Home Server F-server!

All is well! This long overdue project took me weeks to have my dad realize I really want one. I have been very meticulous about the specs and I have been reading reviews and stuff online whenever I had the time just to take all my money's worth. Aaand tomorrow will mark the second week after I assembled a new computer that I enjoyably access remotely for the past week or so. =)

Components!

For the motherboard, I chose the ASRock H61M/U3S3. They say ASRock is a sister company of Asus which sells more budget-friendly motherboards but I still find their products reliable. ASRock motherboards have earned my trust and this is the third time I bought one for personal use. This model has two of the most important features I am looking for in a mobo. One is the gigabit LAN, and second the two USB 3.0 ports. It's pretty future-proof for a very competitive price of Php3,100.

The processor is the next thing to eye for when choosing components. It was a pretty hard decision between a single core AMD Sempron 145 2.7GHz, an Intel Celeron G530 2.4GHz, and a dual core Intel Pentium G620 running stock at 2.6GHz. When I was still trying to come up with the specs I was really in a dilemma. I didn't know if I were to build a server solely for file sharing, or a media server that I can use in the future with the PS3 or a new TV. But then Dad told me he's sponsoring my expenses so I went for the best choice among the three, the G620! =D

I got the Antec VP350 for the power supply. This PSU supplies a 350w true rated power which is more than enough for all the components even if I place additional hard drives. Got this for Php1,500.

For the other components, it was really a choice of which costs lower. Like the RAM, it doesn't really add up to the performance as long as I get 4GB at least. So I asked my favorite computer parts dealer for the cheapest 4GB single stick RAM they had and they gave me a Geil ram stick (which is a brand I also trust) with an orange heat-spreader. Php1,050

reference picture

The casing I chose personally. It's an Emaxx Rebel Gaming Chassis. It's an all black mATX casing which supports 4 hard drives and has four USB 2.0 ports at the front panel. I'm very glad I went for this since it's a lot better than in the picture and it's a bargain in my opinion. Php1,350.

reference picture

I had a 2TB Samsung Spinpoint F4EG that I was using as a data drive for my computer and I decided to use it for the server instead to lower down the expenses. At first I made a partition of 50GB for the operating system but then decided to buy and use a separate 160GB hard disk for the Linux OS to avoid complications in the future. Got a second hand Seagate hard drive for about Php1,200 via TipidPC.

The last but not the least, I used an old stock 120mm fan from my Thermaltake V3 casing for the bottom air intake and I replaced the stock front panel fan with a NZXT 140mm fan which I bought for Php420 from Dynaquest.

All is running fine now. Installed Ubuntu 12.04 as my operating system and used Samba for our network file sharing protocol. This took me a while to make it work since it wasn't cooperating with me very well at the start. For some reason, after doing loads of trial and error, my laptop managed to access the shared folder hosted by the server I built.

For my torrent client, I use Deluge. I can access it from anywhere as long as I have a web browser and an internet connection. I can also access it from school which is a pretty cool thing considering the school's intranet is covered with proxy. This was made possible by my router's dynamic DNS support. For the DNS service, I use DynDNS.

Lastly, for remote desktop browsing, I use Teamviewer. This is the first time I really appreciated such programs since I only use remote access to play and piss my sister off before, haha. I also setup all necesarry services to start automatically upon boot such as a script to mount the shared hard disk, Deluge daemon, and Teamviewer so it is only a matter of powering the server on and shutting it down whenever I have to use it.

Now the server is all set up. I just had to plugin the LAN cable and of course the power cable to make it run. No necessary keyboard, mouse, and monitor to connect since I can control it via any Teamviewer-equipped computer like my laptop! =)

Popcorn Hour A-200 and Apple TV

One of my dreams as a movie lover is to have a huge hard drive full of movies and a home theater for our room. But God is all good and granted more than what I wished for. :)

This is it. We are finally done setting up our network graciously equipped with computers, laptops, media tanks and a file server. To accommodate all those devices in gigabit speed we had to use a 4-port switch. So how did we do it?

First, we had to mount CAT5E cables to the walls to connect the network media players inside my parent's and sister's room. For the mounting of the wires, we hired Mang Gudo to do it. My brother and I were willing to mount it but Dad insisted we let our trusted carpenter do the job.

initial mounting

go mang gudo!

Mang Gudo almost done with the mounting, we decided to leave for church. Ate lunch in Town Center afterwards. We stopped by Ace Hardware and we saw this single level DIY shelf and got it for less than 500 bucks. It was brown and very classy and its length was enough for all the devices that we planned placing on top of it. We got back home at around 5pm and we immediately started working on the shelf. Right after the shelf, I started with the wiring. Disposed an AVR and a very old surge protector which has been abused for already 8 years(?) Haha.

From left to right: Router, Gigabit Switch, Modem, Network Attached Storage

The process took a little longer since I was carefully re-wiring the computer at the same time. I finished at about 9pm although it didn't appear to be very neat. I had no idea where to put the excess wires but to tie them into a circle.

reference picture: Popcorn Hour A-200

I plugged in the the other end of the LAN cable at the back of this amaaazing media tank and tried playing movies ranging from 700MB to 14GB through TwonkyMedia. It could only play the video smoothly during the intro but not the movie itself. I tried switching the PCH A-200's network settings from 10/100 to Auto but it didn't solve the problem.

the cute and sleek apple tv

Having no idea what else could be wrong, I frustratedly started working on my sister's Apple TV which was already jailbroken by a distant relative from the States. XBMC (Xbox Media Center) was already installed so all I had to do was just connect the wires and figure out how to play the movies in the network.

This morning I was able to talk to the cousin of my brother who was overseas (and who taught me all these, my sensei haha) and he told me to use NFS since it is more compatible with the A-200 compared to TwonkyMedia. 

1080p imax rip of transformers 2

I quickly went to my parents' room and tried playing the 14GB IMAX version of Transformers 2 (that didn't work last night) through NFS and voila! Awesome picture and sound quality. The home theater system that my parents and I are using is capable of decoding DTS and DolbyDigital 5.1 audio so most of our movies gave us stunning 5.1 audio experience. I wonder how the new DolbyDigital TrueHD sounds like :|

So what does this setup exactly do? Simple. This gives your media players (apple tv, desktop/laptop, popcorn hour, etc) quick and easy access to your movie collection and everyone can watch simultaneously with their own player. Take note that it doesn't require any computer to be running, just the network attached storage so it may save you some in electricity costs. I think this setup will work even with iPods and iPads but I haven't tried it yet. Maybe next time.

*edit*

I can also access our server via the iPad. All I did was look for a player that can play files from a network location. I downloaded GoodPlayer from the App Store (or installous, i can't really remember hehe) and typed in our network storage's network address and now I can stream our media files via wifi. =)

150mbps high gain wireless-n usb adapater

As for the setup in our room, my desktop computer serves as a HTPC. It is connected to the network via wireless-N and it also connected to the TV via HDMI. My motherboard has an optical audio out so I use that to connect it to our home theater which decodes 5.1 DTS and DolbyDigital.

Materials used:

• TP-Link TL-WR740N Wireless Lite N Router

• D-Link DGS-1005G 5-port Gigabit Switch

• 2TB Western Digital MyBook Live Network Attached Storage

• Popcorn Hour A-200 Network Media Tank

• 2nd Gen Apple TV

• 2pcs 25-m CAT5E UTP cables

• CAT5 Network Patch Cable  (from the router to the switch)

• Philips Optical Gold Toslink Optical Cable

• TP-Link TL-WN722N 150Mbps High Gain Wireless-N USB Adapater

JDSLabs CMoyBB 2.03 Headphone Amplifier

This is my first to time to try out a headphone amplifier so I don't really have any point of comparison. Also, I do not own any high-impedance cans or iems to fully hear the potential of this amp. But throughout my three-day experience with this compact portable headphone amplifier I can honestly say it satisfies me enough.

Listening to it with a pair of headphones having an impedance of 16ohms, it gives extra life to the sound stage produced by my Jays t-JAYS Three but more distinctly with my Koss PortaPro. I am no expert and definitely not an audiophile (yet, haha) but this thing produces sounds that are much formed than that of the audio source alone, which is by the way, a Sony Walkman S545 (don't be fooled, this player will own the sound quality of your 3rd gen iPod :>), equalizer set to flat.

This magical thing has a switch for the bass boost when you flip open it. And when you flick the switch, the bass pumps up wonderfully and it is very distinct from that of the Clear Bass feature of my Walkman. The bass becomes richer and it doesn't eat up the sound stage at all. It really does magic.

That is all I can say for now until I have the money to buy a new gear, Head-Direct's RE0 maybe, or the Grado SR80i.

Wadduuup

Dad arrived today with all the electronic goodies I ordered while he was in the States. Plus some extras that he wanted for our networked home theater. Sweeeeet! So what did heaven send us this time?

1. JDSLabs CMoyBB Headphone Amplifier
2. FiiO L2 3.5mm interconnect
3. PCI-E x1 USB 3.0
4. Razer Deathadder
5. 2TB Samsung Spinpoint F4EG HDD
6. 2TB Western Digital External Hard Drive
7. 2TB Western Digital Network Attached Storage
8. Popcorn Hour A-200 Network Media Tank
9. Apple TV
10. D-Link 5-Port Gigabit Switch
11. Tenergy Smart Charger /w 4pcs. Low Self-discharge 9V batteries.
12. TP-Link Wireless-N USB Adapater

For the next few days I will be setting up our minimalist networked home theater and I hope I get to document everything for future references. But for now, I will be trying out for the very first time my new CMoy headphone amplifier :D