20 Dec
2002
20 Dec
'02
2:59 p.m.
Has anyone looked at/evaluated/considered/used the new VIA EPIA-M9000
motherboard
as the basis for interesting audio projects?
Best wishes,
Lloyd R. Prentice
20 Dec
20 Dec
3:43 p.m.
On Fri, Dec 20, 2002 at 01:55:56 -0500, Lloyd R. Prentice wrote:
Has anyone looked at/evaluated/considered/used the new
VIA EPIA-M9000
motherboard
as the basis for interesting audio projects?
I've looked at one of the earlier EPIA boards. It was about as fast as a
medium speed PIII, but had 3DNow support (I think). There is a 19" 1U
miniITX case, but it has a fan on the powersupply :(
I was interested in building a no-moving-parts audio processor machine,
mostly for gigs, but I need to get the fan thing sorted out.
- Steve
21 Dec
21 Dec
9:37 a.m.
I was interested in building a no-moving-parts audio
processor machine,
mostly for gigs, but I need to get the fan thing sorted out.
This issue is exactly what I'm working on for a magazine feature.
I've been talking to http://www.ultim8pc.co.uk/ about supplying the parts. If
you want total silence you'll need the passively cooled VIA EPIA-M6000.
Cheers
Daniel
10:26 a.m.
On Sat, Dec 21, 2002 at 01:34:17 +0000, Daniel James wrote:
Right, but theres still the powersuply, and the only 19" mITX case I could
find had a fan. http://linitx.com/products/ - also UK based.
- Steve
I was
interested in building a no-moving-parts audio processor machine,
mostly for gigs, but I need to get the fan thing sorted out.
This issue is exactly what I'm working on for a magazine feature.
I've been talking to http://www.ultim8pc.co.uk/ about supplying the parts. If
you want total silence you'll need the passively cooled VIA EPIA-M6000.
23 Dec
23 Dec
7:25 a.m.
but theres still the powersuply, and the only 19"
mITX case I could
find had a fan.
Have you seen the Procase 2688? - not 19", but very small and with an external
DC power supply:
http://www.ultim8pc.co.uk/index.asp?section=products&idd=2
Cheers
Daniel
10:32 a.m.
On Mon, Dec 23, 2002 at 11:21:36 +0000, Daniel James wrote:
Nope: http://linitx.com/products/1u_case/
It might be possible to fit a fanless powersupply to it but I'd rather not
have to.
- Steve
but theres
still the powersuply, and the only 19" mITX case I could
find had a fan.
Have you seen the Procase 2688? - not 19", but very small and with an external
DC power supply:
12:01 p.m.
It might be possible to fit a fanless powersupply to
it but I'd rather not
have to.
I checked out that case, but it seems designed for web hosting rather than
audio. Both trades use 19" racks!
I'd rather not remove fans from a power supply that was designed to have them.
But at least the C3 processor is very undemanding when it comes to power.
My reservation is the ability (or otherwise) of the C3 to support multitrack
audio at 48KHz sample rate. Only one way to find out...
Cheers
Daniel
2:27 p.m.
On Mon, Dec 23, 2002 at 03:57:48 +0000, Daniel James wrote:
Sure, I was thinking of ripping out the stock powersupply and adding an
external miniITX one, if thats possible, I'm not sure what the DC out on
those external supplies is.
- Steve
It might be
possible to fit a fanless powersupply to it but I'd rather not
have to.
I checked out that case, but it seems designed for web hosting rather than
audio. Both trades use 19" racks!
I'd rather not remove fans from a power supply that was designed to have them.
11:46 a.m.
"Lloyd R. Prentice" wrote:
Has anyone looked at/evaluated/considered/used the new VIA EPIA-M9000
motherboard as the basis for interesting audio projects?
The reason I asked this question a few days ago is that this board looks
to my novice eye like a very promising, and relatively inexpensive,
platform for audio projects. It's small, low-powered, highly featured.
Spec sheet says it's Linux compatible.
I'd like to experiment, but have been burned before by hidden gotchas.
The specs include "six-channel surround sound." What does this mean? How
would one exploit it with Linux?
They also include two USB 2.0 ports. Would this make it suitable as a
controller for external audio components?
Would this board work well as a the basis for a dedicated, perhaps
portable, digital recorder?
I've seen it priced at $150 with CPU.
Here's a url that reviews the board:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&…
Here are some quotes:
VIA's approach is to go small: the EPIA-M has enough power to handle
DVD movies and sound well, and the platform is small and cool-running
enough to be easily adapted to cases that will mix-'n-match with
existing
home entertainment equipment. The CPU generates little heat; the primary
power for multimedia functions is embedded in the chipset, and
relatively
independent of processing power. It can be made to run quietly and would
be inexpensive.
As already mentioned, VIA's new CLE266 chipset is the key to the
performance of the EPIA-M. The board has the same marvelously tiny
layout as before (17 x 17 cm), but with USB2.0, IEEE 1394 Firewire,
smooth
DVD playback, better TV out, LAN, support for faster DDR266 memory
(instead of PC133 SDRAM) and better quality 6 channel surround sound.
It also has better graphics (than the Trident Blade on the PLE133 of the
EPIA series boards) with a new integrated graphics engine called Castle
Rock. Another change quietly introduced is the addition of a port for a
floppy drive, which is missing from the EPIA boards.
With the small form factor of Mini-ITX, there is no room on the back
panel for the IEEE 1394 Firewire ports. So VIA includes headers on the
board
and a Combo Module with 2 USB 2.0 ports and 2 IEEE1394 ports. The
combo module requires the use of a PCI riser card in most Mini-ITX
cases. With the two USB ports already on the back panel, this makes 4,
which is generous for such a tiny board. In fact, the list of I/O
connections
(as shown in the specifications below) makes it clear that this is one
very
modern board.
Best wishes,
Lloyd R. Prentice
12:15 p.m.
Would this board work well as a the basis for a
dedicated, perhaps
portable, digital recorder?
I think the key question is: drivers. With all the components on board, if
there aren't GPL drivers available then I'd steer clear. You don't need
another NVIDIA-type situation.
As for recording, I think stereo plus midi is feasible, but what about more
than two tracks? Audacity is lightweight, and seems to need a fast disk more
than anything else. If you want two tracks at a time plus overdubs, that
might be the way to go.
Cheers
Daniel
2:26 p.m.
On Mon, Dec 23, 2002 at 04:11:52 +0000, Daniel James wrote:
These machines aren't that lightweight, I've run arodur on lower speced
machines.
- Steve
Would this
board work well as a the basis for a dedicated, perhaps
portable, digital recorder?
As for recording, I think stereo plus midi is feasible, but what about more
than two tracks? Audacity is lightweight, and seems to need a fast disk more
than anything else. If you want two tracks at a time plus overdubs, that
might be the way to go.
3:32 p.m.
These machines aren't that lightweight, I've
run arodur on lower speced
machines.
Really? What spec and how many simultaneous tracks?
Bear in mind that a C3 of a given clock speed benchmarks well below a Pentium
III of the same clock speed. You can fit an ATA-100 disk and plenty of RAM
though.
I'd like to build a C3 machine for the studio I've just started renting on the
Isle of Wight. I am concerned that it won't be able to multitrack audio as
much as a P3 or P4 though.
As for power supply transplants, I'm sure it could be done - you could even
put the rackmount PSU in the Procase to avoid wasting it...
Cheers
Daniel
3:49 p.m.
On Mon, Dec 23, 2002 at 07:28:42 +0000, Daniel James wrote:
Early PIII (bad cache I think), 500 MHz, PC66 ram, IDE33 disks.
These machines
aren't that lightweight, I've run arodur on lower speced
machines.
Really? What spec and how many simultaneous tracks? Bear in mind that a C3 of a given clock speed
benchmarks well below a Pentium
III of the same clock speed. You can fit an ATA-100 disk and plenty of RAM
though.
IIRC the C3 is clocked at 800MHz? And it supports DDR ram. I wasn;t
planning to use for for recording, jsut processing.
I'd like to build a C3 machine for the studio
I've just started renting on the
Isle of Wight. I am concerned that it won't be able to multitrack audio as
much as a P3 or P4 though.
Heh, I fear the IoW.
As for power supply transplants, I'm sure it could
be done - you could even
put the rackmount PSU in the Procase to avoid wasting it...
I'm not sure there the same shape, the 1U supply is long and thin.
- Steve
24 Dec
24 Dec
6:15 a.m.
IIRC the C3 is clocked at 800MHz?
There are a number of variants up to 1GHz, but the 1GHz is very hard to find.
It does come without a heatsink though, which means you can fit an oversized
heatsink for passive cooling. The EPIA series chips are fully integrated with
the motherboard - they are soldered to the motherboard and the small heatsink
is not designed to be removed.
That means the higher speed integrated units such as the M9000 will be hard to
make completely silent unless you want to risk prising off the original
heatsink.
As for power
supply transplants, I'm sure it could be done - you could
even put the rackmount PSU in the Procase to avoid wasting it...
I'm not sure there the same shape, the 1U supply is long and thin.
8:21 a.m.
strcmp("Red Flag", "Red Hat") = -1
I'll take your word for that...
It occured to me that (almost) all the computer and audio hardware we use is
made in countries where people speak Chinese. So it wouldn't be suprising if
Red Flag turns out to be the best supported distro for audio use.
Cheers
Daniel
23 Dec
23 Dec
2:25 p.m.
On Mon, Dec 23, 2002 at 10:43:16 -0500, Lloyd R. Prentice wrote:
I suspect they are refering to AC3 out of the SPDIF, which is not really
useful for pro audio.
You could fit a pci soundcard to the riser though, or use USB, like you
suggested.
- Steve
Has anyone
looked at/evaluated/considered/used the new VIA EPIA-M9000
motherboard as the basis for interesting audio projects?
The reason I asked this question a few days ago is that this board looks
to my novice eye like a very promising, and relatively inexpensive,
platform for audio projects. It's small, low-powered, highly featured.
Spec sheet says it's Linux compatible.
I'd like to experiment, but have been burned before by hidden gotchas.
The specs include "six-channel surround sound." What does this mean? How
would one exploit it with Linux?
7803
days inactive
7807
days old
linux-audio-user@lists.linuxaudio.org
16 comments
3 participants
participants (3)
-
Daniel James -
Lloyd R. Prentice -
Steve Harris