[LAU] Cutting the USB cord :-)

[Simon Wise]

On 04/03/15 02:13, Jonathan E. Brickman wrote:
> I have been trying to strategize cutting the USB cord (right now, one USB, one Firewire...) for my portable synth on and off for a long time; I really don't like wearing out USB ports and cables !!!! Was just perusing some of the AoIP conversation and thinking...and then a thought was given, did a search, and found:
>
> https://www.hifiberry.com/
>
> So, at least in theory, for about $160 or so, I could get one of those and an
> RPi 2.0 starter kit, run netjack and qmidinet, and have a 96kHz wifi audio
> interface with MIDI...? Anyone see an obvious catch?

Raspberries and networking and usb and wifi are not a good idea together.

They are great for what they do, but the USB and LAN on them is very poor.

Maybe an Odroid-C1 model with a reasonable USB audio interface and wifi module 
would do it better and cheaper (at $35 list price for quad core, GB ethernet, 
separate USB2 from the USB-OTG etc etc and similar gpio to the Pi it looks 
interesting but I haven't tested it yet) there are now quite a few options 
around at the under $200 price level, with different configurations and 
processing power.

WIFI isn't what I'd want to be using without a very controlled environment.

If your issue is wear and tear on the cables, can't you arrange some short 
extensions, and leave them fixed at each end till they wear out?

Or probably the ethernet sockets are more durable, and GB ethernet would be a 
great deal better than WIFI in almost every respect.

the Odroid ...
 
http://www.hardkernel.com/main/products/prdt_info.php?g_code=G141578608433&tab_idx=2