Crazy plan: mobile LMS

[bakker_be]

Hi there,
I've got this crazy plan to build a mobile LMS server (build it in the glove compartment of my car). Any hints, tips or insights would be most welcome

• Outline:
  
  • low-power mini-ITX board
  • small ssd for vortexbox OS + MusicIP
  • automotive PSU from mini-box.com
  • ad-hoc wifi
  • USB portable drive for storage
  • playback over bluetooth on either Android or iOS to my car radio
• Hardware Detail:
  
  • no enclosure: glove compartment is cooled by the AC of the car, should be enough
  • MB: something like this: http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD..._Board/E35M1I/ or this http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Int...ard/AT5NM10TI/
  • PSU: this http://www.mini-box.com/M3-ATX-DC-DC...8&category=981 should probably be enough
  • RAM: 4GB DDR3
  • SSD + storage: TBD
• Questions
  
  • Will 4GB RAM be enough?
  • Anyone have any idea how configure OS + PSU for minimal delay from starting the car to playing music, while still protecting from a dead battery?
  • Will this have enough processing power
  • Could I integrate Inguz DRC in this setup?

Thanks for your input!!!

[Soulkeeper]

You can find pre-made computers that are sturdier, much smaller, and probably cheaper. Google "plug computer" or "carputer" or "12 v computer" for some examples.

2 GB RAM will probably be plenty, especially if you run Linux.

Why connect the puter to your stereo via Bluetooth? BT streaming of music is lossy. It's probably better to run some wires.

[bakker_be]

You can find pre-made computers that are sturdier, much smaller, and probably cheaper. Google "plug computer" or "carputer" or "12 v computer" for some examples.

2 GB RAM will probably be plenty, especially if you run Linux.

Why connect the puter to your stereo via Bluetooth? BT streaming of music is lossy. It's probably better to run some wires.

I'd agree with sturdier, size isn't really an issue, as the glove compartment is never used anyway. Cheaper for the same processing power I haven't found. Sheevaplug or similar doesn't cut it: I'd basically like to mirror my existing music collection (simultaneously creating an additional backup), and it contains quite a lot of Hi-Res files, which I've read are a no-go with these devices. I also really need to have MusicIP integration, so a bit of additional processing power is needed for that part too.
The reason for bluetooth is actually convenience: I have a company car, with integrated GPS + BT handsfree. If I connect a wired player, playback isn't paused when navigation guidance or a phone call comes through, and I'd rather continue listening to the same song that was already playing before the interruption. Lossless <-> lossy in a car environment (medium range Diesel engined MPV) is probably a non-issue as well

[mgraves]

I might suggest something like a Fit-PC as a host. Very small & lower power. Also very rugged. I have in the past used a Fit-PC2 as a SqueezeServer.

http://www.fit-pc.com/web/

Michael

[epoch1970]

MusicIP works with a Geode 800 LX. That's quite an old, low-power CPU. CPU power isn't really an issue I think. The intel x86 arch is.

According to my experience, 512MB RAM is more than enough, in fact 256MB and a bit of swap is enough to run a full OS (without desktop) + SBS with web interface. If you do without the web interface (using iPeng, for example), it won't swap as much and go faster. SBS itself consumes ~100-150MB according to your database size.

I'd also suggest using a sata or e-sata drive, possibly powered over USB. Your board is USB2, I don't know about USB3 but in general USB taxes the CPU a lot (interrupts) compared to IDE or SATA. You won't notice it playing music, but rescan times over USB probably won't be too good.

Last, I would absolutely add an enclosure. An enclosure can act as a heat spreader, plus it protects your gear.
AFAIK you have to take special attention to the PSU for an automotive application. The carputer features should show you the way I think.


Long ago I read about a guy who put an appleTV in his car. When parked in the garage, the appleTV would come in range of the local wifi network, and synchronize automatically with the main computer… Neat trick.

[gharris999]

Long ago I read about a guy who put an appleTV in his car. When parked in the garage, the appleTV would come in range of the local wifi network, and synchronize automatically with the main computer… Neat trick.

Note to self / solemn vow: I shall not put a TV in my car until it's first outfitted with google-self-drive. #dontyouthinkinsurancepremiumsshouldbehigherifyouh aveatvinyourcar

[epoch1970]

Note to self / solemn vow: I shall not put a TV in my car until it's first outfitted with google-self-drive. #dontyouthinkinsurancepremiumsshouldbehigherifyouh aveatvinyourcar

Jealous words. We all know you're riding a scooter. And most probably it regularly breaks down on the way home. You'd need an FM carrier rather than wifi to stay in range.
BTW, in swapped my PX for a 4-stroke Stella last year. An excellent machine, torquey, with 2x the mileage of a PX. But voltage regulation remains an issue for an inboard entertainment system project

[bakker_be]

MusicIP works with a Geode 800 LX. That's quite an old, low-power CPU. CPU power isn't really an issue I think. The intel x86 arch is.

According to my experience, 512MB RAM is more than enough, in fact 256MB and a bit of swap is enough to run a full OS (without desktop) + SBS with web interface. If you do without the web interface (using iPeng, for example), it won't swap as much and go faster. SBS itself consumes ~100-150MB according to your database size.

I'd also suggest using a sata or e-sata drive, possibly powered over USB. Your board is USB2, I don't know about USB3 but in general USB taxes the CPU a lot (interrupts) compared to IDE or SATA. You won't notice it playing music, but rescan times over USB probably won't be too good.

Last, I would absolutely add an enclosure. An enclosure can act as a heat spreader, plus it protects your gear.
AFAIK you have to take special attention to the PSU for an automotive application. The carputer features should show you the way I think.


Long ago I read about a guy who put an appleTV in his car. When parked in the garage, the appleTV would come in range of the local wifi network, and synchronize automatically with the main computer… Neat trick.

Good call on th USB, thanks.
I plan to use a psu especially developed for automotive application of a PC, I'm just not too sure how to configure the whole, with regards to minimizing the delay at startup.

[epoch1970]

Good call on th USB, thanks.
I plan to use a psu especially developed for automotive application of a PC, I'm just not too sure how to configure the whole, with regards to minimizing the delay at startup.

Well, on a standard computer, according to my experience, using hibernation brings no gain compared to booting from off state. The only way to go fast is using sleep-to-ram (ACPI S3), but that state will consume some power, possibly 10Wh. My mac laptop tries to be smart about this : it stays in S3 mode until the battery is nearly depleted. Then it wakes up by itself, saves the computer state to disk (hibernation) and powers down. At power-up it will wake from hibernation.
I don't know if any non-mac platform do this.

If you use an SSD, boot time will be fast. I think there are people tweaking linux to attain stupid fast boot times, like 10 seconds… But I wouldn't know how this is achieved. Besides, the time your machine spends initializing the Bios is not really compressible.

[rpress]

Here is my solution:
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showth...89844-Vanputer