Aleutia E2 PC

[miniwaites]

Hello Everybody,

Can anyone tell me if it's possible to install Squeezecenter on to one of these little Ubuntu boxes - the one with the 4GB SSD drive?

Many thanks

Matt

sorry should have put the link - http://www.aleutia.com/products/

[mherger]

> Can anyone tell me if it's possible to install Squeezecenter on to one
> of these little Ubuntu boxes - the one with the 4GB SSD drive?

If they allow installing software, it should be fine. It's an x86 based system like most PCs.

--

Michael

[miniwaites]

Thanks Michael.

I believe it's just a standard Ubuntu install (with a few tweaks) - so it should be fine in the install respect (I will email them though). The thing I was worried about was that Ubuntu says it needs 4GB minimum to install and the box only comes with a 4GB CF Card - will there be room to install Squeezecenter?

cheers

Matt

[bpa]

It only has a 500Mhz VIA Eden processor and 1Gb RAM - so it may not be the fastest system which is the tradeoff for low power. However, what is acceptable speed depends on the user.

[miniwaites]

It only has a 500Mhz VIA Eden processor and 1Gb RAM - so it may not be the fastest system which is the tradeoff for low power. However, what is acceptable speed depends on the user.

Currently I use a Qnap 101 (which works fast enough for my needs with 6.3) - so I'm hoping I'd see an improvement in speed even though it's a low spec. I don't use the web interface much and just want to change to a standard install so that I can upgrade easier and add more plugins.

Cheers

Matt

[miniwaites]

Hello,

In case anybodies interested - I just heard back from Michael at Aleutia (who was very helpful) who confirmed that; you can install programs on the E2, you can upgrade the CF card (in case you need a bit more storage capacity) and it does support WOL. It looks to me like it would be a very good little low powered box for running Squeezecenter and pretty cheap too.

cheers

[syburgh]

The Eden based system looks much like the eBox device (e.g. http://www.wdlsystems.com/ebox/ebox.shtml).

The Atom based product from this vendor looks like a better deal for SC7 at about the same price (http://www.aleutia.com/products/intel_atom_pc.html). Performance will be good (well "good" by SC7 Web UI standards) and it comes with 2GB of RAM and an internal place for disk (and a 250GB 2.5in drive).

Some food for thought

[miniwaites]

Thanks for the info - i was looking at the E2 rather than the Atom based one though as it's fanless which is quite important to me as it will be sitting in my lounge.

[syburgh]

I used a fanless SC7 system for about a year (AOpen DE9-FL (http://www.logicsupply.com/products/de945_fl)) but am not as keen on it as I was for SC7. The 2.5in disk (or disks, I tried many) was far from inaudible. Without a flash disk it did not seem to be worth the trouble (fanless is dramatically more difficult than dealing with minimal airflow, and with the disk spinning it is about the same amount of noise). It's now deployed in a more appropriate role.

One of the challenges in a fanless configuration is the high temperatures the disk(s) will have-- every degree C increase makes it more likely that disks will fail (in aggregate, so obviously specific instances will vary), and the 5400rpm 2.5in disk in the fanless box would generally sustain 50-55C while idle (they are specified for max 55C, and playing one FLAC stream is not measurably different from idle from a thermal or power perspective). I've found a 5400rpm 3.5in disk in my Wind PC is 36-39C when installed in the same location. I could replace the fan in the Wind PC every few months and it would still be much less costly for effectively equal performance (acoustic, SC7, etc.).

For consideration:

Without silent disks, fanless is not likely to be less noisy than an actively cooled system
Active vs passive cooling does not make a substantial difference in power usage or efficiency
A properly engineered passively cooled system is likely to be much more costly than one with a fan for a quantity of one


With a flash disk the fanless system is very interesting (and completely silent, as originally intended). Maybe if flash drives were (much) higher capacity, or if "cloud-based" Internet storage was viable for the SC7 audiodir then fanless would be a better solution. I would really like to outsource SC7 entirely and stream directly from the Internet, which appears quite viable from a technical perspective, though licensing issues would probably prevent it in the near-term.

[miniwaites]

Thanks again for the info syburgh. However I wouldn't be using the E2 for any kind of storage as I would be reusing my fanless Qnap (which currently runs slimserver) as a pure NAS box with all the music on there. I cannot hear the drive in the Qnap - unless me ear is pressed against it - and though I have no idea of the temperature it has given flawless service for getting on for 2 years.