I think Brett's space-factor is "the new black" as far as computer systems go. Now that we want bigger and more screen, we want to see few and smaller boxes. Bob's idea of turning his computer 180 degrees so the back is the front is a great one. I do a 90 degree turn myself, so I can get to both front and back equally well but still do not see the power fan!
One thing that I want to do in 2012 is introduce the mini-ITX form factor to the our "sub-culture"! The mini-ITX case I use in the shack is about the size of the 5000a. l always use expensive case/power supplies (the small PSUs in these systems are lower powered because the motherboards are designed for very low power) and even then I use 350-400W units. But with mini-ITX, I can built a system almost as powerful as my premium system in a case just a little longer than a 5000 but otherwise the same size In fact, its what I used in my home hacked 5000C (I7-2600). The downside is that you have no expandability (other than USB ports), are limited to the Intel 3000 integrated graphics and 8-16GB of memory. ' These are really neat form factors, take up little room and can go from cheap/powerful to expensive/insanely powerful. I use mine a lot without a monitor attached to it, just use Teamviewer. A toy I am testing this week is the Acer 23" touch-screen monitor. Its possibly too big for some aspects but I think if it is mounted on an adjustable monitor stand, maybe at hand-level so just below the main monitors in front of the desk, it could be a great way to play Radio! As I said, it might be too big for that, but imagine running a 19-21" touchscreen within hand-reach without leaning,etc. and then two screens on the desktop with grey line, log, dxcluster, etc. We are starting to talk Star Trek NG here. If we could detach the panafall out of PSDR's display and drag it up to the two main monitors, that would be the ultimate! Another toy I got a couple of weeks ago (and haven't had a chance to report back to you guys) is the Hercules MP3 controller. MAN WHAT A GREAT ADDITION!!! Yes, shouting! Its probably as good as full touch-screen control of the radio in a much cheaper package. There are some down-sides for it (mainly, you are using a third-party version of PSDR so what happens when it stops tracking the main release), but the two big knobs are really smooth, the tuning is very responsive, having the ability to change things like the tune step, fader between RX's, etc is great. I honestly cannot tell you how much I like this add-on. We were limited to the Griffin and Shuttlepro knobs early on but now have some top rate products in: Beppe's T-Mate; Flex's FlexControl; and, now the Hercules. The TouchScreen approach may be another one (or a bomb, who knows until we try) so I will report back when I have a solid opinion! Have a great Christmas everyone! You have given me a great year and I owe you all!! 73 _______________________________________________ FlexRadio Systems Mailing List FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ Knowledge Base: http://kc.flexradio.com/ Homepage: http://www.flexradio.com/
