Laptop buying guide

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 3:41 am

Some info on Magma:
I tried installing b0rg's Magma on his Toshiba Sattelite 3000 (P3 1GHz, 384MB SDRAM), but this laptop doesn't have enough available Memory Resources. Could not install the Magma, even after reducing hardware in Device Manager to the max. The video card and PCI bus use most of the available PCI memory, and it's kinda hard to disable AGP or the whole PCI bus heh. There was simply no room for the magma, let alone adding 2 dsp cards.

I also tried the Magma on my laptop, a Toshiba Sattelite S2450-201 (2.4GHz P4, 256MB RAM). This is not a high-end machine, but at least it took the Magma and 3 DSP cards (25dsp). Could make projects which filled the boards, but it was impossible to reload them. Projects of about 12 dsp used reloaded and worked somehow, taking into account the reverbs limitation. It loaded 1 MasterVerb without complaining, after reorganising DSP raised that number to 3 MV. This isn't huge, but I think the Magma would run fine with a 2 Pulsar2 setup, I estimate Powerpulsar would be overload since heavier projects can't be reloaded.

Just a couple of lines on our laptops experience...

dehuszar · Post by **dehuszar** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 2:36 pm

I got that error on every laptop I tried. But that's only after you plug the cardbus adaptor in and it reboots. Once that's done, you've got to install the drivers off of the CD, then the error goes away and the audio cards will be detected.

I'd give it another try if you didn't specifically run the installer on the CD.

I ran through the process on about 6-8 laptops, before getting good results on the Dell Precision M60 laptop. If you have any questions, let me know.

I think the Dell's are usually a good bet as they buy their laptop mobos from ASUS. With the right chipset you'll get good bus throughput.

Sam

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Sat Oct 18, 2003 3:23 pm

On 2003-10-18 15:36, dehuszar wrote:
I got that error on every laptop (...) then the error goes away and the audio cards will be detected.

The error never cleared on the Satellite 3000 model, which has an 815 chipset. I tried to with 2 98SE and 2 XP installations, and gave up after that. Magma installed as described in the manual on the s2450 machine, I wonder why it would be such a hassle on the 3000. We can give it another try...

:[

Volkmar123 · Post by **Volkmar123** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 10:01 am

After spending half a year testing
more then 15 ! Notebooks

I can finally say :
It is not too much a question of mobo etc.
but first and foremost the pcmcia adapter / cardbus

Only pcmcia adapter from TEXAS INSTRUMENTALS (TI) can help reduce the

the error "pci capacity reached..."

If you have f.e. a TI controller,
you can load up to 6-8 !!! master reverbs
before getting this error.

woth ene or ricoh you will get only 1-3 master reverb and the error "pci capacity reached..." will be shown.

Dell, IBM, Toshiba latitude will NOT work if there is NO TI controller inside. So check this first !

Volkmar123 · Post by **Volkmar123** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 10:25 am

These are new laptops having

TEXAS INSTRUMENTALS pcmcia adapter inside
(check hardware device manager)
and will work best with magma /pulsar

DELL Precision M60 laptop.
FUJITSU AMILO D 7400
MAXDATA PRO 7000 X

Note that other modells of the same company
have different parts inside ! So be careful
and really check it out before you buy,
It will save you from reselling which I had to do.

Hope that helps
I am now not too much in the net
because I like to play music !

darkrezin · Post by **darkrezin** » Tue Oct 21, 2003 11:53 am

Thanks for the info Volkmar... very useful

Guillermo · Post by **Guillermo** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 11:01 pm

Has Dell Latitude D800 a Texas Instruments cardbus?
I think that Precission M60 is the same model but it has another graphic card.

Grizzly · Post by **Grizzly** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 2:31 am

Wow thanks for all the info. It sucks that this laptop/magma system is causing so much trouble. Because the M60 is so expensive for me right now, I am opting for a desktop system with a very small case so it can be much more portable. It will smoke the laptop anyhow. I'm still sad I can't get the laptop system though.

darkrezin · Post by **darkrezin** » Wed Dec 17, 2003 10:47 am

My brother has just bought a Dell Inspiron 8600 (for non-music purposes). When I get the chance, I'll test it with my Magma and post the results here.. the Inspiron is quite a bit cheaper than the Precision.. I doubt it's as good but it may be a workable solution.

peace

felix o. · Post by **felix o.** » Wed Jan 07, 2004 5:28 pm

what about this one?

http://www.sagernotebook.com/pages/note ... roductType#

"Model Name NP8890

System Chip:
Intel RG82865PE / Intel FW82801EB (ICH5)
LCD Screen:
15" TFT UXGA Wide-Angles, 16.0" TFT SXGA: Sharp LQ160E1LW02, 16.0" TFT UXGA: Hitachi/TX41D56VC1CAA
Video Memory:
Etrontech EM6AA320B1-3.3MS x 4 (128MB)
Video Control Chip:
ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9600 PRO TURBO (M10)
Video-In Control Chip:
Conexant
Audio Control Chip:
ALC650 AC'97 Audio CODEC 2.2
I/O Control Chip:
National Semiconductor PC87393VJG
Integrated LAN Chip:
Realtek RTL8110S-32
Integrated Modem Controller:
Smartlink
IEEE1394 Control Chip:
TI TSB 22AEJKT/43AB21A
Wireless LAN:
(Optional) 802.11b Wi-Fi LAN Module
Bluetooth Wireless:
Billionton (Mfg. Optional)
Infrared Chip:
National Semiconductor
PCMCIA Contorl Chip:
TI PCI1520GHK
Touch Pad:
Synaptics
Hard Disk Drive:
Varied
Floppy Drive:
YE-DATA/YD-702J-6637J
CD-ROM/DVD-ROM Drive:
Samsung SN-124 CD-ROM (24X Max.),Toshiba SD-C2612 DVD-ROM (8X Max.), KME UJDA340CL-Z CD-RW (16x10x24 Max.), Toshiba SD-R2514 (8X DVD/24x10x24 CD-RW) Combo, Toshiba SD-R6112 (2X DVD-R/RW)
Miscellanies:
Promise Raid Controller PDC20265R"

dehuszar · Post by **dehuszar** » Sat Jan 10, 2004 2:42 pm

Find out who made the board. I remember looking at their stuff, but underneath the chipsets and the appropriate cardbus controller was an SiS board with a crappy PCI throughput. It was a similar board to the one I took home in my 17" Toshiba wide screen that I tested for a little while. Wouldn't even open 1 MV without erroring out.

Sam

felix o. · Post by **felix o.** » Sun Jan 11, 2004 4:30 pm

there are no details about mobo on the website. i wrote a mail to their support. let´s see, if there comes an answer.

felix o. · Post by **felix o.** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 4:35 am

their answer is "Same as the manufacture --by clevo."

i never heard about clevo. anybody experienced it?

felix o. · Post by **felix o.** » Mon Jan 26, 2004 12:59 pm

to Volkmar123:

i wrote to fujitsu and they are saying, that there is no modell called amilo d 7400??

i also wrote to asus (they have also nice notebooks) to inform myself, what kind of controler where used and they wrote my a very interesting answer: due to possible narrow passages of suppliers it is possible to have three different suppliers of parts, so they can´t give me a definitiv answer of what parts have been used.

this means for us, we have to take a look into systemmanager for every single notebook we buy. it seams like to buy a certain modell means nothing. the only company i found that wrote about used components on the web was sager notebooks. another way is to look into drivers download page of a modell one is interested in.

so i´m still confused which one to buy;-))

[ This Message was edited by: felix o. on 2004-01-26 13:16 ]

darkrezin · Post by **darkrezin** » Sat Feb 14, 2004 3:55 pm

Just done some brief tests on Inspiron 8600. Very good performance on the whole with a pulsar2 and pulsar 1 in a magma cb2. Got 7 masterverbs stable.. some of them caused a pci message but a dsp reload was successful. this was with a mixer and various routings at the same time with just a stereo asio i/o.

this laptop is really great! I'm running with USB (with USB mouse) and ACPI on, on a very untweaked WinXP Home while on the internet via the 54mbit wireless. Also running FXPansion BFD which is really hard on hard disk bandwidth, and it's playing glitch-free off the internal (5200rpm) HD, sounding great.

Inspiron 8600
pentium M 1.5ghz
768mb RAM
nvidia geforce fx 5650

[ This Message was edited by: dArKr3zIn on 2004-02-14 15:56 ]

huffcw · Post by **huffcw** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 6:53 am

Do you know what CardBus controller the 8600 uses?

Is it the 02Micro - like other Dell laptops?

darkrezin · Post by **darkrezin** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 8:01 am

It's a texas instruments PCI-4510

[ This Message was edited by: darkr3zin on 2004-02-17 16:50 ]

dehuszar · Post by **dehuszar** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 8:44 pm

...welcome to this world! <Enter Primus bassline>

It's a lot of fun to be able to pack the equivilent of a room full of gear into an oversized backpack and MAYBE a 3U portable rackmount briefcase!

I'd be interested in comparing notes on tuning vs performance since our laptops are so similiar.

Sam

darkrezin · Post by **darkrezin** » Wed Feb 18, 2004 5:12 pm

Hi Sam,

I'm kinda in this world already and loving it (with an old skool Dell 8100 - p3 1.2 ghz

) .. I've just been testing an 8600 my brother just bought, seems great so far. I have only tried at 13ms latency so far.. will do a more comprehensive ULLI test soon.

The thing that surprised me most was that this is a really untweaked XP install, all the services etc. are running but performance is still great!

By the way Sam, what TI controller is it in your Precision M60 ?

dehuszar · Post by **dehuszar** » Thu Feb 19, 2004 12:48 pm

The M60 uses a TI 7510. ...and I knew you had been in this world already, but making a laptop upgrade in the Magma world is dangerous business. And though the old Dell PIII you had is very similar to the Centrino in design and gHz. The architectural tweaks make the difference in performance and power needs are staggering.

When I turn off my network cards (eth and wireless) I can get down to 4ms. Haven't been using more than 10 or so ASIO tracks so I'm not sure what my ceiling is here, but performance is pretty rock solid. I want to start experimenting with 96kHz soon; now that I have 21 DSPs.

Sam