The "introduce yourself" thread

[pete66]

@Yoram,

What software are you using to stream to your PS3? Are you happy with it? What media-types are you streaming? Are you transcoding on the fly or is everything streamed natively?

Pete

[thinmintaddict]

Hey Everyone,

I was almost completely new to linux when I started my server (had dabbled with ubuntu desktop a couple times, but no command-line stuff). It has been running now for almost 6 months now and has evolved a bit from its first iteration, which was identical to the guide. Since then all my home computers now run linux exclusively (64-Bit Arch mostly, with fedora in a vm to play with it).

My rig is an Acer Aspire AX1700 that I bought on ebay for a hundred bucks. For anyone who's looking to get started, the ax1300 and 1700 are a great machine to do it in, you can pick 'em up really cheap most of the time on craigslist or ebay, and they have a discrete graphics card if you ever want to use them for xbmc or something. the only disappointment I've had is that its CPU doesnt support virtualization, so I can't run KVM. :(

Ubuntu Server 64 Bit, tried a couple other OS's but ubuntu server is still the best documented for home use I think.
As for Software:
Media Stuff:
Deluge and Flexget - to torrent my tv shows from
Twonky Server - to stream SD media to my xbox 360
PS3 Media Server - to stream my HD (.mkv files) to my xbox 360 (I only keep Twonky because its database updates more quickly, PS3 media server only updates its database every couple hours, so I have to restart the daemon to get it to show my shows)
Firefly DAAP Server - Lets my fiance access our music in her iTunes.

Other Stuff:
LAMP Server - hosts the website for our wedding :-)
Courier/Postfix/etc - private email server.

[Ian]

Hi thinmintaddict,

Sounds like you make full use of your rig.

I started off using an old desktop that I was on the verge of taking down to the local dump. I installed Ubuntu server on it really just so I could say when anyone asked "yeah, I've used Ubuntu and it was rubbish". But the more I played around with it the more I realised just how flexible it was. As you say you can simply think of what you'd like to do on it, run a few google searches and you can be sure someone else has already documented how to do it (just be careful what guides you follow, there is still a lot of junk out there )

I can honestly say neither me nor my family could live without our server now. It has become so ingrained in our everyday lives that we'd be totally lost without it. Long gone are the days when I could take it offline for a few days and fiddle with it

I'm very interested in hearing more about your last two uses sir:

LAMP Server - hosts the website for our wedding :-)
Courier/Postfix/etc - private email server.

Are you using a dynamic DNS service to access your website or something else?

Please tell me more about your private email server. Is this purely an internal email system for you and your family and not for exchanging emails externally? What email client do you use?

And what made you migrate all your home computers to linux? How has your family coped with the change?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm just very nosey

[thinmintaddict]

Don't worry about questions, the fun of linux is discovery!

When I was living out in the boonies, we had WDSL, and they didn't charge us anything extra for a static IP, so I just went that route, but we just moved into the city and have to deal with the dreaded Time Warner Cable , So now I'm using DDNS. For anyone thinking about it, http://www.Zoneedit.com will let you dynamically update a hostname that you own for free!

So for DDNS I have my dd-wrt router updating Zoneedit every 24 hours and then forwarding port 80 to my server (thank goodness Time Warner doesn't block port 80).

I'm still working on the actually site, so for now there's just a placeholder, but the site is http://www.russandkel.us . (Can you tell that I just edited the standard Apache placeholder?)

As far as the mail server is concerned, it was available to the outside world, I had two email addresses for my fiance and I, but somehow I broke it lol. I'm not planning on rebuilding the mail server portion until the next server rebuild in which I finally delve into the realm of virtualization. My family is starting to get annoyed everytime I take down the server.

Here is the set-up I was using though:
MTA: Postfix
IMAP: Courier
Webmail: Squirrel

All the Account information was stored in a MySQL database. I based it off of a great guide I found here: http://flurdy.com/docs/postfix/#intro_aim. Once you have the DDNS working, the email server is actually really easy to set up. I'm just not sure if I wan't my main email address to be hosted on a server that isn't highly available. It was mostly done out of curiousity, and to see if I could.

As for the linux switch, I just generally find linux more fun. My fiance is still holding on to Windows 7 as her operating system, but other than that everything is Arch Linux. For the most part, I just got tired of shelling out for 5 licenses everytime Micro$oft released a new OS. Also with the complicated networking, things just seem to work more smoothly with Linux.

She seems to enjoy the linux computers though. the only reason we haven't migrated her laptop is Netflix. She says that as soon as they support Linux she'll switch.

[helixhamin]

Hello,

I am John and work in Taiwan at AsusTek (I am American though).
I actually read this over a year ago, and studied up on how to make own make my server.

Well, I just upgraded my old system so figured I would use the spare parts to make my own server.

Currently I have a P5Q-Pro Motherboard
a 2.66 GHz, quad core CPU
4 GB Kingston 1300 DDR2 memory
1TB disk, for system and VM storage (Will be using a NAS once I have that built for my media storage, but stuck on my desktop PC for now)

Other then that, I guess throw in a box, a PSU, and a Wi-Fi card that is currently not working (Trying to get some help elsewhere for that currently), and that is my system.

Since I live in Taiwan, good media is difficult to find, so I end up having to torrent everything (Not out of want to rip people off, but cannot buy it or even see it on TV here....)

Made this system so I can start trying to get everything off my PC and start allowing all PCs to access media, instead of just trying to run everything via my desktop.

[rotabeast]

Hello everyone!
Great site Glad to have found it!!

[Russbyers]

Hey everyone. Midwestern born Floridian transplant.

Absolute newbie... Plan to use an old pc shell with a new HD, 1TB Foxcon mb Phenom AM2, 2gb Ram 650W PS to begin.
Like most, I gather, looking to integrate windows users with a linux media server for streaming entertainment.
Link to PS3 and maybe other equipment, it all depends on what I can learn. After all, I'm an old dog, new tricks are a challenge.

After install I will need guidance for linking other network computers.
It all looks good on paper, can't wait to see it fly.

If all goes well I have other dreams but I am content with baby steps for now.

[Ian]

Hi guys,

Nice to see some new faces. Enjoy your stay and please don't be afraid to ask questions. There is no one waiting in the wings to mock you if you ask a "dumb" question. Well, if there is I'll deal with them appropriately

Ian.

[hotwire]

Hello everyone,

Well designed website, spot on... Helped me many times, bunch of thanks...

This is my setup if you guys interested in;

Media server
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-8STXC with Intel P4 @2.53GHz, 2GB DDR266, no virtualisation
HDD1: 250GB for OS, File server, Media
HDD2: 1TB Media/Backup
OS: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (no plan to upgrade till next LTS; if it works let it works, just update)
Mediatomb media server

Media renderers: connected to the ETH network over PLC
- PS3
- Samsung 40" UE40C700 TV
- Yamaha RXV1067 AVReceiver

Using EAC to encode the CDs to MP3

Projects:
- Improve the power efficiency of the server; spin down disks, clock down CPU if possible
- Tranfer DVD repository to the server; find a easy to drive encoder app


Your thoughts welcome

[pete66]

@hotwire

shame about the mobo not supporting virtualization. You can always use fake virtualization like virtualbox if need be.

Have a look at PS3MediaServer (runs on linux) rather than mediatomb if i were you.

See here for drive spindown: http://www.havetheknowhow.com/Configure-the-server/Spin-down-idle-drives.html. Underclocking the cpu might prove a bad idea if you're going to be transcoding on the fly with your dlna server. Need to experiment.

Oh and welcome to the forum