New Music Server

[Ashmore]

My homebrew, fanless, Vortexbox-equipped server has just died. I've been happy wih Vortexbox, it meets all my needs and is stable (I blame hardware for my current woes) but since I am forced to replace, I might as well consider the options.

This is what I want:
Always on, near silent, low power draw, smal footprint, low cost, 'seeable' from my network, doesn't need to rip (I use the PC for that), only used to serve music to several Squeezeboxes, and no plans for it to do anything else.

Any bright ideas?

I recall a while ago squeezeboxers were trying out shivaplugs - might this (or whatever has superseded shiva) be a good alternative?

Simon

[Stratmangler]

What about a Fit PC with external (USB) storage ?
http://www.fit-pc.com/web/

[Ashmore]

Thanks Chris, interesting (ideal perhaps) but more than I wanted to spend, but I guess if this is what it takes...

Would you go for one with an internal HD for OS and server software and use a USB disc for storage, or can you buy it diskless and run the whole show from the USB disc?

Would you recommend Win7 for ease of integration or just load Vortexbox onto the USB disc?

My atom only has a 1gig cpu + 1gig of ram and that's been fine, so I presume that would be fine still...?

Simon

[Stratmangler]

I'd just set up the Vortexbox stuff onto USB.

[Tim]

Fit PC's are excellent, I really like the green aspect of them too. These may be worth a look too - the base one is only 299.00 Inspiron Zino HD 410 Desktop
(http://www.dell.com/uk/p/inspiron-zino-hd-410/pd?c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&~ck=mn&s_tnt=34648:1:0,)

http://i.dell.com/images/global/products/inspndt/inspndt_highlights/inspiron-zino-hd-410-design1.jpg

[Ashmore]

How about this?

http://www.aleutia.com/products/d1-fanless-atom-nettop-pc

Cheaper than the fit pc, fanless, and equipped with a dvd drive. Admittedly it draws more power but still only averages 16w.

[Butuz]

I would just go for a 2 bay nas box and a couple of 1tb drives. Much easier to set up just plug and play no messing with operating systems etc and all your devices just "see" it.

Butuz

[Ashmore]

Thanks butuz. I've never used a nas. What would I do about running Squeezeserver?

[Krisbee]

What died in your homebew server? If it can be revived at low cost by replacing an m/board or whatever, you could then load something like FreeNAS on it and turn into a NAS only if the idea appeals.

After all a NAS device typically has a low powerd CPU with a cut-down OS, it's still a computer with drives in it.

[Stratmangler]

How about this?

http://www.aleutia.com/products/d1-fanless-atom-nettop-pc

Cheaper than the fit pc, fanless, and equipped with a dvd drive. Admittedly it draws more power but still only averages 16w.

That looks ideal.

[Stratmangler]

What died in your homebew server? If it can be revived at low cost by replacing an m/board or whatever, you could then load something like FreeNAS on it and turn into a NAS only if the idea appeals.

After all a NAS device typically has a low powerd CPU with a cut-down OS, it's still a computer with drives in it.

The NAS needs to be capable of running this http://www.squeezenetwork.com/download and not many can.

[Butuz]

I think th latest netgear ones are Squeezebox compatible straight out of the box?

Something like this: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/netgear-rnd2000-100uks-readynas-duo-2-bay-mirror-raid-inc-gbit-lan-3x-usb

Butuz

[here we go again]

Hmmmmm - that Netgear one does mention Squeezebox compatible at the bottom of the page.

As a VERY quick aside guys - am I correct in thinking that one of those Netgear NAS boxes plus 2 x 1Tb 3.5 SATA drives ( for about £100 the pair) - load up with the Squeezecentre software - and that is all that is needed to hook up to a Squeezebox?? - so like £230, all done??

[Krisbee]

The NAS needs to be capable of running this http://www.squeezenetwork.com/download and not many can.


Go Linux, here's a guide to what can be done on a DIY NAS with Debian:

http://versia.com/2009/11/19/nas-debian-lenny-raid1-encrypted/


Being a cheapskate, I'd still be inclined to repair the vortexbox and reinstall it.

[Stratmangler]

I think th latest netgear ones are Squeezebox compatible straight out of the box?

Something like this: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/netgear-rnd2000-100uks-readynas-duo-2-bay-mirror-raid-inc-gbit-lan-3x-usb

Butuz

We're been here before http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?t=8803&highlight=readynas

[Ashmore]

I'm investigating what died in my server but I've had trouble with it before. I suspect it's the motherboard. I know I could replace the MoBo, but the last one was IDE so any upgrade is going to be SATA so I'll need a new HDD, and it's bound to need a different sort of RAM and then I figure the only thing I'd be retaining is the box, which I don't like... Ok I realise I'm being negative and there was work-arounds but sometimes you want to make a clean break/cut your losses, don't you?

Now as for this NAS thing. Indulge me (I really am this ignorant): so I buy this box, slap a couple of internal 3.5" drives in, switch it on, the network picks it all up and it has enough of an OS to enable me to load Squeezeserver via a weblink? Is that basically it? I guess it has ethernet?

I'm aware that people have criticised NAS stuff as being slow, does this apply to this box also? Does the NAS have fans? It will be sited near my listening position so quiet is important.

Simon

[Stratmangler]

I'm aware that people have criticised NAS stuff as being slow, does this apply to this box also? Does the NAS have fans? It will be sited near my listening position so quiet is important.

Apparently this one grinds to a halt if you want it to anything that's processor intensive, such as resampling on the fly.
It also has a fan, so it needs to be shoved out of the way.

[Ashmore]

Thanks for that Chris, and for the link to the other thread (I was busy composing my message when you sent yours).

The NAS is interesting, but I think it's looking like the green pc with Vortexbox for me - unless anyone has any specific strong recommendations.