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raysfan81

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 6, 2009
598
2
I have a chance to accquire one with a gig of ram and 300gb hard drive space. Would that be a good server for music and video streaming using osx server? Also what would be a reasonable price for one.
 

chrismacguy

macrumors 68000
Feb 13, 2009
1,979
2
United Kingdom
I have a chance to accquire one with a gig of ram and 300gb hard drive space. Would that be a good server for music and video streaming using osx server? Also what would be a reasonable price for one.

It would be sufficient for light media streaming (Non-HD) Under Tiger Server or before. As a comparison, I have a Dual 867Mhz G4 Tower as my current Media Server, and for everything but HD Video it works just fine (Dual 867 G4, 1.5GB RAM, Dual HDs etc). As far as price goes - depends on the condition, whats included (OS X Server or nothing at all) etc. In good condition Id probably lay out $100 - 150 for one.
 

raysfan81

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 6, 2009
598
2
It would be sufficient for light media streaming (Non-HD) Under Tiger Server or before. As a comparison, I have a Dual 867Mhz G4 Tower as my current Media Server, and for everything but HD Video it works just fine (Dual 867 G4, 1.5GB RAM, Dual HDs etc). As far as price goes - depends on the condition, whats included (OS X Server or nothing at all) etc. In good condition Id probably lay out $100 - 150 for one.

It comes with everything but the os and I think I have a Panther server set laying around somewhere. Also if I'm just storing the video on it shouldn't I be able to play it if the connection speed is good enough and the computer I'm watching it on is powerful enough? I know it won't do on the fly hd encoding though.
 

mulo

macrumors 68020
Aug 22, 2010
2,267
5
Behind you
you might want to hold that for a sec, I bought a dual g5 tower for $200. i have a hole bunch of server software running on it, and i'm also able to do 720p no problem.

i havent been able to get leopard server though :(
 

chrismacguy

macrumors 68000
Feb 13, 2009
1,979
2
United Kingdom
It comes with everything but the os and I think I have a Panther server set laying around somewhere. Also if I'm just storing the video on it shouldn't I be able to play it if the connection speed is good enough and the computer I'm watching it on is powerful enough? I know it won't do on the fly hd encoding though.

It should also be asked, which clients are you going to have, and is it going to be in a rack (Towers are quieter than XServes, and also much easier to flog). The only problem with a Tower is getting the OS X Server Software (which is relatively rare and costs a fortune).
 

raysfan81

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 6, 2009
598
2
you might want to hold that for a sec, I bought a dual g5 tower for $200. i have a hole bunch of server software running on it, and i'm also able to do 720p no problem.

i havent been able to get leopard server though :(

The only problem with a G5 is the power consumption and most of all the heat. I don't know what I'm going to end up doing I guess I have to be open to multiple options.

The answer to the other question is I don't really think I would have any clients. I just want to stream my media to multiple devices in my house and maybe connect via FTP. Also I'm intrigued by the built in VPN options on osx server.
 

raysfan81

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 6, 2009
598
2
+1 just cant get a hold of server :(

Yeah they don't pop up everyday. The rarest would definitely be the G3 that apple sold in "server configuration" I rarely see those for sale.
 

chrismacguy

macrumors 68000
Feb 13, 2009
1,979
2
United Kingdom
The only problem with a G5 is the power consumption and most of all the heat. I don't know what I'm going to end up doing I guess I have to be open to multiple options.

The answer to the other question is I don't really think I would have any clients. I just want to stream my media to multiple devices in my house and maybe connect via FTP. Also I'm intrigued by the built in VPN options on osx server.

Anything that gets data off the server is a client, so yes you will have some clients unless your planning on using an XServe as a Desktop (I highly recommend against this - they are insanely loud). What are the devices you want to stream too is what Im asking (Also, the XServe will use as much power as the G5, and will probably produce nearly as much heat)
 

raysfan81

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 6, 2009
598
2
Anything that gets data off the server is a client, so yes you will have some clients unless your planning on using an XServe as a Desktop (I highly recommend against this - they are insanely loud). What are the devices you want to stream too is what Im asking (Also, the XServe will use as much power as the G5, and will probably produce nearly as much heat)

Well I have my 2 PM G4's, my eMac, my iMac g3, a windows desktop and laptop,a linux laptop, and my 360. Also couldn't a client be a computer that boots off of the server instead of its local hard drive.
 

chrismacguy

macrumors 68000
Feb 13, 2009
1,979
2
United Kingdom
Well I have my 2 PM G4's, my eMac, my iMac g3, a windows desktop and laptop,a linux laptop, and my 360. Also couldn't a client be a computer that boots off of the server instead of its local hard drive.

If your planning on streaming to all of those at the same time it may not have the throughput internally (The PowerMac G5 and XServe G5s both have much higher throughput because of a better internal architecture). A client is something that uses the server for either data or a service, not something that boots off the server (although if something boots off the server by definition its a client, but its a special type of client - the use of NetBoot is a complete pain half the time anyway, and Id definitely avoid that on a G4 XServe...).
 
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