Advice needed for hardware upgrade
#1
I've been a longtime HTPC user and fairly recent convert from Boxee and simple web apps. My current setup is that my main pc (WinXP) stores everything. I have XMBC 11 on it with the MySQL database for syncing. In the bedroom I have an ATV with XMBC 11, the family room has a PC running linux with XMBC, and the garage has an ancient laptop that primarily just accesses music streaming sites to play in the garage and patio areas through a stereo receiver there.
What I think I would like to do is eliminate the laptop in the garage as it is ANCIENT and really slow. My first though was to get an apple airport express and go that way with airplay, but I am wondering if anyone had other ideas. Another Idea I had was to move the ATV to the garage and use it for airplay.
Ideas?
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#2
If it's simply for music streaming I'd just go with the cheapest solution.
Not sure how much an Airport or ATV costs but a cheap laptop woud be around $400(?), handle your music needs, and actually be a computer to use too and not as 'limited' as the apple solutions.
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#3
YoHoJo,
I actually did some screwing around with this today. I found some software called airfoil that handles the playing to the "airplay" protocol. It was able to find my ATV without issue. They also have an application for PC and Mac to be able to act as airplay "speakers".
Pretty neat. How it will work in practical application with Android/iOS and the XBMC remote will be the next step.
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#4
Hmm sorry but what again are you trying to accomplish?
Replace the ancient laptop with hardware that will fulfill what purpose?

Also, why not try just reformatting the thing and installing Linix or TinyXP on it, I'm sure that will breathe some new life into it, and cost you $0
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#5
It already has TinyXP on it. The purpose is so that when we have a party, the same music plays everywhere and can be controlled from anywhere with the phone/tablet.
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#6
(2012-04-05, 14:07)asoduk Wrote: It already has TinyXP on it. The purpose is so that when we have a party, the same music plays everywhere and can be controlled from anywhere with the phone/tablet.
I do this with logitech squeezeboxes. You can install the server locally if you have a PC up and running all the time or access radio streams and internet services via a logitech server. Also you can use hardware clients (e.g. to replace your notebook if you don't need it for other things than music streaming) or software clients where you already have a PC in a room (e.g. XSqueeze).
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