Hey all,

I have an old p3-800 that is serving both as my music player and file server. Right now it's hooked up to my stereo, and I vnc into the machine to use fb2k to play the local files.

Is there a way that I can use fb2k on my machine to control the remote computer or redirect the sound of my machine to the remote music server?

I don't mind using VNC, but it feels like a waste to have a heavy instance of fb2k running on my server, and album art looks damned ugly through vnc anyway

I'd like to do this only through software. Obviously buying a squeezebox would do what I want, but if I had an extra $300 I would have just bought a squeezebox to begin with.

I'd appreciate any advice on getting this setup to function in an optimal manner.

Thanks!

Only thing I can think of is to hook up your computer (the one which you currently are running VNC wiewer on) to your stereo, and just add the music on your server to foobar's library. But that's probably not what you were looking for i guess... If i understood correctly you need the server itself to play the music?

Exactly. My main machine is a laptop. The file server is the only thing I have that stays in one place.

Does anyone know if a p3-800 w/ 256 mb has enough horsepower to run slimserver on it? I guess I could do that and just control it via a web browser. Still not as nice as foobar, even through vnc.

I just hate trying to keep two installs in sync. It's a bit of a PITA. And, well, the file server is so slow over vnc that it's almost tough to control. Oh well.

It'll run, but it may take a long time to scan through a large library (more than a couple thousand songs), and there may be a slight pause between one song and the next. But it wouldn't hurt to give it a try. Slimserver is pretty easy to setup.

BTW, I still don't know why you can't just run fb2k on your laptop and play songs from your file server. Unless you don't always have your laptop around when you want to play music? But if you're controlling your server's fb2k via VNC, then you should also be able to just run fb2k on your laptop and play songs off your file server. (of course, map/mount your file server's music directory on your laptop first.)

The file server's soundcard is connected to my stereo. [sidenote: soon planning to replace my receiver with one of the digital pannys] Music sounds a whole lot better through my stereo than the laptop

That's the real key.

I don't know if this helps in your situation or if you already know about it, but what about the HTTP plugin:

HTTP remote control server Foobar plugin

I have never tried it though.

IMHO there should be no problem in running Slimserver on a P3/800 with 256 MB RAM. My server has a P3/500 and 512 MB RAM and Slimserver runs very well, currently under Ubuntu Linux Server Edition 6.06 (before that it ran Slimserver with Windows 2000 Server, also no problem). If I initiate a full scan of my music library (12000+ songs, mostly FLAC and MP3), it takes a while, as shinta says (15 to 30 minutes, I guess). But you have to keep in mind that you will have to do a full scan very rarely, mainly once after installation of Slimserver and after that only whenever you feel that you *have* to do a full scan. If you add music at a later date, you only have to let Slimserver search for new and changed files which takes fewer time than a full scan.

In normal operation (i.e. playing music), Slimserver is very responsive, and I doubt that there is a short pause between tracks as Slimserver in playing mode is just providing (music) files over the network. Its web interface can be a little bit slow, but even on my server I do not have to wait more than a few seconds (and this only for some more complex operation, e.g. an album list with covers).

There is also a software implementation of a Squeezebox called "Softqueeze". You can do a test drive of Slimserver without installing it, using Michael Herger's excellent SlimCD. In the end, a visit with the Slimserver Forum is always worth a try, even you you do not own a Squeezebox yet.

Thanks for the tips. I installed slimserver. Haven't played with it too much yet. It's a bit pokey through the web interface. If I do buy a squeezebox, though, I'm sure the performance would be fine for me.