wired to wireless upgrade?

[bob findlay (JIC)]

Hello

I'm considering buying a squeeze box, and I have several questions

Is it possible to easily upgrade a wired squeeze box to wireless in the
future? I don't think I need wireless, but if I should need in the
future I don't want to have bought a box that I cannot upgrade.

Is it possible to run the server software on linksys NSLU2-UK?
apparently this box runs a variant of Linux.

I downloaded the server software last night to see what sort of
functionality it had. I installed it on Windows XP service Pack 2
(firewall disabled) but when I started up it just says "starting server"
and stays there. I presume I don't text we need a squeeze box on my
network to run the server software? Does anyone know what might be
wrong?

I'm sure I'll have lots more questions!

Cheers,

Bob

[Michael Scott]

Quoting "bob findlay (JIC)" <bob.findlay (AT) bbsrc (DOT) ac.uk>:

> I downloaded the server software last night to see what sort of
> functionality it had. I installed it on Windows XP service Pack 2
> (firewall disabled) but when I started up it just says "starting
> server"
> and stays there. I presume I don't text we need a squeeze box on my
> network to run the server software? Does anyone know what might be
> wrong?

If you point your browser (on the local machine) to http://localhost:9000/
does the slimserver web page come up? If so, then you're "on the air".

----------------------
- Mike Scott
- mscott (AT) pyewacket (DOT) org

[Ed Atlee]

"bob findlay (JIC)" <bob.findlay (AT) bbsrc (DOT) ac.uk>
wrote in message
news:286D8A554155B54CBFB18EF26EE2F169012AE5EF (AT) jie2ksrv1 (DOT) jic.bbsrc.ac.uk...

> Is it possible to easily upgrade a wired squeeze box to wireless in the
> future? I don't think I need wireless, but if I should need in the
> future I don't want to have bought a box that I cannot upgrade.

No, but you can buy a wireless to Ethernet bridge, such as:

http://www.netgear.com/products/details/WGE101.php
http://www.linksys.com/products/prod...id=603&scid=36
http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=241

The SB Ethernet plugs into the bridge, and the bridge talks to your wireless
router or access point. I am using the Netgear bridge, with a Linksys
router. Working flawlessly so far.

Ed

[Bill Burns]

Ed Atlee wrote:
> "bob findlay (JIC)" <bob.findlay (AT) bbsrc (DOT) ac.uk>
> wrote in message
> news:286D8A554155B54CBFB18EF26EE2F169012AE5EF (AT) jie2ksrv1 (DOT) jic.bbsrc.ac.uk...
>
>
>>Is it possible to easily upgrade a wired squeeze box to wireless in the
>>future? I don't think I need wireless, but if I should need in the
>>future I don't want to have bought a box that I cannot upgrade.
>
>
> No, but you can buy a wireless to Ethernet bridge, such as:
>
> http://www.netgear.com/products/details/WGE101.php
> http://www.linksys.com/products/prod...id=603&scid=36
> http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=241
>
> The SB Ethernet plugs into the bridge, and the bridge talks to your wireless
> router or access point. I am using the Netgear bridge, with a Linksys
> router. Working flawlessly so far.

I use the Netgear WGE101 also, with excellent results. I have two
Squeezeboxes, one hard wired, the other connected via the Netgear
bridge, and I see no difference in performance.

--
Bill Burns
Long Island NY USA
mailto:billb (AT) ftldesign (DOT) com

[Robin Bowes]

Michael Haan wrote:
> Maybe a bit off topic, but here goes. I built my slimserver box roughly
> 9 months ago. SuSE 9.1 with two 250G Maxtor SATA HDs mirrored using SW
> RAID. The first of the two died less than a month later. Thanks to the
> mirror, nothing was lost and I RMA'd the drive, ultimately restoring the
> mirror. Just the other day, I lost the other drive and am running again
> in an unprotected state (I've got a tar job running trying to copy all
> to an external usb drive, but it is sooooo sloooow and won't finish for
> a few more days). My question is this - am I just really unlucky, did i
> buy bad drives, or is this par for the course? What large, reliable
> drives are others using that they would recommend based on experience?

Hi,

I've got 6 x Maxtor Maxline II 250GB SATA drives configured as RAID5
under linux. I've had several of them fail and require RMA'ing. I
wouldn't buy Maxtor drives again.

R.
--
http://robinbowes.com

[Robin Bowes]

Jules Taplin wrote:
> Interestingly... I'm running 6x200GB Maxtor's as RAID5 similarly. Had
> several of them fail... but none at all since I got some decent cooled
> docks for them. Disks cook, and if you let them get too hot... they'll
> definately give up the ghost. 7 HDD's are hard to fit into even big
> cases, and still preserve enough cooling, unless you do it all in docks
> or similar. Since I got them docked... none of them have got over 35
> degrees C, and none have failed. I even have a single volume that's been
> given an RMA code, and which I'm now probably not going to return, as
> it's worked flawlessly ever since I sorted their temperature out.

Interesting.

Are these ATA or SATA?

Mine are mounted in a Coolermaster case with two fans for cooling, i.e.
mounted in front of the drives. I may consider looking at a "proper"
case with docks, dedicated cooling etc.

Of course, it would help if SMART worked with SATA :|

R.
--
http://robinbowes.com

[Jules Taplin]

Interestingly... I'm running 6x200GB Maxtor's as RAID5 similarly. Had
several of them fail... but none at all since I got some decent cooled
docks for them. Disks cook, and if you let them get too hot... they'll
definately give up the ghost. 7 HDD's are hard to fit into even big
cases, and still preserve enough cooling, unless you do it all in docks
or similar. Since I got them docked... none of them have got over 35
degrees C, and none have failed. I even have a single volume that's been
given an RMA code, and which I'm now probably not going to return, as
it's worked flawlessly ever since I sorted their temperature out.

-- Jules


Robin Bowes wrote:

> Michael Haan wrote:
>
>> Maybe a bit off topic, but here goes. I built my slimserver box
>> roughly 9 months ago. SuSE 9.1 with two 250G Maxtor SATA HDs
>> mirrored using SW RAID. The first of the two died less than a month
>> later. Thanks to the mirror, nothing was lost and I RMA'd the drive,
>> ultimately restoring the mirror. Just the other day, I lost the
>> other drive and am running again in an unprotected state (I've got a
>> tar job running trying to copy all to an external usb drive, but it
>> is sooooo sloooow and won't finish for a few more days). My question
>> is this - am I just really unlucky, did i buy bad drives, or is this
>> par for the course? What large, reliable drives are others using
>> that they would recommend based on experience?
>
>
> Hi,
>
> I've got 6 x Maxtor Maxline II 250GB SATA drives configured as RAID5
> under linux. I've had several of them fail and require RMA'ing. I
> wouldn't buy Maxtor drives again.
>
> R.

[Jules Taplin]

Those were ATA.

In the end... I bought 8xIcyDock caddies for them... which have been
marvellous. Cooling fans for each drive... large contact areas to big
metal sinks... and temperature sensors and alarms per caddy. Well worth it.



-- Jules


Robin Bowes wrote:

> Jules Taplin wrote:
>
>> Interestingly... I'm running 6x200GB Maxtor's as RAID5 similarly. Had
>> several of them fail... but none at all since I got some decent
>> cooled docks for them. Disks cook, and if you let them get too hot...
>> they'll definately give up the ghost. 7 HDD's are hard to fit into
>> even big cases, and still preserve enough cooling, unless you do it
>> all in docks or similar. Since I got them docked... none of them have
>> got over 35 degrees C, and none have failed. I even have a single
>> volume that's been given an RMA code, and which I'm now probably not
>> going to return, as it's worked flawlessly ever since I sorted their
>> temperature out.
>
>
> Interesting.
>
> Are these ATA or SATA?
>
> Mine are mounted in a Coolermaster case with two fans for cooling,
> i.e. mounted in front of the drives. I may consider looking at a
> "proper" case with docks, dedicated cooling etc.
>
> Of course, it would help if SMART worked with SATA :|
>
> R.

[Simon Still]

On Mon, 17 Jan 2005 23:44:49 +0000, Robin Bowes
<robin-lists (AT) robinbowes (DOT) com> wrote:
> I've got 6 x Maxtor Maxline II 250GB SATA drives configured as RAID5
> under linux. I've had several of them fail and require RMA'ing. I
> wouldn't buy Maxtor drives again.

and these are supposed to be near SCSI quality/nearline storage drives
with a claimed 1m hour mtbf (in that sort of usage). I'm using one of
these in my Shuttle XPC and have been having trouble with gaps
appearing in my MP3s. I defragged recently and havent noticed
anything since but i'm still suspicious of the drive. However, i ran
all but the destructive Maxtor drive test utilities without
identifying any issues.

I wonder whether these 250gb drive are particularly hot/sensitive to
heat? Shuttle XPCs are pretty tight inside and i'm sure cooling
suffers.

Can anyone recommend a temperature monitoring app for XP that doesnt
take over control of the fans - i'd like to monitor temps whilst
leaving the inbuilt app to control fan speed (Speedfan takes over).

[Michael Scott]

Quoting Robin Bowes <robin-lists (AT) robinbowes (DOT) com>:

> Hi,
>
> I've got 6 x Maxtor Maxline II 250GB SATA drives configured as RAID5
> under linux. I've had several of them fail and require RMA'ing. I
> wouldn't buy Maxtor drives again.

I myself have never had good luck with Maxtor drives in any application.
I would look at cooling (believe someone else mentioned this as well),
especially if you have several drives installed.
Unless you have a fan-cooled drive cage, try to leave at lease 1/2 to 1 drive
space between to prevent them from "cooking" each other.
I am currently using the WD 2500J (I believe that's the model) 250G SATA drives.
I like the fact that WD (and others) have gone back to a 3 year warranty.
That tells me more than anything else, they are builting higher quality drives.
The PC industry lately has been working on razor thin margins (I think the only
company making a lot on product is Microsoft at about 90%+ profit) and is
squeezing every last penny out of the COGs.

----------------------
- Mike Scott
- mscott (AT) pyewacket (DOT) org