Hans Mittendorf

I just wanted to ask the specialists on this subject if it is possible to 'control' several Mac's from one patch? I have an iMac and my video outputs are limited. Therefore, I thought of using my older Mac's to help out on video display. What I do not know is if we can actually do that?

I just wanted to ask the specialists on this subject if it is possible to 'control' several Mac's from one patch?  I have an iMac and my video outputs are limited. Therefore, I thought of using my older Mac's to help out on video display. What I do not know is if we can actually do that?


controlling-several-macs-from-one-patch

you could for instance use OSC ([udpsend] and [udpreceive]) to send messages between the master patch and a bunch of helper patches.

If you haven't done this type of thing before, I'd highly recommend looking at [mxj net.maxhole]. Assuming all computers are on the same LAN, this will get you up and running very quickly. You'll just need to design your own routing scheme and viola.

It depends what you want to do but i do agree with Zachary. Besides the maxhole i would recommend the use of the net.tcp objects in order to send symbols with values to the peer computers. Can you be more specific in how you are planning to use the different computers?

It depends what you want to do but i do agree with Zachary. Besides the maxhole i would recommend the use of the net.tcp objects in order to send symbols with values to the peer computers. Can you be more specific in how you are planning to use the different computers?
Emmanuel


If you do any vanilla Max object work, you’ll almost certainly be using the mxj object in one of three flavors. They vary in terms of complexity and what you want to do.

The maxhole uses a special multicasting address. Every maxhole is a sender and a receiver - objects in the same patch, on the same computer, or on different computers (note that there isn't a specified destination, as you'd have with send and receive)

2. mxj net.udp.send and mxj net.udp.receive

This pair uses UDP (User Datagram Protocol). It’s the simpler of the two network protocols available to you. To send data, you just need need a destination port and an IP address. The UDP protocol does not provide any feedback on the status of the packet after it has been sent, and there's no guarantee that the packets you send to another host will arrive in the order that they were sent (unless you have a single static route, of course).

This pair uses TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) – it sends data in packets also, but it's more robust. There’s extra information embedded in the packet headers to help the protocol track the packets it has sent.

In addition, when a computer receives a TCP packet it sends back a small ACK (acknowledgement) packet to the source. If an ACK isn’t received within a certain time of sending a packet, the packet is re-sent.

In terms of connectivity, only one receiving object can be bound to any one port. In practice, the TCP protocol requires that a link be formed between the two computers prior to sending any data being sent.

That’s the nuts and bolts of it. Of course, you’ll also need to do some serious thinking about synchronizing data and processes, as well.

controlling several Mac's from one patch