I know this has been covered a million times, but i want to put a computer in my car... Computers are my life and career and i want to do it just to show off and to... uhhh... well sniff wireless networks

The problems people talk about are thermal issues, well thats not a big deal, ill be putting a special Intel 1U rack mount case and hanging it in the trunk, right below the trunk springs, with a little anti-shock system i rigged up, so the hard drive does not take a dump... power is not an issue, im moding a APC Smart-UPS to do the job of power conditioning and smart shutdowns when the car shuts off...

BUT!! I still dont have a display solution. I know dude with the Pioneer 7000 in his dash (http://www.acura-tl.com/forum/showth...threadid=48272) has something like what i want, but im looking for a touch screen, motorized (maby) display with VGA inputs to stick in the spot below the climate control... anyone have any ideas??? the closest i found was some 7" mountable touchscreen but they want $1200 for it and thats BS... and id have to drill holes in my dash...

-Shear

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Darkshear
'99 TLP Satin Silver
JL 500/1, 300/4
JL 10W3's
Boston Z6's
TL-S Steering Wheel
Custom Ambient blue lighting
...And a BIG mod wish list
=====================

 

I am like you, i'm working on a computer project too...now all i need is to work on the $$$ project. I was planning to get a indash, but 7 inch? Common...you can do jack ****. So i decided to go with a slim 15" LCD monitor. Have a mounting arm for it...it's been done, so it's not that complex. You can get a 15" touch screen for $700 i think, or you can buy a touch screen add-on to LCD that do not have touch screen for about $300-400. Bigger and Cheaper than motorized

 

Besides sniffing wireless networks you could also turn it into a NAVI.

But why go through the expense of this (besides just to be able to say you have it)? What's wrong with a nice laptop? I'm sure you could mount it to the console somehow.

 

i'm an IT/MIS Administrator and have been entertaining this idea as well

one solution I've had in mind has been to implement the new XP Tablet OS from Microsoft into a car setup for the system can have voice recognition and command capabilities

have any of you seen or worked with the new XP Tablet OS to know more about the viability of this solution?

 

But why go through the expense of this (besides just to be able to say you have it)? What's wrong with a nice laptop? I'm sure you could mount it to the console somehow.

Anyone ever considered the the computer units used by the police ? They are rugged, have colored screens bigger than 7", runs on Windows, and are hard mounted to the car (and there is also a possibility that Navi DVD will work with it)

http://www.motorola.com/publicsafety/40-40.shtml

Just not sure about the pricing....

 

If all you want is to do wireless sniffing you can do that with an ipaq a wirelss card and the right software. That sounds alot easier than your setup.

 

Well wireless sniffing isnt the only thing i wanna do, navi, mp3, anything...

AcuraTLFan - where the hell am i gunna mount a 15" flat panel? I dirve a TL not an H2

i want somethign discrete, i dont need a "steal me" sign viewable from my windshield...

Lew - hmmm.... good idea... cept i dont think you could rig navi in to it... and again, where would i mount it?

God toys are so hard to come by (or build) these days...

 

iPaq w/GPS module would do it. It plays MP3 and can hold lots of info .

Also, it can have a wireless card at the same time as a GPS module. Also, it's Windows based.

Lastly, it can be transported from car to teh house and so forth in a matter of seconds. Ideally, you'd want a locking stand to restrain it from theft .

If all else fails, you can use it as your "Palm" aka appointment book :d / daily planner.

 

I have researched this to death and found the easiest, most cost effective, and reliable solution is a good laptop and a mouting bracket on the passenger side of the center console. When sniffing networks (if thats what you desire to do) you would appreciate the fact you could go mobile with the laptop just in case you have a weak signal

 

You could still get a ipaq and get a small vga out Compact Flash card and than u could play mp3's and etc
But u couldnt get a 40 gb into a small ipaq and also Navi will cost u more money...

Wait till next year. End of next year there will be lots and lots of Tablet PC's going Public and they will have lots of programs..

 

I was thinking about a ipaq. You could get a pretty good ipaq and the program only cost about 100 bucks and that it. Navi and iPaq in one. You can use it daily or on trips. That is what I'm doing. When I get a new car I will get the Navi factory installed. Im still kicking my self in the ass for not getting it.

Mr
03 ABP TL-S
New Jersey

 

Guys,

I know an iPaq will do it, i have two of them. I want a full based PC in my car. I want to get in my car and not know its there. I want BSD, 2K and RedHat on it, i want to be able to run ANYTHING on it... i dont care how i do it, but i will damnit

the entire project is done, i have the PC and UPS and wiring all ready to go, just need the screen...

-Shear

 

I may sound stupid but what do you mean by sniffing?

 

Basically tapping in to other peoples unsecured wireless networks...

 

You could get the new ipaq 5450 or another PPC With built in wifi/bluetooth and use the new GPS Bluetooth which works by sending bluetooth signals to the PDA.. Which means no wires to the pda, so I could put the GPS Device in my trunk and have the ipaq in the front and it would work.. ITS COOL!

 

Or likes lots of Airports and cafes and metropolitan areas have Wireless internet free for the public just because there nice.. ITS NICE!

 

I bought a Xenarc screen ($550). Turns out it's too thick to fit in the space. So I'm molding a thinner backplate. I'm looking at two possibilities to mounting it:
1. A holding arm from the trey area, push screen down for climate
2. motorize it using screw shaft
if both don't work, I'll end up putting it in my bro's celica.

Darkshear, is there anything tricky about using the APC?
Do you plan to run USB2 throughout the car?

 

Andy!!!
I was lookin at that Xenarc screen, the touch version, your right, too big!!! let me know if you get that to work!!!

As for the UPS, its serial, not USB, and since the computer will be in the trunk and so will the UPS, its not a big deal for the cable... Im powering the UPS (which in turn is powering the computer) by tapping the power lines for the sount system in installed, and using a DC to AC converter... the UPS will clean the power from the converter, and give the computer clean power... when the car turns off, the ups kicks in, the Smart-UPS software tells the computer to power off, then it powers off the UPS. gotta love APC!!! then when the car is started again, the UPS will kick on automaticaly, and the computer will too (most new ATX systems will reboot after power failure if set in the BIOS) all in all im really suprised it works, already tested it... everyone else was trying to figure it out.. Writing scripts, custom switches, this was easy...

 

I still don't understand the "sniffing"??

Sorry to be so clueless, but what will you do with other peoples unsecured networks? Please provide some scent/sense of what will be sniffed and the real world applications of doing this, as well as the importance of sniffing from the car?

 

Basically he can drive around and if your wireless network is unprotected he can steal your data/software/ personal info anything that he can get access to. No real world applications .... just for the fun of it (I hope!)... its like modding your car... are the extra 5-20hp really needed.... NO !! but we will do it anyway !!!

TLS RULZ

 

EXACTALY!!! BECAUSE WE CAN MWAHAHAHAHAH!!!

 

Unless you are a real wireless hacking freak... With a lot of custom software ...I think this is a tough road...

Also 99% of the time any wireless device or even Cable modems/Broad band device uses a kind of encrypting stanadrad like DES-56 or RSA cphyre.

 

Check out my solution:
http://www.swooby.com/z/navpc/
I will be posting more pictures once I get the computer re-mounted in the car this weekend.

I am just finishing up the actual computer part, and will soon be looking in to the wireless solution.
I am presently inclined to use Verizon's "Express Network".
It's gives an average of 40Kbps-60Kbps, with bursts up to >100Kbps.

Pv

 

WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy), the current encryption standard for WiFi, is supposedly pretty easy to break. And the percentage of wireless networks using WEP is actually pretty low. Probably under 50%. It takes some effort to set up WEP, and since WiFi comes out-of-the-box with it turned off, many users don't bother to turn it on.

Follow this link for a description of WEP: http://www.itsecurity.com/dictionary/wep.htm

As for broadband, I have that, and I have never heard of any kind of encryption for it? Unless you mean surfing the web over https (which is encrypted via SSL), but then anyone, broadband or dial-up, can do that if the website supports it.

 

damn this thread is old.... but thanks for the update!