OS 6.1 New Operating System

[RJH_MUSIC]

Quick update on project. Got the cable threaded and everything is hooked up. The Console will not boot up correctly and I think it is due to the extended cable length and the sense outputs on the 5V power supply. See my other thread on the power supply build for more info. Back to the drawing board.

RJ

[RJH_MUSIC]

Sucess on new cpu remote build. Later today I will post a summary of everything I did with parts list and pictures.

[captainamerica]

extended cable length

RJ

As you know RJ, Y-my-R sold me a 50-foot cable a few months back and I have had no issues.

[RJH_MUSIC]

Thanks for refreshing my brain. Yes, i do remember that now. Turned out to be something else. Cable is fine. In my build, I somehow shorted +/- 16 to ground and damaged the test console i was using. That is why it would not boot up. Hooked everything up a working console and it came to life. I am posting here and on the other thread related to new power supply, a complete set of instructions on what I did. Total cost using existing d8b parts was roughly $500. Which consisted of new Server Chassis - $259, 5v Power supply - $136 and various stranded 14/16 gauge wire in various colors. If you are not extending the cable length, you can get by for just under $400.

[RJH_MUSIC]

Tried to upload my instruction guide with pictures, but the forum won't accept doc or pdf files. I guess i need to convert the document to html.

RJ

[RJH_MUSIC]

Here is the link to the build project.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10wO0fX ... sp=sharing

[Y-my-R]

I didn't have time to play with trying to get the Mackie OS running on a virtual machine (I really still don't), but thought I should read up on what I recall was the brick wall that others had mentioned when trying this, and that was "write combining" that the video driver on the D8B apparently tries to do (or that's how I understood it).

Just for the chance that this might give others an idea before I get a chance to actually play around with this, I just read through much of the following 3 pages:

1. Generally about "Write Combining" but with CPUs rather than GPUs:

https://mechanical-sympathy.blogspot.co ... ining.html

Basically, if the CPU doesn't get to write to L1 or L2 cache, there's an internal buffer in the CPU, where it queues a number of cache-write "buckets" of 64-bytes (at least for these more modern CPUs mentioned here), and when that buffer is full, writes the whole thing to L1 or L2. This apparently helps with lowering latency, compared to trying to write all these buckets/charsets individually. (I'm not a programmer, so I probably butchered this badly... but "something like that" I think).

2. Technically a bit off-topic, since this is more about a pass-through of instructions from the virtual machine to the physical GPU (...which might also be interesting if all else fails... maybe this could result in the only requirement to run the Mackie OS, being a supported PCI video card. Not ideal, but better than nothing). However, this is where I found a reference on how to enable "write combining" on MS Azure/Hyper-V for GPUs/Video cards:

https://mu0.cc/2020/08/25/hyperv-gpupv/

3. This third one is the most interesting, as it contains info how to activate write-combining for a GPU on Hyper-V, and mentions that this should also work in "Generation 1" aka "32-bit" virtual environments:

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/ ... a-p/382266

So, when/if I get the time, I want to start a trial for MS Azure, and try if an emulated Radeon 7000 (I hope Azure has an emulation for that) allows to enable write-combining this way, and then I'd try to boot a clone of the Mackie OS drive.

If this fails, I'm thinking to try if I could get the "pass-through" of video card access in the virtual machine to work somehow (with a card in the system that the D8B works with natively), and if I'd then have better luck with activating write-combining.

Anyway... pipe-dreams... but I thought I'd share this here, in case the many smarter folks on here than me, can use the above as clues to finally break-through that write-combining wall.

If I'm totally off track with this - my apologies... just poking around in the dark, hoping to strike gold. In the Hackintosh world, this actually worked for me on a number of occasions (...and yes... I do expect that I have to modify the Device and Vendor IDs for the video card in the virtual machine, to something the Mackie OS expects... and did so last time I tried. But that alone was not enough).

Anyway... sorry, just thinking out loud, really

[Y-my-R]

Never mind the Azure idea... I didn't realize that this is an ONLINE only service, where Microsoft provides the hardware and you pay an ongoing fee. Completely unsuitable for the D8B...

Back to square one, dangit!

I'll leave the post above for now, anyway, in case the articles spark an idea for someone else. But Azure seems to be a dead end, from what I understand...

[RJH_MUSIC]

Thanks for the update. If there is one thing I have learned about the d8b, you usually have 1 success for every 8 to 10 failures. Keep at it.

I had a dream last night that we all collectively invented a new d8b with modern day hardware and software and with a reduced footprint of the console. We built 2 prototypes, the d8b m sporting same amount of inputs the current one does but combining all the features of the mixer and probox in one unit providing seamless DAW integration rivaling something like the Avid S6 but at a fraction of the price. The m stands for modular allowing you to remove a side panels and add modules in groups of 8 faders with 8 additional inputs on the back to a maximum of 128 channel system with 64 faders. The best feature was that all you needed was the console, modules and cpu. There was no need for any additional gear such as required by other competitors whom I will jot mention. Oops I already did.... The prototypes were so successful that we were approached by TASCAM and funded to form a new company to produce in mass quanity. We had an initial IPO and became wealthy and famous as one of the most successful pro audio companies around.

Keep dreaming

[arjepsen]

nice dream. niiiice dream.