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Remote Control Computer

S

starhawk

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Oct 4, 2004
Messages
8,908
Got an interesting idea pop up from it being 5:30 in the morning here and me working on this 4-page paper.

Would it be possible to run a wireless "everything" computer with good results? My idea spurs from the fact that my dorm room is the size of most walk-in closets and i have a hanging shelf in the wardrobe/closet.

The idea is to control the computer completely by wireless... wireless mobo, wireless network connection (via 802.11b/g/whatever-to-rj-11 adaptor), wireless keyboard, wireless mouse, wireless monitor, even wireless power and reset switches.

Could it work? Reliably? Cheaply? or is my brain truly fried?
 
wireless peripheral stuff, no problem, aka keyboard, mouse, network, easy to do. Wireless monitor, possibly with some expensive equipment, wireless mobo? i highly doubt it.
 
basically what i am thinking is an matx desktop with usb external floppy and cd tied into wireless usb hub, + usb kbd/mouse.

real winner is transmitting video over wireless.

the trick here is that i am not allowed (by the college) to drill holes in anything unless i want to pay exorbitant fees for replacing the "damaged" item. otherwise the monitor would be no problemo.

idea: vga-to-dbf15 adaptor => ega (dbm15)-to-rj-45 adaptor => wireless ethernet => rj-45-to-ega (dbm15) adaptor => dbf15-to-vga adaptor

basically using adaptors to convert vga to ega then to rj45, send over wireless ethernet and reverse. those adaptors were originally used for ega monitors to operate as dumb terminal screens. they still exist.
 
You really want ega quality? Do those adapters actually convert the video signal to ethernet or are they just media adapters? If they are just media adapters then you can't plug that into a wireless ethernet bridge and expect it to work. Not to mention wireless ethernet probably won't have sufficient bandwidth for full color, full screen, full motion video. There are solutions for wireless vga, but they're pretty damn expensive.

If you can't drill holes in anything, how are you going to get power to the computer? If there is a place for a power cord then surely you could squeeze a vga extension cable in there somewhere.

Also, do you have a link to the wireless usb hub you plan on using? That sounds interesting. I suppose you would have to have something plugged into the computer to transcieve to the hub, right? Do you get full USB bandwidth?
 
The bandwidth outputs of video are, extremely high in comparison to the abilities of wireless networking technology.

You just can't send that much info over air, without some form of compression scheme in the way.

Example..

720x480, 29.997 fps "digital video" takes about ~30 megabytes a SECOND uncompressed... not something you are going to stream wirelessly.
 
Perhaps transmit the video signal over light somehow? Get a modulating laser and transmit the video that way. That would be expensive as hell to get a laser that modulates to the amplitudes you'd need, but i'm sure it's out there. Like said before, you can't transmit vide over wireless, at least not over anything legal ;)
 
Pixeleet said:
Perhaps transmit the video signal over light somehow? Get a modulating laser and transmit the video that way. That would be expensive as hell to get a laser that modulates to the amplitudes you'd need, but i'm sure it's out there. Like said before, you can't transmit vide over wireless, at least not over anything legal ;)
Click to expand...
If he can get line-of-sight to do a laser transmission then surely he can run a cable somehow.
 
How awesome would that be though? You're playing a game and someone steps in the way and your vid signal just dies :p
 
the closet is to my left at the moment, with the doors facing... directly away from me on the opposite side.

i suppose that if all else fails, i could run a cable, but i want to do it as wirelessly as possible.

:D guess those old ega monitors didn't display all that much now did they?
 
EGA allows resolutions up to 640x350 and up to 64 fixed colors. You cannot put a vga signal into an adapter expecting an ega signal and expect to magically get ega. Just because the connector fits doesn't mean it will work the way you think it should. You will need an active electronic converter to convert from VGA to EGA if that is really what you want to do. Also, your EGA-to-cat5 convertor must take the EGA signal and somehow encapsulate it and give it an IP address(or at least some sort of address) for the wireless networking equipment to do anything with it. I don't think this is a very feasible solution.

Here is a wireless vga adapter, but it looks pretty limited(as I'm sure most of them are). Max resolution is 1024x768 and max refresh rate is 60Hz.
 
the "vga-to-ega" converter just is (ideally...) a housing with a vga port on one end, a dbf15 on the other, and a bunch of wires inbetween. it's the rj45-to-dbm15 module that "expects" ega... quite frankly i can't think of any other purpose for this thing.

the module i have has a dbm15 on one end, an rj45 on the other, and a bunch of led's in the middle, just like a modem would. it's about twice to 3x the size of a matchbox. not really sure what it does but ega to ethernet is the only thing i can think of.
 
EGA uses a db9 connector, not a db15. Also, EGA uses digital brightness levels for each of the three colors, whereas VGA uses analog levels for a continous range of intensity. A VGA to EGA convertor cannot just be a bunch of wires. The two specifications are so completely different that you would need some complicated electronics to convert between the two.
 
coulda sworn... then what would that connector be used for? looks like the male version of a joystick port.
 
I do believe the db15 connector was used for some mac video interfaces. Perhaps your little adapter is to plug a standard vga monitor into a mac.
 
no... there was some sort of early monitor that used that config... i remember it from my a+ cert course... natch the book isn't here at college...

let me try and describe this thing better.

it was about 1" tall, 2.5" wide, and 4-4.5" long. it was made of two steel halves, riveted together, and was beige. there was a micromini 2-position slide switch on one side, in a sort of channel where the two halves of the box met, and the opposite side had a slot for a 2nd switch (but no switch). the top had several 3mm green leds and a 3mm red led on it, slightly offset. one end had an rj-45 network port, the other had a dbm15 port. there were no other remarkable features except a label that covered the whole top... and i can't recall a thing about it.
 
Here is a page of different video interface standards, including their connectors. The only db15 connector I am seeing is for an apple interface. Perhaps there is a lesser-known interface that the page doesn't list.
 
What happend to good ol' fasion ductape? Spend the money your putting into all this wireless crud for your video signal and get some high quality VGA extention and duct tape it to hide it! :) I used it all over the place in my dorm. Granted, moving into an actual house was the best thing i ever did, so much more room.

In any case: Wireless is good for certant things, video and highspeed data (Wireless mobo idea) are not them.
 
so the best way to do the video would be a cable... hmm... yeah, it sorta has to be... dang.

that pretty much knocks out the whole point of it (no cables for anything, wireless all)

what about the wireless floppy and cdrom (instead of them being in the comp)? can you do that w/o having windows on there already?
 
How are you planning to do wireless floppy and cdrom anyway? I'm not sure exactly what windows has to do with it.
 
It would be easier and cheaper to build a HTPC and super glue it to the ceiling :p
What you're asking for is impractical by most means unless you're willing to do some serious electrical work.
 
I mean impractical electrical work like actually transferring the monitor signal through a custom wireless receiver and transmitter. I'm not sure if it's even possible without significant investment, lag, and a low quality image.
 
You guys ever hear of "laptop" computers - otherwise known as "notebooks"?

:D
 
tis what i have now. and it 5u><0r5 worse than the world's biggest vacuum.

so i will need a cable for the monitor. will the remainder work as wireless?
 
starhawk said:
tis what i have now. and it 5u><0r5 worse than the world's biggest vacuum.

so i will need a cable for the monitor. will the remainder work as wireless?
Click to expand...
You just aren’t getting it, Cheep Wireless is ONLY practical in low bandwidth applications, KB, Mouse, Networking, stuff like that. CD-Rom, HDs, ETC. require huge bandwidth pipes, something on the order of 100MB/s (Wikipedia Article on UDMA) If you absolutely MUST make every thing wireless, your looking at some serious electronics and communications work (Custom designed transmitters and receivers, sounds like fun to me, but expensive!) PLUS some pretty impressive breakthroughs in the wireless field. There is no cheep off the shelf tech to do this kind of wireless data transfer.This is not even thinking about the lag and whatnot. Also consider this. For every wire you get rid of you are essentially tripling your required connections since now both parts need connections to the TX/RX units, and you need power for both units. Is there a good point to having a wireless CD or floppy? they are going to be sitting right next to the mobo anyway, just use normal cable.


If you want a small case, go with a shuttle or build your own nice small case, use wireless everything (Kb, Mouse and Net) and a nice LCD and your setup will be nice and small.


Now im not trying to stifle your creativity, but im just trying to get you to realize what your asking here.
 
**forget it** i will just get a sff...

mods lock this thread plz, it is dead as uncle knicknack.
 
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