KNGT offers up Windows XP-powered icom MK1 carputer

We genuinely hope you don't value your dash very much, because a great deal of it will vanish if you opt to install KNGT's icom MK1.The full-fledged car computer wows passengers and drivers alike with its 6.95-inch 800 x 480 resolution display, on-screen QWERTY keyboard, wireless connectivity and mobile TV (T-DMB) tuner. Furthermore, you'll find a 40GB / 80GB hard drive, upwards of 2GB of RAM, a few USB 2.0 ports, a 1.6GHz Intel CPU and Windows XP running the show. You know all those threats you made when you were younger about heading out and just living in your '79 Riviera? Following through just got a whole lot easier.

[Via Coolest-Gadgets]

[retro77 @ Jul 31st 2008 2:45PM]

The only way I would install this is if.......never mind, I would never install this....

[Steffen Jobbs @ Jul 31st 2008 3:03PM]

You can't get more of a rush than driving at 100 m.p.h. while browsing on the internet. Just pray you don't run into traffic while checking out your favorite porn site. And to think that some cities have laws against drivers using a common cellphone while behind the wheel. I say that they should make heads-up displays mandatory for vehicles.

[pt0ne @ Jul 31st 2008 4:59PM]

I have a carputer in my Scion tC. Mine is custom built though. Most
people that use carputers use car specific software to cover up the
Windows UI. This software is generally refered to as a "Front End".
Here is a video of mine using Streetdeck as the front end software.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyhDfOH60nk

Oh BTW carputers use hibernation that triggers when the key is turned
off or on. The average boot time for me is around 12 sec from ignition
to music.

[Freakin Ijit @ Jul 31st 2008 8:04PM]

> ...You can't get more of a rush than driving at 100 m.p.h. while browsing
> on the internet. Just pray you don't run into traffic while checking out your
> favorite porn site...

Ain't legal in Virginia:

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+46.2-1077

[Haikibutsu @ Jul 31st 2008 2:45PM]

Um... Is that drive Solid State? Because I don't think conventional ones are good in a car.

[The Dude @ Jul 31st 2008 2:54PM]

Especially if you're putting this in a Buick Riviera. You might damage your HDD speeding away from a drive-by.

[kal326 @ Jul 31st 2008 3:03PM]

@The Dude
Yeah but just think how confused they would be if you put a gold 80GB on the front fender instead of a 22

[Sandra @ Jul 31st 2008 5:05PM]

Normal HDD's work just fine in cars, i've had a 2.5" drive in my car PC for like 3 years now with no issues and some people have done it with far less durable 3.5" desktop HDD's, and of course if you really wanted to they make extreme duty standard drives specificaly for in car use and military aplications.

Once you have a Car PC it's painfull going back to normal headunits and having to swap CD's and stuff.

[Brad @ Jul 31st 2008 8:30PM]

Hitachi makes a laptop hard drive with 325G vibration and 1000G shock tolerances.

If you're getting more than 1000Gs out of your car, you must be driving one zippy little space ship. And no, adding a spoiler to your Integra does not make it push 1000Gs.

https://oyendigital.com/hard-drives/store/NN2-54-160-IHI.html

[jonnyb1952 @ Jul 31st 2008 10:19PM]

Yeah... you know, because pmps with harddrives dont work in cars either.... *headpalm* I cannot believe I just waisted the time to comment

[neofolklore @ Aug 1st 2008 8:48AM]

okay.... you know harddrives can work in excess of a few G's ? I had a western digital that said "warranty void is used in excess of 5Gs" which would only be a problem for a rocket launch.


yes, IF one of the contact heads comes in touch with a platter then it will scratch the fuck out of your data, but they generally don't. Hard drive controllers usually die first.

[martin @ Jul 31st 2008 2:49PM]

i've always wondered about boot times with a car pc, wouldnt you have to start it up and select all your music and whatever then drive off, seems a waste of time. and standby would drain the battery

[nathan @ Jul 31st 2008 5:20PM]

umm hibernation...

[ds @ Jul 31st 2008 3:41PM]

If you have always wondered, then why have you never taken a few minutes out of your life to find the answers?

Lazy and ignorant.

People have been using these things for ~10 years so I think they have figured out to not leave the PC on while they car is not running. The current power supplies in carpcs can automatically boot and shutdown the pc with your ignition.

Also, they can be up and running faster than aftermarket navigation systems made by Pioneer and others so it really isn't a hassle waiting to get some music, gps, movies, etc ready for the drive.

[Pavan @ Jul 31st 2008 4:00PM]

I thought his question was valid...god forbid he have enough faith in the commenters here to ask a question... much better than all those know it all armchair MENSA members.

Try not to be a douche next time.

[Pavan @ Jul 31st 2008 4:01PM]

I thought his question was valid...god forbid he have enough faith in the commenters here to ask a question... much better than all those know it all armchair MENSA members.

Try not to be a douche next time.

[ds @ Jul 31st 2008 4:07PM]

not trying to be an armchair MENSA member.. i just dont get the rationale of "Ive always wondered" when the information could have been had with tiny effort.. why wonder about things when you can actually know?

And if he would have just asked, I probably would have answered.. I'm just annoyed by stupid lazy people that say things they have no idea about.

[Duke @ Jul 31st 2008 5:16PM]

Him not knowing about it would be the point of him asking a question. So you only approve of questions by people who know the answer? Nice.

Anyway, I think the idea of a car computer is just a total waste. It also seems to be a bad idea if you live in the city. Why give another reason to break into your car for something that you probably wouldn't use that much.

[josh @ Jul 31st 2008 6:43PM]

I have to go with ds on this. You guys are defending this guy as if he actually asked a question. Read his comment. He didn't really ask a question unless you count "wouldnt you have to start it up and select all your music and whatever then drive off". I think if he would've actually asked the boot time he would've got a general answer. His statement was completely rhetorical. Read it again if you disagree. He stated "and standby would drain the battery" which is completely stupid and caused the snarky comments.

[Paulmichael @ Jul 31st 2008 9:22PM]

Hmm, idk ds, wouldn't asking a question on Engadget qualify as a "tiny effort?"

[ds @ Aug 1st 2008 1:53PM]

Yeah idk.. I guess I was a bit rude, but honestly I read and re-read that comment a few times, and it does not seem like a question to me at all.

Here is my analogy -

"i've always wondered about the surface temperature of mars, wouldnt it be neat if we could live there, seems like it. and its red so that means its really hot"

Is that a valid question? To me it is not.. I guess the distinction is if a person read that and had no knowledge of mars, then they may think it was a valid question about the surface temp of mars. Any person reading it with a passing knowledge of the subject would be pretty annoyed at the stupidity which would prompt smart ass replies like this guy got.

[bobtheHDbuilder @ Jul 31st 2008 2:50PM]

I'll take a mac mini in my glove box....k thanks.

[phecker @ Jul 31st 2008 4:41PM]

Most vehicles have a double din stereo already so it's not like you have to cut a gaping hole in your dash to mount this. You just remove the old one and looking at the picture it would fit perfectly. Most in dash navigation systems are this big or bigger.

[anonymouspimp @ Jul 31st 2008 2:59PM]

you're welcome?

[BlowURmindBowel @ Jul 31st 2008 4:02PM]

Have fun mounting a 15" LCD on your dash...

And not getting a ticket for it every time you are pulled over.

k, thanks.

[bobtheHDbuilder @ Jul 31st 2008 4:44PM]

Why on earth would you get a ticket? Cars come with factory nav screens....

Oh, and they make 7" touchscreens (8" too)

k thanks!

[ZER0Hz @ Jul 31st 2008 2:51PM]

Def. want this.

I wonder if I could get it to run OS x86?

[andres @ Jul 31st 2008 3:11PM]

what benefit would you gain.

[icepop4who @ Jul 31st 2008 3:39PM]

OS x86? Windows XP is a x86 OS. which one do you want? Windows 9x, windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Vista?

[d @ Jul 31st 2008 4:04PM]

@icepop4who

he wants the obvious one, the one which you are ignoring because you are an ignorant BEEP and you are prejudice against mac users.

[Lazarpandar @ Jul 31st 2008 8:40PM]

Sorry I couldn't understand that sentence because for some reason you were censored

[Benson @ Aug 1st 2008 10:25AM]

/me scratches his head

How does being an ignorant feep and prejudiced against the McUsers (along with about 80% of Scotland, btw) explain leaving out Linux?

[kal326 @ Jul 31st 2008 2:52PM]

I hope that was XP Media Center edition otherwise you wouldn't we able to listen to the radio if the TV tuner included supported FM tuning. That is only really an issue if you were actually planning on using the device as a radio in addition to a carputer. I actually listen to the morning radio then switch over to my own music on my zune, so the ability to be able to actually use the device as a radio would be of some value to me.

[retro77 @ Jul 31st 2008 3:00PM]

I see what you did there....carputer.

[OneLove @ Jul 31st 2008 3:16PM]

am surprised he didn't say carbook.

[Jadawin @ Aug 31st 2008 10:05AM]

iCarBook. :)

[Dinsdale Pirahna @ Jul 31st 2008 6:57PM]

My Carputer has a usb TV/FM Tuner and my frontend software interfaces with it to give me my presets.

[kal326 @ Jul 31st 2008 2:54PM]

Huh, the read link appears to be chinese....and random ascii...so much for more details.

[dLeet @ Jul 31st 2008 3:19PM]

That would be Korean - TYVM.

[Towncivilian @ Jul 31st 2008 5:04PM]

You're welcome very much.

[PoisonEye @ Jul 31st 2008 2:56PM]

I blow my nose at you, so-called Arthur King, you and all your silly English KNGTs

[kjb434 @ Jul 31st 2008 3:04PM]

Fechez La Vache!

[Rick @ Jul 31st 2008 7:45PM]

Allons-y!

What?

Let's go!

..OK.

[d889 @ Jul 31st 2008 2:57PM]

i'd use it, gps, pandora (yes, please), mabye it can even hook into OBDII

[OneLove @ Jul 31st 2008 3:14PM]

PC at work, PC at home, even PC in my phone. PC in my car? Nah, I'll leave that one alone.

[d @ Jul 31st 2008 4:06PM]

Mac at work, Mac at home, Mac on my phone. Mac in my car? Yes please, but much more unlikely.

[Jay @ Jul 31st 2008 4:33PM]

@d

I had this idea of using iPhone/iPod Touch for the 'HU' though. I've been looking through many carputer forums and people have used UMPCs and tablets as HU. My thing is that I don't want something that'll suck up a lot of energy and iPhones are pretty much a miniature Mac. I think it also helps that it's all touchscreen so you don't have keyboard showing. It's phone (bluetooth mic?), GPS and media steamer (external hard drive). I think it'll be neat to be able to get stuff from my home puter via wifi and save it into the external drive (if OS would permit such thing?). Clearly I need to plan a lot more before I do it haha.

This is a project for next March. Hopefully I can get it integrated in well.

[Matt @ Jul 31st 2008 3:20PM]

Anyone know any more details? Mainly, how much? This is exactly what I'm looking for. The only other similar device on the market is about $2k, which is a little steep for me, especially since it has a good chance of being stolen.

[Mike @ Jul 31st 2008 3:36PM]

There is one that I have by Xenarc its the MDT-X7000 , honestly its just a single DIN 7" touch screen and DVD but its nice since its a single DIN, and you can make your own Carputer to run behind it (you can hide all the main components anywhere, Trunk, glove box, under the seat) and you can find it for like $600, I built my computer part of it for around $500 and it does a LOT more than just play music.

As for some concerns on power usage, it boots from a compact flash card, has a startup/shut down controler to protect it from spikes and also send it to hibernate when the car is off.... boot time to start listening to tunes is about 3 seconds,


My carputer has Nav, internet, about 60 GB of JUST tunes, some apps, and I am in the middle of rigging up a thumb-print reader to act as my key (car wont start without my thumb print)

[PoisonEye @ Jul 31st 2008 3:57PM]

@ Mike
That's cool and all, but unfortunately it makes your thumb valuable to carjackers. Ever see Demolition Man? Cautionary tale that.