OK - my backup lappy screen somehow got smashed in the back of the van on Saturday night (don't ask how...it's flight cased etc. but happens sometimes).

So, here I sit playing with a spare backup machine (yes....I have backups of the backup). It's not that powerful by today's standards and I really couldn't be bothered with Windoze tonight seeing how the last update seems to have made my office machine very selective as to when it's going to let me connect to the interweb.

I've installed Ubuntu on it! (Peter....stop looking so bewildered over in the corner there!)

More to the point, I've also sussed out how to install something called Mixxxxxxxx, and it's talking to my VMS4.1 (backup mixer which is used with the backup lappy) - result! (I feel really clever at this point )

So - time for some questions from the knowledgeable folks among us (this is probably going to tickle Justin;s fancy more than anyone).

For mobile DJing....just how stable is Linux? The machine is more than capable of running it (although could probably do with a bigger hard drive in it...I can deal with that).
How stable is Mixxxxx? I realise it's not as full featured as VDJ which is my main weapon of choice (and at £300 for the license will remain so until it wears out!)....but this is only the fail-safe for when the main system goes boobies up and appears to do what I'd need it to do in the event that the master playout goes North.

And finally.....I currently use Freestyler on the main playout with an Entec Open DMX dongle thingy which I've added a WiFi card from China into (mainly because there's a VDJ plugin which sends FS the beat grid and plays nicely with my lighting sequences). Obviously FS isn't available on Linux....is there something similar or better which would do the job, and even better use either a code sent from Mixxxx or at least the internal mic to pick up the beats to move the sequences along in time with the music?

Am I asking too much? Dunno....I'm just amazed that I've got Linux to actually do something at the moment....huge learning curve coming up