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Mac mini in a Volkswagen
pyramis writes "Matt Turner has installed a Mac mini into his Volkswagen as an integrated audio/video system. He's distributed the I/O ports around the cab for convenient access and installed a remote power button right into the dashboard. Cool pics of all of this, plus a detailed article on that cool power button."
...although the media ports in the center console are a bit much.
Actually the main problem that he's going to discover is that if he allows anyone to eat in the vehicle, the media ports are going to get full of crumbs.
Even if he doesn't allow eating, having the ports facing up like that is just going to get them clogged with dust or cleaning fluids. They need to be put in horizontally somewhere, or at least have a cover put over them.
Otherwise it looks like a nice job.
ender-
Nothing to see here
I'd like to understand where your vehemence is coming from.
Was your mother an Apple Lisa, and didn't give you enough love as a child?
Did a Powerbook kill your father?
Did you have an untimely breakup with an iMac?
Did Steve Jobs come to your house, kick you down the stairs, pee in the corner, and then burn all your childhood toys?
I mean, really. Apple is just a company and the Mac is just another computer. It works well for a lot of people, myself included. Why go insane over it?
Ah yes. Let's read this post again.
"I spent 150$ on parts for my 1.0ghz flex PC. It is not quite as small, and it is not quite as fast. Nor is it as -ahem- hip. But it was a fraction ov the cost."
So, let's see. You have a PC that's not quite as small or as a fast as a Mac mini. But you didn't pay that much for it?
I could get an old G3 iMac motherboard for $75.00. It wouldn't be as small and it wouldn't be as fast. It wouldn't have as much memory or anything like that. But it would be cheaper.
So I'm a little lost. Are you saying that you can get less machine for less money? I think the proper response, in that case, is "Duh."
"It is a fanless mobo design and boots a flash drive - cant get much quieter then silent."
True. But the cheapest Mac mini comes with a 40GB drive. Are you implying that your $150 PC has a 40GB flash drive? I doubt it. So your machine doesn't have as much storage, I don't know what it has for memory, it's not quite as small, it's not quite as fast, but it was cheaper.
"Yes, it runs linux."
So does the Mac mini.
Did you manage to fit KDE or GNOME or X-Windows or something that gives you a graphical interface on your flash card to go along with linux? Does it even have a graphics card? Or do you have a computer which doesn't have the same graphics capability, doesn't have as much storage, is not quite as small, is not quite as fast, but is cheaper than the Mac mini?
Heck, I have an old HP41C calculator that I picked up at a swap meet for $5. I guess that beats out the $150 flex PC, except for the running linux part.