We’ve seen some hacked up car-puters in the past, but VIA is making it easier to get a PC in your vehicle. The company released their IVP-7500 board, which they say is the “first in a series of dedicated x86 in-vehicle platforms.” Using a fanless 1.0GHz Eden processor, the board measures in at a scant 114mm x 185.5m, which is about the size of two cup-holders in my car. It also looks nicely sized for a small UMPC or MID, but I digress. ;) Supporting up to 1GB of DDR2 memory and 1.8-inch IDE hard drives, the IVP-7500 also adds a number of interfaces useful for a car-puter: two USBs, optional speaker and mic connectors, an LCD panel interface, TV- and VGA-out, mini-USB and V-CAM, just to name a few.
With a full PC platform in such a small package, the options are pretty limitless. I could envision handy folks using this to integrate voice recognition technology with map software. Or install backup cameras on their vehicle. Granted, you can do these things today through vehicle manufacturer options. But as we’ve seen from the netbook community: hacking your way to the possibilities is far more fun. VIA is offering board samples to project customers through their web site. Sorry: you have to provide the vehicle.

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