Well the only good thing about this is that the touchscreen is molded into the dash. If someone wants to steal it, it's only going to work in another Dodge. If it happens, it happens. There's really nothing you can do about it. That's just the world we live in nowadays...

 

I can't believe the price of that monitor! I shelled out $700+ for mine. Thanks for the link though; I may have to do some re-arranging of my setup.


Oh - and re: using the internet from the road:

You can connect a cell modem with the $50/mo data plan and have decent speed ( ~50k/sec) internet anywhere there's cell service.

 

I must say that my wife will now harbor great hatred for you...

I already plan on rebuilding my main home PC and was wondering whatI would do with all of those spare parts... voila!!

 

Very nice indeed!

My wifes old toshiba came with an optional cigrette lighter power plug, and she wants a new laptop...hummm

I was diggin the crazy screen saver until you said it was plastic wrap.

 

Oh yeah, this won't score any points with the wife, that's for sure. I'm on the brink of divorce if I don't get this thing done pretty soon. lol.... She knows how I get, and just calls me on my days off to see if I plan on spending it with her, or with my other baby, and until I get this done, my days off are devoted to the computer. She gets me on Thanksgiving, I think it's a fair trade!

 

Geezzz..... Well, I guess this is my fault, but damn....

About an hour ago, my wife called me during her lunch break. We were talking, and she asked what I was doing. I told her I was working on the bezel for the touchscreen. She said, "You did test that thing before you tore it all apart didn't you?" Well, come to think of it, no I didn't. Geezz, I'm an idiot. Well, I wasn't too worried, and I hooked it up to the computer. The monitor powered on fine and looked great.... I installed the touch screen software, and it said to plug the touch screen in, so I did, nothing... The computer doesn't notice that anything is being plugged in. A quick test with the volt meter, and yep, the USB port on the touchscreen is bad.... I checked the connections inside the monitor, everything looks good, but somewhere from the touch plate to the usb port, somethings gone bad. Damn. Well, the front of this monitor is now permenantly part of a dash bezel, so returning it is not an option... Oh well, guess I'll order another one, swap the good guts with the bad guts, and exchange and get another good one for a spare. Too much of a hurry to get started, oh well... Guess I learned that lesson. At least I can continue work on the bezel while I wait on the new touch screen to get here...

 

Wow thats a major bummer. But still, the project wont stop. As long as you devote some good time to both your baby, and your wife, things will work out for the positive. Keep up the work and good luck with the new screen.

 

uh oh, I just showed the wife your post and build and she thinks its cool

 

Since work on my bezel has hit a stand still for the moment (Cold outside, and the dynotron won't set up right, and the wife won't let me work on it inside the house) I've been working on getting the computer configured and ready to go. Thought you guys would like to see a couple screen shots:

Home Screen:



Sirius Screen:



GPS Screen:



I've gotten a little work done on the bezel, but not a lot. I'm trying to get one side looking good, and then move to the other side.... Hopefully when I get the left side done, the right side will be easy...

 

sweeet!