J.P. Stewart - A new hobby: putting Windows XP in your car

Posted By: The Channel 9 Team | Oct 20th, 2004 @ 6:40 PM | 142,543 Views | 34 Comments
This is a different kind of video. It's not of someone talking about a Microsoft product.

It's about a Microsoft employee's hobby.

We think you'll find his hobby to be pretty darn interesting, though. He tore apart his car, put Windows XP, WiFi, GPS, and other things, into his car, and put it all back together.

While we featured only one guy's car, J.P. Stewart, he's actually started a "carPC club" on campus and he knows a few dozen people who are working on similar customization projects.

He has also started a "CarPC blog." His blog has many photos and tips for those of you who are trying to customize your own cars in this way.

Some cool stuff J.P. has already built into his car:

1) RSS News Aggregator for receiving audio "Podcasts" (between the filming of this video and today, he built the software to do that).

2) Integration with the new Streets and Trips 2005, so he always knows where he is, and how to get where he's going.

3) A cool Motorola cell phone that uses BlueTooth to keep him on the Internet whenever he's near the car.

4) A portable hard drive for playing his audio and video files.

Keep in mind that this is an enthusiast group that isn't building products.

Channel 9 has previously talked to the AutoPC group here at Microsoft -- they are the ones who are actually trying to build products for car manufacturers to include. It's fascinating to compare the approaches that these two groups are taking.

Thanks J.P. for sharing your incredible project with us! We are so jealous!
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#Oct 20th, 2004 @ 9:19 PM
Alien Venom
Alien Venom
Hello.
Unfortunately this kind of thing is illegal in California. Any type of screen that has the ability to play video is -- including laptops, mini LCD screens for DVD/VHS -- you name it. Sad So much for wardriving...

Another use for the computer (even here in CA, just keep the monitor off) is to completely map out (with GPS -- by triangulation) the exact locations of wireless access points. It might involve driving around a block or two but during a long period of time, one could completely map out his/her own neighborhood.
#Oct 20th, 2004 @ 10:14 PM
J.P
J.P
Yes, laws around this vary from state to state, and CA does have some strict ones. Here it depends on what is on the screen and what it is used for. For instance, I keep streets and trips running on the screen while driving as that is what the law requires me to do. (Navigation is the specific allowance for having a screen.)

J.P.
#Oct 21st, 2004 @ 3:05 AM
Nunki
Nunki
Heyho from Germany Smiley
Over here in good old europe, the so called CarPC or Carputer is becoming more and more famous. For about 1500$ you can have everything you want like GPS, DVD, Games, Internet, WiFi, MP3 and so on. Maybe you like to check out these pages : www.car-pc.info or www.cartft.com. Sorry for both pages beeing in German, but maybe you can use babelfish.
Cheers from the "old world"

Nunki
#Oct 21st, 2004 @ 4:40 AM
vwtom
vwtom
Hey JP - as far as OBD-II connections, check out Ross-Tech...but you may have to get a VW.

http://ross-tech.com/

Tom
#Oct 21st, 2004 @ 6:44 AM
znorc
znorc
Hello

I'm working on a CarPC for a school project. One of my goals is to have a working OBDII interface.

I'm a member of Saab Turbo Club of Sweden and several members have tried the ElmScan interface from http://www.scantool.net/ 

It should work with any OBDII capable car on the market, not only Saabs. And it's not that expensive, the cost is less than $100 Smiley


Fredrik
#Oct 21st, 2004 @ 6:55 AM
AnitaR
AnitaR
Robert, J.P., great video! I admit I was dubious when you first started the project, but it's really come a long way. Fun!
#Oct 21st, 2004 @ 8:42 AM
J.P
J.P
Awesome, thanks for the link. Also thanks to the other ODBII links as well. I am sure these will come in handy later on.

J.P.
#Oct 21st, 2004 @ 12:53 PM
Tejaaa
Tejaaa
Tejas Patel- The Great
That's awesome stuff J.P. Really inspiring.
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