Ask Slashdot: Is There A Screen-Less, Keyboard-Less, Battery-Powered Computer?

Long-time Slashdot reader Wycliffe writes: So I have a travel keyboard that I love. I can carry my OS on a USB flash drive. There are several options for portable battery powered monitors. The only thing I'm missing to have a completely modular laptop is the CPU/MB/RAM... I can get a laptop but it seems silly to carry around a laptop with a keyboard when I never use the keyboard. I don't need a long battery life, if I need more than an hour then I can find somewhere to plug it in...

I've thought about buying a small box like a Zotac and trying to replace the hard drive with a battery -- but does anything like this already exist...? Also, are there any systems like this with decent specs? Most stuff I see like the Intel Compute Stick are horribly underpowered compared to a decent laptop.
The original submission drew some interesting discussion. Another option is "a good x86/x64 tablet that I can install Linux on" -- especially with a decent processor -- or "laptop-like systems that got rid of the screen entirely... I just need the travel CPU part without the added weight of a second keyboard and monitor." So leave your best suggestions in the comments. Is there a good, lightweight computer that's battery-powered without a screen or a keyboard?

Comments

yes

[spiritplumber]

raspberry pi and all its clones/derivatives. Add a USB battery extender pack. Done.

Re:yes

[drinkypoo]

Hell, I think there's enough space in my $5 eBay 16550A bank (IIRC I put six cells in there) to actually put a pi zero inside... I would check but it's too hard to get back apart without breaking it to hell. Since it doesn't have any cell balancing, I could just take a cell out...

Re:yes

[Anonymous Coward]

I too instantly thought about Pi until I read this:

Intel Compute Stick are horribly underpowered compared to a decent laptop

Too bad the writer apparently wants a decent laptop with better than Intel m3 performance. That rules out even an entry level Surface Pro.

Re:yes

[Anonymous Coward]

Or just buy a mobile device based on Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 running full Windows 10. It has x86 emulation so you can also run Win32 x86 applications.

Re:yes

[DontBeAMoran]

Raspberry Pi zero dimensions: 65 x 30 mm.
18650: 18 x 65mm.

So yes, you should be able to put a Raspberry Pi zero in the space of two 18650 batteries.

Re:yes

[drinkypoo]

There's actually some space next to the batteries where the charge board, USB jacks and so on are located. The PCB is very thin and I don't recall anything sticking up farther than the USB jacks except the charge indicator related stuff which can go away if necessary. It's probably still not ideal.

Re:yes

[gweilo8888]

Unfortunately, it's running full Windows 10 which is a turn-off for many of us. Also, what's the performance like for the emulated stuff? Performance of the ARM stuff is meaningless, really. Basically all you'll be using is emulated x86 stuff because nobody is going to make ARM apps for Win10. Did we not learn anything from Windows RT???

Re:yes

[Anonymous Coward]

Also, what's the performance like for the emulated stuff?

Watch the video.

Did we not learn anything from Windows RT???

Yes, they did. That's why it's full Windows 10 on ARM with x86 emulation. Do try to keep up.

Re:yes

[interkin3tic]

I wonder if this could get past the laptop ban? Maybe like a google cardboard for the display, a USB keyboard, pi, battery?

Actually, I guess you wouldn't need the pi really, could just use bluetooth keyboard and mouse.

Actually I might rather just not fly back to the US again if I ever leave.

Re: yes

[Anonymous Coward]

Whatever happened to the "Ocean" server-in-a-pocket that was so big on one of the funding sites a year ago or so? Included battery, good packaging, no kb or screen. I think pricing was supposed to be around 150 .. but then the whole project seemed to drop into a black hole

Re: yes

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's one of the articles covering the Announcement. More coverage at that time, then silence. Webite not responding. I don't find anything that suggests they failed to deliver the orders, but nothing says the product made it to delivery either. Just .. silence. Like a good /. commenter should be

https://liliputing.com/2016/01/ocean-is-a-smartphone-sized-battery-powered-server-for-149-and-up.html

Re: yes

[I'm New Around Here]

Now that is a 404 page.

Re:yes

[Gaygirlie]

If one was going the DIY-way, I'd rather recommend Up^2. It's an actual x86-board, so it can run all the usual x86-stuff, there's a proper mPCI-E - slot for mSATA- and/or NVMe-drives or whatever mPCI-E card you may want to use, an M.2 2230 E-key for real, proper WiFi-cards, a SATA-connector, 3x USB3.0 (and a couple USB2.0-ports via a pin-header), a lot, lot more capable GPU than Raspberry Pi's one, built-in eMMC (the top-end model has a 128GB one) and so on.

The thing is, an RPi makes for a really crappy desktop-experience. The Up^2 is significantly more expensive, but it's also significantly more capable and much better suited for desktop-use.

Re:yes

[gweilo8888]

How's that solve anything if the stuff which everybody will want to use is all emulated and not native?

Re:yes

[Anonymous Coward]

Watch the video. Look and learn. A lot of the stuff everybody will want to use is ARM native.

Re:yes

[CeasedCaring]

Go for the newer Pi Zero W, to get built-in Wifi & Bluetooth.

Re:yes

[aix tom]

Would be really weird to ban laptops, but then let you bring funny self-made boxes with wires sticking out on board. ;-D

Re:yes

[jellomizer]

I doubt it, it will probably look like a bomb or an IED. We live in a world where a kid gets flagged as a terrorist by building a digital alarm clock in his school binder.

Re:yes

[Anonymous Coward]

Silly cunt doesn't know the difference between a battery and a serial port.

Re:yes

[jago25_98]

...and impossible to google for...

Re:yes

[Gaygirlie]

Well, perhaps I should've included some link, so here are two: http://www.up-board.org/upsqua... https://www.kickstarter.com/pr... But yes, they have a stupid name for the boards. Luckily, the name doesn't make the hardware any worse.

Re:yes

[allo]

This is no good idea. A rpi zero gets warm. A battery gets warm. A battery does not like to get too warm (a rpi neither). The battery may explode, burn, leak or do other things. The rpi may just break.

Re:yes

[TheRaven64]

The stuff that everyone wants to use is a combination of a .exe and a load of .dlls. The .exe will be x86. Any bundled .dlls will be x86. The system .dlls (where a lot of apps spend a lot of their processor time, doing things like text layout and rendering, animations, and so on) will all be native. There's a penalty for calling between the two worlds, but only a few dozen instructions.

Re:yes

[TheRaven64]

Maybe you should try a better search engine then?

Re: yes

[Anonymous Coward]

Low blow and a bullshit comment filled with misinformation. The "clock" was made to look like a bomb and the whole thing was planned. But that's okay, go back to what you were doing, didn't mean to disturb the wool over your eyes.

Re: yes

[Anonymous Coward]

"It's legit I promise. This is my work laptop I use for travel officer."

Then after they REALIZE it's a computer...

Officer: " passcode or jail, which one buddy?"

Damned if u do, damned if U don't lol.

Re: yes

[Anonymous Coward]

LOL. Powwwwww.

Re: yes

[Anonymous Coward]

This is when you have two passcodes. One gets into the clean OS, the other in the 'dirty' OS

Re: yes

[Mostly a lurker]

Correction to the URL. Try here.

Re:yes

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

It'll fit, and I this is kind of a cool idea. It's putting/building the PC into the battery instead of putting/building a battery into the PC.

A New Paradigm has appeared.

Re: yes

[Anonymous Coward]

That's one elaborate plan for no observable reason or indeed a clear benefit.

I think there's a tear in your tinfoil hat!

Re: yes

[Anonymous Coward]

Internet fame and sympathy, plus they are suing for emotional distress, plus the kid got a personal invitation to the whitehouse and to Facebook HQ.

Yeah, so like no motives at all to plug it in during class, and set the alarm to go off, then refuse to answer law enforcement's questions. None of that sounds planned at all...

Re: yes

[Anonymous Coward]

That lasts five minutes when they wish your device "to the back" to dump the storage or open it with a screwdriver or whatever they do you can't see.

Re: yes

[Anonymous Coward]

That's exactly what OP asked for! Yay. Of course it doesn't have a price listed, so it's probably expensive.

Re:yes

[haemish]

If you're slightly more flush with cash, an NVidia TX2 is freaking awesome for this. The DevKit has all you need, except the battery and a box. Fancy devtools like NetBeans and IntelliJ fly.

Re: yes

[Gaygirlie]

I did mention they are quite expensive, but they do have prices listed in the shop quite clearly. Maybe you missed the two links I gave above, but there's their online-shop behind the first link with a selection of the various Up^2 - boards at http://up-shop.org/4-up-boards . They even sell a UPS-like expansion board for it on the shop, too, so one doesn't have to hack one together themselves necessarily -- though, at $89 it may not be the world's best value. I suppose it depends on one's capability of cobbling one together themselves.

Re: yes

[interkin3tic]

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Inforwars and other cult spokesmen would come up with lies about the high school kid. I mean, Obama did say something nice about him and he wasn't a white middle aged dude, so naturally, you fucks would convince yourself he had murdered people for islam.

Re:yes

[interkin3tic]

Not "weird" just "annoying and arbitrary just like the rest of the security theater." There's no threat, the rules do nothing. The only logic here is "We made the rubes believe Islamic terrorists were coming after them. In exchange for the power they granted us to fight the bogeyman, we must pretend we are fighting Islamic terrorists."

TSA won't do anything because they're not laptops and the ban is on laptops and tablets. There may be some idiot journalist who thinks he has a big scoop when he realizes you can take laptop batteries on the plane, defeating the non-existent security, and maybe TSA will ban them too out of embarrassment. But that's a few steps after the ban.

Re:yes

[jago25_98]

good to know :-)

Re:yes

[jago25_98]

That looks very nice.
I note it runs off a PSU so you have to carry a wall wart around, probably doubling the size and weight. Then again, "5V DC-in @ 3A 5.5/2.1mm jack" sounds pretty modest so maybe the PSU would be small... looking that up...
200g x 10cm2. Nice that they include a range of plug adapters for travel.

http://up-shop.org/up-peripher... is interesting.

Seems it can do it all... and better than my 2gb fixed RAM tablet which is too slow. Could be a more expensive replacement for me.

Seeing as I'm next door to Schenzen in HK I wonder if I could get it a little bit cheaper... though that sort of thing rarely works out... the last thing I ordered from the UK...

Thanks. This could be my next upgrade

Re:yes

[gweilo8888]

Rubbish. The only ARM native stuff most people will be using will be the OS itself, and whatever apps Microsoft forces us to accept along with it. Third-party apps will remain almost exclusively X86.

Re:yes

[gweilo8888]

Translation: There will be a performance penalty for nearly everything you want to do. It won't be massive, but it will be there.

Intel Compute Stick + USB Power Bank

[Anonymous Coward]

Intel Compute Stick + USB Power Bank

SubjectIsSubject

[p0p0]

Jesus just buy a laptop dude.

Re:SubjectIsSubject

[BarbaraHudson]

Just buy a laptop with a broken screen and keyboard. Or look around for one - people tend to junk them because a new screen plus labour on an older laptop is almost as expensive as a newer laptop. You can remove both the keyboard and the screen and cover, it'll be lighter and thinner, and you still have the battery power you want. Bonus points and a Red Green award for duct tape to cover the keyboard hole.

Re:SubjectIsSubject

[DontBeAMoran]

And remember: if it ain't broke, you're not trying.

Re:SubjectIsSubject

[Hognoxious]

Do keyboards weigh that much that it's worth removing it?

Re:SubjectIsSubject

[Aighearach]

Jesus just buy a laptop dude.

Gotta agree. If you can't even shop for an embedded linux SBC, you shouldn't be undertaking to setup one.

Re: SubjectIsSubject

[Anonymous Coward]

Lol. Thanks.

Re:SubjectIsSubject

[BarbaraHudson]

You need to remove it anyway if you're going to cover the area that's exposed by the lack of an upper screen and lid so it doesn't generate keypresses, so why not shed an ounce or so while you're at it? And if the keyboard is still good, you can give it to someone who spilled something on theirs.

Re:SubjectIsSubject

[Hognoxious]

Not sure why it would generate keypresses. Do you have lots of badly-behaved cats?

Re:SubjectIsSubject

[Anonymous Coward]

Some people like to solicit comments and suggestions from people they believe to be more knowledgeable than them, so they can find better (or cheaper) products without having to buy 4 different boards before finding a decent one.

You're basically acting like one of those smug assclowns that uses lmgtfy.com. What's wrong with an honest question?

Re:SubjectIsSubject

[Anonymous Coward]

It's no doubt a problem when you carry it with you and leave it running and the cat is in the bag.

It should be trivial to leave the keyboard in, unplugged.

I am not a surface fun but...

[laserhead]

It seems that your best solution is to install your OS into a surface/tablet with out a keyboard cover.

A better question

[Anonymous Coward]

Why do you want to do this and what are you trying to accomplish?

One can buy laptops (i.e. Xps developer edition), chromebooks, tablets (iOS, windows and android), and smart phones that can offer you functionality in a portable form factor.

How do these existing options fall down when your needs come into play?

That's the first step to finding a solution rather than some hack job that "works but not really".

Re:A better question

[InfiniteLoopCounter]

Why do you want to do this and what are you trying to accomplish?

The summary says he doesn't need a screen or keyboard, so it's pretty safe to assume he'll be okay with some sort of beeping device on a one-button input -- and I found exactly what he is looking for.

Re:A better question

[LordMyren]

Thank you Anonymous Coward for your brave act of naysaying and your willful lack of imagination. You are a role model to us all.

Ask Slashdot, or Ask NewEgg?

[BenBoy]

There's a nice section on barebones computers there

Re: Ask Slashdot, or Ask NewEgg?

[Anonymous Coward]

NewEgg has a Kangaroo PC. No screen or keyboard. Built in battery and mini dock with USB 2.0, USB 3.0, HDMI and power cord.

Re: Ask Slashdot, or Ask NewEgg?

[jisom]

I have one I use as a personal home server. I installed Linux on it. Only thing not working in Linux for my self is the microsd slot. In windows it has software to hook up a tablet or phone as a screen via wireless and USB cable as well. It has Bluetooth as well. Suppose to have 4 hours of battery life, but never tried. It is passively cooled though. They make a few different models now. One even comes this a laptop dock.

I installed thermald to keep it running a cooler temps to hopefully extend hardware life. Even supports hardware video decode/encoding under Linux.

Just buy a cheap Dell laptop

[Anonymous Coward]

The screens and trackpads are so bad that not using them isn't a big loss.

Re: Just buy a cheap Dell laptop

[Anonymous Coward]

This. And in an emergency you can use the screen. It's painful but doable.

Re: Just buy a cheap Dell laptop

[Anonymous Coward]

Or buy a used laptop with a broken screen. I bought an old MacBook for $300 that had a broken screen. It works great. IIRC, the replacement screen was $300 plus another $300 for the glass, so it wasn't worth repairing.

reading FAIL

[BenBoy]

OK, my earlier post I failed to notice the battery-powered requirement ... so ... Do you have an android phone (I'm guessing iOS would work too)? Why not use that? What are you trying to get done, anyhow?

Re:reading FAIL

[Dunbal]

Judging by the comments, he's just trying to piss us off.

Re:reading FAIL

[DontBeAMoran]

I'm looking for 1kg stone bricks that only weight 100 grams. Does anyone know where to buy those?

Re:reading FAIL

[ChunderDownunder]

It's a confusing summary based on an earlier submission.

Inquisitor already has a substantial emotional investment in a fancy keyboard and a battery powered monitor. Wants a machine to plug these into. Seems to want a 'real' computer rather than a phone.

Attachment is to the monitor, or would have solved this by trading it in for an Android tablet (Nexus 9/Pixel C) with a kickstand - there are projects on xda for porting arch or ubuntu to these things.

Re:reading FAIL

[Anonymous Coward]

What are you trying to get done, anyhow?

He's either trying to hide a laptop from the "the man," or he's one of "the man" looking to get promoted by spoiling the fun for everyone else.

Re:reading FAIL

[Bodhammer]

Organic/Free range, carbon neutral, and gluten free?

Re:reading FAIL

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure, just go to the 0.1g Emporium. They'll be happy to sell you a 1kg mass of stone bricks that weighs 100g.

--sf

Re:reading FAIL

[davidwr]

I'm looking for 1kg stone bricks that only weight 100 grams.

I assume you mean you are looking for 1kg stone bricks that only weigh 0.98 Newtons.

You need to find a place with approximately 0.1 earth gravity. You might find a shop that sells stone bricks there, they should be able to meet your needs just fine.

If you are looking for stone bricks that "only weigh 100 grams" you won't find them, as grams measure mass, not weight.

Re:reading FAIL

[Anonymous Coward]

And another trollish posting that shows why we hate metric so much in the US.

When was the last time you measured the mass of an ingredient, rather than its weight?

Re:reading FAIL

[Anonymous Coward]

If you are looking for stone bricks that "only weigh 100 grams" you won't find them, as grams measure mass, not weight.

What do you believe measures weight?

Re:reading FAIL

[Hognoxious]

A scale.

Re: reading FAIL

[Fwipp]

That's the joke bro

Re:reading FAIL

[Anonymous Coward]

Please read this. Thanks. -PCP

Captcha: scalable (lol)

Re:reading FAIL

[Anonymous Coward]

"What do you believe measures weight?"

Umm.... Newtons?

Kangaroo PC

[Anonymous Coward]

Kangaroo PC http://www.kangaroo.cc/ makes a few products that might be relevant.

Intel Compute Stick

[glide]

!st gen is on amazon for $50 and its USB powered so it will work with a phone extender battery pack. Sounds like everything you asked for.

Kangaroo Mobile Mini PC

[oddtodd]

Kangaroo Mobile Mini PC
Intel x5 z8500, internal battery
I have the smaller memory model and it gets hot but seems to be OK, the Plus model with more memory apparently has some heat issues according to the reviews.
I have Fedora 25 on it and I read somewhere it doesn't use the GPU for graphics, but it works fine for me in low demand uses.
The lack of GPU use might also be why I don't have the heat issues.
I can't get the sound out of the HDMI feed, but I think that will work eventually when the kernel gets enhanced.

Re:Kangaroo Mobile Mini PC

[nine-times]

I haven't heard of these Kangaroo PCs before, but I like the idea. Or, what I'd really like is something that's a mix between this and the Samsung DeX dock, or Microsoft's continuum. Plus Thunderbolt 3.

Like, take one of these Kangaroo PCs, and add a Thunderbolt port, cellular radio, and a touchscreen, and give it a UI on the embedded screen that works for a small screen. Or, if you approach it from the other direction, give a smart phone a Thunderbolt port, develop docks for it, and allow it to operate as a full computer when docked.

Of course, someone is going to ask, "Why are you talking about Thunderbolt? A lot of phones have USB-C." The nice thing about Thunderbolt is that it provides better access to the internal bus, allowing external devices to act more like internal devices. With Thunderbolt, you'd be in a better position to have docks include additional power and features. You could do things like have a discrete graphics chipset embedded into the dock, that would allow a small underpowered computer to play games with better performance when docked.

Re:Kangaroo Mobile Mini PC

[Anonymous Coward]

This is what I want in my next phone. An x86 device, handheld form factor, running a full desktop version of Windows 10, with a cellular radio and a phone app.

I have an x86 eight inch tablet with Windows 10 and it's pretty awesome for the things I use it for. I have a mega-workstation that I use most of the time, but the x86 tablet has replaced my 8" Android tablet and now there's no going back - Android was a fun experiment, but what I really want is a phone with full version of a desktop Windows OS.

Re:Kangaroo Mobile Mini PC

[Anonymous Coward]

I want this to happen so badly.
It is the only reasonable way for Tablets and Smartphones to go forward.
Being able to use them as actual replacements for computers would be handy for loads of people.
As they are now, they are pretty worthless, only useful for casual note-taking, scheduling, browsing and such. Beyond that, the usefulness drops off sharply because of small screen limitations and touchscreen interaction.

Android and iOS would need to adapt heavily since both of them are horrific for UI management.
Not to mention multi-tasking, even with Androids new multi-window feature that is horribly inferior to the shit one Samsung had since their first tablet.
The only way I've been able to stomach Android was because of Samsungs changes, stock Android is terrible.
Equally Floating Window apps that let you float windows on top of other apps easily. The whole system should unlock that feature for every app by default.
Of course, as with all programs, shitty developers wrote shitty UIs that use fixed-dimensions for layout instead of flexible layouts based on offsets. The latter is TRIVIAL to write if you actually sit your ass down and think about your UI for more than 5 seconds. (those apps also tend to be shit in general when it comes to UI, never mind the lack of flexibility)
Any time I see an app that cannot work in tablet gets deleted and 1'd without a single thought beyond that. Awful, simply awful. No excuse for sloppy design. It's like those kinds of pricks that design UIs where settings end up having scrollbars on them because they designed it for 640x480 resolutions or some other nonsense.
Mind you, part of that blame is on Google too.

Docks can expose an eGPU, keyboards, mice, cameras and everything else to the device.
eGPUs are perfect for this at that. We just need such a system setup where the eGPU output IS the output and not "another" output. Same reason they suck on laptops currently.
Manufacturers need to come together and agree on a better spec for them that is actually useful and not awkward to work with.
It'd even make them worthwhile for gaming as well. Gaming might actually be fun instead of casual crap with no thought or horrible UIs because touchscreens simply aren't useful for most games. (likewise with motion-tracking nonsense)
It's the same reason I installed a virtual touchpad for drawing on tablet. It is bad enough trying to draw at an angle with traditional media so you can see where and what you are drawing, it is significantly worse on tablets where the stylus can't convey angle very well at all. So using a virtual touchpad is just far more helpful. Sadly you need root to do this. It should be a first-class app like keyboards, a basic interaction feature. If anything, it should fall under accessibility!

Re:Kangaroo Mobile Mini PC

[Anonymous Coward]

"Why are you talking about Thunderbolt? A lot of phones have USB-C."

Thunderbolt 3 blurs that line a lot with USB-C, and Intel is moving towards building it into some chips.

Re:Kangaroo Mobile Mini PC

[Anonymous Coward]

So you have an x86 tablet and wish for an x86 tablet?
ok, you need the phone part. Intel ran away from even the x86 Android phone market, which I guess was bigger than the ARM Windows phone market is now. So an x86 phone won't work very much sadly.

You could look for upcoming ARM processors, as there's the announcement for Cortex A75 + Cortex A55 just coming out incidentally.
So, some amount of "good enough" performance with x86 emulation on Windows 10.
Or I wonder if someone will do an x86 tablet with 4G modem (tablets tend to all go cheap ass so they leave cellular out). Then I wonder if VoLTE (and nationwide deployments thereof) will be the easy solution for using an arbitrary computer as a phone. I would like something similar with "real linux" (not Android) with ARM, not minding if it's x86 either (or even MIPS)

Re:Kangaroo Mobile Mini PC

[Anonymous Coward]

eGPU aren't very useful if your CPU power doesn't keep up. E.g., put a modern graphics card on a Core 2 Duo at 2.6GHz or similar, even if you have the 8 gigs RAM or more, the terabyte of disk space for OS and game bloat and all the rest, then most modern or AAA games won't be playable enough. Same thing with a modern quad core 1.33GHz Atom.

In fact, it would make more sense for the "eGPU" to be an entire computer instead that streams the game to your tablet/mobile/phone thing through USB 3.1 or video input or ethernet.

And on a phone/tablet, you will sufffer thermal throttling while you're trying to run Crysis, so your framerate will go from bad to worse. Best yet is likely the Nintendo Switch, as it uses a quad core CPU permanently underclocked to 1.0 GHz, has active cooling, has gaming controls (or New 2DS XL for something cheaper), if that eGPU was for playing high tech game boy or mobile Crysis.

Ipad or kindle fire etc

[Camembert]

Updated ipads are around the corner and for very little money the kindle fire 8hd seem nice enough, certainly for many people though not if you want to develop etc on the move. They can work with bluetooth keyboards and pack decent power in a minimal space. When traveling I don t want the cable hassle of a sepeate screen and cpu, not to mention they have separate power supplies for longer use.

Maybe the Samsung Dex

[__aaclcg7560]

That sounds like something Casey Neistat wanted in the Samsung Dex: the ability to use it as a regular cellphone and then plug it into a docking station or PC to continue working on the cellphone.

https://youtu.be/uOFDmbUlrT4?t=101
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/03/samsung-dex-is-a-galaxy-s8-dock-that-makes-your-phone-into-a-desktop/

Re:Maybe the Samsung Dex

[Anonymous Coward]

See how easy it is to stick to the subject and contribute sane posts?

Re:Maybe the Samsung Dex

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's see here. The request was for a battery-powered computer with no keyboard or display. This to you means "I want a dock for my cell phone."

News for Nerds. Go away special-ed.

Re:Maybe the Samsung Dex

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you talking to APK now?

In the market for something like this also

[caseih]

I'm looking for a similar device as the submitter. In my case I'll have a separate screen but I'd like something x86 that runs on batteries with automotive power. So when the vehicle starts the computer just keeps on going. It will essentially run most of the time, sleeping when I don't need it, or powering it off, perhaps with a signal. I need it to be x86 for now because of some software I need to run, so the Pi is out. VGA or HDMI out for the external touch screen. And I need at least two USB ports, or even better, a couple of real RS232 headers I can tap into (for GPS data and talking to an Arduino).

Even if I didn't need x86, the Pi doesn't quite cut it because there's no power management built into the thing. So far as I know it won't suspend or hibernate, or allow me to wake it on a timer like I can with x86 with a BIOS or EFI setting.

Re: In the market for something like this also

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, the PI peak power use is less than 5w, and more like 2,5w on average. There's no point in hibernating it, specially on a car. The dashboard lights alone will be consuming far more than that.

Just turn it on/off with the car. Done.

Re:In the market for something like this also

[OolimPhon]

Just try a mini-ITX board, of which there are many designs.

Many are designed with 12v DC input specifically for auto use but obviously can also be powered by an external brick. I use a number of these for various purposes, including servers, and find them pefectly adequate for use.

Try here, although there are many other suppliers: http://mini-itx.com/

1802 Membership Card

[ogdenk]

You should go with the 1802 membership card....

RCA 1802 w/ 16x16-bit registers, 16-bit address bus and 8-bit data bus
8 LED's and 8 toggle switches for bootstrapping and debugging
Bit-banged serial I/O
Low power consumption
Can even run BASIC
Might even survive the EMP of a nuclear blast if you choose the right components.
Rad-hardened CPU's available fairly cheap.

First microprocessor in space!

Re:1802 Membership Card

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Yeah, but...does it run FORTH?

Re:1802 Membership Card

[ogdenk]

Yeah, but...does it run FORTH?

Yup. I never bothered learning FORTH though. I think there's even a LISP for the 1802 somewhere. That could be entertaining.

Re: 1802 Membership Card

[Anonymous Coward]

It comes in fourth in any four way comparison.

Re: 1802 Membership Card

[ogdenk]

True, the early 8080 and 6502 curb stomp it when it comes to speed. Being a very early CMOS CPU, it had the edge when it came to radiation resistance and power consumption. It was also fairly easy to program but things like proper CALL/RETURN took some creativity but with 16x16-bit registers this was easy to get around. The built-in "load mode" made building a simple switches and lights front panel really easy as well. It also was pretty interesting when it came to I/O.... you weren't restricted to simply memory-mapping everything.

Not a top performer but interesting and fun as far as 70's-era CPU's go and it gave you a lot of flexibility when it came to hardware design. And you can clock it higher than an 8080 or early 6502 to make up for some of the lackluster performance. I don't think it ever got much of a fair shake. Aside from industrial and NASA applications, only a few hobbyist kits, a shitty game system and 1 or 2 home computers like the COMX-35 were built around it.

As far as a hobbyist computer build from the ground up though, the 1802 is hard to beat if you want simplicity. Nowadays you'd probably just pick a decent ARM SoC, slap it on a board with some connectors and call it a computer.

Modular silliness

[Anonymous Coward]

Just buy a Intel Nuc and a powerbank for it. It's even more modular than you wanted I guess, buy hey... Modular FTW!

Raspberry PI

[pcjunky]

The Raspberry PI would seem to meet your criteria. Battery powering one is as simple as a two cell Li-Ion battery and voltage regulator to bring the 7.4 volts down to 5.

Ockel Sirius B

[Pikoro]

You can wipe windows 10 and put linux on it. Have Mint on mine.

http://init.sh/?p=354

Same quest here...

[XSportSeeker]

Unfortunately, if you want a full fledged computer, you probably won't find anything smaller than a Zotac. That's the limitation of micro ATX boards basically. And then, unless you are very well versed in the dark arts of DIY electronics, it's gonna be very hard to make a battery work with a setup like that... Zotac and other microATX desktop PCs were not designed to work with batteries, but with a good power supply and AC.
Unless there's some ready made solution, afaik, the power motherboards, components and whatnot needs are very finnicky. Not only they need all sorts of voltages, the overall power draw is too much for batteries to handle.

If you don't mind having a lower powered desktop, I suggest looking for InFocus' Kangaroo PC. Packs an Intel Atom X5-Z8500 which is among the best you can get for the size, has an internal battery, and is the size of a smartphone only thicker. I have one. It's cheap too, around 100 something bucks.
http://www.kangaroo.cc/kangaro...
Problem is, it's still closer to Compute Stick than a laptop. And it's not getting better since Intel abandoned Atom.

Other options along the same line of Zotac is Intel NUC and... I think ASUS has some small boxes too. But they are all wall powered.

Last option might be just getting a laptop and taking the screen off I guess. :P I understand why some people want that, but apparently upscaling doesn't make much sense... you also need to understand that even though components on laptops might fit into a smaller form factor, the biggest part of a laptop ends up being the custom made batteries.

As for a tablet which you can install Linux on, I have a Dell Venue 11 Pro that originally came with Windows 8, installed Ubuntu on it, worked fine.

I'm also trying to force a Gole 1 ( http://www.gearbest.com/tv-box... ) to work with Linux but it has been a bit hard. I can force it to run Ubuntu, but neither wi-fi nor ethernet are working - you have to use an USB adaptor. Also, it seems the company used a smartphone touchscreen which doesn't flip orientation along with the screen. But likewise, the Gole 1 has an Atom CPU that is worse than the one inside the Kangaroo PC (Z83500). But it comes with a screen and a bunch of ports, Windows 10 and Android installed, at around double the price.

I'm not sure how compatibility goes, but there were some smaller tablets that ran Windows which I'm not sure if they'd work or not. Ubuntu also had their own smartphone and tablet, and I think they made a fork that worked with some of the Nexus devices... but I think the whole thing has been abandoned:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Touch

Anyways, if you find out new stuff post here! I'm also interested.

Re:Same quest here...

[whoever57]

Unfortunately, if you want a full fledged computer, you probably won't find anything smaller than a Zotac. That's the limitation of micro ATX boards basically.

Have you never heard of Mini-ITX? It's significantly smaller than micro-ATX, but still not sufficiently low power for battery operation. And then there are these boxes, but again, still probably too power hungry for battery power.

Re:Same quest here...

[XSportSeeker]

Is it? I thought micro-ATX was the smallest currently available size for motherboards... :P
Either way, if he's looking for battery powered, neither are gonna cut it... it's either tablet, laptop, or a board that goes with mobile CPU like Intel Atom X5 series.

Oooh, I forgot to mention something I'm keeping an eye on: GPD Win. It's the only device I know that has a better CPU than the Kangaroo PC... it has an Intel Atom X7 Z8700. I don't think the difference is big, but still...
http://www.gpdwin.com/

Re:Same quest here...

[kenh]

Kangaroo has been upgraded to add RJ45, VGA connector, space for a 2.5" (9.5mm) HD/SSD, includes Win10, same processor/RAM/storage space built-in.

Re:Same quest here...

[__aaclcg7560]

Either way, if he's looking for battery powered, neither are gonna cut it... it's either tablet, laptop, or a board that goes with mobile CPU like Intel Atom X5 series.

If you're going with a traditional motherboard, a PicoPSU will take a 12V DC input from batteries.

http://www.mini-box.com/s.nl/sc.8/category.13/it.C/.f

Re:Same quest here...

[XSportSeeker]

Ooh, nice, I didn't know there were ready made stuff for this. Thanks!

Re: Same quest here...

[guruevi]

There are various SBCs out there either high end ARM (SnapDragon) or x86 (or a clone) that will run laps around a RPi and have battery management and multi screen figured out. They are easy to find usually as development boards and are roughly the same format as a RPi.

Re:Same quest here...

[Wycliffe]

Awesome post. The Dell Venue 11 Pro looks like a promising option.
Another post mentioned this: http://www.fit-pc.com/web/prod... which might work ok with a zotac or intel NUC.
I also really like the kangaroo but I wish they would come out with a little more powerful version.
I'm still probably leaning towards a dell XPS 13 or an alienware 13 system as they are small enough to carry but still powerful
but the dell venue 11 pro although not quite as powerful is probably good enough for my needs and considerably cheaper.

Re:Same quest here...

[XSportSeeker]

Let me just warn you about something Wycliffe... other than working well with Ubuntu (Dell Venue 11 Pro comes with Windows 8.0), it's actually a pretty crap tablet tho. xD

I bought it a couple of years ago, along with a docking station. The tablet is horribly constructed, too heavy to be used as a reading tablet, it has a plastic back that gets deformed overtime and won't fit anymore, and the batteries that came with it puffed up out of nowhere (at least they didn't explode).

Docking Station was also very poorly built. It has a single proprietary connector that supports the entire weight of the tablet that eventually gave away... I had to dismantle the whole thing, pull the connector out of the docking station so that I could make it work again.

It also puzzlingly has a microUSB port for charging, but it needs a proprietary brick to supply enough power to charge... horrible decision that goes against the standard. It won't work with external batteries or regular smartphone chargers.

Other stuff you might want to know: it uses a non-standard size for m.2 SSD storage that is hard to find and very expensive, power button is very easy to break, and despite having core i5 models and such, it's actually dual core and a series of CPUs designed with power savings in mind, which means it's far less powerful and sluggish than a Surface Pro 3 or so.

The whole thing smells like initial prototype for a tablet that Dell decided to sell. I got so fed up with it's quirks and problems that I ended up abandoning it and buying myself a Samsung Galaxy Tab S2... which is why I even started experimenting with Ubuntu in it in the first place.

What I'm trying to say is this: perhaps, if you can find out someone who tried to do a similar thing with a more robust tablet, it'd be a better route. Dell deserves only shame for putting out such a shoddy product in the market. :P I've been trying to find out if there are other smaller Windows tablets from other brands that will also take Ubuntu, no luck so far. I remember there were a bunch of them of the 8 inch type that came out around the same time the Venue also came out, but I'm finding hard to get real experience information...

Anyways, here's something else I've been looking into since yesterday, thanks to your post:
https://www.indiegogo.com/proj...

Must admit I'm very tempted. xD

Re:Same quest here...

[Blaskowicz]

This one is somewhat well known too, a bit overpowered but with protection features if you use it in an actual car

http://www.mini-box.com/M2-ATX...

Wow, I'm seeing there are others / new ones in the Pico PSU form factor too. i.e. some have wide input voltage range and thus built-in converter/regulator (because your battery will go 13V, 12V, 11V, 10V...), others just say "input 12V" and are made with a power brick or laptop PSU plugged to the mains in mind.

i.e., to be 100% specific : this one is specifically advertised for running from a car battery or in a car (or in a truck), where a "picoPSU-90" at half the price is not. (I will suppose the picoPSU-90 is exactly what's needed if you have very clean and close to 12V power to start with)
http://www.mini-box.com/M3-ATX...

This is funny too : http://www.mini-box.com/DCDC-U...
garbage input in (random vehicle's 12V or 24V), stable DC voltage of your choosing out (5V to 24V)

This a mini ITX motherboard with DC 19V in! (meant to be used with 19V laptop PSU, or can be used with power "conditioned" with a thing like the one above)
http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/A...

a bit more power hungry than an Atom system (cheap Celeron/Pentium soldered systems are rebranded Atom. sic)

Although, if you choose the right Pico PSU or similar, motherboards with only ATX power input will do.

Net-tops

[Anonymous Coward]

Stuff like the Lenovo ideacenter are more mainstream/cheaper than Zotac. They also have an external power supply, meaning you can replace that with a 12v battery.

http://www.pcmag.com/feature/310878/lenovo-ideacentre-q190/4

But your biggest problem is the Intel requirement. You could stick a Debian ARM or Ubuntu ARM port onto a stock ARM TV box, they're a lot faster, a lot cheaper, a lot smaller and use a lot less power. I use them for all my new projects.

Move on, we have Smartphones like the S8 that can run full Office apps on a large screen now, its ridiculous to try to recreate that in homebrew.

It exists and its called the Kangaroo

[Anonymous Coward]

It is a great little computer and does just what you asked. I have run windows 10 and Ubuntu Mate on it with little to no problem. Works great with a bluetooth keyboard and a hotel TV ?

Martin Espinoza, you EEEDDDIOOOOTTT.

[Anonymous Coward]

Instead, you should have suggested that the dimwit purchase a tablet for around EUR 50.

Re: Martin Espinoza, you EEEDDDIOOOOTTT.

[Anonymous Coward]

Right. This is retarded. He wants a headless machine to do hacking or something from a vehicle or hidden place like a backpack.

Or else's laptop. "I have a portable keyboard ". Retarded.

This guy should just be honest about his little hacking attempt. He doesn't even know of the hardware. Failure. Looser.

The product you are seeking

[notvalidname]

is on this webpage. It's cheap.

Re:The product you are seeking

[Anonymous Coward]

didn't work. fuck you for trying though

Why Are There 46 Replies As I Type This?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is There A Screen-Less, Keyboard-Less, Battery-Powered Computer?

Comment 1: Yes
Comment 2: No
Comment 3: Maybe

The comments should have been closed after this. Three comments. Not 46!! Well mine makes 47.

Intel NUC Kit NUC6i7KYK Mini PC

[bored369]

You'll probably need a portable generator to power it. But it's light, portable and powerful.

Re:Intel NUC Kit NUC6i7KYK Mini PC

[Cyclic]

You'll probably need a portable generator to power it. But it's light, portable and powerful.

Duct tape the NUC to a Goal Zero battery pack and use the 19V connector.

My NUC works well with the Sherpa 50.

Kangaroo Mobile Desktop

[wasteoid]

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/be...

This is what you need

[Anonymous Coward]

Kangaroo, has battery power, can expand memory w/ microSD card up to 256GB. Runs windows 10 perfectly.
You can also buy extra docks, so you can leave the dock hooked up to monitor/mouse/peripherals, and just move the main computer box around.
http://www.kangaroo.cc/kangarooplus/

Re:This is what you need

[Anonymous Coward]

I've replaced all the desktops in my house with this, and I have a dock at work, so I ca just unplug from home (no need to shut down, battery keeps it going) and plug in at work.

Ugh.

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds like the hipster assholes that go into restaurants with cameras from the 1890s and spend 30 minutes setting up to get a picture of $12 toast. Then they bitch about how the lighting sucks and they need suggestions on how to get the best shot to post in Instragram for their moms to see.

Re: Ugh.

[Anonymous Coward]

You forgot to say something bad about millennials!

UDOO x86

[Anonymous Coward]

I got mine from the UDOO Kickstarter project. It was delayed but I have it now and it works great. Twice the size of a Raspberry PI. But with Intel x86 CPU (N3710 2.56 GHZ), 8 GB RAM, 128 GB M.2 SSD, Gigabit Ethernet, Wifi, Bluetooth and built in Arduino 101. Should be easy enough at add a battery (uses a 12V 3A power supply)

This is exactly what you are looking for...

[kenh]

Kangaroo PC

2 GB RAM
32 Gig storage
Slot for MicroSD card
Room for a 2.5" HD/SSD (9.5MM)
4 hour battery
RJ-45, WiFi, Bluetooth Networking
VGA, HDMI video out
Fingerprint reader
Windows 10 OS included

Same physical size as a typical 2.5" USB HD

Intel NUC + fit-Uptime

[flug]

I haven't tried this myself, but from the specs it looks to be reasonable inexpensive, reasonably small and light, and reasonably powerful:

- Intel NUC (about 1 pound)
- fit-Uptime UPS for mini-PCs (about 0.5 pound and should power the NUC for maybe 1-3 hours on battery, depending on exact model of NUC etc)

Re:Intel NUC + fit-Uptime

[Anonymous Coward]

The fit-uptime is designed as a UPS; they state the batteries are not expected to be discharged much. Whether it would charge fast and handle many cycles I have no idea. Also it has 18Wh capacity; the NUC comes with a 65W supply and the "3 hour runtime" is assuming a mere 5W usage.

But the Intel NUC can run off 12-19V apparently. This is a huge range, and should easily accomodate a 4S lithium battery (roughly 3.6-4.2V per cell). E.g. you could use four 18650 cells in a holder. 18650 cells appear to be around 10-15Wh each, so four would be 40-60Wh, around 200g, and cheap too.

But you might want some voltage monitor to check when your batteries are getting low.

Re:Intel NUC + fit-Uptime

[ChunderDownunder]

Perhaps someday Intel will release a NUC with a Core m or Atom that runs fanless off USB-C

No bulky wall socket adapter!

Intel ComputeStick

[Anonymous Coward]

Or a Lenovo Ideacentre stick. That way you have a "real" PC (as in x86 compatible).

Yes, there's no internal battery. Buy a USB battery bank, plug the stick into that. Add duct tape. Done.

If you don't care about looks...

[Anonymous Coward]

Since battery life doesn't matter to you and seems form factor doesn't either.
I'm thinking your best bet would be to buy a NUC or similar (low watt i3/i5), rip it out of the case and tape it to the back of a GeChic portable monitor. Problem is findings a battery that's supplies 12v.
Alternately, find a second hand motherboard from a USB type-c powered laptop. There are plenty of power banks that can handle that.

Re:How the fuck is this an ask /.?

[Anonymous Coward]

Melania wouldn't know, she doesn't even sleep in the same house as me.

Intel Compute Stick

[Anonymous Coward]

You can use a Intel Compute Stick for this, just add an external battery. https://www.newegg.com/Intel-Desktop-Computers/BrandSubCat/ID-1157-10

I use an anker battery model that is designed to re-charge USB devices, works great.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

What about chromebook?

[Anonymous Coward]

You might look at a variation on a variation on the chromebook. I'm posting from a chromebook booting Mint from sd card and running entirely in memory. I also have a Asus C201 driving hdmi into my TV with wireless keyboard/mouse from my easy chair. Both are reasonably light and have respectable battery life.

I've been toying with the idea of grabbing a "chromebit" or "chromebox" to do similar things, but haven't really got a good "use case" to justify the purchase. These items lack the keyboard and screen, so all you'd need to sort out a battery power supply. Probably wouldn't do Windows, though.

I hate this

[kamapuaa]

Seriously, fuck this question.

Just get a laptop, and if you feel like using a travel keyboard along with it (for some reason), bring that along and plug that in to the USB slot. Just the idea of bringing a portable computer in a bag full of parts is weird. Not like hacker-weird, just like you needlessly fetishize your equipment.

There are no i5/i7 compute sticks that run off battery power.

Re:I hate this

[religionofpeas]

Came here to say this exactly.

Re:I hate this

[Anonymous Coward]

no need to be such a dick about it. It's not fetishism for equipment, they might want to carry around more than one, or run a sub 250W server on commodity HW

Re:I hate this

[jago25_98]

That's what I do. Carry an extra keyboard, extra mouse, extra screen and laptop stand for the ergonomics.

I don't use the built in keyboard, touchpad and battery much.

Re:I hate this

[wisnoskij]

This. If you have access to a table to use your battery powered monitor and keypad on you are pretty much guaranteed to have power. If you are thinking of some cabin off the grid, get a generator or solar panel. And even if using it while traveling is not a use case you are interested in, the laptop will be way cheaper and better than some battery powered screen plus a battery powered single board computer. Just the battery powered single board computer will run you entry level laptop prices, and the monitor will probably be more than that alone.

Re:I hate this

[Anonymous Coward]

Geez, god forbid someone asks a tech question on a tech forum. Your signature applies to you, especially now.

Re:I hate this

[Anonymous Coward]

Not the original submitter here, but I've got to wonder: Why can't people like just keep their mouth shut, since you can't really answer the question that was asked? If you don't like the question and have no clue, then don't answer it. Complaining about it just makes you sound childish and retarded.

Re:I hate this

[PsychoSlashDot]

Geez, god forbid someone asks a tech question on a tech forum. Your signature applies to you, especially now.

To be fair, this isn't a case of someone asking a tech question along the lines of "how do I do [sensible thing]?" It's someone saying "there is a mature product line for mobile computing but I don't want to avail myself of it because [no actual reason], so help me Obi Wan, you're my only hope."

While the post you're replying to is caustic, I don't see anything in the original submission that invalidates the answer "stop being weird and use the devices that were specifically engineered over the last several decades to do exactly what you want."

If they've got an actual use-case that justifies a massively non-standard product, it'd help to state it. "I like my keyboard" really isn't it.

Re: I hate this

[Anonymous Coward]

For the same reason you felt the need to post a complaint about it, apparently.

Re:I hate this

[kackle]

I would wonder about airport security troubles when you're walking in with this box of unfamiliar parts and a battery(!)...

Been around for centuries

[Anonymous Coward]

Pencil and paper.

Re:How the fuck is this an ask /.?

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe it's time to retire ask /.

Lately it seems that ask /. Is a section for retarded, non tech savvy people who also haven't figured out how to use a search engine.

I feel your pain here, sort of...

Having said that, speaking as someone who is, IMHO, tech savvy (about to dedicate a machine to run a PDP-10 emulator running FSM's own OS, TOPS-20...hey, no-one said the tech had to be current, did they?), there are some times when Googling something leaves you saying WTF? as the top 100 results on what you thought was an abstruse technical query end up being 7 lines of text which just more-or-less reiterate your query, albeit reworded, without answering it, surrounded by several MB of useless fucking graphics and javascript...so much noise, so little signal.

I quite understand why some people end up asking what appears, to some of you august geniuses here, to be an inane question, because they naturally assume that if they've had this idea, then someone else here must have gone down that road before and will share what they'd come up with as an answer.
You'd think the /. audience would be a bit more mature, and actually treat these things as serious queries, but, hey, no...seems that we're suffering an iteration of the 'Eternal September' here, instead of AOL, we've apparently attracted the attentions of people who're apparently /b/tards (failed)..or windows users..or, heaven forbid, windows admins...
 

Why the fuck is this idiots requirements so obscure? No screen and no keyboard?

Dude. Just buy a fucking tablet or laptop already.

Obscure? maybe for someone with limited experience..
OTOMH, I can conceive of a battery powered headless box doing remote/unattended data collection/equipment control/etc, with interactive access to said box for control/updates/data retrieval on site being via WLAN using whatever tablets/laptops/smartphones/whatever..

As you mention laptop there, and as someone else has also mentioned using a borked laptop for this, yes, looks like a good idea in theory, but if it fucks up, you've then got to find another borked laptop to hack, whereas things like the Raspberry Pi are readily and cheaply available and are 'drop in' replacements (not an endorsement for the Pi, BTW, just using it as an example).

[Captcha: drunken........That reminds me, I've a bottle of Ouzo chilling in the fridge.]

kk

Intel NUC

[HighPerformanceCoder]

I get good mileage from a NUC. Highly portable performant CPU module. Doesn't have battery option, but for me I'd only use it with power available. Myself, I use a laptop and ethernet cable to vnc into the NUC, however I can sometimes borrow monitors/keyboards, so I usually throw in an HDMI cable into my kitbag. You already have travel monitor/keyboard worked out so this might be an option for you, so long as you don't mind being tethered to power.

Re: Ask Slashdot, or Ask NewEgg?

[Anonymous Coward]

NewEgg has a Kangaroo PC. No screen or keyboard. Built in battery and mini dock with USB 2.0, USB 3.0, HDMI and power cord.

Did you look at the reviews? lots of mentions of battery issues...and this beast is fine so long as you want to run Win10, which, by inference '..I can carry my OS on a USB flash drive..', the original questioner doesn't.

If the original questioner hasn't abandoned ship, I'd suggest he Google 'fanless PCs' and take his pick, there's a lot of fun devices out there to choose from, depending on your application and how deep your pockets are....

Brick

[nospam007]

There are batteries on sale on Amazon for brick computers, so I guess they exist.

Use any Pi and assemble your own battery powered s

[Anonymous Coward]

https://learn.adafruit.com/7-hdmi-portable-monitor/overview

Dear OP

[Anonymous Coward]

Check out Chinese gadgets, they have Intel machines with batteries the size of a cellphone, made to be portable. It's exactly what you want, I don't know brands though, there have also been a few on kickstarter or indieigogo.

Pipo might be brand and one that's like Geek____

Buy a laptop

[Anonymous Coward]

It sounds as though you want to be talked out of buying a laptop.

I care about you too much to lie to you: the convenience of having a finished computer ready to use at a moment's notice will outweigh any other inconvenience that you perceive in the form factor.

So...

[Anonymous Coward]

You're a typical shit nerd. We Real People model our hardware/software solutions to accomodate the needs/wants of our life. You geeks shape your empty lives around cold technology. You have no goals, no taste for life. You only love unfeeling machines. And in the end you will hate everything because the best days of your existence are gone forever, wasted after hollow pursuits, in the endless wait for "something" to happen that would push you to the top. And guess what, that "something" never happened. It never will. Too late now. The pitiful remains of your improperly-called "life" waste away in solitude and misery. You never made it and you never will. Your days will end miserably, and your bloated corpse will be found one day after days of abandonment only because of the neighbours' complains about the smell. Your family will be spared the embarassing details of your passing, which will eventually leak. How terrible, how humiliating for the family who ended up shunning you like the rest of the world, to know that you died of a heart attack while masturbating at videos of underage japanese girls being tentacle-raped.

Re: So...

[Anonymous Coward]

Ooh. Good way to go. Good suggestion.

Just get a cellphone

[morethanapapercert]

There are many android-based phones which support the MHL standard, which would allow HD resolutions, surround sound and, as a bonus, allow you to use the larger battery pack from the monitor to run or recharge your cellphone. There are loads of guides out there to coach you through installing Linux on an Android mobile device.

this would also allow your modular laptop to use the cell carriers data networks (if you bought a plan) and not just be limited to finding free wi-fi while on the go.

Not battery powered but....

[maroberts]

Consider an NUC.

I bought my son a Skull Canyon NUC which is a full i7 6820HQ which I equipped with 32GB RAM and 1TB SSD. Not a cheap solution but great performance in something the size of a DVD case. There are similar and cheaper solutions with anything from a Celeron upwards.

Re: Ask Slashdot, or Ask NewEgg?

[Anonymous Coward]

Amazon has fanless pcs running baytrail CPUs at 1.something GHz. They support msata and ddr3 ram. Good speeds, only $150 barebones. Runs on 12W so you could power from a battery pack for an hour. It's heavy for it's size tho, but comes with a plethora of connections

Try

[bytesex]

Minnowboard

Yes, there is. But it's probably not what you are

[XNormal]

Backpack computers designed to provide a VR experience. They are battery powered and without screen or keyboard. But it is a high end PC for gaming. Probably not what you are looking for.

Jesus get a tablet already

[Anonymous Coward]

"Battery powered monitor".

It also happens to contain the computer and it'll work with your travel keyboard.

And several of them are powerful enough to be your main machine.

USB3 required for USB Monitors?

[LordMyren]

One potential gotcha to think about- I'm not sure how many USB monitors require USB3. DisplayLink makes most of the chipsets, and their origins are in USB2 but I'm not sure how well their newest USB3 products do when attached to USB2.

There's the "is there enough data" question (but their DL2xxx chipsets did 1080P on USB2),
And there's the "is there enough power" question, since USB3 offers 80% more juice (0.9A vs 0.5A).
Also I've never heard of anyone try to compile DisplayLink's proprietary drivers on ARM, so more cross-your-fingers.

I suspect it *will* work but some potential gotchas to think about. Maybe you have a different idea for a portable monitor than me, dunno, but these USB powered things are what I think about.

Re: How the fuck is this an ask /.?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not so much obscure as niche. I can point you to websites full of industrial PC that meet OPs specs and are hardened to IP 68 applications.. they are also $2k+ and use Pentium processors from the 2000's. But they're "industry standard" for industrial/civil engineering to do what you mentioned for remote access and harsh conditions.

Really?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ever hear of google... geesh.

Laptop with broken screen?

[Anonymous Coward]

You can usually disassemble the LCD screen chassis. All you then need to do is remove the keyboard circuit board and you have a mobile computer that doesn't have a keyboard or screen.

Chromebit or Chromebox

[ScienceMan]

A Chromebit or Chromebox as described here: http://www.androidcentral.com/... coupled with a portable Bluetooth or USB dongle-connected keyboard and mouse should work. We've been playing with these for signage but trying them out at home or at hotel rooms. They plug into HDMI TVs or monitors, and you can even install Ubuntu on them for a full stand-alone experience. (See https://www.reddit.com/r/chrom... for example.) Yes, you can find Windows alternatives, but what's the point?

Intel Compute Stick + ext battery fits the bill.

[Anonymous Coward]

I've seen a couple of mentions for the Intel NUC, but the Intel Compute Stick fits the bill better. Both Atom and Core mobile CPU options. Has a wall plug, but would work with a battery pack.
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/compute-stick/intel-compute-stick.html

Even available with Linux preloaded.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIABRA4NG8682&ignorebbr=1&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleMKP-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleMKP-PC-_-pla-_-Desktop+PC-_-9SIABRA4NG8682&gclid=CMOBy6OLlNQCFd23wAodTqkBwA&gclsrc=aw.ds

Disclaimer: I work for Intel. But these are pretty cool.

MSI VR ONE Backpack Computer

[skaag]

It's basically a computer you wear on your back. It was designed for use with a VR headset as the screen, and as a result it's pretty powerful. So if you need x86, powerful GPU and battery, that's one way to go about it.

Screen-less, keyboard-less, BATTERY-LESS computer?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes!!!!!!!

It's called a BRAIN.

Backpack systems

[Anonymous Coward]

How much CPU/Ram/GPU power do you want, top of the tree in battery powered computing would be VR backpack systems.

http://vr.msi.com/Backpacks/vrone
Also XMG and Zotac have one.

GPD Win?

[Anonymous Coward]

So far the most portable all-in-one computer I've seen that exists is the GPD Win. It's a pocket computer the size of a 3DS running Windows 10. It's got analog sticks on it and programmable buttons for gamers. Might also work with what you're looking for. It has a screen and a keyboard along the lines of an old smartphone's keyboard, but you don't have to use them as it has both an HDMI-out and bluetooth, so take that as you will.