27 Jan
2011
27 Jan
'11
5:23 a.m.
On 27/01/11 14:24, Ray Rashif wrote:
The closest to Linux is the N900. Then you have the
Androids.
Yep, the N900 is really the only serious option I know of. Android
phones run Linux, to be sure, but they're nothing like a typical Linux
system -- almost everything from the kernel up is Android specific.
There are a range of music-centric apps for Android, but none of them
are capable of anything like what Fluidsynth/aseqnet would be capable
of, and the OS has some fundamental limitations that prevent real-time
audio processing (there's always substantial latency, usually 100ms or
more).
It sounds like Android 2.3 has new APIs that provide lower-level audio
access capable of realtime performance, but there's only one phone out
there running 2.3 today (Google's new Nexus S), and I haven't seen
much/any talk about Android music apps updating to the new APIs yet anyway.
There are definitely some useful audio apps for Android (Chordbot,
Tapemachine, and Fingerplay MIDI spring to mind), and I hope we'll see
more, but I don't think it'll ever be a platform for running your
favourite Linux audio apps on-the-go like the N900 can be.
Thanks
Leigh