Extra Connectivity.
By now we’ve essentially gone through everything that’s needed to create a basic Carputer both from a hardware and software perspective.
But a Carputer has the potential to do a lot more these days, there are a number of different ways you can gain extra connectivity and increase the usability of your machine.
WiFi.
Be it via an internal card or a USB adapter, getting WiFi connectivity for your Carputer shouldn’t be an issue. The main reason for this is so that you can easily transfer your music and video files from your home PC to the Carputer without the need for an external hard disk or lots of CD-R’s. It’ll also allow you to easily install security updates and additional software on your PC while you’re in range of your home broadband router.
The only problem with WiFi is that you’re unlikely to be able to connect to anything when you’re not at home. Most home broadband routers will have a security code, and even if they don’t accessing someone else’s broadband is both wrong and illegal (without their permission at least).
3G / MiFi.
A better way to get internet access on your Carputer is to look into either a 3G dongle or a MiFi router. Both of these devices will allow you to connect to the internet using the mobile data network, so providing you’re in range of a mobile phone signal you’ll maintain internet access.
This is great if you want to use things like Google Maps to plan routes, or if you need to access any other websites while on the move.
The only downside is that these types of connections often come with bandwidth limits which you may find end up costing you a lot of money if you use the connection all of the time.
GPS.
As well as connecting to the internet, you can also use your Carputer to connect to GPS satellites and turn your machine into a fully functional sat-nav.
There are plenty of USB devices available which are capable of tracking these satellites. You can then use a Windows application (such as Centrafuse, mentioned on the last page) to get turn by turn navigation. Combined with an internet connection over 3G you can even get real time traffic reporting.