Member Since: 04 Apr 2006
Location: Solihull
Posts: 745
interesting idea... maybe you could use a usb drive for storage of media? this would mean you could easily take it into the house to add new media!
although.... have to say I like the mac mini idea.... theres loads of sites dedicated to moding it too.... even some guy has put one into a model of the millenium falcon ......thats taking nerd-dom to a new level2004 TDV6 HSE Auto Zambezi Silver
13th Sep 2006 11:26 pm
SN
Member Since: 03 Jan 2006
Location: Romiley
Posts: 13710
10forcash wrote:
The base unit does boot up and shut down with the vehicle though, boot time is about 15 seconds
Jeeez impressive - my laptop takes an amazing 6 minutes from power up to being able to browse to www.disco3.co.ukSteve N | 21MY Defender | 08MY Discovery 3 (history) | 06MY Discovery 3 (ancient history)
13th Sep 2006 11:58 pm
DG Site Moderator
Member Since: 12 Dec 2005
Location: The Gaff
Posts: 50934
Theres surely only one place for that then Steve 21 year LR veteran > D2 GS 2003 > D3 S 2006 > D3 HSE 2009 > D4 HSE 2013 > D4 HSE 2015 > D5 HSE 2018 > DS HSE R-Dynamic P300e 2021
14th Sep 2006 12:04 am
SN
Member Since: 03 Jan 2006
Location: Romiley
Posts: 13710
Indeed - 17 days to go and it goes back to Dell - great these company leased laptops!Steve N | 21MY Defender | 08MY Discovery 3 (history) | 06MY Discovery 3 (ancient history)
14th Sep 2006 12:07 am
10forcash
Member Since: 09 Jun 2005
Location: Ubique
Posts: 16534
Anything over 20 seconds 'from new' (i.e. before you start installing all those sloppily coded bits of 3rd party software to link up your iPod / GPS/ PDA / Mobile phone etc.) is a sure sign of hardware or driver issues...
one of my laptops used to hang for about 40 seconds after logon, purely down to a poor bit of coding that insisted on waiting for a non-existent Nokia phone to be connected - even after the software was removed another 'paused' for over two minutes waiting for a connection to a MS Project server....
The biggest problem i've seen though is lack of RAM, my desktop PC at work takes 16 minutes before it's useable... time for a brew and a tab or two ( win NT + 128MB of RAM )
14th Sep 2006 12:13 am
10forcash
Member Since: 09 Jun 2005
Location: Ubique
Posts: 16534
Apart from the high-end servers (which are re-badged units) IMO, Dell aren't worth a
14th Sep 2006 12:15 am
SN
Member Since: 03 Jan 2006
Location: Romiley
Posts: 13710
1Gb RAM doesn't help in this case...
[workmode on]
Having worked very closely with big vendors like Compaq & HP I can tell you that Dell are no worse than their competitors....
[workmode off]
Anyway - its too late to be talking work... Steve N | 21MY Defender | 08MY Discovery 3 (history) | 06MY Discovery 3 (ancient history)
14th Sep 2006 12:26 am
10forcash
Member Since: 09 Jun 2005
Location: Ubique
Posts: 16534
HP & Compaq are one and the same
And IBM is now Chinese....
bring back the Amstrad I say
must admit, the HP GL380's have served me well ( ) and survived some quite difficult environments - no chilled datacentres or cleanrooms at the other end, a rackfull of LaCie NAS boxes survived a concrete roof dropping on them with no loss of data - when we dug them out, only the top one wasn't working, only due to piece of Rebar piercing it's PSU....
14th Sep 2006 12:29 am
christyler
Member Since: 31 Dec 2005
Location: Cork, Ireland
Posts: 1168
Car PC
[quote="StarBuck"]Nah - I saw 10forcash's in-car PC, and whilst it's certainly very cool, it's not what I'm hoping to do, as it really IS a PC in a car!
[quote]
Did you see the pics in my gallery, i fitted my system ages ago it's well fortgotten about now, but i think it looks good and it certainly works really well.CLUB "Ah Shor it'll be grand"
First D3 in the World with a Hydraulic Winch.
2006 Disco 3 TDV6 S Auto,
Diff Locks, Turbochipped, Raised Air Intake, 220volts Onboard, Onboard Compressor, Large Bore Exahust, Underbody Protection, One or two Other Mods as well.
Other toys include, Argo Avenger 8x8, Tatra 6x6 Motorhome (Being Built)
14th Sep 2006 1:31 am
StarBuck
Member Since: 10 Sep 2006
Location: Woking
Posts: 21
Gareth wrote:
Have you considered using WEPOS? (a version of Windows XP Embedded for point of service)
It is a very cut down version of XP which we are now using in our latest Electronic Point of Sale systems. The benefit we have found is that we can accomodate the entire OS and our touch screen epos application on a 1gb flash memory card.
Boot time is very quick, and using flash memory instead of hard disk takes less space, is very quiet and cool running. Seems very reliable to.
I don't know if you would want to store large amounts of data on your system though, if you did then that would scupper the flash ram idea.
Well, interesting you should mention that - I've been looking at Windows XP Embedded and Windows CE, but I'd really like to talk to someone about how feasible it is to use platforms such as this - I mean, is it the case with CE that I just select the parts of the operating system I want when I install it?
Information seems thin on the ground, or perhaps it's just swamped in the erroneous guff on the Microsoft website.
Do you (or anyone else here) know anything about this?
14th Sep 2006 10:48 am
Gareth Site Moderator
Member Since: 07 Dec 2004
Location: Bramhall
Posts: 26699
I can't help you with CE, but Embedded is very stripped out, and only the basic things are installed, you do have to add all the bells and whistles. We are only using it for running a solid state touch screen till interface, where all the data is held on a server. Networking capabilty is identical to XP-Pro.
We have found that most services can be added as needed, but the biggest problem we had in development was keeping the installed size small enough to fit on a 1gb flash card, with room for some local data to be temporarily stored in case of server outage.
There are a few forums that our programmers use that are specfic to XPE and its later version known as WEPOS.
I think I may have some manuals kicking aroud the office, when I next get there I will have a hunt for you.
14th Sep 2006 9:17 pm
StarBuck
Member Since: 10 Sep 2006
Location: Woking
Posts: 21
That's smashing! Thanks very much!
I've ordered a 7" touch screen, and i'm going to buy something calles VoomPC (which is a bare-bones Car ready PC), so then we should be ready to go! Need to do some re-engineering on the screen and associated buttons to make sure it all looks OEM, but I'll keep you all updated!
15th Sep 2006 11:41 am
10forcash
Member Since: 09 Jun 2005
Location: Ubique
Posts: 16534
Make sure the screen & graphics card are compatible... had issues with mine initially, resolved by changing to a different screen
15th Sep 2006 11:49 am
Nash
Member Since: 20 Oct 2006
Location: Barcelona
Posts: 108
Starbuck....Just to enlarge our knoledge...
- did you finally mounted your stuff?
- How about that Voom PC and the screen?
- Wich screen did you order?
- Can you post any pictures and comment your results...
Thanks.Nacho
DISCOVERY3 TDV6 HSE Zambezzi
30th Nov 2006 10:36 am
zebadee
Member Since: 15 Feb 2006
Location: The Magic Roundabout
Posts: 1392
10forcash wrote:
Apart from the high-end servers (which are re-badged units) IMO, Dell aren't worth a
Hear Hear, couldn't agree with you more.
Any Dell I've had lasted approx 2 to 2 1/2 years before it calved. They're fine in the beginning, but as time passes, they get slower & slower, then start hanging with increased frequency. Until eventually they drive you completely nuts.
I'm convinced that there’s degradation written in the code, so as you'll go buy another one after a few years.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
......thats taking nerd-dom to a new level
| 08MY Discovery 3 (history) 
another 'paused' for over two minutes waiting for a connection to a MS Project server.... 
