Hi guys,

in my incapacitated state, ive been thinking....

this has stemmed from some work Ive been doing, making a home music server. Basically Im going to use a small 'development board' like a Raspberry Pi (these are credit card sized computers that are about as powerful as a good mobile phone, and cost about $50) connected to a hard drive full of music. This computer is then digitally connected to my amp/AV receiver which converts the digital files from the computer into audible music at CD + quality. Its all controlled wirelessly with a tablet. PC or phone. 


ABOVE: The CubieBoard2 micro computer. 1ghz dual-core, 1gb ram, sata, usb, ethernet,wifi, bluetooth etc



Soooo, onto the bike idea....


The above image is of 2 products combined. 
1 is called the Cubieboard2 (the computer) and the other is called the CubieScreen (the touch screen) Total combined value of about $80.

CubieBoard Products Link   
(NB if youre interested, for the home music server Im going to use the CubieTruck model as it has Optical S/PDIF output)

Its a touch screen computer that will run Android, Ubuntu and other Linux distros. It can be powered by its own Li-Ion battery as well as 12v from the bike.  

Imagine this mounted in a waterproof shock case on the dash. Running android. And alllll the myriad of apps and opportunities this may present to the imaginative. could even have a rear facing camera. 

We would need to get a GPS module for it, but it has wifi and bluetooth. so it could pair with your phone and get internet access for the maps and podcast downloads. Or we would figure a way to get a sim card mounted in the device (USB internet dongle) and have it be independent from your phone. 

To be a audiophile music player it would need a decent USB DAC (digital analogue converter) then pipe it into a Amplirider headphone amp and finally output the sound into your headset. yummy and loud.

So, anyways, in theory for about $100-$250 you could have a dash mounted android computer for maps, music and more. 

A phone in a waterproof case mounted on the dash would do similar, but with significantly less music storage (which is important to me, for travelling). The phone would still ideally go through the amplirider amp to get you louder, fuller sound and a useful volume control knob. 

anyways, just an idea. This would all fit into the small black shock case I currently use to house/mount my USB charge point, Jensen Marine Stereo, Amplirider amp and the key. The new setup would likely be a similar price to my current one, but with sooo much more functionality and also sound quality and ease of use. 

Im liking the idea. Will do some more thinking....

If the edges of the screen were sealed against the inside of waterproof housing, would it matter that the 'bare' touch screen is exposed to the elements (under a stick-on screen protector)? 

maybe there is already a product like this?

Keep thinking mate and combine it with fuel consumption and all those things and have a HUD for small biccies.

shoot Floyd   ive got 16 gig storage on the phone ...and 32 is not expensive at all these days

have seen what your planning a few times ...but the open source part of it has become bought up by some rancid capitalist bunch  and now the package comes at a big price ...most unfortunately

 but some good ides and tech on this site

http://www.mp3car.com/


I guess its important to make a large fingerprint type menu selection system on those tiny screens ....also to get a touch sensitive type finger print pad that emulates your finger on the outside of the glove ....advertised frequently recently and widely on ebay etc

some good thoughts with the micro board ....aren't they brilliant ?!!  and a good step up from the pi for not many bucks

have a touch screen or two hid away for such a thing ....that I know is workable

but there is fast becoming a good following for such things ...lets hope they work it out for many of us before we start

(I realise some of you have no need for such a thing. no drama, im just thinking out loud here....)

hmmmm somewhat easier idea, though perhaps not as fun in a tinkering sense. 

And this is only for long touring stuff. Like i like to do. And would like to do alot more of. 

(on a side note, im thinking of all this because my dash mounted marine stereo is a bit clunky....navigating files and folders is very slow. other then that its cool. plus i tend to use google maps more than i thought i would.)


A nexus 7 can be had for about $200. they have GPS and 4G cellular. Plus they run stock android and are easy to hack. Its small, at 200 × 114 × 8.65 mm (7.87 × 4.49 × 0.34 in). 


Very similar size to the pelican box/stereo system I have mounted presently



waterproof case from jaycar:


Use a right angle micro USB adapter to get the USB cable out the back of the case.



connect that to a OTG hub:

connect the amplirider amp to the 3.5mm out of the tablet





Chuck all the cables, amp and SSD in a small 'pelican' cases glued to the back of the tablet case. 

Then connect a SSD full of music and podcasts (in flac lossless of course), load on all your maps for offline use and away we go.


Use a ram mount to mount it off the middle of the handle bars. 
Modify the amplirider volume control to be handle bar mounted. 


It would constantly charge, give you google maps on a large screen, podcast download, easy bulk music navigation, handlebar volume control etc etc

i like it.

When I would most want a GPS is when I am very likely to be out of range on a dumb phone so I use a satellite driven navigation GPS with all the 4WD tracks. Strike

RicK G wrote:When I would most want a GPS is when I am very likely to be out of range on a dumb phone so I use a satellite driven navigation GPS with all the 4WD tracks. Strike

As far as I understand (which obviously may be far from the mark) modern high end smart phones and tablets have sat driven GPS modules that are as good as the consumer grade stand alone GPS units....

anyone?

I hadn't caught up with that but it doesn't surprise me considering how my dumb phone doesn't work with it's navigational garbage it has.

With regard to maps and navigation, the only thing android smartphone needs a cell connection for is to access synthesized voice commands as used with turn-by-turn voice navigation, and real-time traffic data. Map updates are stored on the device and generally all smartphones/tablets have a GPS system as standard. When you're out of cell range you still have the map navigation, you just don't get the voice commands.

Smartphone GPS is as good and works just as efficiently as dedicated SatNav units. The difference being that SatNav devices have their own pre-recorded voice commands installed... it's not synthesized whereas Google navigation requires voice commands to be synthesized which requires data from the MBB (cell) network.

With the USB hub, you would be better to use a powered hub as drawing all that power thru the tablet's battery will cause it to seriously overheat.

I have an iPhone 6 with the TomTom app, I know a bit expensive. The maps work well and are updated for free!
I usually put my phone in the tank bag ( I've also done this with my iPad) and pair it to my Sena 10s, it works really well.
Despite having Telstra, down south think boddington/some places near bridgetown there is no cell coverage and the unit works well, as all the maps voice etc are stored on the device.
Cheers
TD5