Well that helps! This one has not only an RS232 port, but also several HDA jacks so that we don’t have to sacrifice the “extra jack for preview audio” feature, and lots of models are “fanless”, which is a plus in audio environment : https://www.ieiworld.com/en/product/model.php?II=429
So now I’m on a quest, gotta dive in
Have you retested the ASUS Prime following last week’s HDA fixes?
The last I heard, it never gets past stage 1 (or 2?) boot loader, no chance to test HDA at all on that one. HDA works on old Asus F2A-series motherboards, but they are getting tough to source even second-hand on eBay or craig’s list style sites. Dane does not have the patience/energy/time to deal with that ; I’m more and more grumpy myself as time goes by so I sympathize with his decreasing patience and wanting that Stuff Just Works 
Some of the industrial PC vendors seem eager to make contact with prospective buyers, and have reasonable pricing even on single-unit purchases ; if Haiku works on those that looks like a promising venue. Still digging.
What happens in the loader? Did you file any tickets about it?
Not sure. I vaguely remember following their progress online, I remember Dane and Alex working on it then deciding “eff it, we’ll do it live!”. Err sorry, I mean “eff it, we’ll hire someone!”.
I would ask them directly (e.g. Dane’s gmail.com account is “tunetrackersystems”) as I’m the wrong guy to ask =)
I’ve been noodling a HAM radio project for “situational awareness”. To autonomously store feeds from several radios, several frequencies from the same SDR, do Speech To Text transcripts, append metadata, sort for priority. Then curate display, audio, call channel, and callsign transmission for the operator. I hadn’t planned internet broadcast, but that could be a useful addition. It has many of the elements of your system. It might make sense for me to just use TuneTracker instead.
The point is, other people share your operational requirements too.
How about posting a bit more detailed info about the specific hardware you need to support your application? Include any tips you have already learned about what is stable and what isn’t.
People in a situation like myself can try some or all of it on the various platforms we have access to and give feedback that enriches us all.
I’d be happy to do it in exchange for a bit of your products and support, but frankly I’d probably do it anyway because it fits my needs.
There are plenty of geeks at home right now looking for something to do. Give us an assignment.
I haven’t read much on SDRs, but what little I’ve read sounded awesome: listening on a lot of different bands with one device, scan quickly, all things that would put my puny UV5-R to shame. I think some articles even mention the ability to programmatically send binary data and create a low-tech internet (don’t recall whether that would be frowned upon by the FCC), which would be just… wow. I don’t suppose any of that stuff runs on anything else than windows/linux/etc though.
Still interested in high-tech futurist stuff like MAID-SAFE and IPFS, but the low-tech approach has a lot of appeal, going into the next few years (or decades).
Always interesting to come up with “work for work” agreements and the like, I’d certainly love to ‘pay’ someone with an AutoCast license, and anything else we can come up with ^.^
So…
First assignment: I don’t feel all that comfortable using this “official” TTS thread for a different topic. And technically, collaborative work like the one you describe should revolve about editing a unified, wiki-style, document, rather than a sequential list of messages/posts. So help me decide where to carry out that collaboration. I’m familiar with and like to work with etherpad (several providers of free etherpads out there, including https://framapad.org/ ), and they work in Haiku with Otter and Qupzilla (!) , workflowy.com (strong on structure/hierarchical display, but very weak on collaboration: does not show edits, who did what and when), chiselapp.com (integrated wiki, discussion forum, even fossil SCM though going full-SCM is overkill in our case). For big project I can also use Discord chat (on S.O.'s Windows laptop when she allows me *g *) though we probably don’t need that here.
Second assignment: do you happen to know ‘volunteers’ with even a passing familiarity with C++ ? If so they could help out with an open-source (MIT licensed) projet of mine that should help immensely with stability, hardware/driver support (and it might even help with ARM support mentionned in your profile though it would be for well documented ARM SoC types, not so much Raspberry boards AFAIK). It’s okay if they need guidance and to learn the ropes, in fact it might even be a plus as I’d get them in shape the way I like to code and to follow my style =)
In the hardware research department, I don’t have much to show for my work… When we start the actual “wiki” I’ll just post something like this:
One response I got was based on https://ipc2u.fr/catalog/nise-105-e3845 or bigger form factors, not familiar with those. Maybe they are based on the infamous “intel NUC” board ? Anyway, looks cute (in an industrial sort of way *g *) and is fan-less, a nice feature. They mentionned adding a PCIe card with extra HDA slots. Only 500 bucks per unit. I’m trying to convince Dane to look at a similar device on his side of the pond.
Second outfit that responded to me offered to build a desktop based on an industrial mo-bo (Advantech AIMB 585) but asked for 300 fed-bucks to run some very basic Haiku compatibilty testing, and four times as much for a purchase. Back in times of plenty I might have done that, but now I don’t have that kind of cash just lying around to spend without 100% certainty it will pay back.
I am brand new to Haiku, but will try to get up to speed and do what I can. I have a passing familiarity with C and C++ mostly for Arduino and Teensy, rusty. I don’t have anyone else in mind, but if we can find a use for your project in the HAM community, there are lots of people monitoring silent bands could be enticed into playing with Haiku. I mentor FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) teams that have been idle since Covid. If we have something interesting and related(multi video stream crop/merge/encode to fit bandwidth cap) to offer them, there is plenty of talent there.
No preference for collaboration platform except it should try not to exclude any OS. I use Linux and ChromeOS mainly.
I have been happy with Logic Supply for long life industrial systems for many years. They have changed name to https://www.onlogic.com/ Give them a phone call, they have excellent engineer level presale customer support and have been quick to answer weird configuration questions for me.
Validating a new OS is an unknown for any company. If you were to document a Haiku validation procedure which they could follow, it would be a service which they could offer other Haiku customers. That would give the community not just a single known good system, but an ongoing source for new validated systems as they emerge.
Another way to get a system validated to run your specific application is https://www.pugetsystems.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph-uq_B5TSI
I realize this should have been my first question, to clear up a possible misconception : tunetrackersystems.com is music software, for LPFM radio stations (D.J.s) that broadcast music, not “radio automation software” in the sense of automating HAM radios…! Or am I the one failing to get the gist of what you’re saying ? I don’t want to mislead you into thinking we’re providing a service that we’re really not. Take a look at Dane’s live stream to hear our software in action : http://autocast.caster.fm/
(edit: well it’s offline again… will check with Dane, see if it’s a KDL or app_server crash)
I’m still diving into the links you provide though. Puget systems are too pricey for our stations : https://www.pugetsystems.com/recommended/Recommended-Systems-for-Live-Streaming-156/Buy_177 but OnLogic is quite interesting. They even sell components separately, e.g. this $130 mobo looks sweet : https://www.onlogic.com/pd14ri/ . Testing costs a grand though, makes the offer I got look cheap in comparison, but on the other hand they provide a “30 day risk free trial”, which might be exactly what we need : Prototypes in days, not weeks. | OnLogic
I’m going to forward that to Dane and he’ll get in touch with them, check for requirements I might have forgotten about (removable bay drive is a thing apparently).
No misconception, I just looked at TuneTracker through the lens of my particular problem and saw software that aids the workflow of combining audio sources for broadcast. I was looking for ideas in TT that will work for ham. That sounds like a T shirt, or a cardboard sign “Will work for ham.”
https://www.pugetsystems.com/landing/Puget-Labs-Consultation-Service-101 is the service I was thinking of, not necessarily buying their systems.
Starting at $500 per consultation, this service will give you the information you need make informed decisions about specifically what hardware you need for your workflow. Our team of expert consultants will discuss (via email, phone or Zoom) what your hardware purchasing plans are, what software you use, how you use it, and what the entirety of your workflow looks like. We’ll then provide a document outlining our hardware recommendations.
That is valuable information for the whole community unrelated to the systems they sell. I called them to see if this is something they would do, and he asked for HCL, etc. and I told him “That is what I wan’t you to figure out.” At that point he began looking at the Haiku website, asked me to fill out the form on that page, and we parted to do more research. I haven’t filled it out because I don’t know how to answer this for my personal needs yet. TuneTracker has different needs. Haiku community different needs still.
Workflow Details*
Tell us about the software you use and the problem you’re trying to solve
I wonder if this engineering service would be something the whole community would want to chip in for to ensure the info is public. I’d certainly kick in a couple bucks because “general desktop use” is among my workflows. If this is something people want, first order of business is to list the types of workflow we want analyzed.
What kinds of workflow is Haiku currently targeted at? Not Be leftovers, what is it now, in 2020?
What specific questions do we want answered?
Are there certain hardware not worth testing? Already tested, unsupported, too old, too rare, too expensive…
Are there certain hardware Haiku would like to support but Devs need more info about? What info?
What is the most modern microarchitecture Haiku is actively supporting for native boot? If a PC maker today wanted to release a Haiku computer, what would it have/not have?
Are there any potential results of this process that would be useful if fed back into Haiku development? Perhaps setting/clearing milestones.
Sorry to hijack the thread, just got on a roll. Happy to continue elsewhere if there is interest.
The company I work for also often uses computer hardware from this company. Our devices often run two decades, almost 24/7/365. So that’s even longer than such a supplier supplies the same hardware (or reasonable compatible hardware) which sometimes means I/we make small repairs to old computer boards (mosty the electrolytic capacitors and batteries die first).
Our company makes ‘industrial grade’ measurement devices/machines that run in labs, production facilities (monitoring), help control processes (industry, we supply the input parameters for the regulation hardware in that case). Sometimes it runs in (conditioned and sometimes not) containers all over the planet for months without someone having access to them.
Anyhow: stable hardware overall indeed. (and greater temp span it may/can work in than consumer hardware). A bit less modern indeed, and a bit less powerfull, but that is of secondary importance to us.