tbray writes "Dave Edmondson wanted to play MP3's in his car; his
solution was perhaps a bit over the top. But then, why wouldn't you want an
E450 in your trunk? Check the pix."
I'm in the S-E 4-double-oh Sitting real low, stick in the flo', oh The hoe want me to come swoop Take her for a ride in my blue Lex Luthor (Lex Luth-ah) But the bitch ain't got no gas fetti (gas fetti) So I burnt her like Fast Freddy (Fast Freddy) Hit me on the first when your mail has come And maybe we can go to the mall or somethin (to the mall or somethin)
Heavy ass shit for the mob -- for the mob When I make a zillion I resign -- I resign I'm realer than a hundred dollar bill with the line across When Christmas come around ask Santa Claus Santa do you know E-40? Bet you that nigga say "That's my homey!" We used to perv grind curb trip to my grandma Kahlua with them brandy almost every day
Cardiac is cool, but I'm on gin (on gin) Santa bought me, a new Mac-10 (yeah)
His solution is way over the top but... The software used is very simple at the moment, nothing more than an rc script that plays random tracks from the mp3 archive stored in the ~80G/export/mp3 filesystem. That filesystem is constructed by concatenating a bunch of 9G SCSI disks (the root filesystem is mirrored across a similar set of disks)
It it possible to use just a regular 100-200GB x few disks with this box? I mean, as soon as you have a fridge in your car for the purpose of listening music (comapred to portable mp3 player), you might as well go megalomaniac and stash it with 1TB hard drive space.
Oh yes, on related notes, can he wash his picnic dishes in it? Does it keep beer cold? It looks like a funny kitchen appliance.
But then, why wouldn't you want an E450 in your trunk?
for one simple reason...because i don't have a car (you insensitive clod). and i certainly don't want an E450 in the, ummm, "trunk" that i do have...
-- I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
Kirk and the Enterprise stereo system
by
Viking5150
·
· Score: 5, Funny
The only Enterprise class stereo system I want to hear about is the one Kirk used when scoring with all the green alien babes.;-)
Re:Kirk and the Enterprise stereo system
by
pr0nbot
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· Score: 3, Funny
OT... There was a funny anecdote in some Star Trek memoir I read about the green aliens. The SFX team were painting the chicks green, but whenever the developed film came back it wasn't green enough. So they'd up the green in the paint and do it again.
After a few rounds of this they went to the guys developing the film and they were like, "What?! It took us HOURS to correct the green tint off your film!"
Okay, I laughed
by
daviddennis
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
But where'd he get power for this thing? I would think it would require massive alternator upgrades for it to work, but I see nothing of the kind on his page. The only hint is that the inverter link goes to a page suggesting that it needs 30v power, while I thought car power was universally 12v.
I can see this solution for a motor home where a generator can be available, but not a minivan.
This seems like something that must have not cost much to do, or he would have done better than that crummy cassette adapter. That implies that standard power must have worked (?).
Strange.
D
Re:Okay, I laughed
by
josh3736
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· Score: 3, Funny
The system arrived with three power supplies and, though it's clear that this is good for reliability, the space taken by one of them proved convenient to store the power inverter necessary to get from the in-car 12V supply back to the 230V required by the system. It's possible that I might build an alternative plug-in power supply unit that didn't bother with the inverter, but that's a project for another day.
I'd just hate to forget to turn it off when you get out of the car.
Re:Okay, I laughed
by
OverlordQ
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· Score: 3, Insightful
From the page: The system arrived with three power supplies and, though it's clear that this is good for reliability, the space taken by one of them proved convenient to store the power inverter necessary to get from the in-car 12V supply back to the 230V required by the system.
And from the inverter page:
Provides 230V AC output from standard cigarette lighter plug
-- Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
Re:Okay, I laughed
by
josh3736
·
· Score: 2, Informative
He said there is no UI -- it's just a script that picks a song randomly from the collection. (He plans on mounting a Sun Ray 150 to the dashboard for playback control.)
The audio system inegration consists of plugging the soundcard's speaker out into one of those cassette tape adaptors. Yikes on the sound quality...
Re:Okay, I laughed
by
haroldK
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· Score: 3, Insightful
But where'd he get power for this thing? I would think it would require massive alternator upgrades for it to work, but I see nothing of the kind on his page. The only hint is that the inverter link goes to a page suggesting that it needs 30v power, while I thought car power was universally 12v.
30A does not equal 30V. A cigarette lighter probably isn't good enough for the full rating of this invertor (mine, for instance is on a 20A fuse along with the interior lights and stereo), but it's possible to tie in to the alternator output directly.
Re:Okay, I laughed
by
WhiteBandit
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· Score: 4, Funny
I'd just hate to forget to turn it off when you get out of the car.
Not to worry! It has a built in feature that automatically turns itself off after about 3 seconds!
(also known as the time to drain your battery)
If you notice though, there is plenty of space on the other side of the trunk. Which is perfect for the companion gas powered generator!
Re:Okay, I laughed
by
Chagrin
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· Score: 2, Insightful
E450 doesn't *require* 240V.
But yeah, I kinda doubt he installed 2 gauge copper myself.
--
I/O Error G-17: Aborting Installation
memories of bye gone days
by
quakemeister
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· Score: 4, Funny
this server reminds me of my time during the colo/5pagepowerpoint=$5MVC/weneedaNetASAP days and suns *highly* optimistic "we put the DOT in.COM" advertising in the late 90s. dont know what street value for one of these is today but sheesh, putting one in the car? that borders on sacriligious - call the SUN police! wait, they fired them all!
Power consumption
by
eltoyoboyo
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· Score: 4, Interesting
I did not notice how much he said about battery life on a car-powered 230vac computer system. But you probably do not want to be playing the music without the engine running...(Not that you could hear the engine over the sound of the E450 anyway)
Re:That would be great for when
by
ChipMonk
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· Score: 4, Funny
And if you do come to a total stop in traffic, just hook it up to the car's antenna and find a hot spot. Voila! Instant portable office!
trunk space
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 5, Funny
The size of the E450 would cut deeply into the space for bodies.
Re:trunk space
by
morcheeba
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· Score: 2, Interesting
The size of the E450 would cut deeply into the space for bodies....especially in an accident! The thing not only isn't secured, but its on wheels!
p.s. I'm smelling a hoax. Not that it's impossible, but I was looking for photographic proof beyond what it would look like when you're just merely transporting an old server and though it would be funny if...
Not at all! I have a G5 cluster powering my custom PVR system, built a windmill to run the light on my front porch, and I recently installed a small nuclear power plant in my shed so I could power the lawn sprinkler system.
Couldn't an ultra tiny machine do this?
You're right. The ultra tiny machine is running his web server.
Psshhhhht... that's nothing
by
devilsammo
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· Score: 2, Funny
I've got ASCI White in the back of my Suburban.
Sam
Site comes up for me
by
JohnnyComeLately
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· Score: 4, Interesting
I've shaken my head at PCs in a car, and some other oddities. This car, though, takes the cake. I'm not sure I'd really want to do this, even if I could. Enterprise servers aren't made for that vibration, and I've seen what a smoked power supply goes for (right after corporate decided to "save money" by dropping the warranties). Even with WiFi, Bluetooth, or wi-flavor of the month, you're just wasting resources. You might as well be in a Lambroghini Diablo, parked in traffic on the 5 in LA.
Borrowed from the guy's forum
by
jeffkjo1
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· Score: 5, Funny
Oh, I can just see it now... "Dad, I'm sick of this song" "Ok, son, just use your terminal to telnet into the e450 and modify the rc script to exclude that song" "Can't we just get one of those dvd players like Jimmy has?" "No. Use the supercomputer. You need to learn solaris."
Re:Borrowed from the guy's forum
by
QEDog
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· Score: 4, Funny
?Ok, son, just use your terminal to telnet into the e450 and modify the rc script to exclude that song? "telnet? telnet? telnet"" Dad? ssh!"
-- "There is no teacher but the enemy."-Mazer Rackham
Re:Borrowed from the guy's forum
by
wik
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· Score: 2, Funny
Unless he's using wireless, why can't he? It's not as if there are war drivers trying to out-geek him by sniffing his packets.
-- / \
\ / ASCII ribbon campaign for peace
x
/ \
Re:Bah...
by
Fizzlewhiff
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· Score: 2, Informative
They don't have to say it won't work. They usually just demonstrate it by posting a link.
You're not missing much. It is just a E450 in the back of a station wagon. First time he has to replace a SCSI drive it will cost more than his car.
--
'Same speed C but faster'
Slashdot got trolled.
by
jared_hanson
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· Score: 4, Insightful
I think slashdot just got trolled. An excerpt from his page as reasons for doing this:
-multiple processors to ensure that mp3 decode is not interrupted by other process activity,
-good internal storage capacity, including the ability to take advantage of software RAID for reliability,
-large memory for good caching of tunes being played,
-easily expandable to allow for future projects,
-excellent support for Solaris 10, so that I can test bug-fixes, etc. while on the road if necessary. This also means that there is wide application availability (Oracle, great Java tools, etc.)
Does anyone who knows anything about MP3s think you need large or multiple processors to handle the task? Do you need massive memory to cache the songs? No on both counts.
Plus, the pictures on the site look like he just set his Sun server in the back of his SUV and snapped a couple photographs. No details on the hookup to the sound system at all.
If any story ever showed the ineptitude of Slashdot editors, this would be it.
I just wonder what will happen when the guys at Oracle hear about this. I've seen some weird licensing schemes from those guys - but I can't wait to see $100/horsepower or something like that.
Re:Slashdot got trolled.
by
UserChrisCanter4
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· Score: 4, Funny
/. Got trolled?? Hell no. The editors knew this was a fake.
Wait 'till this guy sees his bandwidth bill.
I'm not impressed
by
Y0tsuya
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· Score: 4, Interesting
Normal people actually use their trunks to carry things like groceries, tools & parts from home depot, luggages, etc. Hauling a big ass computer in the trunk creates a massive inconvenience in everyday life.
Re:I'm not impressed
by
topham
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· Score: 2, Funny
Bull. Normal people haul subwoofers in the trunk...not leaving enough room for a computer.
Re:Apparently the E450 wasn't running the webserve
by
devilsammo
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· Score: 4, Funny
Would you like the passenger side or perhaps the rear view?
"Might as well get an 8-track player"
by
mopomi
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· Score: 3, Funny
My wife's comment before seeing pictures: "Are you going to build one for our car?" After seeing pictures: "Geez! We don't have room for that--we might as well get an 8-track player."
Waste of gasoline...
by
SID*C64
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· Score: 2, Informative
Hauling around that thing is sure to cut into your miles per gallon. What a complete waste of money and time.
I mean, what is the appeal of this? It doesn't take much effort to stick a huge computer in the back of your huge car. How is this newsworthy?
I Have Now Officially Seen Everthing
by
Myriad
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· Score: 4, Funny
Though it actually has nothing to do with the E450 in dudes trunk.
No, it is the fact that I just saw a reference to Shaving Cream in a/. sig... (eltoyoboyo's )
-- "They do not preach that their god will rouse them, a little before the Nuts work loose." Kipling, 'The Sons of Martha'
Re:Bah...
by
Jeff+DeMaagd
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· Score: 2, Insightful
A second hand SCSI drive is relatively cheap, last I bought a 10k drive, it was $50 for a 9GB. SCAs are even cheaper since the need for an adaptor for anything that doesn't have a backplane ups the cost in other systems. It looks like E450 has one.
An e450 is massive stupid overkill though, that is, if that system is actually for real in that minivan. Nothing done there couldn't be done on a single CPU with a single stick of memory on a single hard drive.
Do it better in 2 words.
by
CRC'99
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· Score: 5, Interesting
Mini ITX.
Nuff said. I have one sitting under the seat in my car. 7" touchscreen in the dash, GPS and navigation software. All in a mini-case and runs off the 13.8v straight from the car battery.
Yes, that looks geeky, but touchscreen works better:)
-- Sendmail is like emacs: A nice operating system, but missing an editor and a MTA.
Re:Do it better in 2 words.
by
John+Courtland
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· Score: 2, Informative
3M makes touchscreen films for most standard LCD sizes. I called them one day on this very topic and the guy was REALLY cool about it. They'll send you literature and everything. You could buy an entire one too, 7" are a few hundred new.
Also, you can buy DC to DC power supplies for computers. They have all the power conditioning you'll ever need.
-- Slashdot is proof that Sturgeon's Law applies to mankind.
Re:Do it better in 2 words.
by
CRC'99
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· Score: 2, Informative
Lilliput 7" LCD touchscreen. It does up to 1024x768 (readable, but DAMN it's small), and is powered directly of auto power:)
The touchscreen acts as a USB mouse.
-- Sendmail is like emacs: A nice operating system, but missing an editor and a MTA.
There are easier solutions than this.....
by
fuzzyrabbit
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· Score: 2, Informative
I have a Xeenon mp3 shuttle II (which is at least 4 years old) that happily plays mp3s from a 15G drive. No inverter required.
My boyfriend has a modded Xbox with a 120G drive in his car. Add in an xbox wireless card and it can be updated remotely. Add a Python script and it plays mp3s when the car starts.
-- Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast... - AJ Rimmer
Crunk in da trunk
by
beavmetal
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· Score: 3, Interesting
Bah! to all those who made cracks about dayton ohio. You forget we host the Hamvention.
Regardless, this guys got the right idea. Personally I decided not to put a computer in my car after ludacris sang about it. However, I still use a laptop and a digital FM converter to play my music.
But really, think about it. Shouldn't this be the way car audio is headed. No need for damn disk. Also, CD are easy, frequent targets for thieves. If your neighbors don't see the wank stealing the server out of the back of your car, then they should buy your replacement. The e450 is a little big. I mean where are the 4 15"s gonna go. And wouldn't the vibration of my subs kill the E450.
Even so, when you compare the price of a computer to that of the phatbox
there isn't much difference. Really the computer is more fun and could very well be put to more use. Think replacing the head unit with a touch screen that runs software you wrote to control the system. Who needs a dvd nav system. Put the GPS receiver and the software rigth on the computer. Think wireless file server so you can listen to the music on your car at your desk at work and then transfer all your hard work to the backup car system.
This guy isn't the first person to put a computer in his car. He definitely won't be the last. While there will still be a solid market for component systems, I strongly believe that portable, multifunction car systems will become the norm within 10 years.
-- Looks like it is time to replace your Personality Module. You are a bit to clingy, guess I better replace your fuser to
Power Problems
by
whataboutMike
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· Score: 5, Insightful
One more evidence that it might be a hoax: the E450 requires ~1600 watts of power and the power inverter that he says he uses provides only 300W... A difference of about ~1200W...
Now Slashdot will never front page my econoline with the Cray XMP in the back! It serves mp3s, controls my dome light brightness level and runs a meteorological simulation for 300 sq. kilometers. It calls me Dave for some reason. I only had to cut a teensy weensy hole in the roof and add nine batteries.
Hooked right into my 8-track though.
-- "Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest." - Denis Diderot
Yeah, I'd use a Sun server for MP3s if I drove a school bus, too. But I have a CAR.
Re:Simple idea
by
AKnightCowboy
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· Score: 3, Insightful
If you read the article carefully, you would have noticed that it cost him a whopping $0. For that much, how can you go wrong? It may not be the wootenest system ever, but its definitely neato.
He could've sold it on eBay and bought at least a half dozen brand new iPods. On the other hand, it does pain me to see that the e450s we bought about 4 years ago for $38,000 are now going for $2000. We should've bought a Mac as they hold their resale value better.
Re:early post'd!
by
jhobbs
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· Score: 2, Informative
RTFA, current investment: $0.00
This was to make life easy?
by
jm91509
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· Score: 4, Interesting
Cool!
"...the interest in getting a large chunk of music into the car without carrying around and managing a big stack of CDs has remained."
So to avoid the hastle of managing a stack of CD's, this guy has installed an E450 and a SunRay in his car? And after doing all that (no mean feat I would suspect) the audio is connected to his car via a tape converter?
Funny, but me thinks we are having our legs pulled...
Here's a brilliant idea
by
The-Bus
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· Score: 4, Funny
Why don't you put the server back in your room to host the webpage that's been slashdotted, the Kenwood FM/AM/Apache radio you have does not seem to be doing the trick.
--
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
Sell monster 90's server; use money to buy iPod
by
MrChuck
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
Bet he coulda gotten $500 for a loaded E450 and maintained said investment.
That said, for
@work, I suffer with E450's because "They Are Suns". Even when I show that a 1CPU x86 @ 2GHz smokes it.
"and with one CPU, I can be assured that the machine won't lock up with multiple CPUs contending for one resource" (well, it's as reasonable as his thoughts about dedicated CPUs for decoding...)
As for power, a friend just hit a junk yard ambulance and got a 100A alternator (he runs emergency lights on his car going to fires). A 1000watt inverter and you could power the E450.
Just be careful turning with all those disks on.
I can see either a disk crash or gyroscopes causing car crashes;)
Re:Sell monster 90's server; use money to buy iPod
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 2, Interesting
If the sun does the job and you know how the job will scale over the years, you may find its cheaper over the long haul. I have several decade old sun boxes doing different jobs around the place and some of the PC's that were bought to replace them are somewhere at the local landfil.
The funniest thing about this, is at the end, he ends up using a casette output converter.... the SAME EXACT ONE YOU CAN USE ON AN iPOD OR $50 MP3 PLAYER!
Ba-da---ching
-- Excuse me, I don't mean to impose, but I am the ocean
Re:E450 doesn't even have sound
by
|<amikaze
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· Score: 4, Informative
I believe that would be in one of the TEN PCI slots...
Well that's just fine and dandy...
by
Spittles
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· Score: 2, Funny
Well that's just fine and dandy... until the RIAA supoenas your car.
Re:Umm.. can you say colossal waste of money?
by
McCrapDeluxe
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· Score: 2, Informative
He said he hasn't paid anything for it at this point.
What's *not* necessary
by
commodoresloat
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· Score: 4, Informative
is a honkin' server in your trunk just to listen to music. A server *and* a laptop. I guess it didn't occur to him to just plug the laptop directly into the cassette deck that he has the E450 plugged into. Or, here's an idea, get an iPod! (And a car stereo with AUX input so you're not playing through a crappy cassette deck). In response to why you wouldn't want this in your trunk -- it's damn easy to steal (even has wheels to wheel it away).... on a completely unrelated note, if this thing is stolen, you might need to worry about an RIAA lawsuit for distributing copyrighted music....
Re:What's *not* necessary
by
Onan
·
· Score: 4, Funny
...it's damn easy to steal...
Um, you've never tried to move an e450, have you? Especially one loaded with disks?
Would-be thieves would probably have an easier time walking away with his transmission. Hell, the added weight probably makes the car harder to steal.
Re:What's *not* necessary
by
DJStealth
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Once I heard he had a laptop to manage everything, I realized that this whole thing must be a joke. He probably had to transport the E450 between branches at work, and decided to take some pics of it.
the omnifi is quite a piece of junk (i know, i own one).
the best product i've seen so far is the phatbox. it's being sold by volkswagen and audi as optional equipment. the kenwood music keg is a derivative of the phatbox that only works with kenwood stereos, but you can buy a phatbox that works with many types of car stereos.
there are several other makers of in-car mp3 players. ssi neo, the omnifi, the now defunct empeg/riocar. none of these made any inroad with real manufacturers because of poor quality and terrible usability. after having used the phatbox SSA interface (it talks to you, so you can find your songs without ever having to look down at a display), i'm never buying another product without it.
Re:CompactFlash car mp3 players ?
by
sweede
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Many of the higher end audio products have these capabilities. The whole thing that guy did is just beyond idiotic. he probably has spent more money and time on that thing than he could of had he gone out and purchased a new high quaility Alpine or Eclipse head unit that have internal 40-60 gig harddrive, plays DVD's with Mp3's on them, and can use CF type-II slots (ibm microdrives anyone).
-- I follow the SDK and GDN principles..
Spelling Dont Kount, Grammer Dont Neither
Re:Kenwood Music Keg
by
flab007
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
I just bought me a Pioneer DEH-P3500MP.. I just burn a number of my MP3's to a CDR and voila.. works like a charm!
Re:Heat from the... Sun
by
AnonymousKev
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Unless he's driving north of the Artic circle, I think that heat would be a problem. At my last job, we had an E450 inside a server closet. During the summer, the cheap landlord started shutting the building A/C off over the weekend. By Saturday, the E450 had heated the closet up enough to cause it to shutdown.
The next week, we left the server room door open. It lasted until Sunday before shutting down.
The week after that, we left the server door open and set a fan in the doorway to pull air out of the server closet. That worked until August (this was Texas). By that time, enough of the other tenet's goldfish and plants had died, the landlord started leaving the A/C on over the weekends.
-- Anonymous Kev Proudly posting as AC since 1997
(Finally got a dang account in 2004)
Slashdot Mirror
How did i predict this would be nessesary?
http://members.shaw.ca/infonic/icece/
You are confusing me with someone who cares.
His solution is way over the top but... /export/mp3 filesystem. That filesystem is constructed by concatenating a bunch of 9G SCSI disks (the root filesystem is mirrored across a similar set of disks)
The software used is very simple at the moment, nothing more than an rc script that plays random tracks from the mp3 archive stored in the ~80G
It it possible to use just a regular 100-200GB x few disks with this box? I mean, as soon as you have a fridge in your car for the purpose of listening music (comapred to portable mp3 player), you might as well go megalomaniac and stash it with 1TB hard drive space.
Oh yes, on related notes, can he wash his picnic dishes in it? Does it keep beer cold? It looks like a funny kitchen appliance.
But then, why wouldn't you want an E450 in your trunk?
for one simple reason...because i don't have a car (you insensitive clod). and i certainly don't want an E450 in the, ummm, "trunk" that i do have...
I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
The only Enterprise class stereo system I want to hear about is the one Kirk used when scoring with all the green alien babes. ;-)
But where'd he get power for this thing? I would think it would require massive alternator upgrades for it to work, but I see nothing of the kind on his page. The only hint is that the inverter link goes to a page suggesting that it needs 30v power, while I thought car power was universally 12v.
I can see this solution for a motor home where a generator can be available, but not a minivan.
This seems like something that must have not cost much to do, or he would have done better than that crummy cassette adapter. That implies that standard power must have worked (?).
Strange.
D
this server reminds me of my time during the colo/5pagepowerpoint=$5MVC/weneedaNetASAP days and suns *highly* optimistic .COM"
"we put the DOT in
advertising in the late 90s. dont know what street value for one of these is today but sheesh, putting one in the car? that borders on sacriligious - call the SUN police! wait, they fired them all!
I did not notice how much he said about battery life on a car-powered 230vac computer system. But you probably do not want to be playing the music without the engine running...(Not that you could hear the engine over the sound of the E450 anyway)
Have you Meta Moderated t
And if you do come to a total stop in traffic, just hook it up to the car's antenna and find a hot spot. Voila! Instant portable office!
The size of the E450 would cut deeply into the space for bodies.
Because I'd arrive at my destination before it had finised the memory check.
On the positive side, my car would have that cool whoosh sound like Kitt in Knight Rider.
Unknown host pong.
It sounds like all he has is an 80GB HD, and it serves up files.
Couldn't an ultra tiny machine do this?
What a waste.
I've got ASCI White in the back of my Suburban. Sam
I've shaken my head at PCs in a car, and some other oddities. This car, though, takes the cake. I'm not sure I'd really want to do this, even if I could. Enterprise servers aren't made for that vibration, and I've seen what a smoked power supply goes for (right after corporate decided to "save money" by dropping the warranties). Even with WiFi, Bluetooth, or wi-flavor of the month, you're just wasting resources. You might as well be in a Lambroghini Diablo, parked in traffic on the 5 in LA.
Oh, I can just see it now...
"Dad, I'm sick of this song"
"Ok, son, just use your terminal to telnet into the e450 and modify the rc script to exclude that song"
"Can't we just get one of those dvd players like Jimmy has?"
"No. Use the supercomputer. You need to learn solaris."
They don't have to say it won't work. They usually just demonstrate it by posting a link.
You're not missing much. It is just a E450 in the back of a station wagon. First time he has to replace a SCSI drive it will cost more than his car.
'Same speed C but faster'
I think slashdot just got trolled. An excerpt from his page as reasons for doing this:
-multiple processors to ensure that mp3 decode is not interrupted by other process activity,
-good internal storage capacity, including the ability to take advantage of software RAID for reliability,
-large memory for good caching of tunes being played,
-easily expandable to allow for future projects,
-excellent support for Solaris 10, so that I can test bug-fixes, etc. while on the road if necessary. This also means that there is wide application availability (Oracle, great Java tools, etc.)
Does anyone who knows anything about MP3s think you need large or multiple processors to handle the task? Do you need massive memory to cache the songs? No on both counts.
Plus, the pictures on the site look like he just set his Sun server in the back of his SUV and snapped a couple photographs. No details on the hookup to the sound system at all.
If any story ever showed the ineptitude of Slashdot editors, this would be it.
-- Fighting mediocrity one bad post at a time.
Normal people actually use their trunks to carry things like groceries, tools & parts from home depot, luggages, etc. Hauling a big ass computer in the trunk creates a massive inconvenience in everyday life.
Would you like the passenger side or perhaps the rear view?
Pfftt! I got a Cray on my skateboard!
eleven plus two / twelve plus one
My wife's comment before seeing pictures:
"Are you going to build one for our car?"
After seeing pictures:
"Geez! We don't have room for that--we might as well get an 8-track player."
Hauling around that thing is sure to cut into your miles per gallon. What a complete waste of money and time.
I mean, what is the appeal of this? It doesn't take much effort to stick a huge computer in the back of your huge car. How is this newsworthy?
No, it is the fact that I just saw a reference to Shaving Cream in a /. sig... (eltoyoboyo's )
Wow. An obscure Benny Bell song... on Slashdot...
I can die fulfilled now.
Oh god, I just realized this means I actually got it. *feels old*
Blockwars: free, multiplayer, head to head game
"They do not preach that their god will rouse them, a little before the Nuts work loose." Kipling, 'The Sons of Martha'
A second hand SCSI drive is relatively cheap, last I bought a 10k drive, it was $50 for a 9GB. SCAs are even cheaper since the need for an adaptor for anything that doesn't have a backplane ups the cost in other systems. It looks like E450 has one.
An e450 is massive stupid overkill though, that is, if that system is actually for real in that minivan. Nothing done there couldn't be done on a single CPU with a single stick of memory on a single hard drive.
Mini ITX.
:)
Nuff said. I have one sitting under the seat in my car. 7" touchscreen in the dash, GPS and navigation software. All in a mini-case and runs off the 13.8v straight from the car battery.
Yes, that looks geeky, but touchscreen works better
Sendmail is like emacs: A nice operating system, but missing an editor and a MTA.
I have a Xeenon mp3 shuttle II (which is at least 4 years old) that happily plays mp3s from a 15G drive. No inverter required.
My boyfriend has a modded Xbox with a 120G drive in his car. Add in an xbox wireless card and it can be updated remotely. Add a Python script and it plays mp3s when the car starts.
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast... - AJ Rimmer
Bah! to all those who made cracks about dayton ohio. You forget we host the Hamvention.
Regardless, this guys got the right idea. Personally I decided not to put a computer in my car after ludacris sang about it. However, I still use a laptop and a digital FM converter to play my music.
But really, think about it. Shouldn't this be the way car audio is headed. No need for damn disk. Also, CD are easy, frequent targets for thieves. If your neighbors don't see the wank stealing the server out of the back of your car, then they should buy your replacement. The e450 is a little big. I mean where are the 4 15"s gonna go. And wouldn't the vibration of my subs kill the E450.
Even so, when you compare the price of a computer to that of the phatbox there isn't much difference. Really the computer is more fun and could very well be put to more use. Think replacing the head unit with a touch screen that runs software you wrote to control the system. Who needs a dvd nav system. Put the GPS receiver and the software rigth on the computer. Think wireless file server so you can listen to the music on your car at your desk at work and then transfer all your hard work to the backup car system.
This guy isn't the first person to put a computer in his car. He definitely won't be the last. While there will still be a solid market for component systems, I strongly believe that portable, multifunction car systems will become the norm within 10 years.
Looks like it is time to replace your Personality Module. You are a bit to clingy, guess I better replace your fuser to
One more evidence that it might be a hoax: the E450 requires ~1600 watts of power and the power inverter that he says he uses provides only 300W... A difference of about ~1200W...
Now Slashdot will never front page my econoline with the Cray XMP in the back! It serves mp3s, controls my dome light brightness level and runs a meteorological simulation for 300 sq. kilometers. It calls me Dave for some reason. I only had to cut a teensy weensy hole in the roof and add nine batteries.
Hooked right into my 8-track though.
"Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest." - Denis Diderot
Yeah, I'd use a Sun server for MP3s if I drove a school bus, too. But I have a CAR.
He could've sold it on eBay and bought at least a half dozen brand new iPods. On the other hand, it does pain me to see that the e450s we bought about 4 years ago for $38,000 are now going for $2000. We should've bought a Mac as they hold their resale value better.
RTFA, current investment: $0.00
Cool!
"...the interest in getting a large chunk of music into the car without carrying around and managing a big stack of CDs has remained."
So to avoid the hastle of managing a stack of CD's, this guy has installed an E450 and a SunRay in his car? And after doing all that (no mean feat I would suspect) the audio is connected to his car via a tape converter?
Funny, but me thinks we are having our legs pulled...
Why don't you put the server back in your room to host the webpage that's been slashdotted, the Kenwood FM/AM/Apache radio you have does not seem to be doing the trick.
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
That said, for @work, I suffer with E450's because "They Are Suns". Even when I show that a 1CPU x86 @ 2GHz smokes it.
"and with one CPU, I can be assured that the machine won't lock up with multiple CPUs contending for one resource" (well, it's as reasonable as his thoughts about dedicated CPUs for decoding...)
As for power, a friend just hit a junk yard ambulance and got a 100A alternator (he runs emergency lights on his car going to fires). A 1000watt inverter and you could power the E450.
Just be careful turning with all those disks on. I can see either a disk crash or gyroscopes causing car crashes ;)
Nice work.
/. many years ago...
Stories like this are what drew me to
more like this please.
The funniest thing about this, is at the end, he ends up using a casette output converter.... the SAME EXACT ONE YOU CAN USE ON AN iPOD OR $50 MP3 PLAYER!
Ba-da---ching
Excuse me, I don't mean to impose, but I am the ocean
I believe that would be in one of the TEN PCI slots...
Well that's just fine and dandy... until the RIAA supoenas your car.
He said he hasn't paid anything for it at this point.
is a honkin' server in your trunk just to listen to music. A server *and* a laptop. I guess it didn't occur to him to just plug the laptop directly into the cassette deck that he has the E450 plugged into. Or, here's an idea, get an iPod! (And a car stereo with AUX input so you're not playing through a crappy cassette deck). In response to why you wouldn't want this in your trunk -- it's damn easy to steal (even has wheels to wheel it away). ... on a completely unrelated note, if this thing is stolen, you might need to worry about an RIAA lawsuit for distributing copyrighted music....
Check the pic. The box is on wheels. This guy just took pics of an e450 in his trunk and wrote up a humorous article to accompany them.
But it was funny. I laughed at all the slashdotters who ate it. :-D
Antti S. Brax - Old school - http://www.iki.fi/asb/
the omnifi is quite a piece of junk (i know, i own one).
the best product i've seen so far is the phatbox. it's being sold by volkswagen and audi as optional equipment. the kenwood music keg is a derivative of the phatbox that only works with kenwood stereos, but you can buy a phatbox that works with many types of car stereos.
there are several other makers of in-car mp3 players. ssi neo, the omnifi, the now defunct empeg/riocar. none of these made any inroad with real manufacturers because of poor quality and terrible usability. after having used the phatbox SSA interface (it talks to you, so you can find your songs without ever having to look down at a display), i'm never buying another product without it.
Many of the higher end audio products have these capabilities. The whole thing that guy did is just beyond idiotic. he probably has spent more money and time on that thing than he could of had he gone out and purchased a new high quaility Alpine or Eclipse head unit that have internal 40-60 gig harddrive, plays DVD's with Mp3's on them, and can use CF type-II slots (ibm microdrives anyone).
I follow the SDK and GDN principles.. Spelling Dont Kount, Grammer Dont Neither
I just bought me a Pioneer DEH-P3500MP .. I just burn a number of my MP3's to a CDR and voila .. works like a charm!
The next week, we left the server room door open. It lasted until Sunday before shutting down.
The week after that, we left the server door open and set a fan in the doorway to pull air out of the server closet. That worked until August (this was Texas). By that time, enough of the other tenet's goldfish and plants had died, the landlord started leaving the A/C on over the weekends.
Anonymous Kev
Proudly posting as AC since 1997
(Finally got a dang account in 2004)