Keith's new streamer

[Krisbee]

Thanks Chris. The case has a built in dc-dc power supply feeding the mobo via the usual 20+4 and 4 pin power connectors.

Regarding the os running from ram, that's how Voyage works - everything is in ram. If you edit (say) /etc/fstab what you are actually editing is the copy of that file in ram. The changes get automatically synched back to the ssd on shutdown.

Certainly the last time I looked VoyageMPD Linux mounts read-only, which is not quite the same thing as "the whole OS loads into memory". Have you for instance run IOTOP to monitor disk access after booting? I'm not picking holes here, I'm just genuinely curious.

[Krisbee]

I would have thought you could do this on lesser hardward too, stuff that's being recycled. Certainly dual-core processing is common to find thrown out and constitute my last two finds (three if you also count the Dell server with 2 x Xeons, but a bit noisy to say the least).

i.e. the only thing you need pay for IMO is reliable storage. The rest is down to fitting it in aesthetically and making sure it runs silently.

I wonder what those tvs with DVD players in the side have running in them. Probably Atom based SBCs (Single Board Computer)..

There's no doubt that Linux can re-vitalise older hardware, and recycling should not be discounted. But it's debatable if it's a greener solution, especially when older hardware is not necessarily very energy efficient.

The trick here is to work out the minimum specification required to support the audio SQ you are looking for. Linux, and the popular MPD software, has been successfully run on low powered devices like routers, plug computers and basic NAS boxes.

[keiths]

Certainly the last time I looked VoyageMPD Linux mounts read-only, which is not quite the same thing as "the whole OS loads into memory". Have you for instance run IOTOP to monitor disk access after booting? I'm not picking holes here, I'm just genuinely curious.

Hi Chris - no worries; pick away

I've not run iotop as to install it plus the raft of dependancies (python etc) needed isn't something I really want to do. I'm pretty sure I've read somewhere that Voyage works as I've described. Not scientific I know, but the hdd led never flashes other than during bootup and shutdown. I'll post any referrences should I come across them.

[nat8808]

There's no doubt that Linux can re-vitalise older hardware, and recycling should not be discounted. But it's debatable if it's a greener solution, especially when older hardware is not necessarily very energy efficient.

The trick here is to work out the minimum specification required to support the audio SQ you are looking for. Linux, and the popular MPD software, has been successfully run on low powered devices like routers, plug computers and basic NAS boxes.

Hadn't realised that energy consuption was part of the equation.

If it is, you must realise that pre-heating your oven for 15 minutes longer than necessary will have wasted the equivalent of keeping the server on for probably a whole day in full power consuption mode, let alone the power saved from the difference in consuption between older tech and newer tech.

In the world of energy saving, the matter of magitude is often lost on people, with people saving 10 Watts here and there concisously (like turning the TV off standby) whilst ignorantly wasting magintudes of 10 or 100 more via re-heating food, putting too much water in the kettle, leaving ovens on, even to choices made in what food you eat and the energy consuption of eating one thing over another, like a cooked muffin v some locally grown fruit, blah blah.

All much more than saving 10Watts on the difference between tech. But it's too much of a head err, feck to keep everything in check, so just concentrate on the major things like anything that is used for heating or cooling and re-using 'wasted' energy for other purposes like using a big Class A amp during the winter so that the central heating doesn't have to work so hard.

Then on top, you must include the cost of energy of producing the new hardware and environmental impact of destroying/recycling the old hardware.

Then again you can just run the thing off a solar charged 13.8V lead acid cell into the DC-DC internal converter. Maplin do a large solar, leisure battery charger ..

[nat8808]

The trick here is to work out the minimum specification required to support the audio SQ you are looking for.

In my mind, an old beige G3 mac should be able to handle it all ok as that was the standard for recording multi channel audio back in the day when things moved to native processing rather than external DSP in the home studio world.

The problem is not with the audio but the interface and graphics etc. Those should be shared with the tablet used and the server only acting as a kind of database plus outputing low capacity data stream to s/pdif.

Hell, a really old iPod can handle that even. It is only the implementation that stops it being the sonic delight that people want.

[Krisbee]

Nat,

I don't disagree with your analysis. I suppose I was wondering just how old is this old computer hardware. And yes, my Quad 306 helps keep me warm in winter.

[nat8808]

Could even an old Via based Mini-ITX do the job? Single Core around 800MHz - I don't see why not seeing as a friend had built a 12 DAW successfully about 10 years ago that could run plug-ins smoothly enough too, whilst still maintaining smooth running of Cubase. Just an old Shuttle PC (I found one of them too with Ubuntu on it. Is just a little noisy).

[Krisbee]

Hi Chris - no worries; pick away

I've not run iotop as to install it plus the raft of dependancies (python etc) needed isn't something I really want to do. I'm pretty sure I've read somewhere that Voyage works as I've described. Not scientific I know, but the hdd led never flashes other than during bootup and shutdown. I'll post any referrences should I come across them.

Keith,

And you wont want to disconnect your SSD after boot either Does df -h show if VoyageMPD is using any kind of RAMDISK? It's a while since I've used it either in a VM or installed on a spare partition on my PC.

One audio test I tried was to remaster a stripped down Lubuntu in a VM with MPD and ncpmcpp set up to use some local audio files and with no graphical DE. Copied the iso and burn it on the host. Disconnected my hard drives and booted the LiveCD with the "toram" option and ejected the CD after system boot. Thus no doubt that OS and MPD and audio files where all in memory. The perfect memory player.

Did it sound any better than a more standard config? Not really . On better kit and with different ears, who knows?

[Krisbee]

Could even an old Via based Mini-ITX do the job? Single Core around 800MHz - I don't see why not seeing as a friend had built a 12 DAW successfully about 10 years ago that could run plug-ins smoothly enough too, whilst still maintaining smooth running of Cubase. Just an old Shuttle PC (I found one of them too with Ubuntu on it. Is just a little noisy).

Quite possibly, I don't know that much about VIA kit. There seems to be a ready supply of s/hand Eden family 800Mhz m/boards on Ebay. A single core 800Mhz CPU (with real floating point) should have a enough grunt for decoding and playback. You'd have to run the numbers on what must be a 10/100Mb NIC to check it's not a bottleneck for your intended use, and there's no SATA. I don't see older memory standards as much of a drawback, assuming you have or can pick up old RAM modules cheaply. Last thing I can think of is what ATX standard/pin config is used on these older m/boards.

As fas as overall hardware compatibilty with Linux the Debian HCL list is a pretty good guide: http://kmuto.jp/debian/hcl/VIA

Where's my old Duron and KT133? That bugger ran hot enough to fry eggs and was noisy as hell.

[keiths]

Keith,

And you wont want to disconnect your SSD after boot either Does df -h show if VoyageMPD is using any kind of RAMDISK? It's a while since I've used it either in a VM or installed on a spare partition on my PC...

Hmm. less sure now




All the tmpfs mounts are ramdisc.

Anyway - it sounds good