Atom ION as a File Server, Router, DHCP Server, Firewall, Audio & HD Video Player - Hardware & Software

[b]UPDATE:[/b] Since I created this thread I've moved into student accommodation and it this has changed my original plans considerably, so here's what happened in the end. The original plan was for the ION computer to be a Router, DHCP Server, Firewall, File Server & Video/Audio Player, but after playing with Server 2008, FreeNAS, and numerous Linux distros, I decided that there was just no need for the computer to act as a Router, DHCP Server or Firewall when the WRT610N was more than adequate for features and performance. If I'd decided to just use it as a NAS, FreeNAS would be my obvious choice and this thread would finish there, but being in the living room of a student flat, it must have decent AV, esp audio streaming capabilities. Most would use dedicated AV streaming hardware, or standard HTPC software such as Media Center and call it a day, but I decided I'd do it a little differently. [b]Living room setup:[/b] Samsung LE40M86 LCD TV Virgin Media V+HD PS3 Xbox 360 Denon AVR 1910 Q Acoustics 2020 Bookshelf speakers (x4) Q Acoustics 2000c center speaker Q Acoustics 2070S subwoofer nVidia ION Computer Linksys WRT610N running DD-WRT Virgin Media 50mbit Cable Modem Shitty telephone Usually when streaming audio, the TV becomes little or no use, so I wanted to use it display music visualization, but the problem is visualization is generally only found on the audio source and not on a receiver if it's being streamed, but after some investigation, a combination of a few programs can give you real time visualizations from an audio stream On each computer that I want to stream audio from, I installed Airfoil, which a very simple program which requires little to no configuration and can stream audio to a counterpart program from pretty much any application This stream is then sent to an output device on the ION called a 'Virtual Cable' (using the program.. Virtual Cable) Virtual Cable creates two (or more) Virtual Devices (one in output and one in input) which are linked together. The virtual input device is then repeated using a tool already built in to Windows 7) to HDMI out which is connected to my AV Receiver. A third program, WhiteCap standalone, creates visualizations from this virtual audio input device [IMG]http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d160/apwd007/DSCF2144.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d160/apwd007/DSCF2146.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d160/apwd007/DSCF2148.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d160/apwd007/DSCF2149.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d160/apwd007/DSCF2150.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d160/apwd007/DSCF2151.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d160/apwd007/DSCF2152.jpg[/IMG] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGlqwy7KlhU[/media] Got some more updates to come --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [i]Original plan (Not relevant now)[/i] I was considering getting a NAS to replace my Dropbox subscription, but I didn't like the idea of paying a considerable amount for a dual-bay NAS system that could only serve one purpose. So I decided to have a look at the alternatives. [b][i]The Hardware:[/i][/b] [b][url=http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductID=1065504&source=froogle]Asus AT3N7A-I Nvidia ION[/url][/b] -Mini ITX -Atom 330 1.6Ghz Dual Core -Onboard NVIDIA GeForce 9300 -HDMI Out -Optical Out (8 Channel) -Gigabit LAN -Bluetooth The ION platform is capable of displaying 1080p video, including Blu-Ray discs, and of course has very low power consumption. [img]http://www.scan.co.uk/Images/Products/1065504-a.jpg[/img] [highlight]Price: ~£100[/highlight] -------------------------------------- [b]2GB Corsair XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800)[/b] [img]http://www.scan.co.uk/Images/Products/822483-a.jpg[/img] [highlight]Price: ~£25[/highlight] -------------------------------------- [b]Intel PWLA8391GT Gbit Network Card[/b] [img]http://www.scan.co.uk/Images/Products/170720-a.jpg[/img] [highlight]Price: ~£25[/highlight] -------------------------------------- [b][url=http://www.xcase.co.uk/Atomic-Home-Server-p/case-atomic-home%20server.htm]X-Case Atomic ITX Home Server Case[/url][/b] -Mini ITX -Dual Hot Swappable 3.5" Drive Bays -1 full height PCI slot -250w PSU Included [img]http://www.xcase.co.uk/v/vspfiles/assets/images/hotswap1.jpg[/img] [highlight]Price: ~£75[/highlight] -------------------------------------- [b]Western Digital Caviar Blue WD3000JS 300GB[/b] [highlight]Price: £0 (Taken from old Sky+HD box)[/highlight] -------------------------------------- [b][highlight]Total: £225[/highlight][/b] -------------------------------------- There are much much cheaper Mini ITX cases avaiable, but cases that can fit two or more 3.5" drives are very limited, so that adds a considerable amout to the price. (Could have got a single 3.5" drive case for £30). I'll be replacing that 300GB HD with two 1TBs to run mirrored in the near future. Also considering getting a Blu-Ray drive. You could also save about £15 by getting a cheaper PCI NIC, or if you don't want it to act as a Router, DHCP server or anything like that you don't even need a second NIC. [b][i]The Software[/i][/b] Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 [highlight]Price: £0 (Dreamspark/MSDNAA) [/highlight] [i]What I intend to do[/i] The computer will be situated in the living room, near the Virgin Media cable modem & TV. The cable modem will connect to the computer's onboard NIC, and a Linksys WRT610N will connect to the Intel PCI NIC. The Linksy WRT610N will act both as a Wireless AP (2.4 & 5ghz N), connecting to me and my friend's laptops, and a switch connecting to my Xbox 360, PS3 and my gaming computer in my bedroom via cat6. It will not act as a DHCP server or router. This will be done by the ION. The ION will connect to my TV via HDMI and my sound system via optical. Audio is the easy part, all I need to do is install iTunes, and songs can be selected via my iPhone, or my friends iPod Touch using the iTunes remote app. I am yet to decide what to use for video. When I recieve the parts early next week, I'll post a write up of how I got everything working, impressions and such.

Sounds like a nice little plan. Keep us updated on it. Also, nice parts!

the fan is loud as shit on that mobo, look for a 80mm them jimmy rig it on

[QUOTE=JohnEdwards;17530257]the fan is loud as shit on that mobo, look for a 80mm them jimmy rig it on[/QUOTE] According to [url]http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1079/1/[/url] they were going to ship a quieter fan with the retail version, not sure if they have or not. If it is too loud, I was considering a 60mm fan which can be pretty quiet.

Why are you getting a 2nd NIC card?

[QUOTE=Thor667;17530332]Why are you getting a 2nd NIC card?[/QUOTE] One NIC connects to a WAN (Cable modem), one NIC connects to the internal network (WRT610N) [editline]03:05PM[/editline] Network Map! [img]http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/704227/ion/networkmap.png[/img]

I've been thinking about doing something very similar, Except for the Audio and HD video player part. Offtopic: Is there a was to subscribe to threads here on Facepunch??

[QUOTE=Van-man;17530638]I've been thinking about doing something very similar, Except for the Audio and HD video player part. Offtopic: Is there a was to subscribe to threads here on Facepunch??[/QUOTE] Top left

[QUOTE=apwd007;17530774]Top left[/QUOTE] Thanks. And now i feel stupid :downs:

The first step (Only step I can currently do) is to setup the Linksys WRT610N as a simple Wireless AP and switch. It's pretty simple really Two services need to be turned off in configuration pages. DHCP and NAT DHCP is the protocol used to assign IPs to each device on the network. As the ION will be doing this, it must be turned off. The ION's IP will be 192.168.0.1, therefore, I set the WRT610N's IP as 192.168.0.2 purely for simplicity [img]http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/704227/ion/wrt610n1.png[/img] NAT is the core LAN-WAN routing service, it allows computers on an internal network to access a wide area network, such as the Internet, and like DHCP, must be turned off. Dynamic Routing (RIP) allows more than one router on the same network to communicate, but for now I'm going to leave it turned off [img]http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/704227/ion/wrt610n2.png[/img] The WRT610N has two radios, allowing you to transmit both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz signals. Both support Wireless-N but 5Ghz does not support B or G. In most cases you can get a better link speed with 5Ghz, often 300mbit, where as 2.4Ghz will get around 144mbit, but of course you lose legacy support. Having two radios avoids this problem. For both radios, WPA2-Personal is used. [img]http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/704227/ion/wrt610n3.png[/img] [img]http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/704227/ion/wrt610n4.png[/img]

[QUOTE=Robbazking;17535705]It's fun as fuck to build a min itx computer. [media]http://www.sweclockers.com/upload/gallery/27331-full.jpg[/media] Cute little Atom 330 works as, web server, porno downloader and lot of other shit.[/QUOTE] Lets be HUSH buddies. I like this case, its really quiet, and runs cool.

Do I spy an NZXT case?

[QUOTE=lemongrapes;17537157]Do I spy an NZXT case?[/QUOTE] No way. [media]http://173.56.54.158/pics/27331-full.jpg[/media]

[QUOTE=mgear;17537046]Lets be HUSH buddies. I like this case, its really quiet, and runs cool.[/QUOTE] I have a HUSH too :haw: Though it's mutilated by my Dremel to allow more airflow through it's 2 120mm fan spots.

iirc Atom doesn't support x64 operating systems. Find a different OS.

[QUOTE=ButtsexV3;17540477]iirc Atom doesn't support x64 operating systems. Find a different OS.[/QUOTE] I think it's only the N and Z serises that don't support x64, according to wikipedia the atom 330 does support x64 [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Atom_microprocessors[/url]

Just checked Intel's site, The atom in that build does have a 64-bit instruction set. So ignore my previous post.

I've wanted to build an HTPC like this for a while, for some reason it never occured to me to use a mITX board. Keep us updated and thanks for the idea, I may do something similar.

Has this project got anywhere or just died?

updated OP

neat

[QUOTE=apwd007;17530020] -------------------------------------- [b][url=http://www.xcase.co.uk/Atomic-Home-Server-p/case-atomic-home%20server.htm]X-Case Atomic ITX Home Server Case[/url][/b] -Mini ITX -Dual Hot Swappable 3.5" Drive Bays -1 full height PCI slot -250w PSU Included [img]http://www.xcase.co.uk/v/vspfiles/assets/images/hotswap1.jpg[/img] I am curious about this case also. But I cannot find any more details on it, except some video on their website. As you probably still own this case, could you tell me what kind of PSU it is using (voltage type - universal, autoswitching 110/240v; manual switching; fixed to one voltage 220v?) If possible could you find out the manufacturer of that PSU and model so that I could run a search on it in google? This only thing is holding me from buying this case, othrewise I would have to go for Lian Li PC-Q7 with seperate 300w 80+eff. PSU (but I don't like its limitation on the number of hdds you can fit into it)

Dude wtf dont bump really old threads