How far can you run a USB lead? Most seem quite sure and I'm sure I've seen something about not being able to go beyond 5m but that might of course be an urban myth.

If it turns out true though the price of ethernet or wifi cameras seems to have dropped a lot recently, and they're usually built for external use. Some even have motorised mounts, although quite why you'd want one, I'm not sure. Could be fun though.

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I built a car PC for my Landcruiser having obtained most of the components from LinITX in the UK.

It wasn't a cheap project, mainly because of the cost of the touch screen monitor. Using an old laptop instead of assembling a custom build PC would get the costs down considerably. Another option is to consider one of the new touch screen laptops such as the HP Pavilion-tx2050.

As for the PC components, the Intel Atom Processor (as used in low cost netbooks) is a good choice because of its very low power consumption and cool running temperature. These days it is possible to buy a mini ATX motherboard with an onboard CPU at very attractive prices. Just add a power supply, some RAM and a laptop hard drive. Mini cases are available made of thick aluminium to protect the assembly, although I've heard of people mounting the bare bones components behind the dash.

If using a laptop try to get a DC power supply instead of using an inverter as it will be much better for your battery. For a PC build you will need an automotive power supply. These are designed to spare the battery for starting the engine, before then powering up the PC. When shutting down, they put the PC into hibernation rather powering off. This allows faster boot times and also preserves the 'session', meaning that running applications stay open (important for GPS mapping). Moreover, such a power supply also controls the start up and shut down of the PC from the ignition switch.

For a number of reasons a USB webcam will probably prove inadequate as a reversing camera. They are designed to have a fairly narrow field of view, in order to focus on a subjects face when video conferencing, a wider field is preferable for reversing. In addition a 'reversed image' (i.e. flipped) is also useful. Webcam refresh rates can cause a moving image to be jerky. They are generally very bad in low light and may not be waterproof. A better solution is to use a good touch screen monitor with multiple AV inputs and auto switching. The reversing camera is hooked up directly to the monitor, bypassing the PC altogether. The cameras' power supply is taken from the reversing light and switches automatically when reverse gear is selected. It is also possible to hook up a 2nd forward facing camera for overtaking, especially useful with right hand drive.

Useful websites where you can get all your questions answered...
LinITX.com - Car PC Components
MP3Car.com - Mobile Computing Community
carputers.org | The ultimate carputer carpc portal - Blog your ride.

My spec as follows...
- VoomPC Automotive PC Enclosure
- M2-ATX-HV 6V-32V 140W Power Supply
- Intel D945GCLF2 Dual-Core Atom (Combined motherboard and CPU)
- 1 gb RAM
- Waterproof Colour CCD Rearview Camera - SEC204
- LinITX 10.2" Widescreen VGA/Composite Monitor with Touchscreen
- Mini USB keyboard

Software
- Centrafuse frontend
- Memory Map
- Garmin Mapsourse

GPS
- Globalsat BU353 USB GPS Receiver
- Garmin 176c

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Paul Driver
www.guesswhereweare.co.uk

Maybe you guys would like this sort of thing.
Also looks like it might be a good way to protect a netbook used in a bike.

MiniMount - Home

John

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Nostradamus Ate My Hamster