Newbie questions (CarPC)

VIM3
1

Greetings!
Excuse me, please, for asking such dumb things. I’m just newbie here and want to clarify/collect all the needed information to build my CarPC.

Mainly I want to create from scratch a new CarPC solution for my old Smart ForTwo, which hasn’t anything except default radio (even without CD, lol). So, I want to build something based on Android Auto with a good sound (DAC), Internet connection, radio, and of course, navigation. Personally, as for me, I don’t see any point from games, hi-res videos, etc. But navigation and good sound is a must.

That’s why I have some questions, and I’m asking for your help.

  1. Platform. Is the Android main focus/platform for VIM3? And should we expect more and more updates with new features?

  2. Architecture (plans for x64). As I see, the main “CPU” has x64 architecture, but the latest Android firmware supports the only 32bit. Are there any near plans to deploy x64 Android?

  3. Android version. As for now, we have Android 9, which is excellent! But anyway, are there any plans to deploy Android 10 soon?

  4. Supported displays. To build my CarPC, I’m looking only for 7" touch screens. Unfortunately, 5" (which is available in the store) is not enough for me. It will be too small. Could you tell me how hard it will be to connect any other capacitive touch screen? For example any other from Aliexpress (they are almost the same)

  5. GPS. For sure, khadas vim3 doesn’t support GPS, but there are a lot of different dongles in the market. Is it possible to buy any of them, connect, and use?

  6. SSD. I have an unneeded Samsung SSD drive (SATA), which has fantastic performance. Is it possible to connect it to Khadas vim3 and observe performance improvements?

  7. OTG support. Mainly I want to connect to one single USB slot a lot of peripherals (like GPS dongle, 3G/LTE dongle, usual USB flash drive, etc.), and I see that VIM3 has only two of them. So, I want to connect my OTG USB hub to it to extend USB slots. According to USB technology, its possible, and my OTG hub will have a separate power source. But I want to confirm with you. Are there any potential issues with connecting USB OTG hubs to VIM3 (Android)?

Thank you so much for your answers! Hope that I didn’t forget anything :slight_smile:

2

Hey. I’m just the same beginner as you, but I can answer some of the questions.

  1. For a car, it is better to use Android. Other operating systems do not support navigation very well. From the word at all.
  2. x64 on Khadas Vim3 seems to be promised by the 4Q of 2020.
  3. So far they are not saying anything about Android 10))
  4. Only the original Khadas screen can be connected directly to the LCD port. But you can use a board based on the RTD2660 chip, which can be connected to the board via HDMI. Additionally, on the RTD2660 board, you will have a video input for the rear view camera. Most LCD screens of any size can be connected to this video controller. The touchscreen will have to be “attached” through the USB controller.
  5. Yes, Khadas does not support GPS. And all because there are a lot of modules and for each of them need source codes that must be entered in the source code. Therefore, you need to read the forum, some users make their firmware with the included GPS drivers. I’m currently debugging the GNSS Sim68 module.
  6. Khadas has 2 USB connectors. But there are one more connector on the GPIO pins. And Khadas can work with hubs. Personally, when solving the issue with GPS, I did not begin to deal with modules that are connected to the USB. I am studying the operation of the UART module, which is also available at the GPIO. I do not think it is right to occupy USB with such peripherals. LTE and 3G modules why in the car? I shared the Internet via wifi from the phone and everything works)))
2 Likes
3

Thank you so much for the detailed replay! I would also be glad to hear other inputs! :slight_smile: