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

[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

[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

[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

[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

[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

[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

[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]

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.

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.

Kangaroo PC

[Anonymous Coward]

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

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: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:reading FAIL

[Dunbal]

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

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/

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

[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/

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.

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

[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.

Re:reading FAIL

[Bodhammer]

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

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...

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.

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

[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!

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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

[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

[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

[kackle]

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

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:SubjectIsSubject

[Hognoxious]

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

Re:reading FAIL

[Hognoxious]

A scale.

Brick

[nospam007]

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

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.

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: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?

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.

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: reading FAIL

[Fwipp]

That's the joke bro

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?

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.