PlanetZ forums - scopeusers.com

hi!
I have 2 unused boards and I'm trying to setup a second PC with just that 2 cards to run SFP 5.0 and the scope plugins.
the PC will be ADAT connected to my main DAW with VNC and I will just run win XP and SFP on it. So no sequencer, no ASIO, no recording/playback, just scope power!
One of the board is a pulsar 1 which has of course low PCI bandwidth. But I had a test on a pentium 3 and I can run up to 4-5 dynatubes or a mastering suite (optimaster, psyq, vinco, eq, SBC) or some reverb. that is not a problem.

Unfortunately the PC i was using is no longer working... shame!!

So i have to find another (old) PC to reinstall winXP and SFP but I was wondering which are the minimum specs I should look for... since i don't want to spend money on this!
for example, is an AMD 1 GHz too slow? but I suppose a Pentium 2 will not run XP... or any PC running XP will be fine?
RAM is not an issue since i can gather several banks.

thanks for your help!

What type is the 2nd DSP board ?

My Scope 5.1 modular dedicated PC is a brave old Pentium III 500 with Win XP pro SP3 with 1 GB Ram. Though sometimes slow to refresh screen, it just works quite flawlessly.

it's a LUNA. I have 7 dsp to use! this is the last try before definitely selling the boards...

Is the Scope 5 key attached to Luna or Pulsar ?
Regarding PCI bandwidth, Luna is better (i.e. 2nd gen) than Pulsar.
That was my point.

Maybe you could find an old good Win XP PC with 3 free PCI slots for a small amount of money, or you can grab one from friends or relatives who upgraded their setup.

SFP 5.0 is on pulsar 1!
yes, my plan is indeed to find some old pc at zero cost...
maybe, if the system works well, I will purchase another luna to add some DSP power, but even with 7 dsp i should do what i want to do: mastering station and optimaster/reverb extension with no PCI bandwidth problem (at least on the PC i have tried).

the only doubt is how "easy" will be to use VNC to control this PC from the main DAW.

OK, I have foudn an old PC (pentium 3), installed SFP 5.1, pulsar 1+ luna.
set up internet via wifi USB

connected this PC to my master DAW via ADAT and controlled it via tight VNC;

there are 2 problems...

1) there a crackles!!! as soon as i connect the ADAT SOURCE in the main DAW I hear crackles. I don't know why, since my other ADAT/SPDIF gear (fostex VC8, VAMP; POD) are OK.
the cracles stop if I turn off the PC... I also tried 2 pairs of adat cables but nothing changed.

any ideas on this??

2) thightVNC is pretty slow and seeing the meters in the slave PC with a small lag is really annoying...

So... I finally think i will give up!
and i will make the decision to sell my old pulsar 1 and luna...

Regarding the crackles, maybe a clock master/slave setting issue ?

Regarding the slow display, my solution regarding such configuration is using a KVM switch instead of going through ethernet connexion to remote control the other PC.

My current setup has 4 PC sharing the very same Keyboard/Mouse/Display:
- the main one for handling the Xite-1 under Win XP
- one is my good old Scope SDK 4 setup also alternatively Scope 4.5 setup under Win XP
- one is a Mod IV dedicated 3U rack PC with Win XP
- last one is my Fanless Win 98 SE PC used as a NOAH like rack

I had the idea of a KVM switch.
I found it for some euro at a second hand market, without cables. then i purchased the cables but found that they were the wrong type! :-/

I feel the KVM would be 10x better than VNC...

which kind of switch do you have?

It is a D-Link DKVM-4K providing switch for VGA SubD15+PS2 Kbd+PS2 mouse.

I tried another one found on ebay before but found out the kbd/mouse wasn't switched until I rebooted the different computer (a much useles or defective one actually).