linuxaudio.org

On Wed, Nov 24, 2010 at 09:01:39AM -0500, Paul Davis wrote:

quoted text
> On Wed, Nov 24, 2010 at 2:37 AM, Lorenzo Sutton  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@lists.linuxaudio.org

http://lists.linuxaudio.org/listinfo/linux-audio-user