Hello Sean, We used some mini-ITX VIA mother board : you could here some audio stream here : http://apo33.org/radio/ It uses a proc of 1Ghz 512Mo, it works quite well under linux mandrake and we use PD on this streams... So you couldn't run patch asking a lot of cpu but you could work at the end! Also on the last generation of mini-ITX you don't have anymore this problem of cache size, Epia resolved it. In the other way the onboard sound card works but it's better to put a pci or usb card (like we used some sound blaster live or M-audio quattro), sound quality will be better!! you could find also some of our home computer with this motherboard : http://cybersapiens.org/article.php3?id_article=28 http://cybersapiens.org/article.php3?id_article=13 http://cybersapiens.org/IMG/jpg/metalatrous.jpg http://cybersapiens.org/article.php3?id_article=24 http://cybersapiens.org/article.php3?id_article=23
Also to save some cpu under linux, we use PWM which is an X desktop really light! the nano one's is not available at the moment, maybe soon...
best
juto
Has anyone here tried running Pure Data on the VIA processors, as found on the Mini-ITX or Nano-ITX motherboards? The size of these motherboards is very appealing (the Nano-ITX is only 12x12 cm), but I have read some pretty underwhelming reports of performance on these processors.
Not sure how Linux support stands, and I am also not sure if there are ALSA drivers for the built-in soundchips. It would also remain to be seen if the small cache size is a problem - it seems like cache size is critical to performance with MAX/MSP.
Anyway, if anyone has tried PD on a VIA system, it would be interesting to hear your results. An x86 computer that fits in a large stompbox would be pretty cool. Even if the performance isn't stellar, it might be useable as a programmable effects unit that far surpasses any commercial unit in a similar price range, but with more durability than your average laptop.
Sean Costello