"Server" Recommendation: H/W and S/W

[moogyd]

Hi,

Our household currently has 2 notebooks (1 Acer XP, 1 EEPC Linux) and will soon have another (TBD probably another netbook). (Me, 1 wife and 2 kids :-) )

I also have a very old and noisy PII 350 running Ubuntu (desktop) acting as a print server, file server and some web browsing.

I need to get rid of the PC and will replace it with something in the dining room/lounge, and need suggestions.

My requirements
- Quiet
- Either biggish disk (> 500 GB) or easy expansion via USB disks (transparent on network)
- Small and not beige (wife needs to be kept happy)
- File server for all laptops (i.e. all "home" directories)
- shared CD/DVD reader/writer
- Development environment for myself (Python, C++, VHDL/Verilog)
(Interface via VNC from all laptops or netbools)
- Connect speakers and use to listen to internet radio/mp3's
- Stream media (especially interested in net radio)
- Configure via remote gui (ideally)

Although I consider myself quite technical (digital engineer), I still find all this quite confusing (UPNP ???)

Thanks for any suggestions and pointers

Steven

[handydan918]

You might look at the eeebox (http://www.eeextra.com/eee/eeebox-specs.html)
It might be just what you need. There are also a number of mini-itx boxes you could put together here. (http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=2)