Subject: Re: [linux-audio-user] Laptop Audio
From: Jeremiah Benham (jjbenham_AT_yahoo.com)
Date: Thu Jan 03 2002 - 16:53:54 EET
I don't think laptops are that great for doing much audio stuff no matter
what os you run. You will have to get a usb midi device if you want to use
an external midi controller. Most laptops are not very good at doing hard
disk recording either. The hard drives tend to be slower and can you really
trust the quality of the ADC converters in their sound cards. Laptops were
not built with multimedia in mind. I also think alsa is a bit harder to
install on laptops than on desktops. I recently switched from oss to alsa on
my laptop. It is Compaq Contura 7800 P2-266 MMX with the es1879. It had to
wrestle with it a bit to get alsa installed. The card is plug and play but
it is not isa plug and play. Strange isn't it? I had to specify all the dma
and irq paramters for the card. Well now that it is installed. The internal
midi synth works as well as all the other stuff that the es1879 does. I do
csounds stuff with it. That is the only audio kinds of stuff that I do. I
could not imagine running ardour with it. I could put muse on it but it will
not connect to external synth without purchasing a usb midi device (There is
no gameport for connecting to it). If I did it would be strictly midi. I
could not image doing any multitracking. Then comes anouther
problem.......If you are able to get some serious work done how do you get it
out of the laptop. If you had a zip drive to connect to it I guess. You
could network them possibly.
I would say get any with supported a supported audio card. Internal midi is
really not that great on any sound card. They get borring and they are
normally cheesy anyway. I guess your best bet then would be to look into
external usb audio devices.
Jeremiah
On Tuesday 01 January 2002 12:04 pm, you wrote:
> Can anyone point me to where I can find info on alsa support for
> laptops? I get to buy a new laptop for work and would like to have alsa
> support. Any reccomendations or should I go with a usb midi/audio card?
> Thanks,
>
> Ken
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