I need an Audacity player that is not a whole computer but more accessible/usable/interfaceable than a pocket-size player.
A netbook looks, on the surface, like the perfect thing. But is it sufficiently computerlike to run Audacity?
Thanks
P
I’ve not tried it myself (I don’t have a netbook) so I’m going on what information has been posted on the forum.
Audacity can certainly run on some netbooks and if you have Linux installed on the Netbook it should be possible to install Audacity.
The main problems that have been reported are that the recording inputs may be very poor, built-in microphone only, or totally non-existent. It may be possible to use an external USB sound card.
A low-power netbook could have difficulty running smoothly.
Audio recording and editing requires a large amount of disk space. For editing you are likely to need 1 GB free space for every 10 minute of stereo audio.
Audacity does not run on portable devices such as mobile phones because their operating systems do not support Audacity. You need a full-featured operating system.
It runs on my wife’s netbook ok (running full W7 pro edition)
WC
I can only speak for Ubuntu, but that (and to some extent Audacity) have proved slow on my netbook compared to Windows 7.
One of the more lightweight Ubuntu derivatives like Lubuntu or Xubuntu may be preferable unless you really like the GNOME Desktop environment.
Gale
I don’t like Linux at all, I think that it’s strictly for geniuses and masochists, neither of which describe me.
But if some spud-friendly Linux dist is quicker than Windows, and it’ll play tracks out of Audacity, then I might have what I need.
I would do the editing at home and then all Audacity would have to do is play the stuff out the USB into a good D-A converter.
I dread messing with Linux but if that’s what I need to play tracks on a little bitty device I guess I could give it a try.
P
Most netbooks that you can buy off the shelf will have Windows 7 (or 8) pre-installed. Netbooks and laptops tend to have slower processors and less RAM for the equivalent price than Desktops, but they start at lower prices than Desktops. It depends how much you want to pay.
IMO, Linux (taken as a whole) is not likely to be significantly faster than Windows on a slow machine with limited RAM unless you obtain a version of Linux that is optimised for slower computers. And of course it depends how many other programs you want to run at the same time.
Gale