Install An Xbox/Linux Media System In Your Car 248
AltGrendel writes "Bored during those rush-hour traffic jams? An enterprising UK geek has installed an Xbox/Linux system in his car. With a mod chip, Freevo, a LogiTech Wingman, and a 40 gig hard drive, he has access to music, video, and games during drive time. Details and pictures are here."
car crashes? (Score:5, Insightful)
I hope he has an airbag (Score:5, Insightful)
Ideal use for an xbox (Score:2, Insightful)
Details? (Score:3, Insightful)
A damn cool project though. I'll bet MS would be proud to see thier XBOX used in such a versitle way. They should get some bright ideas from this.
Re:car crashes? (Score:4, Insightful)
comparison (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Details? (Score:5, Insightful)
The would be happy to see that thier is an emerging market for the same use in automobiles. The problem is that there are not enough Gangsta Rappers to make this sector popular. Maybe the minivan crowd will provide enough motivation for them to make the push into developing mobile consoles.
Funny how kids and gansta rappers are the only ones interested in playing video games in thier cars.
Re:extremely dangerous (Score:3, Insightful)
Not to be an asshole, but seriously - you'd have to be a retard to try to watch a movie (or play a video game) and drive at the same time...
My roommate's got a hacked system so it CAN play DVDs, but christ, he's not stupid enough to do it while DRIVING!
oh please (Score:5, Insightful)
The same moron will die when he tries use WAP to buy a book from Amazon while cruising the Autobahn at 120
Honestly though, if your "cousin" had died while doing this, i'd recm'd you submit his story [darwinawards.com] here. I'd sure vote for him.
-malakai
Future Litigation... (Score:4, Insightful)
Not especially exciting (Score:5, Insightful)
To those who don't know what these are: they convert the car's (roughly) 12V to mains voltage so the XBox's PSU can drop it down again to the voltages the XBox wants -- probably 12V again.
This means that when he starts the car, the XBox will turn off.
You need a DC-DC converter in order to stop the machine turning off when you start the car, as the car's 12V can drop to as low as 7V.
Look at my page to see how to build a DC-DC power supply. I've had a speaking, GPS-enabled Linux computer system running in my car for a couple of years. I turn when I get in the car, and only turn it off if I will be parking for over six hours, even though it takes about 25 seconds to start up.
(And another thing: if anyone is tempted to build one of these using standard PC components, please don't use a full size keyboard!! You can pull the keyboard controller out and link in your own buttons directly. It just looks daft having a full size keyboard. Not mention ergonomics...)