Electric Bill's Van-Puter does his Dodge Caravan proud

"There's this big space between the seats -- wonder what I should do with it?" You know how the story goes. Electric Bill's answer was to slap a MicroATX case down there, put a printer up above it, and bolt a 17-inch LCD to the dash. He even worked in a bit of GPS, possibly the most useful bit of the whole assembly. There's an extra battery to provide power, though it can sap juice from Bill's 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan as needed. In addition to the obvious on-the-road frag sessions this modification allows, we hear it also makes a great last-minute Valentine's Day surprise for that special soccer mom in your life.

[Jeremy K. @ Feb 14th 2008 11:51AM]

Yay! I've always wanted to get into a car accident.

[Ignatius @ Feb 14th 2008 11:57AM]

Thankfully, when cars are able to drive themselves, we won't have to worry about paying complete and total attention to the road. Here's hoping...

[Blackstar @ Feb 14th 2008 12:14PM]

Ok, is it just me, or is anyone else wondering what the @#$& he needs to print going 85 on the highway?!?

Does he need to give the cop who pulled him over a receipt for the $500 dollar ticket he's going to get for surfing while driving?

[kev @ Feb 14th 2008 12:13PM]

I'm sorry Dave, I can't drive you there.

[John @ Feb 14th 2008 12:18PM]

I really want to know what is so important that you have to look at a friggin computer screen while driving. At my job, I have to stare at a monitor for 9 hours daily. Driving a car is beauty rest for my eyes.

[Secret Squirrel @ Feb 14th 2008 2:36PM]

Someone's spending a little too much time in their car ;)

[Andir3.0 @ Feb 14th 2008 12:35PM]

@John: You have to get that last minute bid in! You can't let someone steal that "must have" item out from under your nose at the last minute!

[wireless.nemo @ Feb 14th 2008 1:01PM]

Carputers are supposed to be used for GPS, Bluetooth, Media centers, Backup cameras, car monitoring, etc. I don't know why you guys act like he's gonna use this thing for surfing the web while driving.

So I take it none of you have or ever will get a navigation in your car? --- yeah.. I thought so.

[Jeremy K. @ Feb 14th 2008 2:51PM]

@wireless.nemo
Hrmm... let me think. MAYBE BECAUSE HE'S GOT MY.YAHOO.COM LOADED IN THE PICTURE.

[Andir3.0 @ Feb 14th 2008 11:55AM]

No touchscreen? Lame.

[John Johnson @ Feb 14th 2008 11:58AM]

Carputers are OLD news. And I do mean OLD. I have one in my PT (well, had, before I recently totaled it) - handy, but a touchscreen is a must.

[Jorvay @ Feb 14th 2008 12:05PM]

was the inclusion of a computer and the totaling of the car a coincidence?

[midiwall @ Feb 14th 2008 2:02PM]

Ditto... I have more than this in my bug:

http://www.midiwall.com/bug/#carpc

[Jonathan @ Feb 14th 2008 11:59AM]

I do enough terribly risky things while I drive...

I would undoubtedly die with this in my car. I would hope that it wasn't mentioned as a cause of death in my obituary although I suspect it would make engadget.

[Joshua @ Feb 18th 2008 7:49PM]

It seems to be more tech inside a car,also it leads to traffic violation.

[Jonathan @ Feb 14th 2008 2:31PM]

That's so getting stolen the second you're in a bad area.

[bondsbw @ Feb 14th 2008 12:07PM]

Law enforcement has been doing this for years, but anyone can get those mounts and docks for their laptop or computer setups.

I help set them up regularly for police, and they can be a big hassle. And if you want a passenger to ride with you, these setups aren't the way to go.

They are generally unsafe during an accident, and they can be distracting (leading to a higher likelihood of getting into an accident in the first place). There's alot of bare metal that can get shoved through someone due to an airbag deployment, so in many cases the airbag is removed before installing these systems, leaving the passenger without a critical safety device. As if a bulky laptop/monitor/keyboard flying around the car wasn't bad enough.

[Devin @ Feb 14th 2008 12:21PM]

Most things are unsafe during an accident.

[Andir3.0 @ Feb 14th 2008 12:33PM]

I keep a pointed steal bar in my backseat just in case there are not enough dangerous objects flying around when I get into an accident.

[Andir3.0 @ Feb 14th 2008 12:36PM]

... damn, a good snarky comment foiled by a spelling oversight.

[Natedog @ Feb 14th 2008 1:20PM]

I didn't notice it until you pointed it out, but now that you have, I feel the need to make fun of you. It helps my self esteem. Here we go:

Yeah, and a steel bar would hurt too.

No hard feelings.

[Andir3.0 @ Feb 14th 2008 3:19PM]

None taken. I noticed it right after I hit submit :p

[Tim @ Feb 14th 2008 12:09PM]

Good 'ol XP...

[Kenneth @ Feb 14th 2008 12:19PM]

Cue the OS fanboys/haters in 3...2...

Imagine the look on the face of the cop when this guy gets pulled over watching porn. LCD cleaner in the glovebox, and no that is not 'printer paper'.

[bcollinstex @ Feb 14th 2008 12:19PM]

Talk about a very "unclassy" install.

And then I read "Caravan" and I understood.

[Mike @ Feb 14th 2008 12:25PM]

That setup would have been much more useful with something like a 9" or 12" touchscreen.

As for safety, that's easy: wire into the OBDII port and have the touchscreen become disabled when the car is moving or in gear, just like OEM systems.

[blueeyesm @ Feb 14th 2008 12:59PM]

I was thinking that too - or better yet - a slate tablet w/ a touch screen. Nothing more complicated than a DC to DC adapter for power and a stand to mount the tablet on. Used ones can be had for a good price.

His design needs a LOT more work.

[jimmy @ Feb 14th 2008 12:32PM]

WHY is this news worthy? I've had a 15" touchscreen LCD in my astro panel van for over a year now. I use a ram-mount with a vesa adapter, there is an entire industry for this, this is NOTHING NEW. mp3car.com, stupid

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f316/jizzajam/DVC00045.jpg

yey me, i'm the shit

[euclid @ Feb 14th 2008 12:34PM]

Any mod that makes a blowjob impossible while driving = crap in my books.

[Kenneth @ Feb 14th 2008 4:47PM]

Yeah but there's porn.

[JuggleNuts @ Feb 14th 2008 12:39PM]

Wow. Some dude put a computer in his car. I'm amazed. Frontpage news.

[Bill Law @ Feb 14th 2008 12:48PM]

Wow... this one really does play doom!!!

Oh..... I'm so sorry.....

[Allen @ Feb 14th 2008 1:09PM]

It'd be a sweet idea, if you could fit dual 8800GTs and a QX9750 in it. MicroATC possibly to small though.

Anyway, yah, carputers are old news.

[Dale @ Feb 14th 2008 1:26PM]

Dude, where's my Firefox?

He calls himself a geek and he's using IE???

[michael @ Feb 14th 2008 7:21PM]

Excuse me, but just because you don't like IE7, doesn't mean it's complete crap.

IE7 may not be the best, but it's a pretty ok browser. At least give him credit for using the latest version, IE6 is horrible.

While I'm not saying other browsers aren't better in some way, I still think IE7 is way more streamlined and simple to use, has the best built-in RSS feeds, awesome tabbed browsing, and add-ons are pretty good for the most part.

So please don't flame other browsers. It's just a browser for pete sakes.

[Dale @ Feb 14th 2008 7:39PM]

Calm down dear. When did I say anything bad about IE?

[crow610 @ Feb 14th 2008 1:30PM]

"you're in a Jonny cab, please state your destination"

[Mark @ Feb 14th 2008 2:19PM]

He can use it to read the news report about his auto accident while he's still sitting on the side of the road.

[OneLove @ Feb 14th 2008 3:10PM]

I took a cab in Minneapolis and the driver was watching a pirated copy of ratatouille on a 17 inch laptop, while he drove. lol.

[kal326 @ Feb 14th 2008 3:18PM]

Wonder which one crashes first, the car or the computer....