On Wed, Nov 24, 2010 at 09:01:39AM -0500, Paul Davis wrote: > On Wed, Nov 24, 2010 at 2:37 AM, Lorenzo Sutton <lsutton@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > Wouldn't it be nice if someone (TM) built a open source-driven portable > > computer ready for audio with possibly decently priced? > > > > I say 'portable computer' and not 'laptop' because I imagine something maybe > > a bit bigger than a laptop but smaller than a desktop (like a 'fatter' i.e. > > higher laptop), a kind of hybrid, enabling for e.g. to fit in at least a pci > > card and maybe a 5 inch hard disk (maybe even solid state?) > > > > Similar in a way to the indamixx but more focused on hardware.... > > > > I am not at all an hardware expert but my guess is that someone with the > > right know-how (even a team) could whip up a pretty interesting machine? > > > > But maybe this is pure fiction :) > > its not pure fiction. there have been at least a half-dozen companies > in the english-speaking world alone that have tried to sell > audio-centric computers. its a niche market, and in general they don't > last very long. here's one that died and has been resurrected, for > example: > > http://www.carillonac1.com/ > > or another > > http://raincomputers.com/ > > there's not a lot of money to be made in this market, let alone the > tiny corner of it that would run linux on it. imagining that there is > a notable market for a custom built unit using non-off-the-shelf cases > or components ... now we're talking fiction. A local computer shop (Central Computers) sells custom, rack-mount PCs designed for audio use: super quiet case and cooling, SSD's, PCI, etc. They can offer it with or without Windoze; buy it bare bones and run Linux on it. What in the world would a manufacturer be necessary for? What this calls for is a reseller or system integrator; it's just building a PC out of commodity parts. In fact, anyone can do it. This is Linux-land, and components are cheap and easily available-- DIY and build yer own! And once you have done that and worked out the bugs, print up some spiffy labels, put up a web page and Amazon/Google/Yahoo/whatever store, and you now have a side business selling audio PCs to linux users (or Windoze users, if you want to get into that end of it). -ken _______________________________________________ Linux-audio-user mailing list Linux-audio-user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://lists.linuxaudio.org/listinfo/linux-audio-user
