Audacity On Thin Client Computer

[launched]

All I have available to me at the moment is a thin-client computer, and I wanted to mess around with 64's collab topic, try some looping, etc.   You can't really do much with a TC because there is no hard drive, the flash drive is limited and there is not much RAM, so I did a search for a possible runtime DAW that had limited options enough to do a small job.

I couldn't really find anything, so I check the system requirements of Audacity. They fell within the hardware specs of the TC, so I unlocked the flash drive and installed 2.0.1 with the installer. To my dismay, the program would not run. It gave me an invalid system configuration error with the code 14001. I checked it out and it was due to a Visual C++ Redistributable that was not available on the TC.

I installed the redistributable, and be dipped in elephant shit it worked! There was an error that I had low temporary disk space, due to the fact that the default ram drive is 10mb - 100mb adjustable. This may even be enough for a small project anyway. And I could also plug a USB thumb drive or removable HD if needed.

I'm using an HP T5730, which is a nice little rig. You can find them with a nominal web search for $110US, and all day long for $150. It's been deprecated due to the fact it was shipped with XP Embedded, but it's powerful enough to run Win 7 Embedded, and of course Debian too. I might load a project on a thumb drive and see how it takes later. The T5730 also has considerable indie support, and the flash drives and CPU's can be easily upgraded.

The main reason I was interested, other than the fact I had a free moment, was that it is quiet. You can hear a pindrop with it running. I will never record with it, but I'm sure it could do so as it has a full duplex sound card. And I'm not sure how many tracks it will process. I tried 5 and it worked ok, but how many more, I don't know.

Well, that's five minutes you'll never get back!

[64Guitars]

Cool!

The main reason I was interested, other than the fact I had a free moment, was that it is quiet. You can hear a pindrop with it running.

That's an important consideration for a computer that's to be used for recording. My desktop computer makes a hell of a racket. Most of the noise comes from fans (case fan, power supply fan, and CPU fan) and a bit comes from the hard drives. It would be useless for microphone recording with a DAW.

[launched]

I have that problem even though I don't use a computer to record with. I need a quiet spot to record vocals/instruments on the onboard mic of my MBR, and it sucks that I can't be sitting in the same spot, even with a laptop. My fan always seems to be running with that, too.

We'll see how well it works - I noticed that there are a lot of mods that can be done with a T5730, and it will take a standard 44 pin IDE flash drive. I saw an 8GB for $40US last week - That would solve any potential block device needs of Audacity. Enough space for 3-4 super-size projects.

And I also noticed that it has potential for a dual core processor upgrade. Enough to do 40+ tracks I would think.

[64Guitars]

it will take a standard 44 pin IDE flash drive. I saw an 8GB for $40US last week - That would solve any potential block device needs of Audacity. Enough space for 3-4 super-size projects.

You can get a 60GB solid state drive for $50.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227811

and a USB 2.0 case for $8.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817392032

The total cost isn't much more than the 8GB IDE drive you mentioned and offers a lot more storage space. Plus, you can easily attach the drive to any other computer when you want to access your Audacity projects.

[launched]

Yes, that looks good - The price of SS drives has gone down considerably. I probably should test a thumb drive to see if USB 2.0 performance will be enough to keep Audacity happy in regards to temporary space needs.

I've been messing with the TC after I expanded my ram drive to 100MB. It is fast - And I think worth it for me to try loading a larger song to see what happens. I'm impressed so far.

[Rata-tat-tat]

I had a thin client computer once... and it got all hooked on data usage... then it became very moody and started bloating!!! It's not very thin anymore!!!

[launched]

I had a thin client computer once... and it got all hooked on data usage... then it became very moody and started bloating!!! It's not very thin anymore!!!

Unplug the ethernet and throw it in a closet!

[Flash Harry]

We have just thrown about 2000 of these out at work.

[launched]

We have just thrown about 2000 of these out at work.

That is too bad - I hope they were at least donated to charity. Manufactured in mid 2009, barely three years old. A great TC, I use one all the time.