TechnoChubby

For some time, we have changed the way we look at computing at the home/home office.   Originally, we had our SOHO (Small Office/Home Office - does anyone use this term still) equipment, like our computers and servers all in our “office” in our home.  

At one point, we had three beefy servers (beefy for the home), about 40+ Desktop computers (don’t ask), and two Laptops.  This was our final “large” set-up before we started to pair down about two years ago. We sold most of the desktops and consolidated the server into one machine.   We’re currently at one server, one desktop, and nine laptops.  We feel that for the most part, laptops are the way to go since most of them now can be full desktop replacements. 

We recently moved, and during the move, I decided that our “server” space no longer needs to be in the office.  For the SOHO environment that we have, I felt it was time that our “server” and premise equipment be near the main TV or the living room (since this was our main focal point in our home).  Our first step in moving in this direction involved keeping the cable-modem and router at the entertainment center in the living room.  This has worked out nicely.  Only the file server and the “work” laptops are in the “office” and at various “work areas” around the apartment. 

The Idea: 

The next big step in my plan was to create a central file server/media center that will also “live” in the living room. I want to create a beefy machine that will act as our central file server and be the “hub” for our media.   

This box will have the following functions: 

1. File Server - This machine will house our all our shared files and serve up shares so that anyone within our network will have a central place to do so.
2. Media Center - This machine will also act as our main Media Center (windows) and display on our living room television.  It will also act as the main Media Center hub for our existing Media Center extender (an XBOX360) and additional extenders we will add later.
3. uPNP/DLNA Media Server- This machine will also serve media to any devices in our network that can talk via uPNP/DLNA.  (XBOX360, PS3, other devices)
4. VMware- This machine will also run VMware to run various OS’s that will serve various functions that we need throughout our work/home environment.

 This machine will eliminate the need for the current file server in the office.

Core Software: (So far) 

After doing a lot of research and assessment of above needs, we decided on the following: 

Host OS:  Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit 

•   We looked at possible solutions and narrowed our choices to LinuxMCE or Windows Vista.  (Note: we are OS non-biased, we try to find the solution that best fits to what our overall needs are)  With that said and after a lot of consideration, we decided to go with Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit for our base/main operating system. We felt that it would work better with our plans moving forward. This will also meet our requirements #1 and especially #2. 

uPNP/DLNA Media Server: It’s down to Windows Media Connect or Nero MediaHome. (need to take a look at Tversity) 

•   We’re still on the fence on this.  We are leaning towards Windows Media Connect.  We’ve been testing this arrangement with a small system currently and are ’so so’ on it.  We used to run a Nero MediaHome server and were very happy with how it worked. However, we know how Microsoft works somewhat better with “Microsoft” software, so we are leaning towards Windows Media Connect. Both solutions communicate well our uPNP devices. We may also play with Tversity

 Virtalization:  VMWare Workstation 6

•   We’re going to use VMWare workstation 6 to run our various Linux distros for our test systems and for other internal reasons.

Core Hardware:

 THIS IS THE FUN PART! Chubby Time!

• Processor: Intel Q6600 Core 2 Quad
• Motherboard: Asus Maximus Formula
• RAM:  8 GB (4xOCZ 2048 PC6400 DDR2)
• Video Card: XFX 8800GT 512
• Case: Thermaltake Armor
• Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower 700w Modular
• Optical: LG GGW-H20L (LG Lightscribe 6x Blu-Ray R/RW, HD DVD-ROM, DVD+R(W)/-R(W), CD-R(W))

Hard Drive Configuration:

• Boot: 2 x Raptor 74 GB mirrored (maybe 2×160GB)
• Media: 500 GB
• Data:  750 GB

(Eventually we will go with an array - this is why we chose the armor case - we have about 2,000 DVD’s that we want instant access to, that’s a project for another time)

All of the above will connect to our living room TV which is a Sony 60″ BRAVIA A series SXRD Rear Projection HDTV.

That’s the plan so far, we’ll post a videos once we get the parts in and throughout various aspects of the configuration.

We’ll be posting various opinions and reviews on our choices once we get all the parts and begin the actual set-up.