FreeNAS

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FreeNAS

Started 2 years ago by PJ

There are 4 posts from 2 people

Latest reply from PJ

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1. Ubuntu Server and MythTV

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PJ

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I've been in the market for a media server for my home. Being the skinflint that I can be sometimes, I figured I'd make one of my own from spare parts lying around the house. At the time I had three desktops sitting around unused, and four laptops, a PS3, several handled devices and a desktop in use. I was looking for a solution that would allow me to: 1. Collect all my music in one place and serve it out, 2. Collect all my videos in one place and serve it out to whatever device needs it, 3. Provide Network Attached Storage capabilities to the family, 4. Allow bittorrent downloads/storage, 5. Centralized server to log into from the internet and access my documents/media.

This post has been moved to it's proper home on the WinExtra Blog so feel free to read the complete post there as well as post any comments for PJ

Posted 2 years ago #
phreeBase

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I'm pretty keen to give this a shot acherly. Please let us know how the MKV serving goes, because that is one thing I'm def trying to get working properly, and even win7 is struggling - i think it is more the implementation on the client device than win7 but still...

I can't even seem to demux my mkv files with any of the recommended software.

I'm in the market for a file server, currently using win2k, been seriously considering a linux dist, but prepared to try anything that works

Oh..

And if I do decide on freeNas, expect a few call for help

Posted 2 years ago #
PJ

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Well, this morning I sat down with my PS3 and gave the .mkv files a run. Not one of them worked in the sense that my PS3 came back with a polite message informing me there was a network error. I have several of the files stored in .mp4 format for use on iPods and those play, but with issues. A 640x480 movie run at original size on a 52 inch TV uses barely 1/5th of the screen real estate. Using the zoom feature to use more of the screen then reveals a world of artifacts that are part and parcel of upscaling the image that much. I need to back up and try to get the .mkv working. The files I've encoded with .m4v container formats (H.264 internal) don't even appear on the list of files. Makes me wonder if I need to modify some of the configuration settings....

MP3s played but the interface through the PS3 is rather clunky. Same, but less so, with digital photographs.

One of the best parts of this whole setup, I can change OS' out without having to re-copy all of my media to the hard drive. Makes trying new options easy.

Posted 2 years ago #
PJ

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As I mentioned in my latest post to the Boss, I'm going to give the Ubuntu server a go. Looking things over, I like the functionality of the Firefly software, FUPPES, SSH and Transmission (BitTorrent). The lack of transcoding in FUPPES is kind of a show stopper though. Because FUPPES is really nothing more than a DNLA compliant server (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Living_Network_Alliance for more info) and I'm more interested in serving up transcoded media to several devices, I'm going to give PS3 Media Server an install. More to be learned at http://ps3mediaserver.blogspot.com/

There is also another motive behind this move. I'm still learning to live with Linux. Tossing BSD into the mix really isn't that helpful at this point in my life even though I will eventually need to learn it for work. To add more pain to my pleasure.... FUPPES appears to be no longer actively maintained. There is chat about creating a forked version but I'm not going to hold my breath. The talk dates back over a year.... PS3 Media Server is almost actively maintained. That alone is enough to encourage me to give it a chance.

One of the possible future tracks for FreeNAS involved a switch over to Linux. I would have enjoyed that. Recently that was squashed when a commercial firm decided to support continued development of FreeNAS under BSD. BSD users are to Linux users what Mac users are to Windows users. Not saying anything negative about anyone there. Merely pointing out that there are Windows people, Mac people, Linux (ahem) people and then, there's the BSD-heads.....

Posted 2 years ago #

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