I'm a newbie here but not entirely new to BIAB. I'll admit the last version I used before buying 2011 ran on Windows 3.2. I don't play gigs very often anymore, but I do hit the occasional open mic night and I can see BIAB coming along for the ride. One thing about open mic is you never know who is available to join in and play a few tunes with you, so having the ability to mute tracks at will is going to be really handy.
As far as what would I pack to take with me on a gig? I loaded BIAB on a Windows 7 Tablet PC and put that on the music holder on my Yamaha keyboard folded in tablet mode. For sound card and mixing I have several options. Being a drummer I learned to only carry what was really necessary for a gig so my preference is my Behringer X1622USB mixer. One USB connection and you have a great sound card with plenty of room for 4 microphones/instruments and 4 stereo ins. It's really cheap too. Most times that's really all I need except to pick out what amp(s) to take. I have used this setup minus BIAB and keyboard for DJ/Karaoke gigs and it works well. The negative to it is there is no way that I can find to adjust the computer volume with the mixer, so you need to do that on the PC.
For amps I have a Vestax 1000 that is about the size of a lunch box, a Fender Passport 250 and a B52 Matrix 1000 (think apartment sized refrigerator). Deciding which to take is all about the venue size, crowd and what they have to offer. The best all-around amp is the Fender Passport. It packs nicely and is powerful enough for most places I play at. If the venue has a sound system I don't bother with the amp and just make sure I have long enough cables from my mixer to theirs.
There's loads more if you are really interested. I don't want my first post here to be a 14 pages of me babbling.
