Expected Functionalities in a Car PC Software
After your PC setup is ready with mother board, ram, hard disk, etc... It is time to install the Car PC Software for your Car Pc. Without this specific Car PC Software it is hard to handle the system while driving. So it is a very important stage in the Car PC Project.
All the built in applications can be used in a desktop or laptop with or without little modifications. But when it comes to Car PC, the changes in existing applications are not enough. So we need software designed and developed specifically for In Car purposes. All the basic behaviours are expected in the Car PC Software are discussed in the later sections.
Though we expect all the following functionalities are available in a single package. Some times it is not possible. In that case the software must be having a front end where you can host other applications. So with in this Front-End you can manage those programs.
In Car Entertainment – Audio Player
As the name says it should be able to play songs directly from the storage such as Hard Disk Drives, external Hard Disk Drives, flash drives, CDs and DVDs. Apart from that it is always good to play based on a play list. These play lists can be created edited using a play list editor. This play list editor has to be supplied as a package then only the player can be synchronized with the play lists.
In Car Entertainment – Video Player
Without video player Car PC Software is not complete. May be video is not be preferrable for drivers, it is not pleasurable to watch movies while driving. but few likes it as co-passengers may get bored while travelling long distance. If you have kids then videos can be a good entertainment on board. As video may not need that much interaction with system, a Remote control can be handy with existing media player. But as said earlier the front end should be in the position to host video player.
In Car Navigation - GPS
If you are asking me, this is a very important functionality I would like to add to my PC first before any other applications. So ideally my front-end should be working perfectly with the GPS or in other words I will chose a front end which works great with my preferred navigation software. Writing our own software for Navigation device is not that easy and the solutions available in the market are works beyond my expectations.
Having said that, I would expect few things GPS software has to offer.
• Auto re route or Detour automatically on diverting from the correct path
• Recalculating the distance based on the new route
• Turn by turn navigation: that is when the car moves and turns the map has to be responsive and turn or move respect to the vehicle movement.
• Birds view or 3D view for maps rendering.
• Voice directions
• Map routing based on preferences as short distance, Highway, etc…
Skin or themes for application
I don’t need extensive styling possibilities but it is very subjective. At least the possibility of replacing the images and changing colours of the items must be possible through some configurations for a good Car PC Software.