ORIGINAL: Jim Roseberry

FYI TI is alive and well in the desktop market.

Someone needs to invent an ATX case that fits in your lap... and has a fold up LCD.

How possible is it to use a laptop for display and keyboard functions only and connect it to a rack mounted "desktop" somehow?

On the basis that it is easier to carry a laptop than a separate keyboard and monitor and apart from DAW compatibility they are relatively cheap these days - and we are likely to be using a rack of interfaces etc anyway.

Cliff

ORIGINAL: cliffsp8

ORIGINAL: Jim Roseberry

FYI TI is alive and well in the desktop market.

Someone needs to invent an ATX case that fits in your lap... and has a fold up LCD.

How possible is it to use a laptop for display and keyboard functions only and connect it to a rack mounted "desktop" somehow?

On the basis that it is easier to carry a laptop than a separate keyboard and monitor and apart from DAW compatibility they are relatively cheap these days - and we are likely to be using a rack of interfaces etc anyway.

Cliff

Cliff,

That may work pretty well. At home, I have a desktop and a laptop. The Desktop is connected to my router by a cable. The laptop uses wireless to connect to the router. There is also a network printer attached to the router. And internet, of course.
Between the LAN port of the laptop and the second LAN port of the desktop I have a gigabit crossover cable. The network adapters are set to fixed IPs for this connection. Thus, I can use Windows' remote desktop to log on to my laptop from my desktop through the direct connection by specifying the IPs. This is really handy.
All the audio hardware is connected to the desktop. When recording vocals, I run the cable to another room and take my laptop with me. Then, I log on to my desktop - this time wireless, through the router etc. - and this is still fast enough to start and stop and check the signal level.
There are three pieces of software that work quite well. The remote desktop (Windows) does a good job. The disatvantage is that it blanks the screen of the computer you log on to. Tight VNC is pretty good, but it is not yet compatible with Vista. Another cool tool is TeamViewer. Private use is free, not commercial use. It does not use fancy ports, and it is very useful when trying to help somebody who has trouble with his/her computer.

Wilko

this has become a very interesting thread..

FYI TI is alive and well in the desktop market.

please pm me when you think this will be no longer the case.. I would have to sell my FF800 then

for the record: the friend of mine will return the FA-66,.. has ordered a really modern (and expensive) laptop.. I gave up after he didn't want to go the "used" route..
instead I bought myself a used Toshiba.. Intel Dual Core 1,7Ghz, TI (and agere modem).. works like a charm with XPpro.. (it's shipped with VISTA by default.. but I couldn't get satisfying result with DPC checker, switching the os just made THE difference!)

hey!

Saw this post late...

7. (a little foggy on this one) The reason PCMCIA/Expresscard TI FW solutions are so unreliable is because the real chipset/controller that we're concerned about isn't a firewire controller at all but the all-in-one controller that runs all laptop I/O connectivity: USB, card reader, Firewire...etc! If the all-in-one controller is junk, it doesn't matter if the expansion card is TI based or not 'cause it still has to go through the all-in-one. Jesus H. I'm gonna tear my frickin hair out!!

There are countless of threads out there with this discussion. Seems like no one gave the 'final answer'.
From what I read, Express card is a DIRECT connection to the PCI bus. You can read more at:

http://www.expresscard.org/web/site/

HOWEVER, I could never verify taht because:
1) I have a Presonus Firebox with RICOH chipset. Works wonderfully at minimum latency. Also, woks Ok with Centrance Driver!!!! *(for lowest round-trip latency)
2) Even taht works fine with RICOH, I bought an expresscard to FW from rain recording. I could not notice any performance difference compared to RICOH.
I tried heavy project in both cases.

That being said, I guess the best is to try. If it doesnt work, return it.

Also, there are MANY richo chipsets.:
http://www.ricoh.com/LSI/product_pcif/pcc/

It seems that some may work ok, and some other not.
My lappy is an HP, so I guess is a 'new ricoh'. Maybe some older models with Ricoh worked very very bad?

also, all testing I did was with XP.

Also, i recorder a band of a friend with : lapp w/ Ricoh + Focusrite + Xp + 8 tracks at once. Not a single glitch.

Maybe this thread closes the misery once and for all.

Hope this helps

Danny Bullo

here is a pic of a laptop that has TI firewire and NO there is no PCMCIA slot only Express slot

i had hoped windows 7 would be the one to finally have real PCIe....
oh well as long as they continue to support legacy PCI it will never happen.

HI,

of the laptops who's express slots work correctly..... the speed is there i doubt its anywhere near full speed (no way to benchmark this)
but we have been able to use an rme Madiface and track 64 io
install a eSata for full speed HDD transfer
install a Firewire card and get perfect low latency recording (RME, Motu, Echo)

it is PCIe in its communication technology, not just a direct connect.

and there is so much more to this... based more on each laptop that the tech itself..

drivers, drivers, drivers.
there is more to it than just the drivers, there is the firmware (which in a sense is a driver as well).
then there is the bios of the laptop. which a great deal to do with it.

here is an anology.

think of the laptop has a generator thats capable of 600W.
connected to it is 8 100W lightbulbs.
you can not run al llightbulbs @ 100W.

so the manufacturer limits the output of certain lightbulbs to 40w and others to 60w while leaving a few @ 100W
they have also allowed for a 150W reserve so you dont use too much gas (battery life) and also allowing them to shrink the size
leaving you with only 450w real output.
while you have 8 100w lightbulbs you cant use most of them @ full power.

make sense?

some of the lightbulbs not at full power sometimes.
Firewire, Express slot, 3-4 usb lightbulbs sharing 100w including the oft times esata off USB. (rather than from the intel chipset)

ODMs do not expect anyone to use a laptop as a workstation other than a few higher end ones. and now even HP/Compaq biz class no longer have TI.

remember laptops used for audio/video make up at best 2% of laptop buyers and i doubt its that high...