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I'm quiet experienced with PC audio and have researched and built several audio PCs in the past. Now I need a new audio PC for a system set up in a different location. I don't want to hassle with bulding something from scratch this time.I'm streaming wirelessly to Slim Devices Transporter -- awesome toy, BTW -- so this time around I don't need a quiet PC, or a soundcard, or even a display, since I can remote desktop in when needed.
I'm basically looking for something compact and cheap, with enough HD space to store 120 GB of FLAC files + run the XP OS. My music is backed up in two places, so I don't need a RAID or anything fancy.
Any suggestions? One thought was to get a vert cheap laptop and install a 160GB drive... But a small desktop might also work.
Follow Ups:
PC guy two, and I wanted something easy, simple, and not fussy. Mac Mini with a La Cie matching Mini external HD. Installed in 10 minutes and damn if it just works every time without fuss. Liked it so much I retired my PC and bought another Mac Mini dual core, with parallels for my Windows apps.
Dave......are you connecting your LaCie via Firewire or USB? Gordon Rankin mentioned preferring Firewire for this connection (in another thread) when using an external USB DAC.
The only thing I'm running on this machine is Slimserver, so I guess it doesn't matter if it's a PC or MAC...Has anyone ever connected a Squeezebox directly to the PC via a crossover cable?
You could use a laptop, but you'd probably need to use an external drive.You don't need much, and if you've built PCs you know there isn't much to assembling a PC that is less that state of the art. If you want someone else to support it, get an inexpensive HP PC at Walmart or Best Buy or something from Dell, stick your music storage hard drive in it and be done. Use VNC for remote desktop and go without a monitor, mouse or keyboard.
Here is the page that describes SSODS. The DiskStation looks like a nice small device. It looks like it comes with no hard drive, so you get the size you want and install it.I'm not familiar with this setup, but I believe there's a bunch of threads on it over at the slimdevices forum.
I would not use a laptop, they get quite warm and having them powered on could be a fire hazard (perhaps even with battery out).There is a new breed of devices, essentially an external hard drive case with linux controller built in. They have analog, digital and component out. I would investigate them. Seen one in Best buy, it was used as HDTV source for plasma tv.
Take a look: Eureka 3.5 Hard drive player
It does not play flac though. But it is dirt cheap and drives are cheap nowadays. I would put 500GB drive inside and fill it with your 160GB FLAC files converted to WAV.I guess you can not get simpler than that.
Will this device run SlimServer? This is a key requirement.
Gregeas, please forget about my suggestion. Making it to run slimserver would probably take lot of effort.I recall that there is a NAS storagerunning Linux that people use to run slimserver on.
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