I use a Shuttle SK41G (old by now), which is a little "lunch box" style PC. It has one PCI slot, which I use for my M-Audio Delta 66. It also has on AGP slot (empty on mine). I use onboard video and ethernet without any trouble. It's a sorta-portable system, with an LCD monitor. I intend to pack it up and bring it to a friend's house to record there (he has a room with his drums set up there). I've also got a combo CD-RW/DVD-ROM, and USB qwerty keyboard (Happy Hacking keyboard) and MIDI keyboard (Evolution MK249C). I like it better than a laptop for the reasons you already mentioned. Theoretically, I can get a new Shuttle XPC motherboard if some component goes. I would avoid a Mac since they use a different processor; I think most Linux audio software is developed for little-endian x86. My bet is that most programs will give you trouble on big-endian PPC. On Tue, 12 Oct 2004 10:36:51 -0700 (PDT), Brian Redfern <bredfern@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > It seems that the little "lunch box" form factor with a flat screen > monitor is really portable but has the advantage of giving you control > over the kinds of hardware you're using, as opposed to a laptop where > you're at the manufacturer's mercy. > > I would think that your safest bet would be to convert a mac power book > into a PPC linux machine, but building a little linux lunchbox machine > would still be a lot cheaper than forking out $2000 for a powerbook, but > that's still better than spending $850 on a paper weight. > >
