Initial step towards getting back on air

I'm familiar with those mini computers. Several on Amazon and they are not cheap. They have some very good specs for what they are. Most now come with Windows 11 but I assume you got an older one, quite old for $30. Hope it works with no problems.
Salamandra's latest version has on board processing with a 10 band EQ if you don't have an external processor. No need for separate downloads. I have the Schlockwood so have not tried it but have tweeked the EQ a bit.
What's wrong with just using the Windows version it came with?

In answer to your first question @richpowers, you don't need to limit the current to the PC. It will draw the current that it needs. However, you want to make sure you are not giving it more voltage than it can handle. When it arrives, hopefully it will come with some kind of a spec. sheet that specifies the maximum operating voltage. However, if it runs off 12V, and you're using a 12V battery, it's unlikely to go above the PC's operating voltage, even when on charge.

What kind of battery will you be using?

@rugster Really?? Its an lead acid AGM 12v 100amp battery. That high amperage wont hurt the computer? The whole idea behind using a mini-PC was because of it being 12v and it being low power draw for my boats 12v system. The pc doesnt even use a fan.

@mark XP Actully I was seeing several mini pc on Amazon for under $200, which I thought was cheap, but I needed even cheaper so went to ebay. 

As for XP, it always seemed so trouble-free to me for something like this (it's the same reason ATMs still use a modified version of XP as an operating system)..

All I know is Zara would literally run for months non-stop with XP on a ancient Pentium 1 Dell computer with only 256mb ram and a 500gb hard drive (and an external sound card), it just never quit, so I kinda wanted to stick with the tried and true method. Newer Windows are buggy as crap. XP is still the preferred go-to for many applications.  

It appears the Minis Forum GN34 came out in 2019 with Windows 10 installed. so it's actually newer than any computer I've ever owned.

Ive been interested in Salamandra's onboard processing but dont have much faith in it - Will try it out, but I dont even see the processor mentioned as a feature in their documentation, which indicates that it's not worth mentioning, and also nobody who knows it's there seems interested in using it - so it must be crap.

Someday, maybe I'll get a Schlockwood (I'd love too), but I think my days of splurging sprees are over. The cash flow just ain't the for me anymore.

@mark I should mention the ones on Amazon for under $200 are not powerhouses, they can be and are used as a desktop but are really more geared for use as a streaming media server for TVs and projectors and digital signage etc.. But like I said, it's still more capable than most computers I've ever owned in the past (based on the specs) so it should be fine as a dedicated radio automation use.

But yeah, some of those mini-PCs cost over a thousand.

Posted by: @richpowers

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@rugster Really?? Its an lead acid AGM 12v 100amp battery. That high amperage wont hurt the computer?

Yes really. To a DC power source, such as a battery, wall wart, or other power supply, an appliance looks like a resistor. The lower the resistance, the more current the appliance draws from the power source. This is basic electricity - the device connected to a power source will draw whatever current it needs from that power source.

You need to be concerned if your power source cannot deliver all the current that the device needs, or if the voltage of your power supply is too high. For instance, if you use a power supply with that computer than can only deliver, say, 0.5A (500mA), the power supply will overheat, as the device is trying to draw the current it needs to operate. Depending on how it's designed, the power supply will either shut down, or be damaged. The computer will be OK though.

You also need to ensure that you don't connect a power supply of too high a voltage. I don't know what the maximum voltage that can be applied to your computer is, but you may find it somewhere in the specifications. The most voltage you will see from that lead acid battery is 12.8V when it's fully charged. If the computer is attached to it when the battery is charging, then the voltage may go as high as around 14.7V. Most 12V devices can handle this much voltage, but it would be worth checking, to make sure.

@richpowers I see Amazon Canada prices that are always more than USA prices.
But they come with usually 8 gigs ram, 256 gigs storage and a Celeron processor 4000 series which is better than "normal" entry level laptops. Has all the features that a laptop does. I use a small Lenovo 11.6" laptop for my broadcast computer.
Yeah I wonder why if there was nothing wrong with one version of Windows why does it need to keep changing?
As for battery it could be fully charged at close to 14 volts, usually 13.6 around there, usually wall power supplies that are regulated are 12.25, something like that. There is a point Rugster made that you don't know what the max voltage the computer can take. But the load will reduce the voltage a bit.
Why not use a 12 volt regulated wall adaptor or the one that comes with the computer? The current rating should be about 2.5 amps as when the computer is charging it needs more power. You have to keep charging the battery, a nuisance, and it takes 8 hours to charge!, and lead acid batteries are good for 300 to 400 charges before you have much less run time each charge. And that big lead acid battery is 30 lbs or more?
Oh, I forget you are on a boat, I'm thinking you have the huge battery in the house! So I guess you don't have A/C power?
Maybe you can put a 12 volt regulator on the output of the battery?

Off topic, how do you charge the batteries? Does the boat have a charger of some kind, like a car and an alternator?

I use VSTHost plus a number of free (and easily obtained) plugins to do my audio processing.  The 32 bit versions should run on XP and up.  Very minimal processing load on the PC (depending on the plug-in, of course, but I use a simple compressor, equalizer and stereo to mono converter).  You can get plugins for virtually anything you want to do, and the advantage of the older versions is that they're usually free.

@ Rich Powers
Here's a picture of salamandra's on board processor with EQ.
Like I said I haven't tried it as I have the Schlockwood but this is to show you. Hope it shows up Ok.

If you do decide to look at VST (or VSTHost), you'll need something to glue the software pieces together.  That glue is something called a Virtual Cable - essentially, a connection between something such as Salamandra and VSTHost.  You can find free software or at least you used to be able to - I think it was called VBCable.  But you had to install separate apps for each cable.

I use Virtual Audio Cable - I think they're still around.  It costs a few dollars but it's a professional and slick piece of software.  You can create multiple cable instances through a control panel, and it works flawlessly up to and including Windows 10.  I haven't used it on Windows 11, in fact, I don't use Windows 11.  You might need an older version of the software to run on XP if that's the way you go.

I had purchased the older version a long time ago.  When I moved to Windows 7, the developer supplied me with a free upgrade to the 64 bit version - now that's support!

@rugster The manual doesn't mention the power other than to indicate it accepts a 12v 2a power input. As Mark pointed out a 100% charged 12v battery will be about 13v, and my battery is rarely 100% because its pratically in consistent use, so dont think there's much chance of overpowering it, and if amperage is not a problem I guess I should be good to go.

@mark The battery (sealed gell AGM lead acid 100a) weighs closer to 70lbs. It's what the Goal Zero Yeti 1250 uses (which I bought new about 8 years ago for about $1500). I have AC available via that, but try to avoid the wasted energy lost via the inverter, so whenever possible I try to use 12v solutions. About the only thing I use the AC for is my TV and my electric razor, or occasionally power tools or whatever. My lights, fans, radio, pumps etc are 12v.. Things like charging the phone I just plug directly into one of the Yetis usb ports (which also avoids use of the inverter.)

I have 2 100w solar panels to charge the battery and for when theres not enough sun I bought a cheap portable 1,000w gas generator to recharge the battery (a gallon runs it for about 6 hours which is enough to fully recharge it from an almost dead state). I bought a 12v freezer/fridge about a year or so ago which works well and actually uses less  power draw (once already cold) than my TV! Recently also bought one of those cheap Chinese deisel heater for winter warmth which also uses 12v for its fan and fuel pump, but I've not actually used that yet.

As for my $30 ebay mini-PC, it was only about $200 in 2019 brand new, and it appears to have been a real popular bargain model at the time, and is still a popular refurbished item with lots of reviews and videos. So it feels like I did good... but of course wont know for sure till I get it, but it's basically a low end desktop computer in a tiny box.

GN34 Hardware

• CPU – Intel Celeron J3455  2.23GHz
• GPU – Intel HD Graphics 500
• RAM – 6GB LPDDR3
• Storage – 64GB eMMc on board
• Expandable storage – M.2 NGFF 2242 SSD 1TB max
• WiFi  – IEEE 802.11ac Dual Band 2.4GHz + 5.8GHz
• Bluetooth – 4.2
• LAN – 1000Mbps
• HDMI – x1 2.0
• VGA – x1
• USB – x3 3.0
• SD – x1

@artisan-radio I will most likely be going with VST plugins out of necessity, at least for the meantime. I e not got much experience with them, but it's free. Though I want to go with XP, for the meantime I probably just use the Windows 10 that's on it and install Salamandra. I dont want to experiment with XP then find out the system drivers is incompatible with the hardware or something. But eventually will get another mini-PC and give it a try. XP really is the way to go asaic.

Glad to hear that you are using VSTs for your processing (your audio always sounds great);and that its light on resources. I've used Virtual Audio Cable with butt and something else before, so only have to re-familiarize myself with it. 

@richpowers Oh! The goal zero yeti 1250(I looked) is a power station! I get it now. The output DC from that will/should be 12 volts, good for the computer.The power station uses a lead acid battery? Wow! The newer ones like Bluetti, Ecoflow, Jackery, use life po4 batteries that are good for 3000+ cycles and still have 80% capacity. Also half the weight as lead acid. But a lead acid battery fully charged is more like 13.8 volts. So is life po4. Check the DC voltage from the power station and see what actual voltage is. It is questionable whether if it is indeed 13 to 13.8 volt it will hurt the computer or not.
I have a Bluetti AC2A I got recently I use for power back up for my station that uses life po4 batteries and will run the computer, Shlockwood, Decade MS-100 transmitter for a whole day if the power goes out. Also can have a lamp. The Bluetti doubles up as a UPS. But way better.
The voltage from the DC outlet is exactly 12 volts so it is regulated.
I get how you are doing it now! I have a feeling it is 12 volts from the DC jack on the Goal Zero Yeti 1250.

I just looked at the specs on your power station.....NO WORRIES, DC out is 12 volts!

Yeah, when I bought it the Yeti 1250 was the all-in-one to get. If I had it over to do again I would have just bought the components separately and made a permanent solar install, and came out a lot cheaper.

Now the lithium solar chargers are dominating the market -- But I tell you, if a lithium battery overheats it's likely to melt right through a fiberglass hull. Sailboats have been sunk by lithium battery banks malfunctioning. So I feel more comfortable with lead acid.