SFF 'nettop' PCs

[dirkenstein]

Hi Everyone,

 

I'm hoping this question isn't too c0mputer-oriented, as I'm specifically looking for a system that somebody has actually used successfully with MagicQ. Mods, feel free to hide this if it's a too IT-centric question.

 

I'm thinking of replacing an old Compaq Evo desktop PC I use for running MagicQ PC with something smaller and lighter that uses up up less desk space in a (potentially very small, depending on venue) control position, and takes less time to set up.

 

Has anybody sucessfully used something like an Acer Veriton, Acer Aspire Revo, or even an Asus eee box, to run MagicQ PC?

 

Basically, I'm looking for a small-form factor PC with the following characteristics:

 

a) VESA mount, which can be bolted to the back of a touchscreen monitor, so there's virtually no extra table footprint).

b) powerful enough to run XP +MagicQ PC. Linux isn't really an option unless I can find a version of X which doens't freak out with multiple monitors and touchscreen support loaded.

c) has sufficient USB ports for keyboard, mouse, MagicQ wing, touchscreen, and preferably a spare or two.

d) The most unusual requirement: dual monitor support, or the ability to support an expansion graphics card without disabling motherboard graphics support (some small PCs, like my Evo, have the bad habit of doing this). This kind of eliminates the FitPC product range as they have no expansion capability for graphics cards or second monitors, other than a UB2.0 to VGA adapter.

 

And as a preference:

 

Under £300.

 

I don't particularly want to use an eee top, as the touchscreen is a bit small. I have a working 17" touchscreen I'd like to reuse for now.

 

I'm also not convinced by second-hand tablet PCs (which I have used in the past) because of potential driver/installation issues and the fact that they tend to have quite small touchscreens, too. Not to mention that the older, cheaper ones seem to frequently have only usb 1.1 ports.

 

Laptops again have the main advantage that they effectively have a built-in UPS, but the disadvantage that the form factor uses up a suprising amount of desk real-estate when combined with a MagicQ wing (practically, they can only go side-by-side).

 

Suggestions? I'm quite happy to build my own, if somebody can suggest a reliable parts supplier for SFF micro-ATX/pico-ATX pc parts...

 

Dirk

[endorphin]

Suggestions? I'm quite happy to build my own, if somebody can suggest a reliable parts supplier for SFF micro-ATX/pico-ATX pc parts...

 

Dirk

 

I built a mini itx based computer to run magicq on a few years back and used linitx.com for all my bits. great people and even better service.

 

I ended making a custom flight-case with the touchscreen computer and faderwing in.

 

Edd

[ChrisBogg]

We have a chamsys maxi wing system with an eee box mounted under the wing. it runs very well, and boots to magic q in about 16 seconds (faster than our MQ100!) and now chamsys have looked at the USB data transfer in the latest software the dual screen from a usb-vga works well.

 

its a very stable and fast system for magic q with dual touch screen (elo) support working well.

 

Chris

[dirkenstein]

Thanks for that.

 

I was looking at the linitx.com offerings- (EPC-01 VESA case). This looks like the right sort of system, and the model I'm condering is about the same price as the eee box + USB VGA.

 

Did you use a Linux or a Windows based install for MagicQ? If Linux, what did you have to do to get touchscreen and multi-monitor support working?

[dunk]

I will second the Eee box for magic q. I use it in the front room and it happily runs lighting cues all day over several artnet universes. I only use it with one screen, (my LCD tv). I found having the in built UPS is a good feature as it means it buys me time to plug it back in when my wife unplugs everything to vaccuum.

 

Hth!

 

Dunc

[Wol]

Did you use a Linux or a Windows based install for MagicQ? If Linux, what did you have to do to get touchscreen and multi-monitor support working?

 

Under Linux, you'll have to use one of the touchscreen drivers available for your touchscreen (there are a few generic linux ones out there which cause a USB touchscreen to use the usbtouchscreen or usbhid modules). If you have a google around for the type of touchscreen you have, and put "linux" at the end of the google search, I'm fairly sure something will come up about drivers for it.

 

Unlike the ChamSys consoles, which connect directly to the touchscreen device and performs its own calibration, to get a touchscreen running under a standard linux install, you'll have to get X11 to recognise it, and treat it as an input / pointer device. You might find that a prebuilt piece of software will be able to configure this for you, and perform calibration as well.

 

I'd reccommend that if youre not 100% sure what youre doing with linux, then go down the Windows route. You'll also find that the software builds for MagicQ come out more frequently for windows than they do for linux! It would also give you more flexibility in other applications you may need to use the system for.

[norty303]

I've just received an email from ebuyer about a deal they have over the weekend on Acer Revo R3600 which might interest you. Prices valid til monday.

 

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/167153/show_product_reviews

[tvi675]

Tempting.. very tempting.. I can see the flightcase with PC Wing built in now...

[norty303]

I'm wrestling with my spending conscience right this second... the Revo comes supplied with the Vesa mount incidentally :(

 

 

 

edit: the cute little mini PC won the match by a submission. I'll let you know how it performs as I also occassionally need to run Pangolin laser software at the same time onthe machine.

[tvi675]

Same here, it was a choice between buy a new wardrobe to keep the girlfriend happy or buy a new computer to keep myself happy.. the computer won of course! Again, I'll keep the BR updated on how it performs! Now for that nice shiny touch monitor....

 

Matt

[dave_m]

Matt I've beaten you to the PCwing/touchscreen/PC cased system! I have to say as well .. it works pretty darn well.

 

I'm using an EEEbox for mine, running windows, though tempted to turn it over to linux soon.

[gyro_gearloose]

If you don't mind buying second computers, keep an eye on ebay. I've recently picked up an all-in-one touchscreen pc for a surprisingly small amount of money. It was a purpose built casino machine so its very robust, and its more than capable of running MagicQ. I has a quick play with MagicQ yesterday and I must say that I was amazed at how much easier the software is to use when using a touchscreen.

[themadhippy]

I must say that I was amazed at how much easier the software is to use when using a touchscreen

Indeed ,its like a totaly diffrent machine.I've been running magicq on an eee top machine for a few months now without any problem.The machine is also more than capable of running Yamaha studio manager and the dolby lake software without a problem,it even coped reasonable well when I tried a demo version wysiwyg on it.

[dunk]

Matt I've beaten you to the PCwing/touchscreen/PC cased system! I have to say as well .. it works pretty darn well.

 

I'm using an EEEbox for mine, running windows, though tempted to turn it over to linux soon.

Any pics Dave?!

[norty303]

Yep, I'm intrigued to see how you've done it. I've got a PC wing which I was going to perhaps mod a keyboard flightcase so that the Revo fitted underneath it along with power, etc. Just a case of attaching the touchscreen externally then. Did think about an all in one case with everything but it's getting a bit big then.

 

I had a hell of a job getting XP onto my Revo, for some reason it just wouldn't see the partitions to boot into. Had to DOS copy to the HD in the end and grub chainload before it finally resolved itself. Hope anyone else had a better time if they took up the offer earlier in the thread. ;)