So I know this might be WAY off the radar for a lot of people here - but in the hopes that there are a few folks familiar with using a PC in their cars via an in dash display.... I'm wondering what your suggestions for best NMEA 0183 (hopefully one with a serial bus emulation driver included) compatible USB connection type GPS dongle would be.

I've recently upgraded my in-dash and the VGA in (the units' display is the same physical resolution as most portable auto GPS units) works great for fullscreen apps I've been testing off the netbook. Ultimately the netbook will be replaced by something along the order of the FIT-PC2, but that is another discussion. So far I've been very pleased with the tests via the netbook to the new headunit and as a result, I've decided to put together a GOOGLE EARTH based GPS solution (a full 3D spinning earth in dash with GPS routing and business information...!! hell yeah!) using GooPs - only thing left to do is get the BEST NMEA USB GPS dongle.

As you can tell from the links below, there's a lot of useful information already out there about how to interface all this stuff together and get the best user experience for a particular need........ but the achilles heel of them all is there are practically NO solid suggestions (or if there are, the units are discontinued and/or impossible to find for sale anymore) for what exact models of GPS unit to buy right now in late 2009 / early 2010. Everyone just seems to assume you've already got one and know it works the right way :/

So - suggestions?

Preferably I'm looking for a unit small enough that I can remove it from it's original casing and place the electronics of the GPS receiver inside the left over metal button from my OEM telephone antenna (I have a 1993 SC400). Ever since removing the phone unit and associated parts that little metal bump at the top middle of the back window has ALWAYS reminded me of a little GPS antenna for some reason... so, that's what I plan on using it for if at all possible


Here are some a small number of the MANY random reference links I've gathered up so far:

http://goopstechnologies.com

http://freegeographytools.com/2007/r...rth-free-setup

http://mboffin.com/post.aspx?id=1996

http://earth.google.com/userguide/v4/ug_gps.html

 

Been away for the past week(?) and came back to see if anyone had chimed in.....

Anyone?

 

my suggestion is to check

http://www.mobilitysite.com/boards/gps-talk/

very helpful forum, I think you will be able to find what you are looking for there or someone to point you in the right direction.