Mac Mini as Car Stereo
Posted January 13th, 2005 @ 10:29pm by Erik J. Barzeski
I'd pay up to $1000 right now for a Mac mini with an LCD to replace the factory car stereo in my 2001 Pontiac Aztek. Screw having to use my iPod in the car - I'd have a little copy of iTunes complete with visuals. That'd be sweet!
That'd just be for the stereo! If I could display other information (maybe a text file containing directions, or some phone numbers). If any hardware company is interested in doing this, I'd be interested in writing the software interface for it. Wouldn't be hard - a music player (or use iTunes), a "note taker" and synchronizer, etc. Hmmmmm…
Donate Life
Posted 13 Jan 2005 at 11:36pm #
This guy I work with actually has a powerbook he scavenged from a dumpster in his car. He bought a touch screen LCD and mounted that in the dash and has the powerbook in the glove box. It's pretty spiffy. He wrote a quick full screen app for iTunes control that takes advantage of the touch screen. Perhaps cooles of all, with his bluetooth phone in his pocket, he listens to streaming radio in the car.
Posted 14 Jan 2005 at 5:09am #
that's sick. ...Din size never even occured to me when i saw the size of the mac mini.
...though really, having the imac in the place of the stereo would only be for looks... i'd rather have it hidden somewhere integrated into my stereo with an LCD somewhere viewable.
too bad all the cool installers are in NY right now. 🙂
Posted 14 Jan 2005 at 6:38am #
I bet the Dash PC (http://www.dashpc.com/) software could be easily ported to OS X.
Think of the possibilities: tunes, trip computer, GPS navigation - it's endless.
Great, now I want 3 minis! (1 to replace my Linux box, 1 to replace my iMac, and 1 for my car.)
Posted 14 Jan 2005 at 9:12am #
I've been thinking of putting a mini in my 350Z. It's either that, or find an iPod compatible headunit, and I'm not real happy with the Alpine/iPod unit in my truck.
Are there any good forums on putting PC's in cars? I don't want to waste my time solving problems that have already been solved.
Posted 14 Jan 2005 at 11:48am #
Ask and you shall receive?
Auto Enthusiasts Reved-up for New Mac Mini - Classic Restorations First to Offer Custom Mac Mini Auto Installations
The name Classic Restorations initially made me wonder if they would only work with older vehicles (hmm, let's throw a computer into this restored Model T...), but the press release doesn't indicate any such restrictions.
Posted 15 Jan 2005 at 2:12am #
I don't think that Mac OS X is well suited to being a carputer.... there is this feature of cars, that when you turn them off, the radio turns off... yeah, i don't think i'd remember to go and tell my mac to shut down before turning off my car... not to mention that i don't have instant on.
now if we could hack a 2nd battery to the macMini and have set it up to sleep when the main power is removed... then that would be sweet 😀
Posted 18 Jan 2005 at 12:36am #
Shizzle. And I don't even have CD player in my car yet!
Posted 18 Jan 2005 at 12:07pm #
Someone put a PC in their Passat, so I'm linking it for my knowledge in the future.
Posted 19 Jan 2005 at 8:23am #
There is a module you can purchase that hooks directly up to your ignition and your battery, that when you turn off the ignition, the module sends a signal to ACPI compliant systems to tell it to shutdown cleanly... check out carpc.com or something, I Cannot remember the url.
Posted 07 Jun 2005 at 7:32pm #
I think maybe you guys are not realizing what could be achived fairly easily using dashboad widgets, applescript and the terminal.