Have a computer in your truck?

[Malaki86]

I run a program called Centrafuse in my truck on my laptop. The laptop is connected to a 7" touch-screen, which is perfect for driving use. When I need to actually use the computer for things that are a tad too small for my aging eyes, I use the laptop's screen (when parked).

Anyway, the heart of my system is Centrafuse. It's a front-end program that will do a multitude of tasks. It has built-in support for playing music (mp3 or cd), can do video (which is of no use to me), can record video (tempted with this), can control an XM receiver (I use an XM PCR), can browse the web, etc. It can also connect to your cell phone via bluetooth to make incoming & outgoing calls (I haven't used this - I like my Plantronics earbud better).

There are also a number of plug-ins available for Centrafuse. You can also embed almost any other application into Centrafuse. A couple of programs I have embedded to run "inside" of Centrafuse are Drivers Daily Log and Streets & Trips. A couple of really cool plugins I use are for Weather (which shows me the weather at home as well as for my current location) and a plugin to run Garmin Mobile PC (GPS navigation program). I definitely say if you buy Centrafuse, don't bother with the navigation option they offer - it's absolute garbage. I also use a plugin that will save my current location information (longitude & latitude) to a text file. I can then import this file into most GPS programs to see EXACTLY where one of my stops is located to call it back up at another time in about 2 seconds. This is really useful when the street address is nowhere near where the physical location.

I also saw a new plugin today on the Centrafuse site that will allow the computer to control a Uniden BCTB scanner. It'll play the audio through the trucks speakers if you connect your computers audio to the truck stereo. If I was into scanners, that'd be a really cool addon to have.

I used to have a wired keyboard with a touchpad on it in the truck. The keyboard I had then was roughly the same size as what you'd find on a 15" laptop. This morning I ordered a new keyboard for the truck, which is a standard sized, ergonomic style. It's also wireless and has a touchpad built into it, as well as shortcut keys for the web, email, music and such.

I also "tried" using an HP Slimline PC in the truck. It worked great - for about 1 day, until I hit a pothole which jarred the PC enough to destroy the hard drive. I'm going to eventually replace the standard PC drive in that computer with a laptop drive, which is much more rugged. I can actually get a drive adapter that will allow me to hook up 2 hard drives in the same physical space that the original drive used. Once I do that, I'll take my 21" monitor from home and put it back into the truck's sleeper. Using the larger monitor is soooo much better for watching TV, movies, playing games, etc. I used a VGA splitter to connect the 7" & the 21" monitors to the single video output on the computer, to make it easier to use.

The way my current system is setup, I can run the entire thing off of a 150 watt inverter. The touchscreen has a 12v cig light plug on it. The XM receiver only pulls about 1 watt, and the laptop pulls about 70 watts. With the larger monitor, you'll need a larger inverter of course - I'd recommend at least 800 watts for the entire system. I've got a 1,500watt in the truck, so power isn't a problem.

I have 2 usb hubs in the truck connected as follows:

Front hub (4 port unpowered):

• GPS receiver
• touchscreen USB (it also has to be connected to the VGA & power)

Rear hub (7 port powered):

• Front USB hub
• HP multi-function printer
• Portable 320gig drive (holds my movies & backups)
• 8gig thumbdrive (holds 2nd copy of backups)
• Sierra Wireless Sprint Aircard
• XM PCR USB connection

If anyone has any questions or comments about my setup in the truck, feel free to post them here or via PM. I've been getting my system to where I want it for a few years now. It's taken a lot of trial and error (especially the standard computer), but what I have now has definitely made life on the road much better. I can not only use it while driving (GPS) and for work (internet lookup, weather, logs, etc), but also for entertainment at the end of the day (movies copied to the hard drive, TV (with a tv tuner), games, etc).

Anyway, here are links to some of the stuff I mentioned:

• Centrafuse - Front end software
• Garmin Mobile PC - GPS navigation software
• Uniden BCTB Scanner - Computer controlled scanner
• Uniden BCTB Scanner Plugin - Centrafuse plugin for scanner
• Garmin plugin - Centrafuse plugin for Garmin Mobile PC
• Save Location plugin - Centrafuse plugin to save your current location information into a text file
• Lilliput 7" touchscreen - Touchscreen for use while driving
• XM PCR - Computer controlled XM tuner
• Adesso Wireless Keyboard (ergonomic style) - Wireless keyboard & touchpad
• Adesso Wired Keyboard - Keyboard/Touchpad I used to use
• Adesso Wireless Keyboard (same as the wired) - Wireless version of the one I used to use
• VGA splitter - Allow to monitors to be connected to the computer
• 15' VGA extension cable - Used to connect from the touchscreen to the computer mounted in the sleeper
• 16' Active USB extension cable - Used to connect the front USB hub to the rear USB hub

[Luzon]

Sounds like a slick set up. I'm no longer driving but I enjoy hearing about the tech aspect of driving.

One possible concern I'd have, and this only depends on the brand of the inverter, is that some of the inverters have plastic plugs and leaving it plugged in for long periods of time may the plug up which causes it to turn brittle and eventually start to melt. I bought a metal replacement plug for my Cobra inverter at a Pilot and replaced the plastic one and never had another problem

[Malaki86]

I've got a few plugin inverters (400w, 2 150's and a 75). All of these have a plastic plugin, but I never had any problems with them. I also never came close to truly "loading" the inverter.

[ssoutlaw]

Sounds like a slick set up. I'm no longer driving but I enjoy hearing about the tech aspect of driving.

One possible concern I'd have, and this only depends on the brand of the inverter, is that some of the inverters have plastic plugs and leaving it plugged in for long periods of time may the plug up which causes it to turn brittle and eventually start to melt. I bought a metal replacement plug for my Cobra inverter at a Pilot and replaced the plastic one and never had another problem

Why are you not driving any more???

[Dejanh]

Why do you need all that stuff, you are not a pilot?

How much did all of that cost you?

[Malaki86]

Yes - I am a pilot - a road pilot. Why do I need it? To make things better for me on the road.

As far as how much it cost to do, I'm not sure. But, every bit of it is tax deductible because it's used for work. I've changed things so much over the past couple years I honestly don't know how much is invested in it.

Edit: It's funny when people say I don't need this in my truck. No, I don't need it technically, but why not do something to make my job easier? If a contractor is building a house, he could do it with a handsaw and a hammer. Do people say that the contractor is stupid for buying a power saw and a nail gun? If a farmer can do the job with a team of horses and a manual combine do they complain when they buy a modern one? How about your truck? Do you have power steering? Air conditioning? A heater? Windows? Rubber wheels? Why? The original trucks from the early 1900's with none of those "addons" are necessary? Do you have a cell-phone? Why? Truckstops & rest areas have pay phones in them.

[BoyNextDoor]

so I'm taking it you found mp3car.com? lol i used to be a member a few years ago, and had various setups in my cars... gave that hobby up for financial reasons, but may be back soon to deck out my truck if i decide to keep it longer term... welcome to the moneypit of a hobby. lol

[Malaki86]

I started out on mp3car.com. Now i just frequent the centrafuse forums and a forum dedicated to people that run gps on their laptops.

I did find something cool yesterday that I will probably start working on soon. Basically, I'll mount a webcam on the dash. I'll run a program that will that a photo (not video) every 30 minutes or so. That photo will then automatically upload to a webserver so people can see the images from the road.

[DaveP]

I started out on mp3car.com. Now i just frequent the centrafuse forums and a forum dedicated to people that run gps on their laptops.

I did find something cool yesterday that I will probably start working on soon. Basically, I'll mount a webcam on the dash. I'll run a program that will that a photo (not video) every 30 minutes or so. That photo will then automatically upload to a webserver so people can see the images from the road.

Damn Malaki...you got me thinking that maybe it's time to upgrade that old 8track player I got in my old '64 Ford pickup.... ;>)

[rank]

I use a dash mounted web cam to record video to my laptop.
Whats centrafuse for?

[Malaki86]

Centrafuse is the front-end software that allows easy access to programs I use while driving, such as Garmin's GPS & Drivers Daily Log. It also does the playback of my mp3's & plays the XM radio that's hooked to the computer through the truck stereo.

[Jackrabbit379]

Isn't Centrafuse a ride or something?

[Roadhog]

The 'puter I bring is much simpler.

[Glad Hand]

...and a forum dedicated to people that run gps on their laptops.

I found that website the other night when I was bored. I didn’t register but I was reading the posts when I found one of yours. It was about total trip miles in the directions pane in Streets & Trips 2010 being correct but wrong in the navigation pane. Strange.

Anyway, I checked mine out the next morning and also several times since then, and I don’t have that same problem, as both panes at least on my copy report the same mileage, and I also downloaded my copy from Microsoft’s website.

When my 60-day trial was finished, I just keyed in the product key to activate it without uninstalling and then reinstalling. However, I don’t know for sure if the problem existed before I activated it. Nevertheless, if there was such an obvious difference I’m pretty sure I would have caught it as that big of a discrepancy is hard to ignore.

Hence, since we both downloaded Streets & Trips 2010 from Microsoft’s website that problem you found should be on every copy that was also downloaded, but it is not. Weird. Thus, maybe it is something else causing the discrepancy. Anyway, what kind of GPS are you using? I wonder if the kind of GPS you are using could possibly be causing the issue?

Moreover, I’m still using an old 32-bit computer. I’ve heard a lot of people complain about strange problems when they switch to 64 bit computers.


Oh also on that setup you got, how long does it take for you to swap trucks? And I hope you are insured in the event your truck ever catches on fire.

[Malaki86]

I downloaded my trial version the day it became available. It's possible it was fixed afterwards.

Also, I'm running it on a fairly new 64-bit Vista computer. It's very possible that's the problem. I use a BU-353 receiver. It's a weatherproof model that's mounted on the passenger door outside of the window.

I can empty everything out of my truck in 1-1.5 hours. I just have the cables stuffed into crevices to keep them out of sight and so I don't trip on them. The only thing I need tools for when swapping trucks are 3 different sockets and a ratchet to remove the laptop stand & power inverter.

As a company driver, I've yet to find a way to insure my personal contents...

Edit:

I also found the software I was looking for to take a photo out of my windshield every so often. Once it takes the photo, it'll upload it to my webserver and create the webpage, with it displaying the most recent photo on the top. It can also embed text onto the photo. Once I get back in the truck tomorrow, I'll try to get it all running and post the link to the page it creates. The webcam I'm using cost a whole $5 at Big Lots and the software is $19.95 to register. The software is called TinCam. I'll set the software up to only run when I run Centrafuse. That way it will only take photo's when I'm driving because when I park I shut Centrafuse down.

[Malaki86]

I also just found a piece of software (still in development) which will basically record a set size'd file. Once the file size is reached, it'll start overwriting itself. You can easily save the current file for later use.

This could be invaluable in the event of an accident in which you're plainly not at fault.

[Glad Hand]

I downloaded my trial version the day it became available. It's possible it was fixed afterwards.

I also downloaded mine on the first day it was posted.

Also, I'm running it on a fairly new 64-bit Vista computer. It's very possible that's the problem.

Speaking of 64-bit computers, I ran into a guy the other day when I did a 34-hour restart that had just downloaded the Truck Stops Plus 2010 template. When he saw that I was also using it he approached and asked me to show him how to check for restricted routes and low clearances with it, and when I did it he said that for some reason that particular feature doesn’t work on his computer.

After he retrieved his computer to show me I realized he was using a 64-bit computer. Hence, are you able to check for restricted routes and low clearances on your 64-bit computer via the Truck Stops Plus template? I briefly searched google for him and found some posts that said that links were handled differently in 64-bit systems, but eventually I just told him to contact the Truck Stops Plus people.

[Malaki86]

I didn't run Streets very long with the template on it. I switched to Garmin Mobile PC soon after. When I was running Streets, I went to our normal pickups & didn't need to check for the restricted routes since I'd been there multiple times in the past.

[Glad Hand]

I didn't run Streets very long with the template on it. I switched to Garmin Mobile PC soon after. When I was running Streets, I went to our normal pickups & didn't need to check for the restricted routes since I'd been there multiple times in the past.

Wow Garmin Mobile PC. I had never heard of it. I will have to check it out. Were you able to load the Truck Stops Plus database in that one too like you did in your portable GPS device and can you see upcoming POIs in Garmin Mobile PC like you can in Streets & Trips?

[Malaki86]

That's a big drawback with the Garmin - you can't see what's ahead of you on the map like you can with Streets. But, yes, I was able to import the POI's into it, so I can manually do a search for them.

Mobile PC looks like a large Nuvi interface. It works great on the 7" screen - easy to read text, good colors especially at night, very easy to use.