Wow! That looks to be built better that my Mocha! I wonder how much those are going for...

Well, I just wanted to update everyone on how the carputer is coming. I got the touch screen last week (pictures to come) and MAN is that thing compact! Very compact...so compact I need to squint to see it. Yes, folks, that's an UH OH! Its size is impressive but its actual viewing area is...not so much. That aside, it's brightness is acceptable and it doesn't have any problems with ghosting when playing a DVD. Speaking of which, when you set the software to NOT keep the aspect ratio DVD playback fits the screen MUCH better. The screen is so small I may even be able to fit the thing into the Xs dash if I remove the radio! We'll just have to see about that one though.

I realize now that a touch screen, while great for selecting things on a big menu, is not very good for doing everyday computer things that I had planned for a full fledged car PC. Yeah, I know, DUH! But it shouldn't be too much of a problem. I have several wireless options laying around the house I can use.

I'll be storing the LCD under the seat now. It turns out that the cable length is perfect for that and I'll have less holes to drill. Always a good thing. It comes with a slide-on backing plate that will make mounting it on the dash easy. I'll post pictures of that as well.

On the Mocha front things haven't moved much further. I'm still not making much headway in the software integration area so maybe I'll look into the nonexistent Cobra software. As far as stability goes, I've had a hiccup. I was doing something you really shouldn't do (xpkey.exe) and kept getting blue screens. I haven't shut down the Mocha properly for the last two weeks because I've been using hibernation or suspend. It kept trying to resume after the BSOD and I guess that screwed it up good because after the fourth or fifth BSOD it wouldn't boot at all anymore. I wasn't too concerned with the software on the system so wiping it out wasn't a problem. I tried reload XP choosing to full format the drive when the prompt came up. It took FIVE HOURS to get to 78% done! Now, I consider myself a patient man but HOT DAMN! I killed it, started the install procedure again, and chose quick format this time around. MUCH better. It's been running great ever since.

I'll try to get the pics up tonight.