Standalone Boom - for demo purposes

[fattybacon]

I've got a notion of taking my new Boom to my friend's house this Sunday to show him what a great piece of kit it is. For years he's been running a complicated rigamole to get his music, that he can control, onto his garden deck, and I think the Boom is the bomb, for him too.

At the moment in his spare room he has a PC running Winamp connected to a short-range FM transmitter via the soundcard, it's running a random playlist (selected genres). On the garden deck he has an FM radio tuned into the right frequency. He uses a PDA, Sony PSP or a mobile phone running Salling Clicker to skip tracks via a web interface to Winamp.

I was hoping to take the Boom and a netbook laptop running SC connected via a crossed-over ethernet cable, and have them both on the deck. I think if I manually assign the ethernet addresses, I should be able to get them talking and playbacking some music from the laptop. Would it work?

Alternatively, if I can connect the Boom to his wifi network I could use SqueezeNetwork and stream some Staff Picks, Last.fm or something. I'd see that as a second option.

The final option is to install SC on his PC but I've told him time and time again to use SC instead of Winamp but he's resisted. So I think that would be a last option.

[ccrome2]

Dear Fatty,

I've got a notion of taking my new Boom to my friend's house this Sunday to show him what a great piece of kit it is. For years he's been running a complicated rigamole to get his music, that he can control, onto his garden deck, and I think the Boom is the bomb, for him too.

Good Idea!

At the moment in his spare room he has a PC running Winamp connected to a short-range FM transmitter via the soundcard, it's running a random playlist (selected genres). On the garden deck he has an FM radio tuned into the right frequency. He uses a PDA, Sony PSP or a mobile phone running Salling Clicker to skip tracks via a web interface to Winamp.

Holy Mackrel. Boom is the product for him!

I was hoping to take the Boom and a netbook laptop running SC connected via a crossed-over ethernet cable,

No need for crossover cable, Boom has auto-crossover. (Your laptop probably does too)

and have them both on the deck. I think if I manually assign the ethernet addresses, I should be able to get them talking and playbacking some music from the laptop. Would it work?

Absolutely. Static assigning is the best way to go, but if you just let them go, both your Boom and your laptop should self-assign a 169.xxx.xxx.xxx address, and be able to see eachother. Set this up before you head over there, or you'll be fiddling too much and he won't be so impressed.

Alternatively, if I can connect the Boom to his wifi network I could use SqueezeNetwork and stream some Staff Picks, Last.fm or something. I'd see that as a second option.

Of course, Squeezenetwork doesn't care where your Boom is, or what IP address it comes from. (Well that's true to a limit -- certain services are only available in certain countries). It will automatically connect to your account and you'll never know you left home.

The final option is to install SC on his PC but I've told him time and time again to use SC instead of Winamp but he's resisted. So I think that would be a last option.

You can do that too, but hauling your laptop, or connecting to SN is your best choice I think.

[fattybacon]

No need for crossover cable, Boom has auto-crossover. (Your laptop probably does too)

Ahhh, handy! Good to know

Absolutely. Static assigning is the best way to go, Set this up before you head over there, or you'll be fiddling too much and he won't be so impressed.

Yep, I want this presentation to be slick, it's like The Apprentice with (USonald Trump, UK:Alan Sugar) and I don't want to be FIRED!

Of course, Squeezenetwork doesn't care where your Boom is, or what IP address it comes from. (Well that's true to a limit -- certain services are only available in certain countries). It will automatically connect to your account and you'll never know you left home.

My just-one-more-thing finale might be using his wifi and pointing the Boom at my home SC (I already use Dyndns for remote desktop and such).

[SuperQ]

Another option is to use windows internet connection sharing. This should enable DHCP and NAT on your ethernet port, so you could use the wifi in your laptop to do online streaming while you're running SC on your laptop.

I use the Linux equivalent when I use my laptop to demo squeezebox stuff.

[MeSue]

I've got a notion of taking my new Boom to my friend's house this Sunday to show him what a great piece of kit it is. For years he's been running a complicated rigamole to get his music, that he can control, onto his garden deck, and I think the Boom is the bomb, for him too.

Good luck with your demo. He'd be crazy not to go for it IMO. I also used to do a complicated rigmarole to get my tunes out to the pool area. Every summer, on top of the pool opening chores, there was always the added hassle of getting the music set up again. I used a wireless speaker connected to my PC output, and NetRemote on a PDA to control it. There was always a lot of fiddling required to get it all working semi-reliably.

This is the first spring I opened the pool since getting the Boom and let me tell you, it was a piece of cake! I had my first swim this week and almost took it for granted but your post reminded me of all the hoops I used to jump through. I love my BOOM!!