I’ve recently replaced my Amahi server with a new device. The reason for replacing the amahi server is quite simple. I needed the hardware somewhere else (testing new OS/beta’s and various other projects). It has been replaced with a Lacie Network Space 2 drive. It fulfills all of my needs:

• torrent server
• file sharing
• time machine / windows backup
• itself can be backup up regularly to another drive
• power schedule, it only runs when I tell it to run
• remote access to my files
• itunes server
• dlna server

The fact that it also supports dlna is fantastic. I am considering to retire my xbmc box as well and replace it with a blu-ray player which supports dlna.

Looks like I’ll have some left over atom mainboards laying around. What to do with them… What to do…

Let’s find out next year!

There’s nothing much to say. The year has been pretty calm. Still I managed to get a few things done:

• Become an Microsoft Certified Professional
• Become an Apple Sales Professional
• Get my wisdom teeth removed
• Get my hair cut :p

Okay that’s all I could think of for now, but I’m sure I managed to get a lot more done! The best thing is I feel satisfied

On new years evening I will enjoy easy to make food and a good movie!

Life is great!

Most software is available online for purchase. For software Apple is introducing the Mac App Store (I’m sure Microsoft will offer a similar solution in the future). Gamers have been able to get their games using services such as steam. Even consoles have games available on demand (Xbox 360). Products like the iPhone and Android phones have had stores available from the start for applications. Music is being purchased online. Movies and tv shows are also available on demand.

Most new machines come with a restore partition on the hard drive for when users want to reinstall their operating system. Most companies don’t even supply recovery discs any more (Apple offers a flash key with Mac OS X for the Macbook Air).

Even when preparing new servers I no longer use an optical drive. HP Smart start can be transferred to a usb key very easily. I then copy an iso of the operating system to the key, thus eliminating the need for an optical drive.

I have not invested in a blu-ray player for my HDTV. And I am truly doubtful that I ever will (unless they start selling players for € 30 and movies for the same price as dvd’s).

I’ve been playing with my ipod touch for a while now. I also have a favorite app. It is called XBMoteC. The app allows me to control my xbmc media center from my ipod. It allows me to scroll through a list of my media and play any video or song I select. Immediatelly afterwards you get the remote control which allows you to fast forward and such.

Second favorite app is the Apple Remote app which allows me to control iTunes from a distance.

I am now wondering if I could stream music to my XBMC machine so that I can listen to music on my radio.

Wouldn’t that be a fun experiment?

There are some cpu’s in the list I owned

Microsoft hasn’t released the Small Business Server 7 beta which I am eagerly awaiting. I’m most curious about the new remote workspace.

In other news, turned 25 tuesday and my 2 week leave has started today! Haven’t celebrated my birthday yet with pie. I will do so for sure tomorrow! Hope there will be strawberry pie in the bakery tomorrow.

The following components were used to create this build:

• Intel D945GSEJT
• 512 MB Ram
• 500 GB Caviar
• 12V ac/dc
• Mini-itx case
• Broadcom crystal chip
• DVI to HDMI convertor

The system is using Windows XP Media Center as an OS. I picked this Operating system because of the support it has for the Microsoft MCE Remote. Vista and 7 were not of my list because they would bring too much load to the system.

On top of the XP OS XBMC was installed. I put the application in the startup folder so that it would startup immediately after the OS was loaded. Unnecessary services were disabled to start up more quickly. I’m still considering to customize the startup logo of Windows, I also need to disable the startup sound.

I also installed VNC so that I can remotely manage the system without having to have the tv on.

The broadcom chip allows me to watch high definition content without having a high performance GPU.

In a next stage I will link my Amahi shares to the XBMC machine.

I have also been experimenting with the Windows Server 2008 R8 trial. I’ve managed to set up a virtualized environment for remote desktop services. The construction consists of 4 servers. One is the domain controllers, two others are remote desktop session hosts and the last one is the web access/gateway/broker server. This setup allows me to distribute workloads between the two remote desktop session host servers. More information about Remote Desktop Services can be found here.

I have also found out that it is possible to display remote apps that you’ve created on the Remote Web Workplace of the Small Business Server 2008. It is also possible to do this via the companyweb website. This makes the usage of an extra server (using the premium license) extra interesting for people who are working out of office. I  still have to implement these things though in a test environment. I’ll be sure to report back here with the results of the experiment. I really like small business server 2008, I believe it’s one of microsoft’s best products to date.