Super-cheap tiny, headless PC for speaker modeling?

[Pallas]

I'm getting really tired of paying $50 for Parallels every year, so I was thinking about buying a super-cheap PC. Specifically, this "Kangaroo."

Here are the only programs I expect to install on it, because they're the only programs I've run on a Parallels virtual machine in the last half decade:
Excel + Unibox/FRD Blender;
DATS (the battery feature is useful here);
BassBox Pro;
Xsim;
WinPCD;
Boxsim;
IE and .NET for Dr. Geddes' polar map database;
Multi Sub Optimizer; and
Anthem ARC/Paradigm PBK.

Is that machine, or something similar, adequate to the above tasks?

Also, how exactly would I control such a thing and view its screen? Kangaroo has an iPad app, but I would prefer something like the Screen Sharing feature built into OSX. Does the not-a-Mac world have something similarly seamless? (Edit: attempt to get paragraph breaks despite Tapatalk issues)

[pknaz]

VNC can be used on Windows as well, might want to give that a try.

[dlr]

The best remote desktop I've found is TeamViewer. It's free for personal use and you do have to register it to use it. The responsiveness is far better since it has progressed. I use it for my headless music server PC and have used it on my dedicated Ultimate Equalizer PC at times, but that PC is barely able to run the UE, so I usually use a temporarily connected monitor. If I had a newer, faster PC for that I'd use TeamViewer all the time as well. I use TeamViewer now whenever my father has issues with his PC down in FL and he's still on DSL. The responsiveness is surprisingly good for that.

dlr

p.s. If you buy a Kangaroo, let us know what you think of it.

[make_some_noise]

Why not use Oracle's VirtualBox which is free and just continue to run windows in a VM? It's probably the best desktop VM system out there..

If you want to use a headless PC, then TeamViewer is great so long as the headless machine is connected to the internet (TV will not work otherwise). If you have it firewalled off you need something that can work lan only like VNC etc...

[jclin4]

That Kangaroo runs Windows 10 64 – bit Home. I would check if all the apps you intend to use run in that OS.

[Paul Carmody]

That Kangaroo seems like quite a bit of money for not a lot of PC, the CPU speed and Hard drive space seem like the biggest bottlenecks. The form factor seems neat, though. There has to be a better choice.

I have used Virtual Box for test purposes in the past and it works well, if you want to keep doing the VM thing.

[Pallas]

Thanks for the Remote Desktop info! Looks like they have a version for Macs to view notaMacs too. Do you think the 2gb ram/32gb drive Kangaroo is sufficient, or should I go with the 4/64?

[donradick]

The price is very good, but I'm concerned that the little Atom SOC is just not powerful enough for the speaker programs you listed.
The tiny NUCs can certainly run word processing and web browsing, but high-speed FFTs? - maybe not so much.

Unfortunately, more powerful NUCs are not pocket change friendly.

[Pallas]

Why not use Oracle's VirtualBox which is free and just continue to run windows in a VM? It's probably the best desktop VM system out there.. If you want to use a headless PC, then TeamViewer is great so long as the headless machine is connected to the internet (TV will not work otherwise). If you have it firewalled off you need something that can work lan only like VNC etc...

I was planning to firewall it (don't want to deal with viruses) but if I can't then I guess I'll expose the thing to the world. I just looked up VirtualBox, and was reminded why I reupped Parallels last year. From Lifehacker: "In terms of user friendliness, Parallels was consistently the strongest of the three we tested. That makes it a great solution for anyone not interested in screwing around with settings." I want to do audio stuff, not futz endlessly with computers. I'm willing to pay more to avoid the headache and time sink of doing what I want in my free time instead squandering my time on IT tasks. I wish someone would sell (not give away, sell) a thoughtfully-designed speaker design package for Macs. I'd be at the front of the line.

That Kangaroo runs Windows 10 64 – bit Home. I would check if all the apps you intend to use run in that OS.

Oh man. Are there material differences in windows versions? This notaMac world is so (needlessly) complicated. I guess I need to figure out what I'm currently running in Parallels.

[thekorvers]

Why don't you just get an inexpensive dedicated laptop running windows 10, Here is one that is highly rated for the price. The refurb is only $155. No DVDRW, which is easily solved with an external unit ($30-35). It has an HDMI port if you want to hook up a larger display. An additional 128 GB SD card will run you $35.

http://www.refurb4less.com/hp-stream-13-c110nr-13-3-laptop-intel-n3050-1-6ghz-2gb-32emmc-windows-10/

https://www.amazon.com/HP-Stream-13-3-Inch-Celeron-Personal/dp/B015CQ8PNA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1472846030&sr=8-2&keywords=HP+Stream+13-c110nr

[Pallas]

Interesting, especially since it has a properly placed trackpad. (What idiot buffoon decided that the trackpad should be offset on most notaMacs?) But really I want something tiny to hide in a dark place and use entirely from my MacBook, not another laptop. Snobbish perhaps, but my preference.

[300Z]

I also use Oracle VirtualBox on my imac and never had any problems with, everything works like it should but I don't use it much.
Last year I got a Thinkpad8 to do some basic work on the go and do outside measurements, this thing is so much better than I expected, did a clean install of Windows 10, and now with AE everything works very well on it, never had a single hiccup with anything, I run REW, Arta, Holm Impulse, BassBox Pro, WinISD and a couple other things. It's got a atom Z3770 and 2gb of ram, it runs everything I have thrown at it.

[make_some_noise]

I was planning to firewall it (don't want to deal with viruses) but if I can't then I guess I'll expose the thing to the world. I just looked up VirtualBox, and was reminded why I reupped Parallels last year. From Lifehacker: "In terms of user friendliness, Parallels was consistently the strongest of the three we tested. That makes it a great solution for anyone not interested in screwing around with settings." I want to do audio stuff, not futz endlessly with computers. I'm willing to pay more to avoid the headache and time sink of doing what I want in my free time instead squandering my time on IT tasks. I wish someone would sell (not give away, sell) a thoughtfully-designed speaker design package for Macs. I'd be at the front of the line. Oh man. Are there material differences in windows versions? This notaMac world is so (needlessly) complicated. I guess I need to figure out what I'm currently running in Parallels.

There really is no problems or tricks, You simply install it, make a new machine and tell virtualbox it is for windows and install windows. It's as simple as simple can be. I am sure there are several walkthroughs online as well.

[Pallas]

***I run REW, Arta, Holm Impulse, BassBox Pro, WinISD and a couple other things. It's got a atom Z3770 and 2gb of ram, it runs everything I have thrown at it.

That sounds like similar power to this little iPhone sized PC, so good to read!

I just realized I still use XP for almost everything audio-related. I have a windows 10 VM too. It's the 32-bit edu version. But considering that as soon as I opened that VM it started grabbing updates like they were all-you-can-eat I don't think I've opened it much. (IIRC, also it was only $15 or so at academic pricing when I was adjuncting.)

There are things that will run differently on the Home 64-bit compared to the Edu 32-bit?

[westrock2000]

Do you live in America near a Fry's Electronics? They constantly have new or refurbished computers in the $80-150 range on the their email flyer (daily email). For example today they have a desktop for $77.