[sdiy] Software problem hardware solution? + US patents

[Scott Gravenhorst]

Glen <mclilith at ezwv.com> wrote:
>At 04:40 AM 10/10/02 , Scott Gravenhorst wrote:
>>This is exactly what old PCs are for.  I've used CPUs as old as 286/12 with a
>>cheap ISA MIDI card.  Some rather simple C or Assembly code does this job
>>easily.  
>
>Of course, the advantages of an AVR would be things like: 
>
>  much lower power consumption
>  much smaller size and weight
>  much more portable--take it anywhere
>  can be made much more rugged than a PC
>  possibility to embed inside the musical keyboard
>  the thrill of designing quality hardware yourself.

All good points, I've wanted to play with these chips, but simply don't have
the time.  Especially when I have several old PCs that already work and all I
need do is program them.

>Advantages for the PC solution:
>
>  free supplemental heating for your home
>  no sentimental trauma from discarding that old PC
>  more (and heavier) hardware--less likely to be stolen
And don't forget "old" means won't run all that new and highly useful spiffy
video game crud, thereby further lowering it's value to a thief.

>  easily multitasked (between Windows crashes)
Well, this one doesn't count in my case, I use DOS.  Windows sucks for realtime
apps anyway.


>
>:)
>
>later,
>Glen

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-- Scott Gravenhorst | LegoManiac / Lego Trains / RIS 1.5
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