Here's a home project I've been mulling over.
I want to install a Linux box (don't wanna pay M$ anything) with multiple sound cards and use a front-end to send different audio streams via the multiple sound cards to different rooms in the house.
Points that I'm looking for input on:
1. Hardware.
1a. A motherboardboard with 5 x PCI slots for sound cards. On-board sound would be an extra freebie. Don't care about graphics (AGP or PCI-E doesn't matter.) Finding these boards isn't easy lately as most boards have (useless) PCI-E x1 slots.
1b. Sound cards. I don't care for EAX and all that gaming / marketing mumbo-jumbo. I want decent quality music output and that's it. From what I've read, ALSA support is necessary (so Creative X-FIs are out.) I've never used Linux in a multimedia scenario - only in server environments.
1c. Speakers. Haven't thought of them yet. What speakers, cable lengths, use "PC speakers" or "hifi" speakers with amps, how / where to mount them, 2.1 or 4.1 setup, etc.
2. Software
2a. I need something that can play (a playlist) through a specific card. Commandline would be preferable as I can then script it. Web-interface would be even better. 99% of my music is in MP3 format. OGG & WMA makes up the other 1% (but I can convert them easily enough.)
2b. I need something that can manage my MP3s. A web-interface is a must here as I want it to be easily accessible from any machine in the house. I'd also want it to go through a directory (and sub-directories), pick up the ID3 tags of the MP3s and generate "Artist \ Album \ Track"-type indexes. I'd also want to be able to add specific albums / tracks to custom playlists. The playlists must be accessible by 2a.
3. Cost
3a. PC hardware: around R7K incl VAT and cards, but not speakers. Doesn't need to be a killer machine. Must have 2 x 320GBs (mirrored - software mirror is fine) for data and 1 x 80GB for OS. Doesn't need a screen / keyb / mouse.
3b. Speakers: dunno. Say R1K per room incl cabling?
3c. Labour: labour is free (i.e. I'll do it)
Does anyone know of any projects like this? I can't be the first person to want this. Any sourceforge / freshmeat type projects that cover this?
TIA
EDIT: I'm not picky about the Linux distro. I have a preference for SuSE, but that's in a server environment; so if another distro handles this scenario better that's cool.
I want to install a Linux box (don't wanna pay M$ anything) with multiple sound cards and use a front-end to send different audio streams via the multiple sound cards to different rooms in the house.
Points that I'm looking for input on:
1. Hardware.
1a. A motherboardboard with 5 x PCI slots for sound cards. On-board sound would be an extra freebie. Don't care about graphics (AGP or PCI-E doesn't matter.) Finding these boards isn't easy lately as most boards have (useless) PCI-E x1 slots.
1b. Sound cards. I don't care for EAX and all that gaming / marketing mumbo-jumbo. I want decent quality music output and that's it. From what I've read, ALSA support is necessary (so Creative X-FIs are out.) I've never used Linux in a multimedia scenario - only in server environments.
1c. Speakers. Haven't thought of them yet. What speakers, cable lengths, use "PC speakers" or "hifi" speakers with amps, how / where to mount them, 2.1 or 4.1 setup, etc.
2. Software
2a. I need something that can play (a playlist) through a specific card. Commandline would be preferable as I can then script it. Web-interface would be even better. 99% of my music is in MP3 format. OGG & WMA makes up the other 1% (but I can convert them easily enough.)
2b. I need something that can manage my MP3s. A web-interface is a must here as I want it to be easily accessible from any machine in the house. I'd also want it to go through a directory (and sub-directories), pick up the ID3 tags of the MP3s and generate "Artist \ Album \ Track"-type indexes. I'd also want to be able to add specific albums / tracks to custom playlists. The playlists must be accessible by 2a.
3. Cost
3a. PC hardware: around R7K incl VAT and cards, but not speakers. Doesn't need to be a killer machine. Must have 2 x 320GBs (mirrored - software mirror is fine) for data and 1 x 80GB for OS. Doesn't need a screen / keyb / mouse.
3b. Speakers: dunno. Say R1K per room incl cabling?
3c. Labour: labour is free (i.e. I'll do it)
Does anyone know of any projects like this? I can't be the first person to want this. Any sourceforge / freshmeat type projects that cover this?
TIA
EDIT: I'm not picky about the Linux distro. I have a preference for SuSE, but that's in a server environment; so if another distro handles this scenario better that's cool.
Last edited:
DigiLinX too.
