Computer requirements to run Hoster and/or Hoster-Lite

[BANDL]

Could someone give me a rundown on what do you need in your laptop to succesfully run Hoster and/or Hoster-lite. I am refering to:
Clock speed
Hard Drive Size
CD drives (does it have to be able to read CDGs?)
I have over 700 CDGs, do I need to convert them to mp-3+G using the laptop CD drive or can I do that in my Desktop?
Does the laptop need to be connected to the internet?

Thanks

bandl

[ddouglass]

BandL, I am assuming you have read the computer requirements under Hoster section snice you have been a member here for 6 years. My feeling for the specifics you asked for is as follows:

Processor speed >1GHz - any slower and XP will bog the system down.

Hard drive - my choice would be to use an external for song storage and save the internal for the program requirements. So for an internal drive you can get away with a 30 - 40 GB. And the external 200 -250 GB.

If you intend on being able to import individual tracks from singer owned cds or adding all your cd+g songs to Hoster through this laptop then you will need a CD drive capable of reading CD+G and I would go with a Plextor. The alternative is to have a desktop with the Plextor drive and Hoster installed to import all of your CDs to that external hard drive. (Few more steps required but not going to list now)

No you do not need to convert your 700 CDGs to MP3+G. Hoster and Hoster Lite will import those tracks and convert them to KMA (compressed cdg)files.
The laptop doesn't have to be connected to the internet to install program, if you have a floppy drive or a memory stick to be able to complete the registration.
Hope this helps.

[BANDL]

Thanks ddouglas
You are right, I have read the normal computer requirement listed in the MTU site. Your answers are very helpful.. however, here is one more
You say that I can install Hoster in my desktop (I do have 2 Plextors on that computer) and transfer my CDGs from the discs to the portable 200-250 GB hard drive. I can see this, however, when you connect the Hard drive with the KMA songs to the laptop, can you install Hoster again. In other words does the license allow for having Hoster in 2 computers?

Thanks

bandl

[ddouglass]

Yes, Hoster does allow for two computers. One is your back up. I do all of my importing on my desktop machine at home and then copy the files to a CD to take to where my show computer is located. Copy them to a second drive on the computer and rebuild the database.

[admin]

Thanks ddouglass for a great set of answers here.

BANDL, good to hear from you again.

Hoster 3.303 can use many drives in addition to Plextors, but Plex drives with the hardware decode are going to give you the best performance as to clean graphics.

[BANDL]

I really appreciate your quick resposes.

I will be getting a new desktop in the very near future and knowing that I can use it to work with potential Hoster files to import to the desktop is helpful.

Once again
Gracias

bandl