H2 PC - First Run For Sale

[Boar-Ral]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by BLOWNZO6:
I went ahead and ordered a board with the wireless slot to see if the wireless PCMCIA card is effective or not. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
If you are using an EPIA board, you should be pleasantly surprised. I have had excellent results using these boards with a Sierra Wireless card in my AutoPCs. Beats the 'old' days where PCMCIA slots were not available, so I had to shell out $250 for PCMCIA slots that connected to the PCI slot.

[Boar-Ral]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by md_sailor:
What about connecting an Ipod? Will the uspec adapter allow it to function in place of a CD Changer? I cant dump the Ipod contents to the Car Cpu as it is Paired with my Desk top. Can you think of a better option that would allow ipod menu access on the Touch screen? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
You might be able to use a different input, too. There are several iPod adapters for our headunits that also offer an auxiliary input, which the PC would use.

[YNGMD]

Is the price still $1800 or have we changed it?

[BLOWNZO6]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by YNGMD:
Is the price still $1800 or have we changed it? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Price is still $1879, no changes. To be honest I have had a TON of interest, but have not sold one yet. I am very excited about selling some, none yet.

Let me know if you are interested.

[Boar-Ral]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by BLOWNZO6:
Price is still $1879, no changes. To be honest I have had a TON of interest, but have not sold one yet. I am very excited about selling some, none yet. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
It sometimes takes awhile to separate those who are genuinely interested from those who are just curious. I have only sold AutoPCs locally, because people want an opportunity to actually use it first. Very few have been sold any distance from here, and only from recommendations from those they trust who I have installed for. It is really disappointing, because I can relate to what you are saying here. I've received about 175 e-mails or instant messages from people interested, but have only sold about 5% - 10% that. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you, though - your clean installation will be a great benefit to the end user.

[BLOWNZO6]

I certainly appreciate it. This is definately more of a hobby thing for me. I have put a few together and had several suggest that I put them for sale. Either way I love mine and the flexibility that comes with it. I am just a gadget nut at heart so sell them or not I will continue to develop and use mine.

Thanks again.

[VTSTOMPER]

If you need a beta tester - let me know!

[BLOWNZO6]

If by beta tester you mean free unit.. sorry.

Again as I said.. I have a good paying "normal" job, not looking to get rich here.

For $1879.. you can TEST AWAY... LOL

[VTSTOMPER]

I know, I know...just trying to make you smile!

I hear that "beta" stuff every day in the Datacom field I work.

I honestly think it looks great. If I was not on a newborn baby budget - I would be all over it like a wet t-shirt.

[Boar-Ral]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by BLOWNZO6:
I certainly appreciate it. This is definately more of a hobby thing for me. I have put a few together and had several suggest that I put them for sale. Either way I love mine and the flexibility that comes with it. I am just a gadget nut at heart so sell them or not I will continue to develop and use mine.

Thanks again. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
That is the same way that I found myself in this situation. The first four prototypes were built for myself and a few friends recommended that I start offering to build them for others. If you sell 100 or 10 or none it does not matter, since anything extra is just a bonus. At the very least, you have an AutoPC for yourself.

I have not built one for my H2 yet, since I ordered the navigation system from the factory. I am still considering a new one for the H2 though, as time and money permits. There is a hardware and software combination that I am looking at that allows multiple people to connect to a single Windows XP PC, with their own keyboard, mouse, and monitor. The goal is to allow a monitor in the back of each headrest to display a separate Windows desktop so two people in the second row can be doing their own thing on their own virtual PC. Most of my friends are nerds, so mobile internet for the purposes of chatting is something I want to implement in my own vehicle. So far, mobile internet is something I have only done for others.

[JetEyeNite]

Can you still use the volume up/down from the steering wheel?
what about the band control(FM/AM/CD, etc)? can it be controlled from the steering wheel?
How fast is the start up time? I would imagine that you'd put the system into either sleep mode or hibernation mode when the unit is not powered up. That leads me to another question. How much of bettery power does this unit draw when the vehicle is not running? Can you integrate both XM and Sirrus?
How good is the voice recognition on the Atlas?

thanks in advance

[BLOWNZO6]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by JetEyeNite:
Can you still use the volume up/down from the steering wheel?
what about the band control(FM/AM/CD, etc)? can it be controlled from the steering wheel?
How fast is the start up time? I would imagine that you'd put the system into either sleep mode or hibernation mode when the unit is not powered up. That leads me to another question. How much of bettery power does this unit draw when the vehicle is not running? Can you integrate both XM and Sirrus?
How good is the voice recognition on the Atlas?

thanks in advance </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

The buttons on the steering wheel only work to control the ONSTAR, nothing related to the radio.

From boot, I would say it is about a minute. The way the power supply is setup it put the computer into standby and when you come back it just returns from standby, which takes about 3 seconds. I don't know how much amperage it draws when the vehicle is not running. The power supply will no let the battery go dead. If it senses the supply voltage is below 11V, it shuts the computer down. I parked at the airport for about 4 days.. came back, no problem.

I would assume you could use both Sirius and XM is you wanted to, it is compatible with both.

I have not used the voice recognition on the navigation to know how well it works.

Thanks,
Nick

[Boar-Ral]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by BLOWNZO6:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by JetEyeNite:
Can you still use the volume up/down from the steering wheel?
what about the band control(FM/AM/CD, etc)? can it be controlled from the steering wheel?
How fast is the start up time? I would imagine that you'd put the system into either sleep mode or hibernation mode when the unit is not powered up. That leads me to another question. How much of bettery power does this unit draw when the vehicle is not running? Can you integrate both XM and Sirrus?
How good is the voice recognition on the Atlas?

thanks in advance </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

The buttons on the steering wheel only work to control the ONSTAR, nothing related to the radio.

From boot, I would say it is about a minute. The way the power supply is setup it put the computer into standby and when you come back it just returns from standby, which takes about 3 seconds. I don't know how much amperage it draws when the vehicle is not running. The power supply will no let the battery go dead. If it senses the supply voltage is below 11V, it shuts the computer down. I parked at the airport for about 4 days.. came back, no problem.

I would assume you could use both Sirius and XM is you wanted to, it is compatible with both.

I have not used the voice recognition on the navigation to know how well it works.

Thanks,
Nick </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Depending on what auxiliary input adapter you are using to interface the AutoPC to the factory headunit, the steering wheel controls should still allow you to select between AM/FM/CD/Auxiliary Input. I recently finished testing a new auxiliary input in my H2 for this purpose and it seems to work well. Unfortunately, there is no easy way for the steering wheel controls to control the XM, Sirius, or other functions of the AutoPC, as far as my knowledge goes.

The power supply that I use in my AutoPCs connects to the motherboards using their 'power on' pins, so that when you turn the keys in your vehicle, the AutoPC turns on. Likewise, taking the keys out turns the AutoPC off. (This is all configurable in the power supply.) You can also setup a delay so that once you take the keys out, the AutoPC will remain on for 5 - 45 minutes before turning off. You can also configure the power supply to not turn off the AutoPC, but put it in hibernate mode, again using pins on the motherboard. This is all transparent to the user and results in an illusion of instant on, a big requirement for most users of these systems. With the AutoPC in hibernate mode, there is absolutely no power draw. The power supply cuts itself off until it detects ignition again.

Just my two cents!

[BLOWNZO6]

If you are going to use the stock radio with the PC the controls on the stereo will work with the stock radio functions.

If you are going to do standalone. You are pretty much out of luck.

The power supply and turning on and off are really a non issue, the setup works very well.

[Boar-Ral]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by BLOWNZO6:
If you are going to use the stock radio with the PC the controls on the stereo will work with the stock radio functions.

If you are going to do standalone. You are pretty much out of luck. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I do wonder what sort of protocol is used for the steering wheel controls, though. A few times, I have considered tapping it to see how difficult it would be to make a homebrew setup that would interpret the steering wheel controls into a series of keystrokes on the PC.

[BLOWNZO6]

It would not be hard. I have already investigated it. The biggest programming issue is what to do with the commands when they come into the computer. If you have someone who can get the commands from a USB relay to a PC key stroke, the integration is easy. You would only use the buttons to activate relays. I already have had them integrate the outputs to the relays in the front end.

I just don't miss the buttons, I thought I would, but I really don't.

On a side note.. I have been using a new front end that someone created.. it is very nice. Here are a few screen shots of it.





There are some things I still want to change on it, but it is very nice overall.

I have also been using some free software to compress movies from my personal DVD's and have about 15 movies now stored on my HDD for viewing. It is really nice.

[BLOWNZO6]

ANYONE EVEN INTERESTED IN A DEMO UNIT?

I really want to get one of these out on the market for others to see.

I will sell the one that I have in my vehicle, to the first taker for $1500 including shipping. I really want to see one of these out somewhere.

Anyone? All the interest we had to begin with in the other thread I am surprised no one has jumped on this.

I can have it out and in your hands by next week.

[Boar-Ral]

I love the skin that you are using in those screenshots. Road Runner is an incredible piece of software, and it looks even better with that skin. Very professional.

[BLOWNZO6]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Boar-Ral:
I love the skin that you are using in those screenshots. Road Runner is an incredible piece of software, and it looks even better with that skin. Very professional. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I am going to modify a few things with it, but overall it is great. The guy who created it PUT a lot of time into it.

[HummerNewbie]

Blown, has anyone jumped on your demo offer yet? It is one hell of a great offer and somebody should jump on this. I would love to do it but can't at this time. After I get my H3 I will be in the market as long as it can be interfaced. Do you know how difficult it would be to interface with other vehicles? I was telling a buddy of mine who has a new F150 about your setup and he may be interested in one after the first of the year. I have recently been looking at some Nav software for my PocketPC that integrates with Outlook for addresses. Do you know if the Nav software you are using will do this?