26 Nov
2010
26 Nov
'10
1:30 a.m.
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(a)libero.it> wrote:
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
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.