Back into the Future: Virtual Audio Device
back in the days i had that running but currently i am lost.
i have an xserve (intel 10.6) here and several minis (intel 10.7) and while the server never had audio IO the audio in the minis is either broken or has been removed intentionally.
now we need to play video content with these computers. in the server there is naturally a Virtual Audio Device which is selected by default and silently (pun intended) does its job.
in the minis there is just nothing at all which we could select to receive audio vectors or pretend to do so. as a result, mpg and some other video formats wont play here if the file contains an audio track.
as a side result, you can also forget to run max patches which require signal somewhere, because max just chrashes when you try to set some audio prefs.
how do i enable or build a virtual audio device? i thought i have done that before...
oh yeah, found a tutorial. you have to inject it at boot level, so it is a copy and paste job and the code actually can be found by reading it out from an xserve.
Hi Roman,
I always used sound flower as a virtual audio device with minis that had no audio i/o.
Hth
Bene
i was thinking about that too but i thought it wont work. wouldnt i need to assign an output device too? such as a little dummy app?
we shall try that tomorrow, but i will try the kernel hacking route, too.
p.s. i forgot to add that we also didnt have success to connect a headphone jack. somehow i was hoping that there could be a software-free solution in that field.
My experience was, that it was always the input that was missing and that was crashing my standalones. As soon as I used soundflower as Input in the sound system preferences (were automatically set in Max), the crashes went away.
IMPORTANT: Throw away your Max Preferences from before when testing without soundflower
oh i see, will keep that in mind.
did both now.
kernel hacking is fun, first time the machine didnt boot anymore uh oh :P but now it´s ok, it compiled fine and found its way into the cache and now we have a virtual xserve driver in a small plastik box.
soundflower also works for both scenarios, mpg and max/msp, but i feel that there seems to be a little CPU hog? (2 channel in, 2 channel out, biggest buffer size)
tomorrow i will extend the OS hack a bit more and make a duo 2,45 boot into 10.12 ... got a signed soundflower already in case it is needed...
these boxes are fun, i shall also extend the collection in my home studio museum i think... oh did i mention that we also managed to make it boot halfway into OS9... unfortunately it wont finish the boot process with graphics cards installed - and it also does not run headless... boo.
http://jackaudio.org/faq/netjack.html
http://jackaudio.org/
http://blog.familie-buchberger.at/2015/12/15/jackaudio-over-network-jack-clientserver-connection/
+10
what do you guys do for screen resolution when running a macmini rendering farm or macmini "hardware synth".
is there something which is simpler than installing switchres? say like a shell script to modify a plist?
i would like to have 1920x1200 or 1024x768 (for the VNC windows), both is not available without a monitor connected.
Dummy display adapters are said to make it possible (never tried one, though)
https://macminicolo.net/blog/files/build-a-dummy-dongle-for-a-headless-mac-mini.html
https://www.amazon.com/CompuLab-fit-Headless-Display-Emulator/dp/B00FLZXGJ6
Do you need a remote control or just a screen sharing?
Have you try the OSX native Sharing Desktop Utility?
It's really useful when you have multiple macmini's network.
But switchres is also a good option!
Or
http://osxdaily.com/2015/08/27/show-all-display-resolutions-external-screen-mac/
Open System Preferences from the Apple menu in OS X
Click on “Display”
Under the ‘Display’ tab, hold down the OPTION / ALT key while you press on the ‘Scaled’ button alongside Resolution to reveal all available screen resolution options for the display
Choose the resolution desired from the complete list of available screen resolutions, then close out of System Preferences as usual
at the monent i am unsure how it will be done in the future.
in best case i want to sit at ONE "client" which is either MacOS9, OSX 10.4 or windows 7 and "servers" with the same plus 10.7 , 10.12 and linux and be able to use the same app to control all of these machines.
the only hassle free protocol to use is vnc, and the only easy to go multiclient-remote (==having many windows open at the same time) would be KDX.
KDX lacks proper keyboard control and you need to put it into a WINE container from 10.6+ on.
vnc isnt perfect either because of apples weird protocol mixture - mainly the "screen sharing" client (which is otherwise great in OSX) is not available in 10.4. maybe i can modify the one from 10.5? thats on my to do list. the vnc server options are also weird in 10.4 - it is still called apple remote desktop there, but works 99% when you connect with 10.5´s screen sharing :)
i know about this hack for ubuntu linux where you plug a resistor into a VGA adapter to run a mini headless with ubuntu (otherwise this OS will not even boot), but of course under windows and OSX there is also that problem that you may not choose an arbitrary screen sizes when no screen is connected.
OSX built-in VNC aka "screen sharing" is a nice solution when OS9, 10.4, windows and linux are not involved. except that it lacks multiclient and doesnt remeber window position and stuff. but i could live with that.
unfortunately none of the third party vnc solutions seem to do the job for all of these systems either.
as for 10.4, i might simply stay away from it (grrr... i just downgraded 6 machines to it only to find out that vnc sucks - it is slow and somehow differently implemented)
timbuktu is terrible, i cant stand the interface.
our scenario is as follows: imagine one program, one vst plug.in or one max patch per machine. it _can run without any screen control, but i want to have quick and easy access to the screen and remote stuff for the setup (prefs, choosing one from a set of max patches, changing IP or audio driver...) from one place only (either a G4 desktop or a mini with 10.7)
Hi Roman
nice to follow your farm's evolution !
really not the king of vnc, i use teamviewer and have some satisfaction
seems versions for 10.4 are available, i tryed Mm G4 and Imac G5 10.5.7, ok but some inconsistence...
for the screens, seems, just a plug minidisplayport-vga(DVI ?) can simulate a screen's presence
my 2 c but not so far as you in the experiment...
friendly
michel
+ 1 for Teamviewer!
that´s a good idea, i never used that until now but i can try it.
for a modern system i would use screens4 https://edovia.com/screens-mac/, it is almost perfect and has everything what apples solution lacks.
but we depend on that retro stuff. :)
it is out of budget, but...
https://www.ebay.com/p/Lilliput-Rm-7024-7-3ru-Rack-Monitors-With-Dual-VGA-Video-In-outputs-Metalcase/1574583963?iid=371662020578