New PC for audio room

[richidoo]

Bob, what ed is saying is you make a bootable CD-R of the Ubuntu OS, then reboot the PC to the CD, and voila you are running Ubuntu from the CD, not Windows from the HD. It runs slow when it has to seek to CD, but otherwise it's interesting. It would take me some getting used to in order to use it everyday computing. But as a music server where you would never touch it outside your player app, could be OK. It will run much faster when installed on HD.

It's free to try it, moneywise that is. It will take time to download the big iso file to make the CD, and another 5 minute+s to boot.

I think there are some apps on it, and a browser. t would not run roblox.com or webkinz.com so it was not the solution I was seeking when i tried it last. XP SP3 is killing my kids old puters.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Hmm. Ok. I'll put that on my "to do" list.
Sounds most interesting.

Carl, what's up with your project?

Bob

[mgalusha]

I've been using a Powerspec V50 nettop ($225 @ microcenter) running Win 7 with a hiFace USB -> S/PDIF widget and it works very well. It is noisy when purchased but fixing that costs all of about $10. The CPU is fanless but the northbridge controller has a noisy fan on it. I pulled it and installed a Zallman passive cooler and just removed the case fan. It has a 140 gig notebook drive and I can't hear it from my listening chair. Of course a SSD would be an option but I wanted to keep the cost down.

I did pop $39 bucks for a 2 GB memory module, it only has room for one. I also grabbed a wireless RF keyboard/mouse, looks like a laptop keyboard but with no display. I just set up some hotkeys for foobar for navigating the playlist and it works a treat. The PC is about really small, perhaps 8x10. I have it standing on the rack next to my BPT. It is without question the best transport I have.

I did install Ubuntu on it with no problems but the hiFace only works with foobar at the moment, so it's running Windows 7. It has been 100% problem free. No freezes, glitches or anything unexpected. CPU utilization is only 1 to 2 percent when playing 24/192 files, so the little Atom 230 is plenty of power.

mike

[mgalusha]

Bob, what ed is saying is you make a bootable CD-R of the Ubuntu OS, then reboot the PC to the CD, and voila you are running Ubuntu from the CD, not Windows from the HD. It runs slow when it has to seek to CD, but otherwise it's interesting. It would take me some getting used to in order to use it everyday computing. But as a music server where you would never touch it outside your player app, could be OK. It will run much faster when installed on HD.

If you have a 1GB or larger USB drive around extract the ISO to the flash drive and boot from that. Runs just like the live CD except faster and it can store settings  between runs and not touch the existing disc in the PC. I like the fedora USB flash utility much more than the one that comes with Ubuntu - https://fedorahosted.org/liveusb-creator/ It will happily write Ubuntu to a flash drive, or any other distro.

[_Scotty_]

Hi Mike, I am using eeebuntu and Rhythmbox on an ASUS netbook to playback 16/44 wavfiles via a USB to spdif converter and the DAC section of my modified Cambridge 740C with very good results. Have you tried any of the Linux players yet.
Scotty

[mgalusha]

Scotty,

I have a spare drive with Ubuntu installed with Rhythmbox but until m2tech has Linux drivers ready I'm unable to use it. I have an M-Audio "audiophile 24/96 usb" device that will work with Linux but the hiFace sounds better, at least in my system so I'll wait for m2tech to release the Linux drivers. It will be interesting to see how it all sorts out.

mike

[richidoo]

http://www.m2tech.biz/products.html

That's a cool little device Mike. Says it plays 24/192.

[Carlman]

Thanks, Mike.. you've basically done what I'm trying to figure out.  Gutting a netbook was starting to become an option for me.

One major miscalculation on my part, though.. is that Foobar is only for Windows.. I thought for sure Foobar could run on Linux too... but it cannot and probably will not.  So maybe I'm stuck with Windows if I want to keep my current easy player setup.  But the hardware Mike is using is VERY interesting and may just be the perfect solution.

Mulling over now.. hm. 

-C

[mgalusha]

It delivers exactly what it says. The few 24/192 and 24/176.4 files I have play without a hitch and sound amazing. Anyone want a nice 'table.

http://www.m2tech.biz/products.html

That's a cool little device Mike. Says it plays 24/192.

[lonewolfny42]

http://www.m2tech.biz/products.html

That's a cool little device Mike. Says it plays 24/192.

$150.00 from TweekGeek(Mike).....Sold out until January .....