Help Me Build My Home Office (and win something for yourself)
I thought that it would be a good exercise to enlist your help in designing and building my home office. No, I'm not looking for financial help (though I'll take any that is offered). I'm really looking for suggestions on building a home setup for developing Speech Server applications.
I suppose I should explain the purpose of the setup first. I am looking at starting consulting on the side and perhaps making it fulltime in the future. I of course need a way to develope applications for Speech Server as well as any necessary SQL Server componenets.
I know I'll need a server for running Speech Server and SQL Server plus at least one development machine. I need the ability do develop applications (at least for the short term) in both MSS 20074 & MSS 2007. I am a big fan of having seperate development and production machines so what ever gets developed will have to be deployed to another PC.
I have an MSDN as a benefit of my MVP so I have the necessary software. I have a laptop running XP Pro but my other PCs won't be a part of this setup. I have a Brooktrout TR1000 I can use in the server but it is a fullsize card so the server will need to be able to handle the large card. I have an 802.11g network (with wireless access) in place as well as a 802.11b that is not currently hooked up.
Now you know what I want to do as well as what equipment and software I have. Your assignment is to "dream" up the ideal home office setup for doing Speech Server consulting and development. Remember that my budget is limited as is my wife's patience for my spending on computers. Don't go crazy on me.
I'm looking for ideas such as how many PCs you think I should have and how should they be configured. Should I be using Virtual PC for some of this? If so, how would those environments work? Should I run MSS 2004 in a virtual and MSS 2007 on the host? With only one telephony card how best to use it for to different MSS versions (dual boot)?
Here's your chance to help design my setup and win somehting for yourself. I have a nice stainless steel Speech Server coffee mug for whoever is the most helpful. The deadline for posting will be midnight August 31st.
I've started a thread over in The Speech Tavern where you can post your suggestions