[live4lax364]

I've been searching everywhere and trying to do the research all the forums yell at you for not doing. I'm not finding exactly what I want. I just want to be able to buy a cheap PC, and be able to access it from a URL in Safari to use my files. I also want it to hold all of my iTunes music so I can stream my music and movie files to the iTunes on my Mac. If I cant do this with free/cheap applications on the web, is there some web space that would support all of this?

-Thanks for any help...

[ginoledesma]

You're thinking of something along the lines of a media center appliance/PC. You can build one from scratch, or you can buy one that's built to do the job. For example, a lot of the home NAS solutions now sport media sharing/streaming.

You can even build one using a Mac/PC running either Mac OS X, MS Windows, or Linux. You can use a Web/FTP server to serve files over the Internet. There are ways to get iTunes to stream your music over the Internet though it involves some mucking around.

[live4lax364]

I'm looking for something more along the lines of a guide? Is there a link or anything you know of that would help me set up a windows PC so I could just access my files through a URL? Or if it could help me with the iTunes, that would be great too.



-I recently found this web page Building a Web Server (BSDI/Unix/NT/Windows/Mac/Sun/SGI)
and it is linked directly to the connection of a web server. These all seem like difficult and expensive ways to get it on the internet? I was just wondering if these are the only ways to get your files up on the internet. I have a wireless router and was hoping I could base it off of that, whether it would be wirelessly connected or directly connected to the router/ethernet port? Any advice?



-----I also found this one. Host A Web Server on Your Home PC
I found this one searching for more about web servers. I read through it and was wondering if this would only work for hosting your own web pages, or could i do the same thing and share my files like that? But if I could, wouldn't the remote computer I was trying to use to see my files need HFS too?


--Andd this one, http://www.techmanifesto.com/archive...a-file-server/ This is the last one I could find that seemed of any help to me. I read through it and it sounded pretty good. This is kind of what I'm looking for, although it may not be the best for streaming mp3's and video. I was also wondering, I read through this tutorial and found that they used a specific IP address. I then read through all the comments to see if anyone else thought this might be a problem. I found a comment that read, "Those new to networking might obtain better results by not using a specific IP address when mapping the new network harddrive, unless of course the server’s NIC is specifically configured with the address. The reason is simply that the router may assign “the server” a different address the next time the computer is started, (many routers/NICs are configured DHCP by default, allowing the IP assignments to vary as network machines are restarted)." So my question was, could a specific IP continuously work if the "server" is connected to the network by my wireless router?

Once again, sorry for all the edits, links and long post.

[ginoledesma]

Try searching for "build your own media center". You'll find a good many articles on the subject.

Examples:
1. Build Your Own Media Center - Part 1, Part 2
2. Build Your Own Media Center

Or you might be interested in trying something like Jinzora (howto), Subsonic, or Ampache. These are open source software that usually tie in with a web server and PHP. You can get this running on Linux, Windows, or Mac OS X, but you'll have to setup the prerequisites first.

If you want to go the cheapest route, then you're probably looking at Linux. Start with a distribution that has a thriving user community, like Ubuntu and Fedora. Note, however, that what you need to invest in this is time, effort, and patience. There's a reason that things like AppleTV comes with a cost.

My recommendation:
1. Build out a battle plan -- identify the components you need
2. Look for reviews/guides on the Internet detailing user experiences
3. Consider the stuff that you know, what you don't know (what looks easy to do, what looks daunting)
4. Outline the things you need to do, one step at a time. For example:
4.1 I need to get the computer on the network first -- what's needed for that
4.2 I need a way to get files over the Internet -- what's needed for that
4.3 I need a way to stream my music -- what's needed for that
4.4 I need to be able to upload files from my local network -- what's needed for that

If you want, try it out here and we'll see who'll pitch in.