New Duet, new PC, music goodness

[improvisato]

Hello all! The Duet bug bit me hard a few weeks ago. I'm new to Slim and fairly new to wireless networking, but excited to get my new Duet up and running soon! I was hoping some veterans could comment on my proposed setup.

Here's what I've got:
In the "computer closet"
-- Incoming cable connection -> cable modem -> ethernet switch

In the main music listening room
-- In-wall ethernet -> main PC running Windows XP
-- Denon receiver -> Custom-built speakers

I've ripped all of my albums to FLAC and right now they're stored on a 1TB drive (and backed up to various smaller drives) in the main PC. The idea is to build a new PC to run SlimServer and hide it with the 1TB drive in the "computer closet". The closet is isolated from my main music listening room, so hard drive and fan noise in the new PC is not a concern. My real goal is to get the 1TB drive out of the main PC, so I don't have to have the main PC turned on to listen to my music.

Also, I'd like to run the new PC "headless" - no monitor, mouse, or keyboard. Ideally, I'd like to control SlimServer over VNC.

Here's my proposed setup:
In the "computer closet"
-- Incoming cable connection -> cable modem -> *new wireless router* (see below) -> ethernet switch AND *new wireless router* -> new PC

In the main music listening room
-- In-wall ethernet -> main PC running Windows XP
---- Use the main PC running VNC over hardwired ethernet to control SlimServer on the new PC in the "computer closet"
-- Squeezebox receiver -> Denon receiver -> Custom-built speakers
-- Squeezebox controller via wireless

Here's my plan for the new PC in the "computer closet"
In addition to running SlimServer, I'd like to use this PC as a backup location. Future use may be to replace the main PC, hence the mid tower. This new PC will not be used to rip CDs (I'll do that from the main PC and then move the FLACs over ethernet to the new PC in the "computer closet").

Antec NSK4480B Black Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129032
MSI K9N Neo-F V.3 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130123
Audio: on board
Video: on board
Kingston 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820134117
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ 2.1GHz Socket AM2 65W Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103774
LITE-ON Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model DH-16D2P-04
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106088
LINKSYS WRT54GL Wireless-G Broadband Router
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833124190
APC BE350R UPS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16842101008
-- Must have for me. I'm subject to fairly frequent brown-outs
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31000340AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148274
-- Move from the main PC to the new PC in the "computer closet". Use only for FLAC storage
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148140
-- New. Use for OS, SlimServer, and backup
Ubuntu 7.10 Desktop edition
No mouse, no keyboard, no monitor
SlimServer, LogMeIn Hamachi, VNC

So that's the plan- keep the main PC in place for VNC control of the new PC in the "computer closet" and build the new PC mainly for SlimServer for now, but open for future use as the main PC.

I'd love to hear your comments on my plan, as well as any issues you can see. I'm a little concerned about running Ubuntu- it's new to me. But I'd rather not invest in another Microsoft license.

P.S. Phase 2 of this project is to replace the Denon receiver with a new amplifier. More details and questions to come soon, I'm sure.

[SuperQ]

Sounds like an awesome setup. There are a lot of Ubuntu people around the forums that can help (like myself).

The only major suggestion I have is to go with a slightly beefier UPS.

SmartUPS SC420
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16842101009

SmartUPS SC620
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16842101011

The SmartUPS series are "line interactive". This means they are much better at handling brownouts than the "BackUPS" series. Also 200W may be a little bit too light for handling the power spike needed by the computer at boot. My normal rule of thumb for UPS equipment is to have no more than 60% load on the device.

Just a guess, but the board/cpu combo you're looking at should use around 90-100W at idle, peaking at 150W under load. 200W is barely enough to cover that and your router/switch.

[improvisato]

Thanks for your input, SuperQ. I have a BackUPS-series UPS for my main PC, but I'm going to look into the SmartUPS series for this new PC. APC has never failed me.

[amcluesent]

>But I'd rather not invest in another Microsoft license.>

Your choice, but the 'headless' 1TB system in the cupboard and used for backups would be ideal for Windows Home Server.

>Ideally, I'd like to control SlimServer over VNC<

What's wrong with the web interface?

[Mark Lanctot]

I'm a little concerned about running Ubuntu- it's new to me.

You shouldn't be - since installation doesn't cost anything, simply try it out. If the install doesn't work (which is increasingly rare as hardware auto-detection is getting so good) then you can investigate other alternatives.

Then it's a simple process, install SqueezeCenter using http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.cgi?DebianPackage

You can administer SqueezeCenter using the web interface. You can administer the computer in general using VNC - it's built into Ubuntu, all you have to do is enable it, and you can view it using any Windows VNC client - TightVNC works for me.

In regards to hardware, anything current is overkill, yours looks fine. If you're hiding it away in the closet, fan noise is not a problem. Power efficiency and cost is. You could do this with a very cheap Sempron if you wanted to. 2 GB of RAM might be overkill but won't hurt - 1 GB ought to be sufficient, I'm running all you're looking at on 512 MB actually.

[improvisato]

>Ideally, I'd like to control SlimServer over VNC<

What's wrong with the web interface?

Good point amcluesent! I guess what I meant was that I would administer Ubuntu via VNC, but SqueezeCenter via the web interface. Like Mark said.

Then it's a simple process, install SqueezeCenter using http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.cgi?DebianPackage

I hope so! I've found good success so far with SqueezeCenter in Windows XP. I hope the SqueezeCenter install on Ubuntu is just as painless.

[Mark Lanctot]

I hope so! I've found good success so far with SqueezeCenter in Windows XP. I hope the SqueezeCenter install on Ubuntu is just as painless.

In my experience, yes, because you don't have to deal with application versus service - there have been a lot of forum posts about this recently.

[maggior]

Good point amcluesent! I guess what I meant was that I would administer Ubuntu via VNC, but SqueezeCenter via the web interface. Like Mark said.




I hope so! I've found good success so far with SqueezeCenter in Windows XP. I hope the SqueezeCenter install on Ubuntu is just as painless.

Actually, you can control the Ubuntu desktop via a remote session using either putty, which will give you a console window. Or, if you want the full GUI desktop, you can run an X Windows client on your remote Windows machine. A free one comes with cygwin. It can be found here: http://www.cygwin.com/ In addition to giving you an X Windows client, you can run Linux scripts and stuff on a Windows machine.

cygwin has a batch file that is easily edited to suit your setup. I use it to run my Open SuSE box. Though now I find that I use putty more than anything for a command window.

Good luck!

[JJZolx]

You say this PC may in the future become your main desktop PC. I'd recommend a different route, if feasible. Retire your current desktop PC and make it your file & SqueezeCenter server and then build yourself a fast new desktop PC. Put the large storage drive into the server. Do the same thing in two or three or four years or whenever you feel you the need for a new desktop machine. If you have components in the desktop that aren't needed on a server (fast video cards, DVD burners, etc.) then you can pull them when you move the desktop to server duties. Or just leave them if the machine will also function as a backup desktop.

Make sure you have a data backup strategy. If you're only storing rips of CDs that you own then you can re-rip if something happens, but it may not be an attractive proposition to do all that work over again. A large enough drive in an external drive enclosure is a pretty common approach. Keep in mind your actual storage needs for sizing the backup drive. No need to get another 1TB drive if you don't have that much critical data to backup.