The car PC idea I think is a cool one which could be integrated for such things as MP3 playback, GPS, in car systems monitoring. I used to write computer programs for a living and in my spare time played around alot with C, C++, DirectX which pretty much makes it real easy for me to write a custom program for a PC with cool graphics. Given that your probably going to use the onboard video that comes with the motherboard the graphics can't take advantage of alot of cool DirectX stuff but for an in car PC the graphics I could write would be pretty cool. You also have to consider that the smaller monitor size means a lower resolution as well. I have allready started my quest to complete this project by purchasing a computer board that connects to a computer through USB and allows you to input 5 digital signal and 2 analogue signals to your computer and allows you to output 8 digital signals and 2 analogue signals. I also built and sold PC's for a few years so I should have all the parts I'd need lying around except for a power supply and a touch screen monitor. About 20 years ago I tought myself enough about digital electronics to make this digital spedometer which mounted above the windshield of my old chevy van in the overhead console and a 2 digit display hung down and showed my speed in mph. I don't think PC's had even been invented then and if they had then it was still the days of DOS and C:> Although the USB board has limited inputs and outputs when it says their are 8 digital outputs if you know digital electronics then you can actually use those outputs to trigger 64 32 16 8 4 3 2 1 = 127 different relays. It's a little more complicated than that and the one downside is that you can't turn 2 relays on or off at precisly the same instant in time. Since the board only has 2 analogue inputs you need some sort of way to cycle through all the analogue signals that you want to input. A multiplexor will allow us to cycle through a bunch of different analogue signals it's basically just a big switch with one output and several different inputs. For now all I have in the car is a heads up display that I got off ebay but one of these days I'd like to monitor the car with a PC and display everything digitally.
I'm debating on using an older laptop or going with a micro itx mobo I'm going to find out soon! BTW! if you're considering doing this and you want to have additional LCD displays or primary LCD displays CHEAP consider the Sony PSOne LCD screen they can be picked up for as little as 40 bucks... some times even with a Sony PSOne! I recently picked up a screen which came with a PSOne, Battery Controller and Memory card for 50 bucks! Not sure if I'm going to leave the screen in tact or not... dun dun duhhh!
no way I just built 4 of those exact usb experimental boards at work. Then we heavily modified one and pretty much cut and redesigned it to fit in a smaller package
im thiunkin of an xbox running the a program in linux so i can switch to tune it play movies and stuff