpZWk&eurl[/media]

**Bugbyte** · 03-04-2009, 11:10 PM

Wow -I mention it in a post and someone builds an app just like I wanted! I just checked out the video and it is awesome! I left a note on the developer's site to try and encourage him to release it on Cydia.

On a different note, I used the iPod touch in the car today for the first time. I haven't actually had it connected into the head unit before but it sounded good - no surprise there. However, trying to use an iPod and drive a car is, well, like trying to use an iPod and drive a car. Not good. I need to work out both a system for mounting it temporarily (think I've got a holder around here somewhere) and work on ways to control the iPod itself.

Possible options:

1. Commercial off-the-shelf remote control for iPod. Will control song and volume but probably not much more.

2. Control using something like a Griffin Powermate or Touchscreen. Haven't seen anything about this type of control. I mean, why would you plug a Powermate into your iPod even if you could?

3. Intermediate hardware like my existing car PC -Mac Mini. Browser based control via touchscreen. Probably would work but not very elegant and hardly a PC killer!

If anyone has any ideas, let me know. I'm spending more and more time reading iPhone hacking sites.

**jusjake** · 03-05-2009, 06:00 PM

I'v used a griffin belt clip modified with a fm modulator holster attached to it then that's attached to the center console in front of the shifter.

**super-fly** · 03-05-2009, 06:10 PM

Im just using a cheap suction cup universal phone holder right now. It was like 6 bucks on ebay and it comes with both vent clips and a suction cup goose neck, depending on how you want to mount it.