Been trying to work out the best platform for AOG, my laptop screen are rubbish in the sunlight and laptop keeps getting in the way of things.
Been looking at replacing it with a NUC or some other ultra small form factor PC and connecting a screen remotely. Trying to work out min spec required for AOG and have come across the below.
Would this run AOG, do you think?
MeLE PCG02 Mini PC Stick Fanless Celeron J4125, Small Computer Portable Micro PC, LPDDR4, Win 11, HDMI 4K 60Hz, 2.4G/5G Wi-Fi, Gigabit Ethernet, BT 4.2, USB 3.0 * 2, Wake on LAN, PXE (8G/128G)
Not to sure how well it worked but there were some guys running AOG on a raspberry pi. Would probably be cheaper to buy a 8gb rpi 4 and run arm windows. It would have the same amount of ram but not quite as much processing power.
Besides the screen issues mentioned (you’d need a touch screen too), the other problem with little computers like that, and even Raspberry Pis, is power management. You need a way to shut the computer down when the key is off, and turn it on when the key is on. mini computers like that should be able to suspend and sleep like a tablet can, but you’d have to put them to sleep manually. Whereas the tablet you just press the little button on the side and it goes to sleep (or shuts down). And the tablet’s built-in battery means you don’t have to do anything special with tractor power. Just plug it in and go.
Personally the ideal screen for me would be a passive screen like the e-ink display, but would need to be fast enough to draw the AOG framerate. I don’t even care that much if it’s black and white. I’m just so fed up with color LCDs in the cab being so difficult to read in the bright sunlight. In that area the FZ-G1 tablet is certainly better than any of the commercial tractor displays. The 2630s and Pro 700s I have all suck in sunlight.
Realistically I don’t think e-ink is even close to being fast (and smooth) enough refreshing at the moment. Lots of heavy screen flicker and grainy imagery.
I think the OP is trying to solve a problem that the FZ-G1 already fixes extremely well.
Although on e-ink, depending on how it is driven it can do about 8-10 fps. I had a phone once with an e-ink screen and it was actually quite nice. I could even watch youtube on it and it was alright. But even a 1 bpp LCD screen at high res would be better than most color LCD screens in sunlight.
Good recommendation on the FZ-G1, thanks, might have to look at one. Looked at a few reviews, but what kind of running time are you getting out of a battery? Does it have just the one USB?
Just one usually, but some models have a ethernet port built into the tablet. And if you put it in a docking station you have plenty of usb ports, ethernet, serial, and of course hard-wired power.
I am running multiple devices on the same vehicle, mostly headless so I just RDC to them from a single screen. The reason that I was going for the touchscreen was so that it could be mounted semi permanently in the vehicle, am even considering using a linear actuator to pop it up out of the dash at the touch of a button.
But that tablet just has it all in one package…
Oh, except for usb ports, it would need a USB hub.