Thursday, August 21, 2008

NAS & Linux - wonderful technology

I am still around! At the moment the market doesn't really interest me. I have had no signals and only hold one stock - NHC.

I have however been sorting out my network. I dropped a Qnap TS109 II into the mix. It's a NAS (network attached storage) unit. I bought it to store my music collection (stored in lossless FLAC format) and play to my Squeezebox, but it's also very useful for backing up data.

It also only needs around 14 watts to run and I can turn my desktop off to play music. I realised that I only really use the desktop computer for backup and as a music server, although I did set up a music system with it with a USB DAC plus some homemade "concept" speakers. But the desktop is too noisy for a Hifi setup. The NAS doesn't have a fan and is very quiet but I can't plug the DAC into to play music. It's headless - no screen or keyboard of it's own.

Any computer on the network can access the NAS and upload / download files, photos etc. The Squeezebox links wirelessly to the NAS to play music. My daughter's Macbook can also use it. I think that the desktop computer is going back to work so I can remodel my study - rip up carpets, paint walls, new blinds and some decent furniture.

Enough of my rambling - I will post some charts soon and maybe even talk about trading!

stevo

3 comments:

Cameron said...

Hey Stevo,

Good to see that trading is a means to an end.

I put Linux on my Play Station three earlier in the year. It was a nice little project, and since I use Linux at work the experience of tinkering with it feeds back into my job.

Unfortunately the PS3 is way underspec'd for Linux, with a feeble 256 meg of RAM. So, I'm looking at alternatives and suffice to say I'm reading with keen interest to learn about some of the options I have.

ASX.G

stevo said...

ASX.G
I noticed that Linux could run on a PS3 - amazing stuff. I guess ram upgrades are not easy on PS3's?

I put Ubuntu on an old iMAC with 256mb. It's ok - I am using it now. But I am looking around for some cheap ram to upgrade.I was surprised how easy it was to set up and get Linux running.

The iMAC is such a beautiful design. I really like the way they put it together. As a web browser and CD ripper it works really well and I think the ram upgrade will lift it's performance, even though it only has a 700mhz processor.

stevo

Cameron said...

Impossible to upgrade the PS3 RAM. The best hack I've seen (but not implemented yet) is to mount some gigs of flash via USB and use that for swap space...not as fast as ram but better than disk.

As a media server it works pretty well. As a bit torrent client, web browser and media server it just can't keep up. And as a bit torrent client on its own it has some issues...I can't seem to get it to come anywhere close to matching the download rates I get on my laptops.

I must get a NAS. My 500 gig lacie porsche USB HDD has a fan and is awfully loud.