| Car PC offers motorized or stand-mounted displays |
Mar. 12, 2006
 Horizon Melody has announced an in-car PC that runs Windows XP and offers stand-mounted or motorized WVGA (800 x 480) displays. The HPC-100 uses a 1GHz Via C3, has a 60GB hard drive, and automatically sleeps when a car's engine is shut off, the company says.
(Click here for a larger view of Horizon Melody's HPC-100)
Instead of being an in-dash device, the HPC-100 is a 9.9 x 7.5 x 2 inch box for which space must be found elsewhere in a vehicle. Horizon Melody offers optional 15-foot USB and VGA cables to facilitate that, plus a choice of two touchscreen displays. As the HPC-100A (below left), the device ships with a 7-inch 800 x 480 display that is motorized and can stow itself in a single DIN-sized dash aperture. As the HPC-100B, it comes with the same display, mounted on a rigid stand (below right).
 
The HPC-100 comes with motorized (left) or stand-mounted displays (right)
The HPC-100's main board is Via's Epia M10000G, which uses a Mini-ITX form factor. It has a fan-equipped 1GHz Via C3 processor, Via's CLE266 northbridge, and VT8235M southbridge.
A single DIMM socket on the Epia M10000G supports up to 1GB of DDR RAM, and the board also offers a PCI slot. Horizon Melody does not list this as being available on the HPC-100, likely because of the system's low profile.
The M10000G and HPC-100 also have integrated Via Unichrome graphics, with MPEG-2 acceleration, and Via's VT1616 six-channel audio codec. Equipped with onboard UltraDMA 133/100/66 support, the car PC ships with a 2.5-inch, 60GB hard drive.
Via's Epia M10000G
(Click image to enlarge) |
The main board's edge-mounted connectors (pictured at right) are naturally all accessible from outside the HPC-100. These include PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports, VGA output, a 10/100 Ethernet connector, parallel and serial ports, two USB ports, audio jacks, and both composite and S-Video TV outputs. Internal pin headers provide potential access to two additional USB ports and an IEEE-1394 "FireWire" port.
Power supply to the main board's ATX power connector comes via a DC-to-DC converter devised by Horizon Melody. This can keep the 12VDC power supply stable even when there is a short power failure, and puts the PC to sleep when a car is shut off, according to the company. An optional "engine interface" for Audi A4, Audi A6, VW Bora (Jetta), and VW Passat automobiles apparently provides additional functionality, although this was not detailed.
Features and specifications cited by Horizon Melody for the HPC-100 include:- Processor -- 1GHz Via C3
- Memory -- 512MB of DDR RAM, expandable to 1GB
- Display -- 7-inch WVGA (800 x 480) touchscreen display, available in motorized, foldaway (HPC-100A) or stand-mounted (HPC-100B) versions
- Storage -- 2.5-inch, 60GB HDD
- Networking -- 10/100 Ethernet port
- Other I/O:
- 2 x PS/2, for keyboard and mouse
- 1 x serial
- 1 x parallel
- 4 x USB (two external, two via pin headers)
- audio line in, mic in, line out
- 1 x VGA
- 1 x IEEE-1394 (internal header)
- composite and S-video TV output
- Dimensions -- 9.9 x 7.5 x 2 inches
- Power requirements -- 6 to 30VDC
- Operating temperature -- 0 to 50 deg. C
While Horizon Melody says it is targeting Windows with the HPC-100, the Via's Epia M10000G mainboard used also supports Linux, leaving a driver for the touchscreen display as the only possible problem for experimenters.
The HPC-100 appears to be available now, though pricing was not provided.
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