Windows Tablet car install

[scott_fx]

my system was done... probably 8-9 years ago so the technology has greatly improved. But i used a mini-itx board (model: via m1000) and a specially designed power supply that monitors the key state. when you start the car it turns the computer on, when you take the key out of the ignition it continues to provide power to the board for a couple minutes while it 'presses' the power button to shut down the computer safely. Then i used a 7" touchscreen as in input device. that is pretty plug and play. finally you just need some sort of 'front end' program that is the gui (graphical user interface). From there you can add a soundcard or dac and pipe the audio to an amplifier. it'll completely replace the need for a headunit/radio

it does act like what bmw uses in their cars and you can even get 'skins' for the front end program that look like the bmw interface. the thing that is different between the two is that bmw uses "idrive" which utilizes a knob instead of a touchscreen. There are ways to simulate that. i'm designing one from the ground up right now using an arduino microcontroller. An easier version is using a 3dconnexion 'space nav' device. this does require some setup.



there are other options now, like android tablet or ipad based systems. each have pros and cons. The pc based system does have a decade of knowledge backing it up right now and have a ton of options available.

i hope that answered your question.