All is well in the world. There is money, a job, Lisa passed her Public Health Exam w/ flying colors (yay!), a train and bus route to get me to and from work w/o the need of buying a car (though it would be nice), and there’s a wireless card in the horizon for the Zaurus!
The last is true too! Lisa ok’d it. 
Now, my newest idea is… wait for it…
Mounting one of the mini NLX computers in the trunk of the car, and wiring the GPS to be more permanent.
Now, I’ve been pricing extension cables for keyboard, mouse and monitor. The mouse and monitor would be handled by a 7″ TFT Touch screen. The keyboard, I believe, will be a wireless mini USB keyboard.
For each instance, I’ve been able to find a 15′ cable to extend from the wheel well to the front of the car. The idea is that I could mount (and unmount) an LCD screen on the dash, and have wires inconspicuously run behind the dash to the glovebox or whathaveyou, where they would connect to the extension cables. So, whenever we leave the car I could easily remove the LCD, and the keyboard. Everything else (With the exception of the microsized GPS) would be hidden.
The GPS would be mounted on the rear-passenger side trunk window, where it is 2.5% tinted, aka hidden. The wire would run from the window underneath the trim into the wheel well.
I would mount the power inverter under the driver seat (Where there is space) and run an extension cord from the inverter to the wheel well. I know I can remove the rear seats and run it underneath, since that is how the subwoofer wire is handled.
Finally, in the middle somewhere there would be a source selector switch. The NLX box would also have a PCI TV-Out card such that it can run regular LCD and the VGA, possibly in a dual monitor setup, where one screen handles the DVD, and the other screen handles the GPS. The source selector would allow a second source, such as a videogame console (since the TFT can also accept RCA).
It’s crazy, but it’d work. It’d also handle the wiring problem, and the issue of having a laptop in plain site when pulling up to say, a restaurant. In the laptop case, it’d have to hidden in the backseat, where everything (as it is currently done) has to be disassembled. In the above mentioned scenario, the LCD would be detached and put in the glovebox or under the seat, with no need for further disassembly. The keyboard, again, wireless, would go under the seat or in the glovebox as well.
It’s a crazy idea, I know. But the possibilities are endless. The NLX box could be equipped with a DVD rom, and a 20/30/40/50/60 GB hard drive with Mp3s, records, movies and games on demand.
There are also peripheral setups that have both wireless rollerball mice and keyboard combos, where the passenger wouldn’t have to necessarily use the LCD touchscreen to navigate the screens. A powered 4/6/8 port hub could be installed where gaming could be done via the NLX computer as well (with USB gamepads of course). Or, rather than a PCI TV Out, there can be a TV in card where the NLX box handles the input of the Videogame console as well, making it the ultimate centralized computer system.
Conceptually, all this can work work – the NLX box, looking at it now, is only a foot, by a foot by three inches – give or take a couple inches on the length and width. The wheel well is at the bare minimum 14″ in diameter, more than enough to house the NLX box and its wires. Height is also accomodating, so dampening material could be used to store it.
Since desktops can withstand more abuse than laptops, there is also an overall lower cost of maintenance.
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This idea is going to take the ‘we’ll see approach’, as in Lisa will tell me ‘we’ll see’ and then hope I forget about it. She had that wild eyed look of ‘oh crap, he might be serious’ last night when I mentioned it to her.
Hrm.
The funny thing is that she always balks at my farfetched ideas until she sees it in action, at which point she thinks it’s the greatest idea since sliced bread (re: remote start, power door locks, GPS).
The only hinderance in the plan is the cost of the LCD, far and away the most costly component of the whole scheme, at $200. But, I’m willing to sell my laptop to fund this project, (and put the rest into the wedding fund, along with most of my paycheck 
] ).
Stay tuned. I think this is the best (and most reasonable) idea yet.
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Parts List:
Wireless Keyboard and Mouse
VGA Cable
PS/2 Cables
USB Cables
TFT LCD, 7″
I already have the NLX case, with motherboard. To properly power this system, I imagine I’d need a P3 or Celeron processor at, at least 500 Mhz for Winamp, and GPS with 128MB of RAM. I have the RAM, but not the processor.
800 Mhz Celeron Processor, $20
Multi Monitor Outputer with Video Out
This item would allow for multiple desktops, as in one dedicated to GPS, the others dedidcated to Winamp, or TV, or DVD, etc. Has a built in DVD decoder card so a separate DVD Decoder would be unneccesary.
Miscellany:
USB Hub
TV Card
This would be an input for TV (regular network stations, and whatever frequencies can be picked up while driving) as well as Video games, a VCR, camcorder, etc.
DVD Drive – I have no idea what kind of DVD drive would fit the NLX slot – it appears to be a half height laptop drive, but I’m not certain. If that’s the case, that’s even better – since DVD drives for laptops have built in shock protection.
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