What is Digg?51 Comments
- clinko, on 10/12/2007, -1/+44Summary of article:
1. Put Harddrives in a PC.
Or we can do it the ars way:
Page 1: Put
Page 2: Hardrives
Page 3: In a PC - sshack, on 10/12/2007, -1/+193 pages of hardware, and barely a mention of the hard part - the software.
- Rikushix, on 10/12/2007, -6/+21What you just did was worse than typing "http://houseofpolitics.com - political forum" and nothing else. *Pretending* to show an interest in what the article is about - and you probably didn't even read it - so you can spam your website is just lame.
Spamming = instant douche. - kiwiboyus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15god I hate f**kers that SPAM comments with lame ass links.
- dude187, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7"Spamming = instant douche."
I agree, so why did you re spam his site for him on a comment that will get modded up? ;) - AReallyGoodName, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5@toto
No that's not how NAS devices work.
There are "ATA over ethernet" devices that do allow for the remote computer to handle the filesystem, however they are rare. They also have the issue of only allowing 1 remote user to access the drive at a time.
Normal home network attached storage devices handle the filesystem themselves. They then present the drive as a shared directory or as an ftp site. - kodek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Because only a windows-based operating system can read/write to ntfs partitions without any problems (and the licensing of the technology is a problem).
- AReallyGoodName, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4He wasn't talking about a file server, he was talking about something to play the movies on the TV.
We XBMC users already have cheap old PCs serving terabytes of storage. The modded xBox is simply used to play those files on the TV in a very elegant way. - mleh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I love my XBMC Xbox... but it can't handle HD movies. For that I bought a MacMini 1.66GHz and two external drives -- a 320G and a 500G. Now I'm writing a frontend to my stuff because MythVideo is utter crap.
- AReallyGoodName, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@toto
NTFS is proprietry Microsoft tech.
Almost every lightweight embedded system uses FAT32 these days, it is documented, apparantly patent free and there is plenty of free code to implement a FAT32 filesystem. Besides, for a simple embedded device the filesystem won't need the multi-user permissions/security of NTFS anyway.
edit: kodek said it all. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3You're right. I have 2 Xboxs here and I don't even play games. Just picked em up on craigslist for $100 bucks a pop, install XBMC, and bam, every TV in the house is on the network, and non-HD content is smooth as butter. Just load up a case with drives, which this guy could have said in a paragraph, and rip away your DVD collection. Now you're playing with an integrated home media system, not just a server. And all it took was 5 sentences.
Why the hell are people digging this again? Perhaps if he went into the software, it would be worthwhile, but I'd wager 9 out of 10 diggers could have written this article. - bcool, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3agreed, and whatever HTPC type thing you would use at each tv in your home. A review of those would be much more useful. I know they're out there, but It would be great to see a comparison of their interfaces and which video formats they will play. If only appleTV would allow for codecs...
- And0, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Seriously, a guide to building a home media server is supposed to be about *building* it, not a big list of components with lots of COMPARISON SHOP FOR THIS ITEM linkspam.
But thank god they spent half a page telling me what kind of case to get! - splitsecond, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3The BEST and CHEAPEST media center is a modded Xbox w/Xbox Media Center... You simply can't beat it! You can also get one for under $300 FULLY LOADED!
- Rikushix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Haha my bad I guess =/ caught up in the heat of the moment.
- Urusai, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Didn't they used to call this NAS? Why not just build a buff HTPC?
- otheruser, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Indeed, this would be a good post if it were more focused on how to setup the network.
So.... why in hell did 84 people digg this!? - AReallyGoodName, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yep, the way they presented that you may as well just get a cheapo network attached storage (NAS) appliance with a big hard drive. It will store the files in a central location and use far less power.
The real benefit of using a PC as your central media server is you can remotely control it and use it to download media off the net.
Install whatever operating system you prefer and get a program that allows you to remotely control it. I use tightVNC for the remote controlling myself. It allows me (and my housemates) to control the computer from a web interface as if i was sitting right there at the PC.
Then install emule, bittorrent, etc. and use the remote control software to queue up the downloads.
Put the PC in an out of the way place and you now have an always on machine sharing files full-time.
Couple this with a box that plays the media on your TV (i use XBMC) and you have the perfect home video on demand style setup. - totorototoro, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I thought the Asus was a true NAS? So it wouldn't matter what the drive was formatted as to anyone trying to access it in that fashion? That way you avoid the whole 4G max file size thing, get a (slightly) more robust file system, and anyone can still read/write it? I'm curious about this because the Apple Extreme also has a USB port for a HD, and was wondering if it worked the same way.
- raid517, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Man he sure bangs on.
Article should read:
Build a PC, put hard drives in it.
Install a Linux media centric distro - or equivalent MS OS.
That's it.
Why waffle on for all those pages just to say that? - superkendall, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I was going to say the same thing - Apple also supports attaching a USB drive to the latest Airport Extreme base stations. Why have a whole computer and OS when the only point is to attach a drive?
If you really want to get fancy you can attach a RAID enclosue to the WAP. - MonkeyMCSE, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I don't know if this will help any of you, but I used this site to get mine working.
http://www.mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html
Hope it helps and it's pretty easy once you get the hang of linux. - ltmon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I am using an Asus wireless router with USB ports. Simply attach a FAT32 hard drive et voila - home media server for < $150.
For even more flexibility and the power to (e.g.) stream tunes or run bittorrent directly on your router install http://openwrt.org on the router. You can even attach printers, sound cards for central playback, run Asterisk for a home PABX. - deadbaby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Linux is definitely the best solution for this type of setup. My file sever runs on CentOS 4.4 along with:
Ampache for streaming music (allows me to access my music _anywhere_ with a web browser)
Samba, NFS, HTTP, FTP, CCXstream (XBMC) servers
HellaNZB for automated usenet leeching
rtorrent for automated torrenting
Webmin & SSH for remote mangement - AReallyGoodName, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I guess it's because the xBox was designed to look good on a standard defintion TV, but I haven't yet found a media player that looks as good as the XBMC when using a standard definition TV.
I recently tried hooking up a couple of PCs using the TV output and they both looked crap in comparison (7800Gt and 9600 ati vivo).
I know i'll have to upgrade one day when high definition is everywhere but for the time being it's perfect. - sarwolf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Great resource! I think the home media server idea is something that's going to be HUGE in the coming years.
http://www.home-media-server.net - officechris, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Wow I was just about to say the same thing so i'll just quote it!
"The BEST and CHEAPEST media center is a modded Xbox w/Xbox Media Center... You simply can't beat it! You can also get one for under $300 FULLY LOADED!"
BEST THING EVER!
And the modchips now are all solderless! Look into it, XBMC will stream DVD Images right from .ISO or .IMG formats, point and click! 1.5TB RAID 5 File Server, Modded XBox XBMC (IR Modded), Harmony 880, = sweet action... - mroo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@crossmr:
I watch HDTV 1080i ( 1920x1080 interlaced ) across a wireless nextwork and have NO PROBLEMS. It is a video stream and hardly compares to a 2GB file. You only need a couple of MB/s for video, for SD less than a meg. - totorototoro, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2AReallyGoodName,
well, damn. So much for that idea :p thanks! - crossmr, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Using a wireless server just isn't a good idea. Unless you're using it very rarely (which defeats its purpose). Even under optimal conditions it doesn't reach the throughput of ethernet, and unless you live in a remote area with no devices which work on the same frequency (including phones and microwaves) you won't achieve optimal conditions. For example in my apartment netstumbler picks up 65 networks in under 2 minutes. Plus the hordes of apartment dwellers around me who have 2.4 GHz phones all conspire to basically destroy your wireless speed. if you have more than one wireless device it only makes it worse (I have a Wii, 2 laptops and a wireless media center, not server). Wireless is fine for surfing from a laptop, but the last thing you want to do is transfer some 2 GB file across a wireless link on a regular basis.
- robbiedo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I just added up all my drives on my home network: its about 2 TB. Who would have thought. Still waiting for my jetpack and hovercraft.
- mroo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1in arstechnica's defense: They have always been hardware oriented like there yearly GOD Box, Good Box, Budget Box, SFF Box guides, and this is in the same spirit.
- matstars, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Talk about overkill.
My server is a P3-500 with 384 MB of RAM, threw 2 sata cards in,
HD#1: 500Gigs - Movies
HD#2: 400Gigs - TV Programs from HTPC
HD#3: 200Gigs - Music
No parity which is a problem, but until I have excess cash I have to live with it.
Plays perfectly fine through my HTPC, couldn't be happier. - XenophobicAlien, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I bought a buffalo linktheatre instead of doing all that.. It handles xvid, divx, wmv, mp3, avi, jpeg, bmp without any modding for $199. It hooks right up to the lan, wired or wireless.
- SyberMile, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1my media server runs win server 2003 std
- October, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Mine runs Ubuntu 6.10 with Red Kawa Media Center for Wii (flv video collection as an experiment) and Slimserver 6.5 for audio. Also Samba for print, file and video transfers to and from the other machines on my LAN (four total plus the Wii.) And that's all on a 1.3 Sempron w/ 512 and a 250GB
Definitely interested in seeing what an old xbox can do as a head unit. - mroo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Thats funny because it is true.. But ars need some reason to make people pay for the ONE PAGE PDF :)
- mroo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The entire reason I bought an xbox in the first place was to run XBMC and use it as a media centre, a couple of linux servers running samba, and a few DVB cards ( The cheap ones so you can pipe the raw mpeg2 TV stream across the network ) and your in media heaven :)
My only gripe is you cant watch HDTV DVB channels because the xbox is not fast enough to decode it :( - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Only a passing mention of Windows Home Server or why it's generating interest.
- JesseJ, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Read the article one more time, but this time replace the words 'data' and 'media' with pr0n. :9 Then it all makes sense.
- mdnttoker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Best hardware / software combination: Server running SageTV + Hauppauge silent media extenders in each room....Perfection!
- superkendall, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1What about devices attached to the same etherent the wireless router is? It seems like they would get on fine.
As for speed over wireless, Apple incorperates the ability to attach a USB 2.0 HD to the new Airport Extreme Wireless N routers. - stunna, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0wrong post
- stunna, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I'm waiting for a pokemon MMO.
- crossmr, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Sure you can. I got a second hand PC for $100 with a 40 GB hard drive in it. For another $200 I can certainly put a lot more storage in it than an xbox. The best and cheapest will always be the PC. A home server doesn't need massive amounts of ram or CPU power, so a second hand cheap one with a ton of harddrives in it will always give you the most bang for your buck in terms of storage and usability.
- totorototoro, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2ltmon, why Fat32 and not NTFS?
- totorototoro, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1AReallyGoodName (and kodek), ok. I'm not a fan of NTFS, just don't want to deal with the whole 4G file limit/etc. thing on Fat32, and thought an NAS solution bypassed the whole file system thing completely from a network point of view. Actually, I was hoping to use an HFS+/Extended drive, and access it from both Macs and PCs without problems by going to an NAS :p
- joe90210, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1I have a better article:
1) wait for windows home server to come out - eth3l, on 10/12/2007, -14/+3Then Mark it as lame without any commetns.
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