[baglunch]

My current job won't allow anyone to plug anything into our work computers (for security reasons), so I was thinking of getting a netbook to use as source for my DAC and amp (in my sig).  Would this work well?  Will any cheapest netbook I can find on craigslist work?  Is there anything I should keep in mind with this setup (like, someone has a cheap first gen Asus EEE PC, but reading reviews on it, it sounds like it runs ubuntu and for some reason it's really hard to install new apps on it).
 
Thanks!
 
EDIT:  I forgot to mention that I would be using an external USB2.0 HDD for music storage, so I don't need much HDD space on the netbook itself.
 
EDIT2:  Hmm, looks like this has been covered in several threads... is there a way to delete this for now?

 

[transient orca]

Most USB DACs work fine in Linux. The only practical difference is the OS make is some restrictions on your choice of audio player software. For example, Foobar2000 only runs in Windows. Since there are plenty of audio players to chose from, it's not really a big deal unless you have strong preference toward one of them.

 

[Dynobot]

If you want, you can check my web site, it has everything you need to install Music Player Daemon, the Real-time kernel, configure ALSA etc. including links and other info that might come in handy.  BTW, I am using a Acer-One netbook, with Ubuntu 10 Netbook remix, works great.
 
http://sites.google.com/site/computeraudioorg/

 

[baglunch]

Nice!  Thanks for the info.  I don't know Linux, but I'd only be using the netbook for passing the audio from the HDD to the DAC, so it's good to know Linux can do that.

 

[jilgiljongiljing]

Yes Netbooks work fine for that purpose, I even used it in my rig at Headfi meets and it worked without any issues.The only thing you might face is issues with specific devices that have documented ASIO issues on slower machines like the EMU devices. But I've run DS, ASIO and KS on other devices and never had any issues.

 

[baglunch]

So for my Gamma 1 (... and eventually a Gamma 2), any cheap-o netbook I can dredge up off craigslist should do?  As long as it powers up into some operating system or other, has at least 2 usb ports (input from hdd, output to DAC), that's all I need?

 

[Dynobot]

If you ONLY want to use it for music like I do with my headless Linux boxes you should use Lubuntu.  It has exactly everything you need and nothing more, no openoffice and all the other extras.  Its the lightest resource version of linux i have found that is still usable.  Its a very stripped down version of the latest Ubuntu.
 
Again everything you need is at my site

 

[Dynobot]

Quote:

Yes Netbooks work fine for that purpose, I even used it in my rig at Headfi meets and it worked without any issues.The only thing you might face is issues with specific devices that have documented ASIO issues on slower machines like the EMU devices. But I've run DS, ASIO and KS on other devices and never had any issues.

Best thing about Linux is no ASIO, KS etc.
 
Setting up Music Player Daemon takes a little while for the beginner, but if you follow the steps you can be up and running in a matter of minutes and totally bit perfect.  You can control the Netbook via, iTouch or any other computer with Firefox Linux or not.