jdbaker;206416 Wrote: > Balthazar, Wow, sounds pretty complicated. My idea is tuck the headless > music server pc under my desk, hard wire it to my network and control > it with my xp desktop. I have a usb 300GB external hard drive that > contains my ripped apple lossless music files. I also have a nice usb > Sony external cd/dvd burner. The MS pc does have usb2 so I thought I > would hook the hard drive and cd/dvd burner to it. The process would > be: > Reformat the hard drive and load the new Linux based operating system. > Load Itunes (will Itunes run on an Linux based system) and Slimserver. > Hookup the external hard drive and cd burner. > Load whatever software I need to control the MS pc from my desktop pc. > WaLa, run Itunes and slimserver which reside on the music server pc > from my desktop pc. I think this is possible, if it is possible for me > to accomplish this I am not so sure. I could always leave it as a > windows based computer and use switch boxes for the monitor,keyboard > and mouse, but all I need it to do is run SS and Itunes. This computer > is extremely slow running XP, wouldn't Linux be a much more efficient > system for accomplishing what I want to do? Any suggestions out there?
It's actually not all that complicated. It sounds like the external USB disk will be attached to your Windows workstation, in which case you just need to share its directory. You'll need the Samba client on the Linux box to access that share (with Ubuntu, I believe it's installed by default). You want iTunes on your workstation, not the media server. If you need to have Slimserver access your music while your workstation is off, then you'll want your music files residing on the media server. In that case you'll need to install the Samba server on your Linux box, share out the disk/directory where your music will be stored, and then if you rip music using iTunes on your workstation, make sure you connect to that share automatically when you boot your workstation. A switch box will probably work fine between both your XP workstation and the Linux box if everything is colocated as you're describing. Again, I'd suggest trying to install the Ubuntu build I mentioned in my earlier message (it sounds like you'll be a lot more comfortable with a GUI than a CLI). No need to reformat your drive in advance; it should happen during the install. Linux is *much* more efficient than XP or any Windows server, and will *probably* run fine on your box (even though your RAM is a bit low). The only problem you may run into is if you have some whacky oddball component on your old computer for which there's no Linux driver, but you'll know right away. Best thing is you can try it for free! AND IT'S FUN!!! Let me know if any of this doesn't make sense and I'll try to clarify. -- Balthazar_B ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Balthazar_B's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=7366 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=35806 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
