I haven't tried it with any other laptops, but I've found that my Dell
Vostro 1500 w/ Core2 Duo T5270 @ 1.40 GHz and 4 GB of RAM works very
reliably with the FLEX-5000, FLEX-3000, SDR1000, with no special
hardware of any kind (running cw or ssb; haven't tried it yet with any
of the digital modes). I'm using the built-in firewire port and video
card. The only enhancement I've made is to boost the RAM from 2GB to 4GB
but that was only because this is also one of my software development
machines and VisualStudio 2008 and SQL Server Management Studio take
their toll on memory.
The only hiccup here is that the built-in wireless NIC causes extremely
long DPC's, so when I'm running any of the radios I just disable the
card via the control panel, and plug in a network cable (or not). Other
than that, I run the radio at the same time as Pidgin (instant
messaging), Thunderbird (email client), Skype and Zone Alarm Extreme
Security without issue.
I find that the combination of the laptop and the FLEX-3000 is a
particularly convenient and compact setup. In fact, I enjoyed working
20m CW from a picnic table in the backyard this past weekend when the
temp's were in the mid-80's.
All of that said, a dedicated box is certainly a worthwhile idea,
especially with the relatively low price of computers today.
73, Dale
WA8SRA
David Donaldson wrote:
Excellent idea Brian.I firmly believe the flex computer should be set up and
dedicated to the flex box and flex box alone.
it is the only way to guarantee the flex will work to its best and sound as
it should.
With the price of computers so cheap it is the only way to go!
Why spend $2.5k on a flex 5k and then agonize over a few hundred dollars to
have a trouble free computer for it.
I don't think any laptop is capable of working properly with the flex 5k
without substantial modifications and reprogramming of the OS.
I tried for ages with various laptops and motherboards and a new computer
with the network cards disengaged, Windows XP reduced as much as possible,
no internet, no antivirus, a dedicated firewire card solved the problems of
digital sounding audio and freezes. No other program other than those
required by flex. Make sure you get a fast chipset, plenty of fast Ram and a
quad processor. Anything that is reccommended as a hot games machine will be
good on the flex.
Now it can stay on for days in the normal mode at 96khz sampling with no
problems.
It is like trying run a race car on crossply tires. it can run but it won't
corner very well.....
Dave
On Wed, Apr 29, 2009 at 1:31 PM, Brian Lloyd <brian-wb6...@lloyd.com> wrote:
On Apr 26, 2009, at 3:17 PM, Dudley Hurry wrote:
Ruben,
The problem is most likely in the way the OS, applications and drivers
were all playing with each other..
Dudley,
If there is interest, I will put together a system guaranteed to work
properly with the Flex radios. For hams who want to dedicate a machine to
the F5K or F3K this should eliminate a lot of headaches. I will install all
the necessary software, including:
Windows XP home
Flex Firewire driver
PowerSDR
VAC
com0com
ddutil
fldigi
Ham Radio Deluxe and DM780
I will also configure the software and tune the OS for best performance on
the aforementioned applications.
NOTE NOTE NOTE NOTE NOTE: this system WILL NOT (repeat) WILL NOT be
suitable as a general-purpose, read-your-email-and-play-video-games machine!
It will be optimized to run PowerSDR. It will NOT have anti-virus or
firewall software so it is very likely that this machine will become
compromised by viruses and other nasties if it is used for general-purpose
computing.
Since there seems to be a great deal of interest in the Intel Atom
processor, I will go ahead and use that. If it can be made to work reliably
I will use the on-board graphics and on-board IEEE 1394 (FireWire). If not,
I will add the necessary boards to make it work reliably.
As for price, I am not sure as I have not shopped and configured the
hardware. I am guessing that it should be under $500(us). Note that this
would NOT include keyboard, mouse, or display (CRT or LCD).
If anyone is interested in such a thing, please let me know. I am not going
to run off on a fool's errand but if there is sufficient interest, I will
put a system together and post a price.
If you are interested, please answer these two questions:
1. Do you want digital video output or would you be satisfied with VGA?
2. Would you be interested in having the computer powered by 12VDC or is
mains power (120/240 VAC, 50/60Hz) sufficient?
--
73 de Brian, WB6RQN/J79BPL
Brian Lloyd - brian HYPHEN wb6rqn AT lloyd DOT com
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