Media Server up-and-running for about $100

StantonZ

It's mostly a "music" server (since the hardware is so old it can't render DVD's), but it works and sounds great (my ears can't distinguish between the CD and the FLAC file)! I recently decided to take the FLAC plunge, ripping everything I own for archiving on an external HDD; when I discovered that I could actually use my (over 15 year) old laptop to play the FLACs, I investigated how I could interface with my (over 15 year) old Yamaha Integrated Amp. Here's what I came up with:

1) Compaq Presario 1681 laptop
2) Digigram VXpocket PCMCIA sound card
3) WD 1 Tb Passport external HDD

I (obviously) already had the laptop, connected the digital (SPDIF) out of the VXpocket card to the digital (coax) in on my amp, and voila: 16-bit 44.1kHz sound! I only had to make one adjustment to accommodate the old laptop: manually raise the priority of of WMP (in task manager) to "high" to prevent skipping. The USB 1.1 ports handled the external HDD transfer rate (at least for audio), and with the addition of a wireless mouse and and external VGA out to my HDTV, I don't even have to open the laptop to manage playlists. Limitations of my current setup are:

1) No video (DVD) support
2) Sound card can't handle anything beyond CD quality (no "high-rez" FLACs yet)

Needless to say, I'm thrilled to have added a music server to my home theater setup for ~$100 additional cost!

On3s&Z3r0s

Nice. I do love repurposing/recycling old hardware. I recently tried the same with a Dell Latitude that was about 7 years old. Unfortunately, I made a critical mistake. I tried converting a bunch of music from one format to another on the laptop. I guess maybe whatever they had for heat dissipation in the thing couldn't keep up and after about 20 minutes, the thing shut down and wouldn't start back up. Glad you found a solution that works, esp. the PCMCIA sound card. I didn't even know they made those.

StantonZ

On3s&Z3r0s wrote: »

Glad you found a solution that works, esp. the PCMCIA sound card. I didn't even know they made those.

Neither did I until I did some research; there's plenty of USB solutions out there, but this was a "professional grade" solution (the cards were >$500 new!).

I've found that old laptops don't do well with a lot of reading/writing from BOTH CD/DVD-ROM drives as well as some internal hard-drives (as you discovered). Yet another reason to use an external HDD for media storage in my setup (the internal drive was only 6 Gb--quite large back in the day)!

VCoak

Very nice. I just did the same with an old HP laptop M# DV6T-1200. Wiped and re-installed Windows. Disabled/deleted any unnecessary software. Pulled RG-6 and disabled wireless. Next will be an ext. HD and DAC. As it stands sound is ok at best. Added an app to my phone to control basic play, pause, etc.

It is nice to recycle old hardware and see it work again.

recoveryone

Smart move, I been telling ppl for years to keep their eyes open for old computers that are still capable of streaming music. Its easy to find system from school districts, churchs and other businesses that routinely swap out systems every few years.

erniejade

I DJ on the side and I use a pcmcia Indigo echo DJ sound card. Well I should say one has a pcmcia and my other laptop has a express slot but both are the Indigo echo brand. Looks like amazon still has them for 200 or 100 used.

erniejade

I forgot to say Supports true 24 bit, 96 kHz audio