themiddleman

hi im new... ive been planning a computer for my car, i have a power inverter, and a aux in on my head unit, and im a geek so a computer in the car is a no brainer

my plans are:
to not have a monitor (headless)
run some linux distro, thinking about fluxbuntu
it will just play music for now
i will control the songs with a keyboard for now, maybe a ir controller later
it will have vnc, ftp, and dhcp servers running, so i can hook up my laptop and vnc right in to modify it

so the question is has anyone ever used a headless computer and what did you use for a program for playing music and changing keyboard shortcuts

and please post any other thoughts

NotYou

Most people here have a lcd screen / lcd touchscreen for display.

To be honest.... if you want a headless unit.... and you just want it to play music...

Why not just buy a 'normal' headunit that can play MP3's? There are several that will play MP3's from CD, from USB device, and even a couple which have a built in hard drive.

Saves you a lot of work and extra expenses/configuration of running a computer in your car, if all you want is music playback.

~~~~~
If you eventually plan to have a full-fledge carputer to do more then just music.. I would suggest a cheap headunit like I mentioned above, and then invest in the carputer setup over time.

themiddleman

yeah, my cd player already plays mp3 cds, i mainly want a computer in my car to say "dude, i have a freekin computer in my car" i have older computers and stuff so its not like its costing me anything except time

Grrrmachine

It will cost you in the sense of the PSU and screen which are rather specific items (if you have a DC-DC psu just laying around the house as well as a 7" touchscreen, lucky you) as well as the replacement dashboard parts you'll need after hacking up your originals.

Still, all the answers to your questions are on this site 10 times over. Use the Search button, read the FAQs, then make up your mind how far you want to go.

themiddleman

did you even read the OP?

Grrrmachine

yes. Headless usually refers to the inbuilt amp rather than a screen, and either way you'll need a PSU, which is why I made the comment I did. As someone else said, "most people use a screen," which is why I mentioned the cost of getting one.

Still, of course, you can ignore any help offered, but at least it's been offered.

themiddleman

Grrrmachine

Yes, I read that part too. And have you read about the usage of power inverters in car PCs? Are you aware of the pros and cons involved in inverter systems?

You asked for thoughts, and you're getting them. If you maintain this obnoxious attitude it does suggest that there's not much point in anyone else offering you advice, suggestions or opinions on your setup; all the things you asked for at the end of your first post.

Cocide

imho I would sugest investing the $80 for a dc-dc psu. Also might I reccomend gentoo, it can be made more light weight to offer a faster system. I do know that amarok allows for global shortcuts to various commands but I do not think that it will allow playlists to be called by a command. Fluxbox (a window manager) allows for shortcuts to run commands (like launch mplayer with a set of songs) and mplayer has some very basic non changeable keyboard commands while its in focus.

xelz

my first carpc was a 486 or pentium I (i think) that booted up to windows 98. i think this was in the year 2003. i had a winamp playlist on my startup, and to add files to it i just removed the conveniently placed hard drive directly from motherboard and had to update the playlist. i had a joystick controlling the whole thing (w/ winamp joystick plugin). no monitor. it worked pretty well for just mp3s. oh and i used an inverter. i then discovered this site and upgraded since then.

headless for me was fun while it lasted.

james

Rick99TAWS6

I know I would not be real impressed by a 'freakin computer' that did not have a display - just my opinion though, should be what you want since it is your time and money though...