[nas] What kinds of small NAS servers are being used?

[Paul Fox]

 > I would like to find what types of small computers are being used for NAS
 > servers.  I would like to find a very cheap solution; the computer will not
 > require any user interface as it is only required to deliver audio.


    - do you really need NAS?  or are you just looking for remote
	audio.  a product like the slimp3 (www.slimdevices.com) has
	an open protocol, and will decode mp3 audio on the fly.  it's
	not the cheapest solution, but is very small, and very high
	quality.

    - put together a small linux box, based on an older 486.  if you
	can boot it diskless from a server, then it doesn't need a
	disk, and will be silent.  you'd need motherboard, NIC, soundcard,
	and floppy (for booting).

    - get an older laptop with on-board sound, and install linux/nas
	on it.

    - get a discontinued NCD X-terminal, one of the HMX series.  be sure
	and get one with audio hardware.  run it headless -- you might
	need to have a keyboard plugged in.  they've been on ebay quite
	cheaply.

    - i'd imagine that you could run linux/nas on many very
	small embedded machines, but this probably won't be
	the cheapest way, especially when you add in the
	sound hardware.

paul
=---------------------
 paul fox, pgf at foxharp.boston.ma.us (arlington, ma, where it's 22.6 degrees)