lowepg Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 Been running ther last 2 years on my VERY old laptop (win xp i think)..... well, its at end of life! YEARS ago I moved our whole family to macs, so I dont have a decent "hand-me-down" machine to use now either.... so its time to buy something. Here's what I'm running (if it matters):About 18 LOR16-PC AC controllers from usb port... And this year I'll be adding DMX control (somehow, dont know to connect that yet):-Ill be running about 1600 "smart pixels" and some dumb rgb's as well So what do I want/need in terms of a machine to run this?Most laptops now come with windows 8 I think.... it this OK?Do I need extra usb ports for the dmx controller/dongle/whatever?what kind of horsepower do i need on the machine? RAM? I wasnt planning to go buy a top of the line windows laptop JUST for LOR, was planning to look for something midlevel from tigerdirect or newegg or something like that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kapkirk Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 LOWEPG Correct me if I am wrong, I am VERY new here but I was sure I read here that laptops are not the best because of the heat build up, or something like that. We are a Mac family and when I decided to sequence our lights I purchased a bare bones PC from Amazon ( A HP 110-430 desktop, 4GB ram 500 GB HDD) and they have even dropped a few bucks to $194. It seems to be doing a good job so far, but of course I haven't tried to run the LOR program on the lights yet, just sequencing in preparation. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiplorenzo Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 I use a Lenovo T61p laptop with and SSD drive and connected to a network. On a rare occasion, I have had to reboot the laptop, but I have been running the show on it for 2 years now. Hopefully this next year running win7 on it as it is still XP.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denny Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 If possible for you, think I would wait until the new version of LOR comes out. It's supposed to be 64 bit and be a complete revamp of the current edition of LOR. You might want to change some options on your new machine based on whatever features/processes the new LOR has. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowepg Posted February 6, 2015 Author Share Posted February 6, 2015 LOWEPG Correct me if I am wrong, I am VERY new here but I was sure I read here that laptops are not the best because of the heat build up, or something like that. We are a Mac family and when I decided to sequence our lights I purchased a bare bones PC from Amazon ( A HP 110-430 desktop, 4GB ram 500 GB HDD) and they have even dropped a few bucks to $194. It seems to be doing a good job so far, but of course I haven't tried to run the LOR program on the lights yet, just sequencing in preparation. KeithWell, since my laptop sits in the garage all winter running the show- heat probably isn't an issue ;-) - but point taken on the laptop. I was really using that because it's the extra windows machine I still had lying around.... The other one I used to build a virtual pinball machine, but that's another story ;-)Yes, the more I think about it, the more a bare-bones PC might do the trick. I've built dozens of them back in the dark times when I was a Pc-guy :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 Part one is don't use a laptop - use a desktop instead. Unless you need a laptop, a desktop is better in almost all respects. One of the big reasons is that a laptop is not designed for 24x7 operation and they tend to get quite hot if running all the time. Heat is one of the biggest enemies of electronics. A desktop will be more easily repaired, or upgraded if needed, and it will run cooler. Remember that on a laptop you are paying for a battery and it's management hardware that you won't be using. I have a question for you. Is this going to be used just to run the show, or will you be sequencing on it as well? If it's just a show computer, it does not take much. Prior to Christmas 2012, I bought a refurbished HP desktop from TigerDirect.com that has a 3GHz Pentium 4 CPU, 1GB of RAM and 120GB hard disk. It's running Windows XP. My show for 2014 had a little under 1,000 channels on three LOR networks, and a little over 3,500 channels running on four E1.31 controllers. That old slow computer ran it using a tiny fraction of it's capability. And just for good measure, because my server died just before Christmas, the show computer got pressed into running my E-Mail server as well - it was the only computer that was running 24x7. That PC cost me $120 if I remember right. Except for an occasional tweek, that computer is not used for sequencing. Normally I don't even have a monitor, keyboard, and mouse connected to the show computer. It is setup with VNC server and I use a VNC client to remotely access it across the LAN. I currently have no plans to replace this computer, nor to upgrade to a newer version of Windows (it would be underpowered with Windows 7). If this computer is going to also be used for sequencing, I would get something more powerful. I would aim for something with Windows 7 rather than 8.x. The recommendation for a sequencing computer is the ability to use multiple monitors. This makes sequencing far easier - especially with larger channel counts. My family room PC which is what I use for sequencing currently has two and will shortly have three monitors. This is another reason to avoid a laptop since most laptops at most can have a single external monitor in addition to the small laptop monitor. No matter what you get, I would avoid Windows 8.x like the plague. Stick with Windows 7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowepg Posted February 6, 2015 Author Share Posted February 6, 2015 great feedback. not sure why I was tunnelvision on a laptop- i can definitely get far more bang-for-the-buck with a little desktop tower.... To answer the question, my workflow will likely be this:1. Create sequences on my iMac (multiple giant, beautiful displays to use and plenty of horsepower)2. transfer sequences to pc in the garage. I guess one of my concerns was moving in the unchartered territory (for me) of running DMX in addition to LOR at the same time.Im not sure if I need multiple usb dongles, or can run DMX of the ethernet, etc.Im focused now on planning and pre-ordering the lights (presales) and hadn't figured out the mechanics of connecting the computer to the new DMX network Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phrog30 Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 I would do dmx e1.31. This is over Ethernet. No need for dongles, just make sure you don't accidentally mix up the lor 485 cables with the dmx, you can destroy things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sticks4legs Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 Are you using the same laptop to sequence? If they are seperate I would put more money into sequencing computer and less into show computer. My show computer is still a old Dell centrino with 2 gigs of ram. Running LOR and e1.31 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthonyrusso3 Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 If interested I have a dell alien ware 14. I5-4210 processor 500 GB hard drive 8 GB ram bought in November. Used maybe 6 hours. Email if interested anthonyrusso131@verizon.net Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derekb Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 I have used a laptop for 3 years. No issues at all. No heat issues either. It is a high end gaming laptop, so I am assuming that has some advantages, but I have several laptops running all the time and never had an issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phrog30 Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 There is absolutely no problem leaving a laptop running all of the time. However, k6ccc makes a great point, why buy a laptop when you can use a desktop. You will definitely get more for your money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 I would do dmx e1.31. This is over Ethernet. No need for dongles, just make sure you don't accidentally mix up the lor 485 cables with the dmx, you can destroy things. I would also use E1.31. Use different color cable to avoid confusion between the two networks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgrant Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 I'm running a put-together machine from parts that someone tossed out for the trash. I rebuilt it and fed it an XP OS. I did enhance to dual-port video card, actually its SLI. Its been fine this past two years of running. 1st year was another machine. I'm waiting for the new LOR software to debut and see what will be needed. I would not run Windows 8.1 though. I hear that Windows 10, coming out this year, will go back to behaving a bit more like Windows 7 which should be fine. Another note, make sure whatever machine you buy, build or modify, can have two Cat5/6 ports on it. Therefore one can connect to the internet and the other to a switch for use with E1.31. Yes, instead of the Cat5 port, you could do a USB to wireless Cat5 for internet. k6ccc makes a solid point about the heat of a laptop and it "is" its worst enemy. I'm typing this note on a Core i7 laptop. Plenty powerful and a half but wouldn't run it for a show computer except as a backup, which is is configured to do....just in case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caniac Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 I am going to join the revolution and setup a Raspberry PI B+. There is another thread here where you can export your sequences, etc. to it and control it from your smart phone. The CanaKit cost me $50. It's Linux based but others have used it to control LOR controllers as well as RGB/DMX stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
debtoews Posted February 21, 2015 Share Posted February 21, 2015 I have bought several desktops/laptops thru Walmart.com- I buy them refurbished and had great success with them...the last desk top I bought was only $89 and free shipping to home...If it lasts a couple of years, I more than got my moneys worth! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryDrumAZ Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 (edited) Been running ther last 2 years on my VERY old laptop (win xp i think)..... well, its at end of life! YEARS ago I moved our whole family to macs, so I dont have a decent "hand-me-down" machine to use now either.... so its time to buy something. Here's what I'm running (if it matters):About 18 LOR16-PC AC controllers from usb port... And this year I'll be adding DMX control (somehow, dont know to connect that yet):-Ill be running about 1600 "smart pixels" and some dumb rgb's as well So what do I want/need in terms of a machine to run this?Most laptops now come with windows 8 I think.... it this OK?Do I need extra usb ports for the dmx controller/dongle/whatever?what kind of horsepower do i need on the machine? RAM? I wasnt planning to go buy a top of the line windows laptop JUST for LOR, was planning to look for something midlevel from tigerdirect or newegg or something like that... LOWEPG Correct me if I am wrong, I am VERY new here but I was sure I read here that laptops are not the best because of the heat build up, or something like that. We are a Mac family and when I decided to sequence our lights I purchased a bare bones PC from Amazon ( A HP 110-430 desktop, 4GB ram 500 GB HDD) and they have even dropped a few bucks to $194. It seems to be doing a good job so far, but of course I haven't tried to run the LOR program on the lights yet, just sequencing in preparation. Keith I have ran our show off of laptops since day 1 with no issues, heat or otherwise. We have used Windows XP through Windows 8.1. This year I upgraded my sequencing machine to program and run the show, ditching my 4 year old laptop that ran the show last year. I upgraded to an Alienware 17 with an I7-4710MQ (2.50 gHz), 32 gigs ram, 4 gig NVidia graphics card, 3 HDD's (1TB hybrid SSD, 750 gig mechanical and 64 gig SSD OS drive). It is hooked up to dual 21" HD monitors, so I can get a nice view for all my sequencing needs. The machine is blazing fast and runs the current LOR software with ease. I can't wait to see what it can do with the 64 bit S4. As far as your USB ports, if you will be using smart pixels, I agree with the others on E1.31, eliminating the need for USB dongles. The SanDevices 682 and 6804 controllers are great products (personal experience). You can even run your LOR controllers in DMX mode and eliminate the LOR Dongle. I have no experience with that part, but I'm sure someone will be along that can explain it for you. Edited March 12, 2015 by LarryDrumAZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now