On Fri, Nov 19, 2004 at 10:09:59AM -0800, Mark Knecht wrote: > While I agree with Jussi's comment that prototypes are expensive I > still think this would be an interesting product to work on. Possibly, > if we get a design together and make a couple of prototypes that work, > and presuming there is enough of a market for it, maybe we can attract > some contract manufacturer here in Silicon Valley or elsewhere to > build it for us at lower cost. We might also license the design to a > more well known company and let them make and sell this unit as an > entry into the Linux world. Why not start with a BeBoB based evaluation board? They are already available, and I understand in time there will be Linux drivers for the DM1000. I covers most of your wish-list, although there are licensing issues using the software. > As with most things where this might lead is unknown. What we have > here are a lot of smart people who have an interest in *something* > that we haven't exactly defined yet. I suggest that we try to take a > poll on what sort of unit would be of the most interest to people. > > Some thoughts of mine, unprioritized and not representing what I want or need: > > Interface to PC - 1394, USB, private Ethernet? Thinking of the hardware I think most people have: - Even my 6 year old PC has a firewire port - A lot of hardware still has USB 1.1 interfaces. This, and the USB latency issue lead me to discard this. - 1 Ethernet port is available for most people, but is often in use already. Still, an extra private ethernet port would be a cheap option. >From a cost perspective an ethernet PHY is still cheaper than a 1394 PHY. Still, my preference would be to use 1394. > Inputs - 2-xxx > - analog > - analog + mic preamp (direct or transformer coupled?) > - spdif - 1-x > - ADAT > - word clock No ADAT or word clock AFAIK on BeBoB. > Ouputs > - main analog out (with volume control) > - 1-xxx headphone outputs (with volume control?) > - spdif - 1-x > - ADAT - 1-x > - word clock > > Send/Returns - use normal ins and outs or something special? > > Sync - ability to sync to one of the inputs, word clock or internal crystal > > MIDI? I agree with others on this: plenty of cheap boxes out there, so leave it out (initially). > There must be no limitation on using multiple boxes on the same > 1394/USB bus. We should consider multiple PCs using different boxes > (or even the same box in some limited way) on the same 1394/USB bus. Are there any sybchronisation standards in this area that could be applied? > 61883? MLAN? > > For me, augmenting the features in the DigiDesign 002R unit (1394 > interface, 1 spdif, 1 ADAT, 8 analog I/O with 4 mic preamps, 48V > condenser power, 1 headphone, up to 96KHz) would be an interesting > place to begin discussion. Alternatively we could do something much > smaller too and think about multiple units to get the I/O count up. I think it would be wise to go for a modular concept, with a small relatively inexpensive base board that can be extended (using the 1394/Ethernet port). Or does such flexibiliy add too much cost? > That's enough to chew on, I think... The other thing I'd like if it is bus-powered. One less adapter to drag along. Martin
