[conspire] Cobalt Qube project (was: question about EIDE ATA hard drive to buy)

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Don Marti (dmarti at zgp.org):

> Seagate Barracuda drives also have a reputation for
> quietness, which justifies a price premium for people
> who want to use them for audio or just for working
> around all day.

Indeed, I'm intending for the Cobalt Qube 2 to be the house mp3/ogg/flac
server:  I figure it can sit in the living room being actually
attractive and quiet -- unlike the VA Research model 500 at our old
house, which was neither, and drove people -out- of the living room.

Steps already done on the Qube 2:  

o  Inexpensively upgrade from the laughable Cobalt Networks default of
   16 MB to 256 MB, thanks to a specialty 32-bit SODIMM carried by
   SA Technology (http://www.satech.com/) of Santa Clara.  Those guys 
   are incredible!

o  Replace the infamously anemic (and expensive) outboard PSU with a 
   cheap $10 replacement intended for an HP laptop machine, thanks to 
   ingenious instructions on the Net from some inventive cheapskate.

Not yet done:

o  Modify the firmware to support booting modern kernels.  Install
   Debian etch, or NetBSD.

o  Jury-rig a second hard drive inside the box, strapped to the first
   one, running RAID1.

Various diehards have posted instructions on how to do all of the above.

I'll also need to select some management and streaming software for the
music files.  Good client support on Linux and OS X will be key.  (I 
have no clue what's good, yet.)