Basically I had a windows home server computer that I was using basically as a glorified NAS drive. I didn't use any of the backup facilities, just used it to stream to store all of my media in one location and stream to my PS3.
Is there any reason the Joggler wont be able to do this for me? I figure I just connect a powered USB hard drive to it, install ubuntu some upnp software and away I go! Can it be this easy?
oh also, is it possible to install ubuntu to the hard drive so that i don't have to have a usb hub?
Joggler as a 'Server'
Re: Joggler as a 'Server'
I already stream from the Joggler to an Apple TV2. I boot Ubuntu from a 250 gig portable hard drive (a Seagate which draws enough power from the USB port - no additional power source needed) and have a large FAT 32 partition that I save video files to. I've set up the FAT 32 partition as a Samba share and the Apple TV2 finds it easily.
To write an image to the USB hard drive you need to start Windiskimager with a USB stick in then, just before writing the image, remove the stick and insert the USB drive. This will create your Ubuntu/Mint/other partition but also delete all other content on the drive. The remainder of the device will be unallocated space. Without using this method, Windiskimager didn't recognise my portable hard drive. You can use Gparted Live CD on your PC to resize the linux partition (if you want) and create a usable partition in the unallocated space. I use BuZz's ext4 Ubuntu image because it is well suited to a disk based linux system rather than a solid state one; ext4 also has good journalling and error correction.
I can use XBMC to stream content from the internet on my (jailbroken) ATV2 - but streaming downloaded content from a share is less prone to drop-outs. I generally download what I want using XBMC on the Joggler and then stream it to the ATV2 using either Firecore's Media Player or XBMC on the telly to deliver the stream. The Joggler is ideal for this and I'm impressed that something that was so cheap is proving to be a real "Swiss Army knife" of digital entertainment.
I'm not sure about DLNA and uPnP but it should be possible to stream to the PS3.
Samba is a dawdle though.
As for ditching the hub - I wouldn't. I use a bluetooth receiver (for a mouse), a USB soundcard and a USB powered speaker in addition to the portable hard drive - all of these plugged into a single un-powered USB hub.
To write an image to the USB hard drive you need to start Windiskimager with a USB stick in then, just before writing the image, remove the stick and insert the USB drive. This will create your Ubuntu/Mint/other partition but also delete all other content on the drive. The remainder of the device will be unallocated space. Without using this method, Windiskimager didn't recognise my portable hard drive. You can use Gparted Live CD on your PC to resize the linux partition (if you want) and create a usable partition in the unallocated space. I use BuZz's ext4 Ubuntu image because it is well suited to a disk based linux system rather than a solid state one; ext4 also has good journalling and error correction.
I can use XBMC to stream content from the internet on my (jailbroken) ATV2 - but streaming downloaded content from a share is less prone to drop-outs. I generally download what I want using XBMC on the Joggler and then stream it to the ATV2 using either Firecore's Media Player or XBMC on the telly to deliver the stream. The Joggler is ideal for this and I'm impressed that something that was so cheap is proving to be a real "Swiss Army knife" of digital entertainment.
I'm not sure about DLNA and uPnP but it should be possible to stream to the PS3.
Samba is a dawdle though.
As for ditching the hub - I wouldn't. I use a bluetooth receiver (for a mouse), a USB soundcard and a USB powered speaker in addition to the portable hard drive - all of these plugged into a single un-powered USB hub.