macgyver35

Just wondering if there are any fellow IT folks in the forums. I spend some time on here, so I thought it might be interesting to talk shop a bit and compare notes.

Also, I've been toying with the idea of rigging up some sort of carputer in my XJ and wondered if anyone else had considered this. I hate that we don't have a double DIN dash opening because it really limits having modern car tech in there. I've thought about using an old netbook, or maybe an old Android tablet or Android smartphone. I have some old Droid smartphones laying around that have FM tuners built in, and they would fit the space where the radio goes. They also have GPS receivers in them, and of course would also play MP3 audio and MP4 video. Figured I might be able to mod one and hook up it's headphone output to a 4 channel amp and then to the speakers. Just trying to figure out the off, and on part of it, or whether I should just leave it on all the time and let the screen lock kick in.

Anyway, just pondering different options...

sthon

I'm a Senior systems engineer. Mostly deal with IBM blades, storage, aix, and vmware crap.

macgyver35

Well, you're way beyond what I mess with.

thatXJguy

I'm a tech blogger and in college for computer programming.

yillb

I work for a large hosting company, as a sys admin. I had a carputer in my eclipse ( before i traded for this today actually ) it's doable, and it's amazing what you can do with it. Mine had a 7 inch tablet mounted, countrolled everything, videos, music, web surfing, lighting controls, sound system, everything. got a full write up on it, i had to take it all apart when i traded it in, but i still have the trunk server, and all the stuff. if you want some pointers let me know. I just finished my home entertainment system with the same idea, only it controls a lot more. It's hard finding things to control in a car.

sthon

Yeah, I rarely deal with end users. Usually just the software analysts and SAP admins that own the servers I deal with.

macgyver35

I've been in tech geek heaven all week. The new Nokia Lumia Windows Phone 8 event in New York presented some awesome new phones about to hit the market. And Ceton just released their Windows Phone Companion app that allows you to control nearly all the features of Windows Media Center on any Windows 7 PC from your phone. I've been playing with it all evening and it works really well. Turned my phone into one of the coolest remotes you can get!

Lumia promo video


Ceton app walkthrough

Anyone here use Spiceworks or get on TechRepublic?

zombie jeep101

I understand about 20% of the things you say

macgyver35

So, are we to take that to mean that you are , or are not, in the IT field?

macgyver35

I may hit you up for some advice when I get around to seriously approaching that kind of project. I'm getting married in 5 weeks, so right now all of my time (and enough money to make me cry) is tied up in getting ready for the "big day". It's my second time around. let's hope this one sticks.

zombie jeep101

Let's go with "not" ha

alnielsen

I've been in Field Service and Desktop Support for 30 yrs. Before that, I was a component level troubleshooter (back when electronics had value). I've taken some college programming courses. While I ace them, I know that's not the life for me.