Alert Security Systems

[rvmeush]

I have been running my Logitech Alert system using a virtual machine on my MacBook Pro, but I have been considering getting a low end netbook to operate the system instead.   I was wondering if anyone had done this and could advise me on the capabilities I might need for a netbook to do this.   Thanks.

[UselessS]

Well, a netbook is actually below the system requirements Logitech states for Alert ( cpu 2ghz at least ), but if you search "netbook" in this forum you'll get an idea of how others have fared using one.  Keep in mind that multiple cameras increase the load...and many netbooks have too low a resolution. 

[rvmeush]

thanks very much for the input.   I'll do some further research.

[UselessS]

My opinion is that video is one of the most stressful things for a PC...and the higher the video resolution, the higher the stress.  A decent/separate video card also offloads some of this stress from the cpu. 

If you have just one camera and you primarily use it to do initial setup and run Alert commander minimized so it just does the clip copying, then you might get by with a lower powered machine.

[rvmeush]

One of the main things I was looking for was a machine that could operate throughout the day and download videos to its hard disks as soon as possble after they were recorded.   I don't know that I'd need to be streaming all their videos continuously.  Would a netbook with processor speed less than 2Ghz suffice for that type of operation?

[UselessS]

I suspect it would ( again, see what others say here...I haven't tried to use a netbook for this myself with my 6 cameras <g> ).

[pdesai]

can you reply how you set it up on your mac? im very interested, thanks!

[rvmeush]

I'm using a Parallels virtual machine on my MacBook and it is running Windows 7.   Once you have set up your virtual machine the only tricky thing is to make sure you are using "Bridged Networking".    You just install the Logitech Commander software the way you would in any Windows machine and it seems to work just fine.