In the U.S., I was able to buy a barebones MSI Wind Desktop PC (Atom processor), 2 Gb of RAM, and a green 1 Tb hard-drive for around $225 after rebate from newegg.com.
I loaded Ubuntu (Linux, free) from a thumb-drive and loaded SB Server without too much trouble. (I had never used Linux before.) I was even able to configure the Server Power Control App to automatically make the machine sleep at night after music has not played for a certain amount of time. I looked at the other options, but this seemed to meet all of my criteria: energy-efficient, flexible, cheap. The Ubuntu machine plays perfectly on my Windows based network. I use a freeware program called SyncBack to transfer ripped music from my main computer to the server. As a happy by-product, I discovered that I can use the new machine as an always-on print server and a file back-up server. It also is great for email and web browsing; so much so, that I am now infrequently turning on my power-hungry main computer. My monitor has two inputs so I can keep both computers plugged-in, but I can also access the server by remote desktop, or I can access the SB Server through a web browser from any other computer on the network. The new machine has been continuously turned on for about six months now without a problem (knock on wood :) ). -- Robb_G ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Robb_G's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=38233 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=78839 _______________________________________________ Touch mailing list Touch@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/touch
