(?) Creating a car media center

[REllU]

Hello!
First of all, I'd like to mention that I'm not a native speaker, so my English might not be that good from time to time

So the project!
I think this is very ambitious for a first timer, but here we go:
I have been thinking of adding the Raspberry Pi to my car as an media center. I have thought of installing the Kodi/XBMC (with CarPi?) into it, using a 7" TFT display (that I already have) and installing touch-screen module for the screen.
But the actual question I have:

1: Physical buttons? I'm going to need basic stuff, like volume up/down (I would prefer to an round "rotating" button, than an actual push-button), forward/backward buttons (to skip songs etc) and maybe a channel changing button. These are pretty much the buttons that are mostly used when driving a car

2: What kind of sound-card am I going to need for this? I'm looking for something hi-fi-ish, with 5 channels (RCA) for R/L front speakers, and R/L back speakers, and one for subwoofer. I don't own any too expensive set of speakers, so I'm not going to need the best sound card there is. I do have amplifiers for the speakers, and the subwoofer, so I'm only going to need the signal processing, and the RCA outputs.

3: How about "extra" inputs? AUX, memory card, bluetooth? (And what about controlling the phone with bluetooth? I mean, if someone calls me, or I call someone while driving, is there a way to make it all go thru the Raspberry?)

4: Navigation. With the 7" screen it would be perfect to gave an GPS with it. Is there Google Maps (or something similar) for Raspberry Pi, and is there an GPS module for it? For locating where you are?


I think these are the questions for now that are still holding me back from getting that amazing machine.

Thank you for reading, and thank you for any possible answers!

[REllU]

Bump
Sorry for double post. I tried to clear out the questions a bit more, so that it's not just a wall-of-text.
I would really just want to know if all of this is possible to do? And for one machine, to work as "one" ?

[BMS Doug]

Hello!
First of all, I'd like to mention that I'm not a native speaker, so my English might not be that good from time to time

So the project!
I think this is very ambitious for a first timer, but here we go:
I have been thinking of adding the Raspberry Pi to my car as an media center. I have thought of installing the Kodi/XBMC (with CarPi?) into it, using a 7" TFT display (that I already have) and installing touch-screen module for the screen.
But the actual question I have:

I'll give you the answers I know:

1: Physical buttons? I'm going to need basic stuff, like volume up/down (I would prefer to an round "rotating" button, than an actual push-button), forward/backward buttons (to skip songs etc) and maybe a channel changing button. These are pretty much the buttons that are mostly used when driving a car

digital or i2c interface buttons will be easy to integrate. A rotating button could be digital or i2c. If you use an analogue dial then you will need a seperate analogue to digital converter.

2: What kind of sound-card am I going to need for this? I'm looking for something hi-fi-ish, with 5 channels (RCA) for R/L front speakers, and R/L back speakers, and one for subwoofer. I don't own any too expensive set of speakers, so I'm not going to need the best sound card there is. I do have amplifiers for the speakers, and the subwoofer, so I'm only going to need the signal processing, and the RCA outputs.

I don't know this one, look at usb soundcards?

3: How about "extra" inputs? AUX, memory card, bluetooth? (And what about controlling the phone with bluetooth? I mean, if someone calls me, or I call someone while driving, is there a way to make it all go thru the Raspberry?)

aux can be dealt with by your soundcard (if you get one with an input). Memory card / usb stick can be easily integrated, usb memory card readers are cheap and widely available. USB bluetooth dongles are available, I'm not sure but I expect that the pi can act as a bluetooth speaker.

4: Navigation. With the 7" screen it would be perfect to gave an GPS with it. Is there Google Maps (or something similar) for Raspberry Pi, and is there an GPS module for it? For locating where you are?

yes.


I think you might need a USB hub as well.

I think these are the questions for now that are still holding me back from getting that amazing machine.

Thank you for reading, and thank you for any possible answers!

[localgringos]

I am working on this system and will post my results. I will use a 7" TFT screen with remote a a few mounting options (it will fit in a 2din for in-dash install or mount on dash,...) from Amazon or you could invest in a touch screen if you wish to spend the money, a RPi with 4 USB Ports, a backup camera from Amazon, Kodi XBMC, a Rii keyboard with built in pad and dongle, a Wifi (necessary) and bluetooth (optional) dongles as well as a usb GPS (from Amazon) using Open Street Maps (I hope) and a 3 amp car switch with 2 usb power ports from MausberryCircuits.com (so you will not fry your RPi(s)) and cable to connect the video to your RPi and a Audio RCA connector to connect to your stereo speakers. You will need your Android phone with tethering/hotspot connectivity or a mobile hotspot from Sprint (they have a new unlimited 4G service, it used to be ClearSpot) or some such service for your GPS, TV and Music streaming. I was also thinking of adding a dash cam with a sim card recording device which means I may need 2 RPis. I will put mine in a Kia Spectra. I had the basic sys without all the extras (GPS and Dash cam) in our GMC Sierra till we traded it in. #car media center #car gps navigation #car dash cam #car backup camera

[localgringos]

Just found this for GPS:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install navit
sudo apt-get install gpsd
sudo apt-get install espeak


#GPS navigation

[localgringos]

Thinking I might also add OBDII car diagnostics. Needed: OBD-Pi Software (https://github.com/Pbartek/pyobd-pi.git), Goliton's or Plugable's OBDII Bluetooth Adapter (www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009NPAORC/ or B009ZIILI).

Before proceeding, run:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo reboot

Install these components using the command:
sudo apt-get install python-serial
sudo apt-get install bluetooth bluez-utils blueman
sudo apt-get install python-wxgtk2.8 python-wxtools wx2.8-i18n libwxgtk2.8-dev
sudo apt-get install git-core
sudo reboot

Next, download the OBD-Pi Software direct from GitHub.(URL shown above)

OR using the command:
cd ~
git clone https://github.com/Pbartek/pyobd-pi.git

Taken from: http://www.cowfishstudios.com/blog/obd- ... -head-unit

[localgringos]

For the OBDII software on my last post run the following commands to launch pyobd-pi:
cd pyobd-pi
sudo su
python obd_gui.py

to exit: <Ctrl> C OR <Alt><Esc>

To data log:
cd pyobd-py
python obd_recorder.py