Maybe I should have been more forthcoming with my needs. Here's what I am looking for:
I am looking for a compact computer that can has at least 500Gb that has SPDIF or toslink output that can run MPD (Music Player Daemon - Max os x or Linux - screw Windows!!!). I am using this for feeding my stereo DAC - ie. I want to put my tunes on its disk (wave files, don't give me shit about size!!!) and put the computer wherever I setup my stereo system. I may or not have this computer on a network. Because of location I may want wireless networking - but that is not necessary 'cause when I add to the library I can use a USB disk. Thank you for your recommendations Gustin, a Gigabyte Brix with a 750Gb SSD and the Vantec might do the trick! What I have been looking at doing is getting a 2007-early 2009 Mac Mini and putting a larger disk in it. What I have no experience with is SPDIF/toslink under Linux. I have no idea what the device shows up as in /dev and you need that name to configure MPD. Why MPD? I am friggin' tired of commercial music software that stops working when the clients updates and the server hasn't (because its not connected to a network). With MPD there are clients for virtually anything and the transport protocol hasn't changed in at least 3-4 years. And its open so if I wanted to write my own client then I could do so (not that I have the time to do that!!!). Why SPDIF (optical)? Computers are nasty electrically. I want to isolate the computer electronics from the stereo equipment as much as possible. ASIDE: Everybody has an opinion on what affects the sound and imaging from a good high fidelity stereo. I am open to hearing yours. Just don't tell me that noise added from another source shouldn't make a difference!!! You'd be surprised what makes a difference that you can hear. > Instead of wrestling with the Mac, I would go with either an Intel NUC or > a > Gigabyte Brix. If you really do need TOSLINK, there are a number of > cheap, > well supported USB audio devices (like this one: > http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX31016). > > I used to use that USB audio device with an Alix for MPD. I did not use > the TOSLINK since I needed the analogue out. I always carry that USB card > with me, we can test it out at the next meeting. > > > On Sat, Aug 31, 2013 at 10:24 PM, Lewko, Robert <lew...@uleth.ca> wrote: > >> Does anyone have experience with running Linux on a Mac Mini? What I >> want >> to determine before I look for one is if the toslink output is supported >> by the Linux drivers and what the device name is under Linux. >> >> I am reasonably sure that the answer to the first question is yes since >> the hardware is mature. >> >> The reason that I want to know what the device name is for the toslink >> device is that I want to run MPD (Music Player Daemon) on this computer >> and this info is needed to configure this daemon. >> >> Thanks in advance. >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> clug-talk mailing list >> clug-talk@clug.ca >> http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca >> Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) >> **Please remove these lines when replying >> > _______________________________________________ > clug-talk mailing list > clug-talk@clug.ca > http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca > Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) > **Please remove these lines when replying _______________________________________________ clug-talk mailing list clug-talk@clug.ca http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) **Please remove these lines when replying
