This may be a big "no sh*t Sherlock" item for some, but I figured I would post my experience on switching my Squeezecenter from Windows 2000 to Ubuntu Server 7.10 on the same hardware.
Bottom Line Up Front: The web interface is snappier, it's faster on scanning, and on starting a song when I press 'play'. My library is 5300 songs mostly FLAC.
Difficulty Level: Based on your experience....if you're un-familiar with Linux there is a bit of a learning curve.
Hardware: SqueezeCenter runs on a Dell Inspiron 5000, circa 2000 (that's right, 8 years old!), Pentium III 650mhz, 1GB Ram. Music is on a Buffalo Linkstation HG-HDLAN300.
I went with this hardware config because 1) I already had it 2) It is low-power. I was running a minimal installation of Windows 2000, ie no fluf, just the OS and some security software (gotta love windows). The laptop is also a printer server for the house.
NOTE: Getting
my printer to work in Linux was a major PITA but its a special case (HPLaserJet 1000). I decided to try linux because the SqueezeCenter interface with Windows was just slow and I figured I'd give it a try before breaking down and buying new hardware. In other words I'm a cheap bastard.
I had played with Debian and Ubuntu before so I wasn't a total Linux noob, but pretty close. Setting up Ubuntu Server was easy, as was SqueezeCenter, I just downloaded the CD image from ubuntu, ran it, and followed the instructions on the Slim Devices website under the Linux download page. Note: if you aren't a little comfortable with using the command line in Linux you would need to download the ubuntu-desktop package after installing, I didn't want to use any more resources than necessary so I didn't do this. I used pico instead of vi to edit text files, this or nano lower the learning curve (I hate the vi text editor).
Obstacles: Getting Ubuntu and my Linkstation to play nicely required a bit of research on Google but again its not too bad. This link worked for me:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=288534The biggest pain was not SqueezeCenter but getting my Printer up and running in Linux. Apparently the HP LaserJet1000 needs to have its firmware loaded by the driver everynow and then. This is abnormal and it took a bit of research and trial and error to get it working, much to the distress of my wife who suggested I marry the computer since I spent all my time on it.
But its all working now.
It's faster AND I don't have the permission problems on printing I was having under windows. Yay!
Todd
