8 Dec
2009
8 Dec
'09
6:02 a.m.
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 02:09:47PM +0100, Karl Hammar wrote:
ken(a)restivo.org:
This came out of the frequent questions like, "Which USB2.0 audio interfaces work
with Linux?". The answer, of course, is "None of them". And Firewire ports
are becoming more scarce on new laptops.
My question came out of worry that we could be left with a situation where no pro-quality,
affordable (i.e. comparable in cost to USB2.0 interfaces), multi-channel audio interfaces
are available for Linux users anymore. So, in a few years, goodbye Linux audio, hello
Windoze or OSX if you have a new laptop.
I guess that's my main, perhaps my only concern. From there we ended up with the idea
of an Ethernet-based interface, which will be a cool project, and an open/free hardware
design. I'm very happy to see it moving forward, and will be very curious to see how
it turns out.
-ken
On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 10:33:45AM +0100, Karl
Hammar wrote:
...
> My goals is "just" to extend
another project (industrial i/o).
> What would your goals be ?
...
The original thread converged on a goal pretty
quickly:
an inexpensive,
yes, if possible, but not one of my major goals
multi-channel audio interface
ack
which is open hardware and software,
amen
and uses Gig Ethernet as its physical connection
method.
a 200MHz processor (as in my project) cannot possible drive a
gigabit ethernet, if someone has a better choise of processor, please
speak up
So, if I were going to put the goal simply:
I'd like a Focusrite Saffire (or equivalent) that runs over
Ethernet, please :-)
Price-wise, it'd be nice if it cost the same or less than
equivalent USB 2.0 product.
Latency-wise, comparable with USB 2.0.
Can you summarize theese in more technical terms.
In terms of how many I/O, I think that was still
being calculated
and experimentation was going to be required. Obviously options for
4, 8, or 16 I/O would be nice.
Ok.
To be honest with you all, for me, this is not about to compete with
products on the market or to sale and market a product.
This is to do something, hopefully; together with (hopefully) other
fellow hw and sw hackers. To make it so, I'd like the construction to
be sufficiently simply so that a large enought share of hw hackers
can make the thing themself. In technical terms, I'll restrict myself
to double layer pcb's and non-BGA chips. That does not mean that the
design or the specification has to be of low quality.
Low price would be nice but is not a goal at this point.