- display a standard NTSC or PAL video feed from the camera(s)
- display a computer screen from the GPS system
- provide interface to interact with the GPS system
- one “nice to have” that I am thinking about to include in the future: OBD-II car diagnostics
After a while of searching and reading up on the internet I decided to go with a Laptop as my base system. The advantages from a Laptop are very easy to understand:
+ designed for low power consumption
+ low noise emission
+ battery (for delayed shut down if needed)
+ comes with monitor and keyboard already attached
+ small ‘real estate’
(nice discussion on this topic)
The problem is that you don’t want to display a laptop all the time on your dashboard as it attracts thieves. Yet another problem is that the Laptop is not necessarily equipped to display video feed. You would need a tuner card or a video recorder card to get this displayed but there might be a time delay in video display when doing so. At this point I decided to not go the route of displaying video on a Laptop. For the added security I decided to go with an external touch screen monitor so the Laptop could be tugged away out of sight. The touch screen also allows the main interface functions with the laptop/software/GPS system.
Now the fun part started – looking for components. I am still in the process of sourcing some parts but I have the concept and main parts on hand. Here is a list with parts (all from ebay):
1) Dell Latitude C400 (very small) // about US$180 on eBay with official Win XP-Pro, Wireless card, 20 GB HD, 512 MB Ram, etc
2) VM84 - 8.4" 8" TFT LCD touch screen // about US$140, native resolution 800x600, 2 RCA video inputs, 1 audio input
3) Backup Camera // about US$40, 0 Lux infrared night vision, reverse color image, 2.8mm, 120 deg view
4) 2nd camera for Travel Trailer, preferred with audio, still looking
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