Hi All,
Like a lot of users as soon as I bought my first SB kit I started looking at a 'server' so that I can run my music 24/7 without having laptop on.
I initially looked at a NAS, the majority of posts are around NAS's on the forums, however I ruled this out, I personally thought that the NAS I was looking at (Qnap) was expensive for the spec. I then looked at mini pc's such as TranquilPC, FitPC etc. and decided on a Mini ITX solution
Similar to the above however the 330 processor & cd drive plus added my own RAM/HDD (went for a 1Tb drive), the total cost including the HDD was about £290 of which 1/3rd was storage.
In terms of operating system I looked at Windows Home Server, Ubuntu & Vortexbox - WHS ruled out due to cost, I loaded Ubuntu onto the server and it worked very well. However I'd previously trialled Vortexbox on an old pc and was impressed, the ability to automate ripping/tagging/artwork for cd's is great and is going to make it a lot easier to re-rip my collection into FLAC - its easy to interact with and combined with SrvrPowerCntrl is, for me, an excellent solution, streaming to my Duet & Boom.
As the box has Squeezeplay included I'm going to move it into my office (connect to router via homeplugs) and add some speakers to the box to have enabled another zone.
All in all I'm happy, there is still a fair bit of work to get it running exactly as I like and Vortexbox keeps being improved, new 0.6 version just out. I'd recommend looking at a MiniITX solution for those thinking of home server options
Any questions on the set-up please let me know.
Ian
Like a lot of users as soon as I bought my first SB kit I started looking at a 'server' so that I can run my music 24/7 without having laptop on.
I initially looked at a NAS, the majority of posts are around NAS's on the forums, however I ruled this out, I personally thought that the NAS I was looking at (Qnap) was expensive for the spec. I then looked at mini pc's such as TranquilPC, FitPC etc. and decided on a Mini ITX solution
Similar to the above however the 330 processor & cd drive plus added my own RAM/HDD (went for a 1Tb drive), the total cost including the HDD was about £290 of which 1/3rd was storage.
In terms of operating system I looked at Windows Home Server, Ubuntu & Vortexbox - WHS ruled out due to cost, I loaded Ubuntu onto the server and it worked very well. However I'd previously trialled Vortexbox on an old pc and was impressed, the ability to automate ripping/tagging/artwork for cd's is great and is going to make it a lot easier to re-rip my collection into FLAC - its easy to interact with and combined with SrvrPowerCntrl is, for me, an excellent solution, streaming to my Duet & Boom.
As the box has Squeezeplay included I'm going to move it into my office (connect to router via homeplugs) and add some speakers to the box to have enabled another zone.
All in all I'm happy, there is still a fair bit of work to get it running exactly as I like and Vortexbox keeps being improved, new 0.6 version just out. I'd recommend looking at a MiniITX solution for those thinking of home server options
Any questions on the set-up please let me know.
Ian
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