NoPistonPC

Hi guys, sorry I've been slow to respond to posts in this thread. I've had no time to check the forum lately. Here are some answers to your questions:

1) Will users be able to browse through music in the way that media car works (Artist/Album/Track)?

Actually, I believe MediaCar only lets you browse by directory. Currently, this is also how HeadUnit works. Due to popular demand I will probably leave it this way, but I'm trying to decide whether or not to use a pre-built database (which it currently does).

2) Will support/drivers for xenarc and lilliput touch screens be imbedded into the Linux distro?

Creating a distro so people can try it out is a very high priority. Pudge is currently working on it in his spare time. He will definitely be including drivers for USB touch screens and will be configuring video modes supported by Xenarcs, Lilliputs, etc... Drivers for popular EPIA mobos and ALSA-based sounds cards will also be included. Most likely, drivers will be added as needed to keep it small or can be configured during installation.

3) Will the Linux distro support the EPIA Mini-ITX boards such as the m10k?

see above

4) Will there be any way to imbed Routis? (When I open up Routis in media car and then go to change a music track or album, Routis is sent to the back, and I am no longer able to access it without closing it and then starting over again)

I have been able to embed Destinator and hijinks has gotten routis to work through Wine. Embedding these should be no problem, however, it still hasn't been implemented in HeadUnit.

5) Are there any advantages to the possible Linux distro version as opposed to the windows one? Faster boot time? More stable?

While I myself haven't been convinced yet that Linux is the way to go, these are some advantages that come to mind:

- Smaller installation size and the ability to install onto a compact flash card (XP embedded may be able to support this as well, but I'm not sure).
- Definitely a faster boot time (especially if you do things like mount your partitions as read-only, run in single user mode, only run minimal daemons, etc...)
- The OS will probably will be more stable.
- You can completely customize the boot process and load any image into framebuffer (manufacturor logo, etc...)
- It's all open source so you can tweak anything you want (both the OS and HeadUnit).
- People can add more I'm sure

The big disadvantages are:

- Not as much software is available (unless you use Wine, but some people don't like it)
- Not as user friendly as Windows (but if someone creates a plug-and-play distro, it may not be a problem)
- Not as good hardware support as Windows

Anyway, HeadUnit is currently cross-platform, but I may decide to just focus on Windows or Linux, or keep it cross-platfrom depending on the demand.

Would the linux version of this run on an xbox?

I'm not too familiar with the distribution of Linux that runs on the xbox, but if ALSA drivers are available for the xbox sound hardware and if xine compiles on it, then it should be okay. I want to re-write HeadUnit to remove the dependency on Qt, so once that is done, it should run fine.

Of course, all of this distro and Qt-removal stuff is still vaporware and will require some significant work.

__________________
1994 RX-7, EPIA P4-ITX w/ Celeron 2.4 Ghz, Arise PSU, Xenarc 700TSV (new model)

MP3Car.com

 

more mods

I'm gonna hold you to that!

Herve

Hi!
I am new to this forum, and I did not read much about "frontend" for carputers, so I did not try headunit yet. But I was wondering how hard it could be to integrate Navigator 4 that just need Qt 3.2 and higher to work natively under linux? Also the kdebluetooth framework can be quite interesting to integrate?
I am using a M10000 + slackware 10 + xmms + Navigator 4 + bemused server (kde) for playlist/volume control on series 60 phone. The whole thing works like a charm. Noatun and Xmms can be control with the phone, but since your using xine (if I am not mistaken), I'm quite sure xine could be easily hacked to support kdebemused server. There's also a bluetooth-Handfree support: you can even dial from your computer, your handy been in your pocket.
I know it is a bit out of the scope of this thread, but your frontend is so beautiful that I was dreaming about such features included in this project!

NoPistonPC

You should really be thanking febsperanza and more mods for the beauty of the front end.

But, those are some good ideas with regards to the bluetooth integration...

__________________
1994 RX-7, EPIA P4-ITX w/ Celeron 2.4 Ghz, Arise PSU, Xenarc 700TSV (new model)

xlarge

I'm watching this thread and app with ENORMOUS intrest.
This seems to be THE way to go.

I've started to take a look at the source too, to see if there is anything i can do.

I've just got all my hardware connected and firmwarepatched and what not, it works now at last... Installed gentoo last night, will continue with it this week and then try headunit...

cyber

NoPiston could you perhaps share what steps need to be taken to help develop in windows? I'm guessing we'll be needing a version of QT/windows (3.2.1?). All I could find was the evaluation version...perhaps you know where the full version could be had for development purposes?

Pudge

nopiston, i want to catch you on aim sometime. If you see me on, drop me a line.

__________________
My Carputer! (More Car Pics at the end)
2 Kicker Comp 10"
Epia M-9000, 256 MB DDR, 120 Gig HD
Lilliput 7" VGA Touchscreen
Check it out?!

Hexerei

This is what I'm planning for my carpc. Not sure what I need to do to get it done though (ideas?)

The carpc is a Epia M10000 and I will have a single xenarx 700TSV in the front console.

What I would like it to do is start up (gentoo linux) and load X Windows with some gps software in the first virtual desktop. Then in the second one will be the carpc software (hopefully this one). That way I don't have to worry about the gps program being embedded in the carpc software. Instead it will have it's own desktop and will run all the time. The X toolbar will give me arrows to switch between the two desktops.

The part I'm unsure about is having X start and automatically run the gps software in one virtual desktop and the carpc software in another. I know .xinitrc can be used as a startup script for X11, but can you specify which desktop????

I'm also thinking about putting in an LCD or VFD 2x20 to show the time and song info, unless I can get it to send through the alpine headunit's cd changer connection (like it currently does with my mp3 cd changer).


any thoughts?

MP3Car.com

 

xlarge

if you don't specify the desktop it will automatically show no1 i guess...

and dependant on your wm you can assign programs to virtual screens.

but why are we talking about that HERE? =)
sounds like you are not going to be using headunit to me... or... i mean... heh...
hmm... is that even possible with head unit?
wich button will have first pick? are the virtualscreens selector button on top of the head units?
and.. how will you click the headunit buttons possibly beneath?

Hexerei

I am still wanting to use headunit. X would start, then GPS would start on the first virtual screen and headunit would start on the next.

unless someone has another solution

aultl

Hey guys, I just got my latest copy of Linux Journal and guess what? There is in article on how to write a XMPCR frontend for Linux, do not know if this is something you guys are planning to add but here is the link any way.

Linux Journal: http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=7487
OpenXM : http://www.beerboys.com/OpenXM/

__________________
Aultl
[====---] - 65% complete
Status: Configuring Software
VIA Epia 800mhz, 256Mb ram, 10Gb HD

Quote of the Month: "I see the problem, [The RAID controller] is trying to rebuild the array with good data from a failed drive." -- HP Support

millec

What screen resolution are the skins designed to work with? I have a xenarc that I am running at 800x600 and it gets clipped on the right hand side and doesn't use the bottom 20% of the screen.

I am guessing 640x480? Can anyone point me to 800x600 skins or info on how to create one?

Thanks!
--Craig

millec

Does headunit remember the volume setting from the previous usage? In my install this doesn't appear to work, and it sort of blasts me out everytime I start it up. If it doesn't exist, I might poke around the code and see if I can add it.

Thanks,
--Craig

millec

I figured out the 800x600 skins. I found a MediCar skin that is in 800x600.

-Craig

millec

How does headunit know what directory to use for a "media" or "music" directory. Is this a build time option or is this something that I can configure someplace?

Thanks,
--Craig

MP3Car.com