[linux-audio-user] programmable dsp box?

[Will Benton]

On Sun, 2002-09-22 at 12:36, M. Edward Borasky wrote:

> I guess my idea of an inexpensive "programmable DSP box" is a low-end
> desktop PC running Linux and "sfront" with a decent inexpensive sound card.
> What's the point of specialized DSP hardware and software when you have a
> Pentium or Athlon capable of doing gigaflops and an OS capable of being
> customized to keep it out of the DSP code's way?

Sure, and that's a valid point.  What's cool about the Chameleon is that
I can put it in a rack and take it to a gig with the rest of my rack
gear (and it won't run so hot that it'll cook my synths or start a
fire).  A rackmount computer might be an option if it will work in a
light-duty effects rack, even though general-purpose chips/etc. are a
lot more expensive than DSP chips.  So maybe better questions are:  

  1.  where can I get a cheap 1U rackmount enclosure with a LED slot?
  2.  what is a good rackmount motherboard with one PCI slot 
      (for an audiophile or hoontech card)?
  3.  what low-power (but fairly high-performance) chips run Linux
      well?  ARM is inadequate because it has no FPU, and the PPC 
      boards were pretty expensive last I checked.  I suppose that a 
      deceleron or duron would be adequate because I won't need a 
      lot of cache (?), but I'd rather have the cache.




Thanks all,
wb

--
Will Benton <willb at cs.wisc.edu>