Which NAS box?

[hardsoulwax]

Hi there.

I'm looking at getting the wireless Squeezebox3 but the only thing putting me off is the need for an always on PC to store the music. Having a NAS box running slimserver does appeal to me although I'm not sure what the best solution is.

I've been looking at this page: http://fieldnetworks.com/slim/linkstation.html and it seems less than straightforward to get in running on a linkstation. Plus that page is not that new and I'd be reluctant to downgrade the firmware on a new Linkstation.

What other options do I have (that don't cost the earth!).

thanks in advance.

[pedalhead]

At the risk of turning this new forum into a Qnap advert, I don't reckon you can do much better than a Qnap TS-101 for a low cost, low hassle nas box. I bought one recently & it's really well put together & very well supported by Paul on this forum. A risk free purchase imho.

[sdr]

Anyone know the best way to get one's hands on a TS-101 (with Slimserver) in/shipped to Canada? Thx.

[hardsoulwax]

A few places I've found sell the Qnap with slimserver pre-installed. They are all quite pricey though...

If I found it cheap somewhere without slimserver on it could I install it myself? Is it easy?

[pedalhead]

A few places I've found sell the Qnap with slimserver pre-installed. They are all quite pricey though...

If I found it cheap somewhere without slimserver on it could I install it myself? Is it easy?

I believe not. Check with Paul @ Progressive AV for details, but I'm pretty sure it's a custom SS image on the Qnap box.

[egd]

Having a NAS box running slimserver does appeal to me although I'm not sure what the best solution is.

Whilst Slimdevices has bundled with ReadyNAS I would recommend you have a look at my posts in the following thread http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=25727. Then I'd recommend you take a good hard look at the Performance discussion group on the Infrant forums before even thinking about an NV. Note also the posts re shares disappearing etc.

[Chander]

Take a look at the Synology products (106 series).

[Andy D]

The new LinkStation Pro's look interesting.

They've only just come out so it's not clear how easy it is to add SlimServer, but given the TeraStation's can support it I think it shouldn't be too long before SlimServer is running on it.

[aubuti]

The new LinkStation Pro's look interesting.

They've only just come out so it's not clear how easy it is to add SlimServer, but given the TeraStation's can support it I think it shouldn't be too long before SlimServer is running on it.

Anyone know how much RAM is in the LS Pro line? This information is conspicuously absent from the product data sheet at their website. According to linkstationwiki.net (http://linkstationwiki.net/index.php.../LSPROOverview) the processor is 400 MHz Marvell's ARM-compliant Feroceon. Presumably that's faster than the 266MHz PowerPC that is in the current LS Gigabit line, although I honestly don't know how much faster, as they are different families.

While I agree that someone will probably _eventually_ come up with hacked firmware to open the LS Pro so that a user can install slimserver, I would expect we're talking months, not days or weeks. These are usually spare time activities, and I know I would want to have other people be the first guinea pigs.

I've used those same instructions as the OP to install slimserver on my LinkStation, and it worked just fine, as it has for several others. If you follow things step by step you'll be fine. But if it looks too intimidating, look for one of the NAS boxes that explicitly supports slimserver, like Infrant and Qnap.

You could also consider a KuroBox ([url]www.kurobox.com/url]), which is basically a LinkStation without the hard drive. You have to install the hard drive yourself, but the advantage to that is that you don't need to circumvent the closed system that is typical of most NASs.

Good luck.

[ultra238a]

Forget the rest, Qnap is best - but then I am going to say that aren't I

Currently you can only buy a TS-101 with pre-installed SlimServer from us or one of our retailers. We hopfully will be able to offer end-users the ability to update their Qnap TS-101's themselves by the end of August/summer for a nominal fee.

And if this does sub-forum does turn in to a Qnap advert it is only because I am SOOOOO active in supporting our product

Feel free to ask.