Hardware Recommendations for a New User

[cpg]

from a prospective user:

I like everything I read about Amahi, but I couldn't find anything about
recommended hardware to install it on (maybe this could be a FAQ?). Not
only am I interested in all the features that Amahi provides,
but I want it all running on a box that is small, low-power, headless,
on-all-the-time, knows how to work with a UPS, and is mostly plug-n-play.

Having some hardware recommendations on your website for folks like me
would be great.

anyone have hardware recommendations for a good hardware rig?

i realize this will be dependent on how much horsepower and storage it's needed/required by the user, but still, handy recommendations are welcome.

[bsk]

Some good ones from Dell, that have small drives (good if you want to add a second drive for shares and such) as well as compact, also with nice upgrades, are located at: http://www.dell.com/content/products/ca ... l=en&s=bsd

Ive also found some good ones from a company called Shuttle, they offer compact/sleek/quiet PC's, but very powerful, but also have a pretty nice price tag. You can find there models at: http://us.shuttle.com/Models.aspx

Now, me not being a big HP fan, I have found a cheap HP server (sold as a Windows Home Server) that can be used as well, and is pretty cheap, but not very powerful. But honestly, if you are not doing anything major, this will be the thing for you, and it is very compact. You can find it at: http://www.shopping.hp.com/product/comp ... AA%2523ABA

Now for building your own PC, I have some links for you:

Newegg- Very big selection at great prices.
Microcenter- Ive not personally purchased from them, but ive heard MANY good reviews.
Geeks.com- Another site I have not used, but they have great prices and good reviews.

I hope this helps someone on getting your great server.

[moredruid]

You can also go to a reputable local computer store and tell them exactly what you want so they can build a system from scratch for you that's customized for your needs. If you've got a problem, just drop by them (and you get a warm fuzzy feeling by supporting the local guys )

What you need for moderate use (i.e. 5 concurrent users, accessing shares, 5 torrents in background, internetting, IM-ing and mailing), most systems have their bottleneck in disk I/O and not CPU.

• - low power CPU (Intel Atom), nothing fancy because you don't need much horsepower CPU wise
  - around 2GB RAM (memory)
  - solid mainboard, with onboard video and LAN (not wireless!), choose one of reputed vendors for stability
  - 1 or 2 HDD's depending on your storage needs (start with 1 as large as you can afford, upgrade later (you get more storage over time for the same money))
  - DVD drive
  - case
  - solid PSU with capacity to spare (for the extra HDD's later on)

This should be good enough for 99% of our users.
My current setup runs at around 3% CPU load (read signature for specs).

In the old days I ran a pretty well visited private FTP (usually around 15-20 users connected) and mail/webserver on a 333MHz Celeron with 512MB RAM (and lots of disks!) without it breaking a sweat (ran at around 15-20% CPU load).

If you want to go pro:
get an entry level professional workstation or a SOHO server from Dell, Fujitsu Siemens, Acer, IBM or HP and take the RAID option. You could also buy refurbished/2nd hand if you have little money to spend.

[hayden]

Hi,

in Austria there's also a shop called DiTech.at and their own brand dimotion have an Atom device:

Atom 330 Dualcore
2 GB DDR2 RAM
DVD burner
GB-Lan

but:

only 320GB 7200rpm HDD
and there's only space for 2 HDDs

Well for me it's a great solution because you pay only €199!!
And now I don't need huge disk space so...I'll get it!

Bye
Berni

[mana]

I'm a newly converted Amahi user and bought for that purpose a Tranquil PC T7 http://www.tranquilpc-shop.co.uk/acatal ... 30_PC.html

- It has way enough power with dual core Atom 330 CPU
- Small
- Fanless hence silent
- Gigabit ethernet

On the downside it has no DVD reader so I had to use an external USB DVD drive to install Fedora after struggling countless hours without success to install Fedora from a USB stick. But now that it is up and running I have no need for the DVD drive and prefer to have a smaller server (mounted on a wall with Tranquil's custom mounting plate) with the option to connect the USB DVD drive when / if needed.

- It has become my storage server (1 Tbyte DD), which with gigabit ethernet offers outstanding performance (it is my main "home" drive, not used just for backup)
- It also runs squeezecenter flawlessly
- It will shortly become my print server
- Not sure how easy it will be to connect my USB scanner
- I got NX Server to run and can get Gnome from a Win XP laptop

I'm a very happy camper! Well, except that I cannot connect via VPN from work because for that, due to our proxy, I need OpenVPN with TCP vs. UDP configured in Amahi.

Highly recommended setup
cheers
Mana

[enlox]

i am looking to buy equipment to build myself a NAS/Homeserver and was initially looking at Windows Home Server when i found this itty bitty software called Amahi... and now i am certainly looking to use this instead...

my main reason for building this is to have access to all my music, pictures and movies from a central place in my network as well as being able to stream most of it using my Samsung LCD-TV (thanx to modedruid.org for the minidlna) and replace my existing homebuilt webserver (running openSUSE with XAMPP and Wordpress)

anyways this is my planned hardware (as far as i know available all over this globe)

case: Fractal Design Array Mini ITX an awesome looking little case with room for 1x2,5" and 6x3,5" HDD. Could not have asked for more!


motherboard: Intel DG45FC for my now resting Intel E5300 and 2 GB DDR2-800

the rest: i currently have a Intel E5300 (dual-core 2,2GHz), 2GB DDR2-800 MHz, 320GB older WD drive, 750GB brand new Samsung drive to use in this setup. Will expand with more Samsung EcoDrives later on and/or maybe a 2,5" system drive.

as i see it the benefit of my setup is that i am able to use my old things laying around with the latest technique saving some money while still not limiting myself in any way.

i will hopefully be able to run my blog from this machine as well as support my computers with files and also stream media to my TV.
(feel like a little child the day before x-mas)

[moredruid]

enlox: please note that there are 2 native Amahi apps for dlna streaming (one is actually based on minidlna) so you won't need my instructions and packages anymore

[enlox]

enlox: please note that there are 2 native Amahi apps for dlna streaming (one is actually based on minidlna) so you won't need my instructions and packages anymore

awesome, as long as it works with my Samsung LE40B655W2
i got yours just in case then...

[cpg]

that is a SWEET case!

[derMerl]

Personally I still prefer AMD over Intel. Because AMD Chips are cheep and also in case of power consumption good choice.

CPU: AMD Semptron 140 (if you think you need DualCore try x235/x240e or so..)
MoBo: Solid AM3 (ready) board with onboard video, gb lan and >4 SATA ports (I prefer Gigabyte w. a low power consumption chipset)
RAM: 2GB should by enough for 90% of the Amahi users.
PSU: 300-450W (I generally prefer Seasonic w. high efficiency, but actually have an 450W NoName PSU in my HDA)
HDD: 1x 640GB WD Blue as SystemHDD + 1-x Western Digital GreenPower/Samsung EcoGreen 1-2TB HDDs (depends on your storage needs9

If you want a Intel System you should check this combo:

CPU: Intel Core i3-530
MoBo: MSI H55M-E33
RAM: 2GB DDR3

Not as cheap as the AMD System, but low power consumption and lot of power. Maybe you can save power if you undervolt the CPU.

I would always give old hardware a try first!!! In most cases old hardware should have enough power for 90% of the Amahi users.