What Animal Is Joe Eating?

A Linux Thought...

Posted: 4/13/2007

As I perused numerous reviews of numerous media extenders last week, I kept reading the same issue over and over again— wireless networking problems. I don’t think that running ethernet is a good solution for everybody; unless you have the ability to do it yourself, it can be expensive to run and terminate the cable. Having said that, since I’ve run ethernet, I would never rely on wireless.

But, for the majority of people, retrofitting ethernet into their houses just isn’t practical. So, they’re stuck with wireless, which for media extenders such as the Apple TV and my DSM-320, significantly impacts streaming reliability.

I’ve been beta testing Microsoft’s Home Server. And I firmly believe that for media extenders to be successful, a proper server must be in place. That is, any media extender can be either a wonderful device or a waste of money, depending on the server-side implementation. Servers are not plug-em-in-and-forget-em types of devices, but some are getting close.

There are many Linux-based NAS devices that come with uPnP server software pre-installed. Linux can also be configured as router software. In fact many home wireless routers actually run Linux, and can be hacked to give them more functionality.

So why not add the NAS/uPnP server to the wireless router device? They’re already multiple devices in the same box. Add automatic OS/codec updating to the box, and you've minimized many of the problems that media extenders have. In most cases, you’ve cut the number of in-house wireless connections in half, which improves the quality and bandwidth of other connections in the house.

If I were a manufacturer, I’d have a new product coming out.

What Animal Is Joe Eating?

Updated 12/6/06

A Linux Thought...