> Trouble is, the set of places where I'm allowed to make noise and the
> set of places where my PC is have an empty intersection. I can use my
> laptop, but it's big and heavy and requires mains power to operate.

I thought a laptop had a battery? Sounds to me like a small laptop would 
be better than a tablet. You get a real keyboard, ability to install 
lots of developer tools, and easily interface to various bits of 
hardware via well-tested drivers and software.

> A tablet is obviously much smaller. I have no idea whether any of them
> can act as a USB *host*, nor whether Andriod has drivers for something
> as exotic as a USB audio interface. I doubt you can run Audacity, but it
> can't be *that* hard to hack together a simple Java console program that
> starts or stops recording on a certain key-press...

This was the first result from google:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.extreamsd.usbaudiorecorderpro&hl=en_GB

I suggest you get hold of a phone and try it out with your hardware, in 
the page above there is also a trial version to test if your hardware 
works or not with it.

If that doesn't work I suspect you'll have a far more painless journey 
with a laptop.

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On 10/19/2015 4:03 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> My cable provider provides an Android app that lets me watch stuff I've
> recorded on my DVR as well as their On Demand selections.
>
> That's kinda handy.

My ISP has a function that plays the BBC iplayer on the TV. It has never 
worked.

That is kinda un-handy.

Well it would be if I watched TV. ;-)

-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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On 20/10/2015 08:18 AM, scott wrote:
>> Trouble is, the set of places where I'm allowed to make noise and the
>> set of places where my PC is have an empty intersection. I can use my
>> laptop, but it's big and heavy and requires mains power to operate.
>
> I thought a laptop had a battery?

Yes, but like all laptops more than 6 months old, the battery no longer 
functions.

(Well, OK, that's a bit unfair. I still get about 20 minutes of runtime 
out of it...)

> Sounds to me like a small laptop would
> be better than a tablet.

Yeah, that's the other possibility of course...

> This was the first result from google:
>
>
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.extreamsd.usbaudiorecorderpro&hl=en_GB

7.9MB?! o_O

Not that I suppose that's a problem, I'm just surprised it's that big... 
Man, I feel old now!

> I suggest you get hold of a phone and try it out with your hardware, in
> the page above there is also a trial version to test if your hardware
> works or not with it.
>
> If that doesn't work I suspect you'll have a far more painless journey
> with a laptop.

Yeah, you could be right.

I'm pretty sure the Raspberry Pi *hardware* can do this, but again I'm 
unsure about software. (Although since it's basically running Debian, it 
seems reasonable that it might work.)

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On Tue, 20 Oct 2015 17:29:56 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> On 10/19/2015 4:03 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> My cable provider provides an Android app that lets me watch stuff I've
>> recorded on my DVR as well as their On Demand selections.
>>
>> That's kinda handy.
> 
> My ISP has a function that plays the BBC iplayer on the TV. It has never
> worked.
> 
> That is kinda un-handy.
> 
> Well it would be if I watched TV. ;-)

It seems that playing iPlayer on the TV would be like watching TV. :)

But yeah, I've got the iPlayer app installed on something here.  Not that 
I can watch TV with it, but I can listen to some radio programmes with it.

Jim
-- 
"I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and 
besides, the pig likes it." - George Bernard Shaw

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On Tue, 20 Oct 2015 18:10:30 +0100, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:

> Yes, but like all laptops more than 6 months old, the battery no longer
> functions.
> 
> (Well, OK, that's a bit unfair. I still get about 20 minutes of runtime
> out of it...)

4 year old laptop here, still gets several hours out of the battery.  
Dell Inspiron.  Also, Macbook Pro, still get 8+ hours out of its battery.

Jim
-- 
"I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and 
besides, the pig likes it." - George Bernard Shaw

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On 10/20/2015 6:11 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> It seems that playing iPlayer on the TV would be like watching TV.:)
>

I wouldn't know. :-(
I don't think I've watched TV for a couple of years except for some 
comedy programmes on Freeview*.

I lost the habit years ago before there was satellite TV. When I was on 
the rigs. Radio 4 was all we could get and that was on Long Wave.


> But yeah, I've got the iPlayer app installed on something here.  Not that
> I can watch TV with it, but I can listen to some radio programmes with it.

I use get_iplayer as a PVR.

*
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeview_%28UK%29

-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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On 10/20/2015 6:10 PM, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
> Yes, but like all laptops more than 6 months old, the battery no longer
> functions.
>
> (Well, OK, that's a bit unfair. I still get about 20 minutes of runtime
> out of it...)

Run it flat, charge it up. Repeat.

-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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> On 18/10/2015 04:54 PM, nemesis wrote:
>> I have a tablet, I use it mostly just to read sheetmusic.  My phone
>> however, I
>> use for pretty much everything a pocket pc should prove useful, including
>> communications, media playing, web browsing, photographing and gaming...
>
> Yeah, the *other* possibility is to just buy a smartphone. But then, the
> idea of accessing the Internet with a PAYG account sounds... expensive.

You have wi-fi at home, yes?

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/*   gmail.com     */}camera{orthographic location<6,1.25,-6>look_at a }

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> Yes, but like all laptops more than 6 months old, the battery no longer
> functions.

You could always get a new battery. If it's a fairly common model 
there's normally non-OEM ones available quite cheaply.

> I'm pretty sure the Raspberry Pi *hardware* can do this, but again I'm
> unsure about software. (Although since it's basically running Debian, it
> seems reasonable that it might work.)

Well if it's a USB interface then the Pi definitely has a working USB 
port :-)

Raspbian can definitely talk to a USB DAC for *playing* audio. But lsat 
time I checked the drivers were a bit buggy and you got random 
split-seconds of white noise every 30 seconds or so, and switching to 
different sample rates sometimes completely crashed the sound system and 
hung whatever app you were running. I ended up going back to the 
analogue audio output. But it might be fixed by now, or just my DAC was 
strage, IDK.

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On Tue, 20 Oct 2015 19:25:39 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> On 10/20/2015 6:11 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> It seems that playing iPlayer on the TV would be like watching TV.:)
>>
>>
> I wouldn't know. :-(
> I don't think I've watched TV for a couple of years except for some
> comedy programmes on Freeview*.
> 
> I lost the habit years ago before there was satellite TV. When I was on
> the rigs. Radio 4 was all we could get and that was on Long Wave.

We just recently got a cable subscription again (when I got laid off in 
2011, it was the first thing to go to save money), so we've got a handful 
of shows we're watching.  But unlike before, when it was costing us 
upwards of $130/month for a basic digital package with HD, we're now 
paying only about $30 more than we were for our Internet connection, and 
the 'net connection is a business expense (so I get reimbursed for it).

>> But yeah, I've got the iPlayer app installed on something here.  Not
>> that I can watch TV with it, but I can listen to some radio programmes
>> with it.
> 
> I use get_iplayer as a PVR.

Yeah, I've been using that for years.  But there have been instances 
where it was just more convenient to stream directly.

Jim
-- 
"I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and 
besides, the pig likes it." - George Bernard Shaw

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