Topic: Headless Home Media Server with Ubuntu Server 10.04

[rePat]

I'll chime in with another plug for my favorite Open Source project.

 http://www.amahi.org 

It has all this stuff, and much, much more pre-configured out of the box.  I have used it since 2008.  It takes the pain out of setting up Samba Shares, VPN, SSH, etc.  There are tons of Apps packaged for one-click install, like DLNA, UPnP, many Multimedia apps, as well as, Developer apps.  Amahi itself is free, but a nominal fee is charged for the packaged apps to help fund the project.  Current version is based on Fedora 14, but there is a Unbuntu/Debian version in development.  There is an active Community and IRC channel (#amahi on freenode.net).  Although I've been toying with Linux since 1995, I am no command line guru, so love the ease of use of Amahi. 

I do have to admit I am biased,  I like it so much that I volunteer my time as part of the Core Team. 

I urge anyone interested in a home server, to check out the above link, and/or drop by the IRC Channel if you have questions.


Thanks,

Pat

[baustin]

Edit to add boot to GUI instructions

I'll chime in with another plug for my favorite Open Source project.

 http://www.amahi.org 

It has all this stuff, and much, much more pre-configured out of the box.  I have used it since 2008.  It takes the pain out of setting up Samba Shares, VPN, SSH, etc.  There are tons of Apps packaged for one-click install, like DLNA, UPnP, many Multimedia apps, as well as, Developer apps.  Amahi itself is free, but a nominal fee is charged for the packaged apps to help fund the project.  Current version is based on Fedora 14, but there is a Unbuntu/Debian version in development.  There is an active Community and IRC channel (#amahi on freenode.net).  Although I've been toying with Linux since 1995, I am no command line guru, so love the ease of use of Amahi. 

I do have to admit I am biased,  I like it so much that I volunteer my time as part of the Core Team. 

I urge anyone interested in a home server, to check out the above link, and/or drop by the IRC Channel if you have questions.


Thanks,

Pat

I actually considered Amahi. It looks pretty stacked... maybe too stacked for what I need for a headless unit?

[baustin]

And while I have the attention of couple of you...

Using the command: top
-my RAM usage when booting from the command line seems to be about 300MB out of 3GB of available RAM and a 6GB swap
-when sitting idly, the only running process is INIT
-if I stream a 1080p MKV file to my Win 7 machine, it pops up to 350MB
-of course, when streaming, SMBD (samba) pops into the process list

Does this sound about right? Seeing as how I'm using such a small amount of RAM, would it save me power to pull out 2 of the 4 sticks of RAM bringing me down to a total of either 1GB or 2GB? Again, this machine will ONLY be seeding music and video to my main machine.

[H₂O]

Any reason you installed the "Server" edition?  I think the desktop edition is good enough for using as a media server and simplifies some of your steps.

if he wants to run as headless, he doesn't need the GIU and it sounds like that's the plan so the CLI is very easily the best solution.

Maybe but the second item in the setup list was to install the Ubuntu GUI - I was just suggesting a way to simplify the setup. 

Server also installs a bunch of other memory hungry components such as mysql, etc (I can't remember if these are enabled by default but they do get installed).   You can manually add in any of the server components to the desktop install as well.

X11/Windows isn't going to cripple a quad core media server and should not affect video playback - heck it's been around since 1984 - you may get some additional bloat with the newer Window Managers but not like the MS bloat.

[baustin]

Any reason you installed the "Server" edition?  I think the desktop edition is good enough for using as a media server and simplifies some of your steps.

if he wants to run as headless, he doesn't need the GIU and it sounds like that's the plan so the CLI is very easily the best solution.

Maybe but the second item in the setup list was to install the Ubuntu GUI - I was just suggesting a way to simplify the setup. 

Server also installs a bunch of other memory hungry components such as mysql, etc (I can't remember if these are enabled by default but they do get installed).   You can manually add in any of the server components to the desktop install as well.

X11/Windows isn't going to cripple a quad core media server and should not affect video playback - heck it's been around since 1984 - you may get some additional bloat with the newer Window Managers but not like the MS bloat.

i think mysql, samba, etc are optional installs:


also, ubuntu server system requirements are far less than that of ubuntu desktop: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_%28operating_system%29#System_requirements
300mhz vs 1ghz processor
128mb ram vs 384mb

basically i went with server because i was thinking it would have a smaller footprint

[H₂O]

that's fair - but regardless the bloat for the desktop is not that bad - better than Windows.

[baustin]

that's fair - but regardless the bloat for the desktop is not that bad - better than Windows.

without question. that's the main reason i went with linux for the server box over say windows server.

i've toyed with linux installations before, but this is the first time that i've actually put a machine to use. i will definitely consider linux as a main OS in the future.

the installation of this server setup was SUPER easy after i figured out what i was doing. that's the main reason i put together this "tutorial". once the OS and GUI are installed (which is easy but takes time), the rest of the tweaks literally take 5 minutes.

[H₂O]

It's definitely alot easier than it used to back before package managers (i.e. in the slackware days)

It is pretty good and can definitely replace a windows PC, i.e. Open Office works very well, (Not for the hardcore Excel users though, etc).

[rastasean]

I'll chime in with another plug for my favorite Open Source project.

 http://www.amahi.org 

This is a really cool project. here's an interview some people may like: http://twit.tv/show/floss-weekly/112

[rastasean]

I wouldn't worry about trying to save power from having less ram. Voltage on ram is nearly the equivalent to plug in power. 

Glad to hear the ubuntu server install went so well for you. maybe you can download http://www.virtualbox.org/ for your w7 and play around with other distros.


A sidenote, slackware 13.37 was surprisingly easy to install. I read the book before doing it and read people many people who said it was hard and complicated but I found it easy and I installed from usb to hard drive. One nice thing about slackware is that you don't need to download crap to update it like you do with many of the other distributions.

[H₂O]

It's definitely alot easier than it used to back before package managers (i.e. in the slackware days)

Maybe I should have been clearer - the early slackware days when you installed it from 20 or so floppies (you would dl the floppies from a ftp server at UNC for the components you wanted, then make the disks and install).  I am talking around '94-'95 timeframe.

[rastasean]

It's definitely alot easier than it used to back before package managers (i.e. in the slackware days)

Maybe I should have been clearer - the early slackware days when you installed it from 20 or so floppies (you would dl the floppies from a ftp server at UNC for the components you wanted, then make the disks and install).  I am talking around '94-'95 timeframe.

  that would be a bitch. 

[rjp]

It's definitely alot easier than it used to back before package managers (i.e. in the slackware days)

Maybe I should have been clearer - the early slackware days when you installed it from 20 or so floppies (you would dl the floppies from a ftp server at UNC for the components you wanted, then make the disks and install).  I am talking around '94-'95 timeframe.

  that would be a bitch. 

Been there, done that - except it was by modem to a long-distance BBS to get the floppy images. Public access internet was still a rare bird in those days.