[PD] computational load for PD hosting

[marcus]

Hello,

I'm currently investigating the possibility of hosting PD patches on a
webserver and letting users interact with the parameters using a Flash
interface connected to PD by a flosc server (thanks for the tip, Frank;
flosc is great...)

I've developed a single-user prototype for this project, and the initial
signs look promising. Now my question is, how powerful of a server would be
needed to allow multiple users to run seperate PD instances?

Let's assume that each patch would be running a very simple instrument -
just oscillators and number controls. If each additional web user opened a
seperate instance and the audio was streamed back through the Flash client
(using Shoutcast perhaps?), at what point would the number of simultaneous
users be maxed out on, say, an Athlon 64 3200 with a Gig of RAM?

I know this is all somewhat vague. I'm just curious to hear thoughts that
any of you have on the matter. Also, I haven't yet figured out what sort of
server-side coding would be neccessary to dynamically assign ports to their
respective instances in PD. I suppose I should talk to a PERL adept, huh?

Thanks,
Marcus