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

[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

[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

[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.

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.

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:reading FAIL

[Dunbal]

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

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!

Ockel Sirius B

[Pikoro]

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

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

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.

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: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

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.

Try

[bytesex]

Minnowboard