my opinion as Linux as an OS for carputing

churnopol · 04-21-2003, 10:39 AM

Ok. I've played with Redhat, Mandrake, MorphixLITE, and Peanut Linux. Wow Linux is great. But is it for carputing? For me the answer is now leaning toward - no. But I'm jumping to conlcusions too fast. I'm really caught in a struggle, it's mainly Winamp3's fault.

Anyways, here's the pros about Linux OS's:
Boot time - Very fast especially for MorphixLITE and Peanut
GUI - I think is just like XP (each OS has it's differences)
Opensource (no activation crap like on XP)
The smaller OS's install in a faster time than Windows 2000 takes to boot.
There are millions of distros to choose from***

Cons
Winamp is for Windows! (I'm a hardcore winamp fan)
No simple plugin-play detection
More bugs than windows (this excludes the big boys, Redhat/Mandrake)
Getting online is harder - cant find "obtain address automatically"
No IE
There are millions of distros to choose from***

*** - both a con and pro

If Winamp3 and IE were on linux, I'd definatly jump on the Linux wagon. I am very impressed with linux. Now i know what OS is used in the movies. I've never seen windows on the big screen.

I hope this help any newbies (like me) find the perfect OS for their carputer.

But I'm still looking for the perfect OS, there are still many more distros to discover

RobM · 04-21-2003, 11:27 AM

XMMS (formerly X11amp) is very similar to Winamp in both feature set and look and feel. I use both daily and I'm happy with both of them.

And as far as Linux GUIs go, you've got a choice from a seemingly endless number of them.

vikrampant · 04-21-2003, 11:29 AM

Have to agree with you on Linux as a good OS. I run it on my laptop and am tinkering with setting up a file server at home running samba or PC netlink.

Anyway, I am not anti-m$ but tend not to use their products if similar alternatives exist. But for me Windows is ideal for the carPC environment.

I use XP and use the magnifier a lot. (Not sure if Linux has something similar, but XP has it built-in and it's nice)

I too love Winamp and XMMS although strong, isn't Winamp.

Windows has a wider software base and that's sadly one reason why it's so dominant on desktops.

I think all your pros are right ... especially plug and play

-- Vikram

hijinks21 · 04-21-2003, 11:37 AM

dhcpd for getting an ip address.. works fine.

kudzu for plug in play in redhat.. has always found hardware i put in that is supported in the kernel.

xmms is just as good as winamp.

all that said i don't even use linux in my car

RobM · 04-21-2003, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by vikrampant
I use XP and use the magnifier a lot. (Not sure if Linux has something similar, but XP has it built-in and it's nice)

xmag is the standard X11 magnifier program and there are more modern alternatives available.

As far as PNP goes, I've not had a problem with modern Linux distros not automatically detecting any of my hardware. I'm sure my success is due in a large part to the fact that I check devices for their Linux support before purchasing them. Some manufacturers just won't cooperate with the Linux developers

And I'm curious as to where you find XMMS lacking because I haven't noticed any shortcomings myself. (Not challenging you, just friendly and curious.)

ShinkunoNamida · 04-21-2003, 11:57 AM

I haven't used *nix (FreeBSD) regularly since '97 when i was in college.. I had it on my laptop for a brief while recently and linux seems go have come a long way since then.

The real problem linux has though, is that it's not dumby accessible. You can't just click on a site and download something, bang boom, icons all over the place, you've got some installed software (and plenty of spyware to boot!)

I think I would be infinitely more likely to switch over to linux in my car (which I really would like to do.. but it doesn't seem so feasible right now) if there were an open source project ala MediaEngine available. Also.. from what I've seen, there is no real gps software available either. If I'm wrong let me know, I'd like to make some changes

hijinks21 · 04-21-2003, 12:10 PM

i've wanted to look into programming a gui for linux. Thats the only thing that's holding me back also. one of these days I'm gonna go out and buy a few books and see what I can do.

There is a pretty good open source gps app out there. Its called GPSdrive. There are a few other also.

There's an app out there called DashPC for linux that was coded by someone in the forums along time ago.. I think its almost a dead app but it works.. its just not "pretty" looking like media engine is.

RobM · 04-21-2003, 12:13 PM

GPSDrive will do moving-maps but won't due turn-by-turn direction finding. I seem to remember a package (still in its infancy) for Linux that attempted to do turn-by-turn but I can't find it now.

And one great thing about Linux is that someone can put together a LinuxCar distribution and make an entire plug-and-play system. Once I get off my butt and build another car PC I'll probably do something like that.

TwicK · 04-21-2003, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by churnopol

Cons
No IE

I find that more as a pro. Mozilla is available for windows and linux and in my opinion a better browser. It actually follows standards, and it even has built in popup blocking.

ShinkunoNamida · 04-21-2003, 01:42 PM

there are ample web browsers available. Mozilla, among them, conquerer, and many many more.

Oms · 04-21-2003, 02:05 PM

I've been running Linux on my carputer for almost three years. As far as I'm concerned, Windows is light-years behind... however, Linux has a steeper learning curve. It's much harder to get started, but once you've mastered the in and outs, you can make it sing & dance in ways Windows programmers can only dream of. Best part is, you can strip it down to only the parts you actually need in the car, and then with a bit of "glue" like Perl, make them work together seamlessly. I've gotten my boot time to within 10 seconds (+15 seconds wasted in the BIOS, but I plan to trim that real soon now with a LinuxBIOS install).

(Though I gotta say, a major missing piece is a proper GPS solution -- I've looked at gpsdrive, but it doesn't seem worth the bother. Anyway, I never get lost.

Riiiight...)

"More bugs"? Please... The OS itself is rock-solid (previous job, we did Air Traffic Control systems in Linux... and that was years ago). Sure, the big, top-heavy, general-purpose GUIs like Gnome and KDE have their share of quirks -- but then a real carputer solution has to have a custom interface anyway. Most people that get into my car don't even realize there's a computer behind the music: "Oh, I've never seen a radio like that before!" is a typical reaction.

Anyway, bottom line is, it's THE solution, it's just that the initial "barrier to entry" is higher.

ShinkunoNamida · 04-21-2003, 04:43 PM

I'd like to see your setup! You need to get some photos up

stinkynathan · 05-02-2003, 05:16 PM

http://freevo.sourceforge.net/

later,
nathan

thenominous · 05-04-2003, 03:17 PM

Most of those "cons" seem to be from lack of linux knowledge rather than the inability of linux to do those.

IMHO the main problem with linux is that to do one task there always seems to be 10 or more ways that you can actually do it, and every linux admin will evangelise about which is truely the best way to do it.

sxpert · 05-05-2003, 01:56 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by TwicK
I find that more as a pro. Mozilla is available for windows and linux and in my opinion a better browser. It actually follows standards, and it even has built in popup blocking.

yeah, and mozilla is not vulnerable to the stupid "<input type>" bug...

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