[LAU] Any support for MADI?

[Ken Restivo]

On Wed, Nov 24, 2010 at 09:01:39AM -0500, Paul Davis wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 24, 2010 at 2:37 AM, Lorenzo Sutton <lsutton at libero.it> wrote:
> > Wouldn't it be nice if someone (TM) built a open source-driven portable
> > computer ready for audio with possibly decently priced?
> >
> > I say 'portable computer' and not 'laptop' because I imagine something maybe
> > a bit bigger than a laptop but smaller than a desktop (like a 'fatter' i.e.
> > higher laptop), a kind of hybrid, enabling for e.g. to fit in at least a pci
> > card and maybe a 5 inch hard disk (maybe even solid state?)
> >
> > Similar in a way to the indamixx but more focused on hardware....
> >
> > I am not at all an hardware expert but my guess is that someone with the
> > right know-how (even a team) could whip up a pretty interesting machine?
> >
> > But maybe this is pure fiction :)
> 
> its not pure fiction. there have been at least a half-dozen companies
> in the english-speaking world alone that have tried to sell
> audio-centric computers. its a niche market, and in general they don't
> last very long. here's one that died and has been resurrected, for
> example:
> 
> http://www.carillonac1.com/
> 
> or another
> 
> http://raincomputers.com/
> 
> there's not a lot of money to be made in this market, let alone the
> tiny corner of it that would run linux on it. imagining that there is
> a notable market for a custom built unit using non-off-the-shelf cases
> or components ... now we're talking fiction.

A local computer shop (Central Computers) sells custom, rack-mount PCs designed for audio use: super quiet case and cooling, SSD's, PCI, etc. They can offer it with or without Windoze; buy it bare bones and run Linux on it.

What in the world would a manufacturer be necessary for? What this calls for is a reseller or system integrator; it's just building a PC out of commodity parts.

In fact, anyone can do it. This is Linux-land, and components are cheap and easily available-- DIY and build yer own!

And once you have done that and worked out the bugs, print up some spiffy labels, put up a web page and Amazon/Google/Yahoo/whatever store, and you now have a side business selling audio PCs to linux users (or Windoze users, if you want to get into that end of it).

-ken