acura ITX

expeditions in mobile computing

12 December 2007

ITX Roadrunner Skin for Nissan s14a

Written by Yours Truly ( Contact the author of this post )
Published on December 12th, 2007 @ 11:02:53 pm, using 639 words, 5317 views

I designed this version of the ITX skin for Roadrunner touch screens for a fellow car computer enthusiast from Sweden, who contacted me via this site, requesting a custom-designed ITX skin based on the original skin for the Acura ITX carPC project. He intends to display his vehicle, a Nissan 200sx s14a (240sx), in Sweden’s largest car show…

We discussed his needs and requirements over the course of a couple days, settled on a price based on the amount of work required, and I set about designing a series of screens and RoadRunner scripts customized to his vehicle and the color-scheme he requested.

Here is a sampling of the screens which I designed for his car computer system:

1. The Loading screen
This is the screen which is presented after the car computer system has booted up and while the RoadRunner touch screen application is first loading. Here we see the Nissan s14a prior to the overlaying of any of the ITX Skin’s menus.

Custom ITX RoadRunner skin for Nissan s14a, loading screen

2. The Main Menu
Once RoadRunner has loaded, the main menu, shown here, is presented to the user. This screen gives access, via the lozenge buttons across the top, to the Audio Player, Audio Browser, Video Players, and embedded GPS navigation.

Custom ITX RoadRunner skin for Nissan s14a, main menu screen

[Continued...]

3. The Audio Browser screen
The Audio browser screen gives access to the music archive stored on the car computer system, via two separate playlists. The playlist on the left shows the music library stored on the carpc, and the list on the right is then built by selecting music entries from the music library on the left. Both menus are made active by selecting their header text. The library can be quickly skipped-through by pressing the horizontal alphabet across the top, just beneath the header area.

Custom ITX RoadRunner skin for Nissan s14a, audio browser screen

4. The Audio Player screen
The Audio Player screen displays the playlist which was built in the Audio Browser screen. The Audio Player screen also shows the album art beneath a progress slider on the left side of the screen. The playlist can be quickly navigated by way of the small lozenge buttons situated between the two main screen areas.

Custom ITX RoadRunner skin for Nissan s14a, audio player screen

5. The Video Options Menu
This is the Video-type selection screen, giving access to MPG and AVI files stored on the car computer’s hard drive, or to an embedded copy of Cyberlink’s PowerDVD software for playing DVD movies.

Custom ITX RoadRunner skin for Nissan s14a, video options screen

6. The Video Browser screen
The Video Browser screen allows navigating and selecting the MPG and AVI movies which are available on the CarPC’s hard drive.

Custom ITX RoadRunner skin for Nissan s14a, video browser screen

7. The iGuidance main screen
This screen shows a copy of iGuidance embedded into the ITX Skin for RoadRunner.

Custom ITX RoadRunner skin for Nissan s14a, embedded iGuidance

8. The iGuidance music sub-menu
This is a sub-screen of the primary iGuidance screen, and allows for the display of currently playing music, as well as control over music functions such as PREV/NEXT, PLAY, STOP, and volume. It’s accessed by pressing the the MUSIC button in the top-row of the lower menu.

Custom ITX RoadRunner skin for Nissan s14a, embedded iGuidance music screen

9. The iGuidance Extended Functions screen
This is a another sub-screen of the embedded iGuidance screens… It is accessed by pressing the FUNCTIONS button in the lower-right corner of the menu across the bottom. This screen has an alternate menu which gives access to toggling the POIs, fog and speed warnings, and adjusting the volume of the built-in iGuidance voice prompts.

Custom ITX RoadRunner skin for Nissan s14a, embedded iGuidance extended functions screen

10. The Audio Equalizer and Mixer
This screen gives access to typical audio mixer and equalizer functions, and allows for the saving of four custom equalizer presets.

Custom ITX RoadRunner skin for Nissan s14a, audio equalizer and mixer

11. The Exit menu
This is the EXIT menu which provides shortcuts to such computer functions as standby, reboot, hibernate, etc. Pretty self-explanatory.

Custom ITX RoadRunner skin for Nissan s14a, exit menu

12. The About screen
The about screen gives a little info about the skin and its designer (me).

Custom ITX RoadRunner skin for Nissan s14a, about screen

Contemporaneous Auditory Narcotics:
or, What my speakers are currently pumping…
Rammstein - Mutter

Creative Commons LicenseThis post is the creative work of Yours Truly and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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acura ITX

A journal outlining my project to hard-wire a mini-ITX car computer into the ignition of a 2001 Acura 3.2CL. The site covers such topics as wiring and power, touch screens, navigation and GPS, embedded applications, etc...


Mobile Computing Highlights

  • Removing the dashboard and stock stereo from a 2001 Acura CL
  • Initial stages of installation of the Acura-ITX mini-ITX carputer system
  • Custom touch screen front-end design for RoadRunner
  • On-the-fly music playlist builder for RoadRunner
  • Dashboard mounted touchscreen in a 2001 Acura CL
  • Acura mini-ITX touch screen interface design
  • Series of photos which show the Acura mini-ITX dashboard headunit chassis
  • Embedding iGuidance into the RoadRunner carPC front-end
  • Car computer system testing in open testbed

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