Car PC project

["Paul Gordon" <paul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Right, having just about got over the screen-lust I had for the Lilliput
screens that the LinITX boys were showing at UKHA2004 last week, I've
pretty
much determined that I'd like to build a PC for the car.

I've already been thinking about some of the logistics, and started
searching around various car PC websites for information/inspiration etc...
what I'm after from you guys is any top tips from anyone here who's already
done it...

I reckon I'm going to mount the base in the boot, right next to the CD
multichanger, since I reckon there will be easy access to both power &
audio
input to the car stereo. I don't yet know if there are actually AUX inputs
available either at the changer or at the head unit, but the head unit is
not a standard DIN size, and getting behind it would probably involve
removing most of the dash (at least thats the way it looks..). I'm thinking
that I should be able to splice into the output from the changer and use
just the single CD input for either the changer or the PC... - sound
feasible?

I plan to use the very smallest case I can get,  - which I guess will be
one
of the Travla's at the moment.. In terms of hardware, I'm reasonably
certain
I want it to have a built-in 54g WiFi card in it, so whenever I park up
outside the house I can be on the house network for MP3 up/downloads etc.
I'm also reasonably certain I want bluetooth so I can use my bluetooth
headset as a mic. - but here's a question... - should I be able to use the
headset as a mic. input only, whilst still routing the audio line-out via
the soundcard, to go via the car stereo?

Do any of the mini ITX boards have either WiFi or Bluetooth built-in? - or
would I have to add them via USB or PCMCIA cards? (I know there's a board
with a built-in PCMCIA slot available...)

I definately will want a GPS receiver, - but haven't decided on wheter to
go
wired or Bluetooth for that... - any recommendations?. I'm naturally
reticent to go the BT route, since my experiences with BT have been not
entirely encouraging...

I definately don't want to have any kind of keyboard or mouse in the car,
so
the only control would be via the touchsreen, and potentially by
voice-recognition as well... - anyone have any expreience/recommendations
re
VR in a car environment? - and doing it via a BT headset to boot! _ I don't
expect a very sophisticated VR operation, - just simple stuff akin to the
voice-dialling feature of a mobile phone, (which seems to work OK for me in
the above scenario).

The other thing I'd like to have is bumper mounted cameras for reverse
parking etc... - so I'd like recommendations for very small and very robust
cameras that would work OK in that situation.

Finally of course, I'd like all of this to be removable when I change the
car in a few years, so I don't want to make any irreversable/unrepairable
modifications to the car or the cockpit, - so no drilling holes through the
dash for instance! - any top tips for mounting things would be welcome!

And yes, I _know_ this is going to cost me a packet!!!

TIA

Paul G.