Warnock Inc. Technology Consultation for the Future

What's New?

• Jinzora - March 04, 2006 - I'm looking into using the PHP based web front-end Jinzora. This program runs on a webserver and plays music through a web interface. The only problem is it will not play over Mapped Network Drives.
• Status Complete - April 20, 2005 - This is a computer I built specifically to connect to my home theater. I wanted to make a relatively fast computer because it is basically being used as an appliance. I named her Ivy.

Specifications

• Pentium 4 1.7mhz processor
• Giga-byte GA-8PE677 Ultra motherboard (not recommended, but it was lying around) with a RAID controller
• LAN card (motherboard)
• SPDIF audio out (motherboard)
• 768 megs of PC2100 RAM from Crucial Memory
• 2 25gig Maxtor ATA133 hard drives in a RAID0 array
• GeForce MX-4000 AGP video card 128 megs of RAM and an S-VIDEO output
• 2 USB Nintendo controllers from RetroZone
• Micro wireless keyboard and mouse
• ATI Remote Wonder remote control

Specs are boring. What's cool is what you do with a computer. Here is the software I installed:

• Windows XP Professional SP2
• Shoutcast server
• Winamp with visuals
• Nestopia NES emulator
• VNC server for remote access

This lets me do a bunch of cool things. For starters, the keyboard can sit on the coffee table in my living room. The computer can be powered on by clicking the wireless mouse

The wired keyboard was replaced by a wireless mouse and keyboard

The ATI Remote Wonder remote control acts as a mouse and can start programs.

Mp3 Server

I run Shoutcast on this computer as a service. I can connect from any computer on the network and push mp3s to the media server and it will listen to them, then I run Winamp on the server and it plays the music to the speakers on the home theater via an SPDIF digital audio connection. Winamp has a few essential plugins like TomSteady, which is a basic slow compressor to keep the volume consistent, and Geiss, a visualization plugin. The output is on the TV. Winamp starts playing the Shoutcast stream with a touch of a button on the
All in Wonder remote. Right now I'm listening to Motley Crue.

Mp3 source on my workstation

Mp3 player on server

Emulator

The S-Video output lets you play video games originally intended for TV on the computer and view them on the television. I currently run Nestopia, an NES emulator. I can play any Nintendo game through this emulator. I also purchased 2 NES controllers that were modified to have a USB connection. They connect to the computer via a USB hub and extension cable.

Audio and video both appear on the home theater.

The All in Wonder remote can open the emulator by pushing 1 button and you can navigate the program with the remote. Also, I chose Nestopia because it lets you connect games over the Internet. This computer has a network connection and can easily play others
online.

Everything Else

The video card has decent S-Video output, but that can never compare to the resolution of a computer monitor, so when I need to do detailed tasks I use a VNC connection and make the changes on my workstation. Also, I can start the computer with the power button on the keyboard or I can use Wake On Lan from any computer on the network. This starts the computer so you can use the mp3 server from anywhere. The computer can be shutdown by the keyboard or power button on the case. This sends a signal for windows to shutdown the computer. The computer boots very quickly.