gtaubman:

Now you are entering into the world that I have been living in for the last five years known as user interface computers in vehicles. There are KEY issues that must be investigated before implementing a solution:

1: In-Dash hardware must survive and operate over a temperature range of -40C to 85C. This is a serious issue for LCD displays and data backup batteries, there are solutions but the cost and development time!

2: Driver distraction is a monstrosity issue on the legal front and to be honest with you I'm waiting for Garmin to be sued out of existence. Hope I'm wrong!

3: You are talking about installing a commercial grade 0 to 50C rated (at best) I-Mac mini that was designed to sit on a desk into the violent automotive environment. It will have to survive extreme vibration, wide temperature variations, and yes, a spike filled electrical environment that will frag the vast majority of electronics unless they are properly protected.

I'm not saying that it can't be done and I'm also not giving away trade secrets, but if you don't take the above issues into account, you will consider your efforts a failure. The touchscreen and mechanicals, in short, are the least of your worries, I'm assuming it is a 4 wire resistive part with a PC overlay on glass or plastic substrate. Cheap but effective.

Pay special attention to the temperature ratings of parts like the processor and memory, you also need to take into account the Tja rating of the IC package and how much air flow they are exposed to (EEEWWW, thermodynamics!). Dang, I hated that course!

The above is not intended to be offensive, forgive me if it came across that way, I am just pointing out the potential pitfalls that you are facing... as I do not know what level of automotive electronic design experience you have. If you have questions, don't hesitate to email me. I'll help out where I can.

jorrell