Thread: Headunit (Linux/Windows CarPC frontend) + initial screenshots

Originally Posted by Custommx3

Will the versions have the ablility to link apps to buttons on the menu page?
This is the one thing I think most people wanted on Media car.

Yup, that's easily done, but it will have to wait until the more important stuff is done (unless of course, you want to implement it yourself...hint, hint )

Originally Posted by MatrixPC

I am going with more mods on the audio/video player searchable stuff. I refer directory base like winamp, media car. I don't really like to type anything while driving. Remote control to skip a song is much usable for car environment.

MatrixPC, more mods, and Custommx3, I'm a little confused here. You guys are all having issues with having to type in part of a name to search the DB, correct? Why are you assuming that that is the only way that a DB has to be used? The user interface and how it is used to navigate through your music and video files is completely independent of the underlying DB. You can create a UI that looks just like a file browser for navigating through your music (like MediaCar), but that would run completely off a pre-generated database. The advantage of this is that you have to load all the information about a file just once. So, when you want to see a list of 500 files in a folder, you can get it instantaneously with a single SQL query instead of opening and closing 500 files just to get the artist and title of each one (or even just the filename). Operations through the OS are VERY slow compared to the DB (do you notice how you have to sit through that "Loading..." screen in MediaCar every time you go to the music screen for the first time? It's because coyote is building a mini-DB in memory each time, so even he is using a DB). The only disadvantage I can see to a DB is that you have to re-sync it each time you add files, but that is something that can easily be solved through a background daemon process that won't interfere with playback or your startup time.

Okay, having said all that, the design of Headunit is such that it would be very easy to give the user an option of pre-generating a DB or just browsing files on the fly, so don't be disheartened. You should actually try to run the current version of headunit, you will find that even with pre-generated DB, it still looks and feels much like MediaCar. That brings us to our next issue:

Originally Posted by brandon

You know, if you are planning to go the long haul with this thing, it wouldn't take much work at all to create your own mini-linux distro dedicated to your new "headunit" software. Sort of an install-and-go for people who have mini-itx or similar systems.
I think that would be nice to see. Plus if you used FB in the stead of using X.... maybe based off of debian?

Pudge also mentioned this as well. I believe the Xcar project is trying to do just this. I 100% agree that a special distro targeted towards EPIA-based mobos is the way to go and would allow a lot more people to run linux-based CarPCs. If you or anyone else has the expertise and time to do this, I will try to help out as much as I can, but unfortunately, I don't have much of either. Hopefully, the Xcar guys will release something soon.

BTW, brandon, I already tested out headunit in a FB using Qt/Embedded and it works wonderfully, so that's not a problem at all. However, we may have to go the XDirectFB route so we can get Wine programs running (like routis/destinator).

MatrixPC, to download the code, just follow the instructions posted on the first page of this thread for how to use CVS. Then read the INSTALL file that is included in the CVS tree. It will explain the packages you need. mobileh1, momanz, and Pudge (partly) have all got it running so you can also ask them for help. If you have a really old distro (RH 8 is pretty old), it may make more sense to first upgrade to Fedora Core 2 or gentoo to save yourself a lot of headaches with dependency issues. Good luck! You can always PM me.

Also, if you anyone wants to help with coding, documentation, testing, distro-generation, etc... please let me know. That is the whole point of open sourcing this thing.

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for explaining your reasoning.

NoPiston, cool thank, I am downloading FC2 now.

Matrix if you need any help getting it running in FC2, drop me an IM.

Cool thanks guys.
What supprise me is that CF2 is part of the original RH. Man, that a long time since my last RH installed.
I have using RH since version 5, but mostly as an end user. So installing is not that hard for me. Once I get everything up, looking thru the code and maybe I can help you guys with whatever I can.

I finished the port of HeadUnit to Windows. So, now it is truely cross-platform

You can download the win32 binaries from the sourceforge page (but it may take a few days for the mirrors to be updated with the file). In the meantime, you can get it here:

HeadUnit (Windows Zip File)

Just unzip it to a folder and run headunit.exe. The first time you run it, it will ask to select the folder containing your music and videos and then it will build the database. NOTE: DVD support isn't fully there yet (it currently just displays the title menu).

I used DirectShow filters to do all the audio/video/DVD playback so the program requires no external apps to run.