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[JimH]

The name may change, but the NUC based DLNA Renderer is coming to life.

Running Debian

It runs a special mutant flavor of Debian.  It uses the latest stable build, but has test features added.  Mainly HDMI support.

It boots Linux, then loads MC in its server mode.  

No Monitor Required

No monitor is required.

If a Monitor is Attached

When MC has been loaded, you see a menu like this:

1.  Analog output

2.  HDMI output

3.  Dragonfly USB output

4.  Update

5.  Reboot

Updates

Option 4 in the menu checks our server for a newer version of MC.  If found, it is downloaded and installed silently, then the device is rebooted.  This uses Linux's repository method.  We expect to add a similar process for updating the OS.

Working Now

The outputs for analog, HDMI, and Dragonfly are all working.  We will add a few more USB DAC's to the menu on request.

Thanks to Bob for all his work on this.

[JimH]

Our plan is to make these boxes serve multiple purposes, with only a menu change required.  At least these, for now.

DLNA Renderer

DLNA Server

[glynor]

It runs a special mutant flavor of Debian.

Mmmmm.  Delicious mutant flavor.

[fitbrit]

Which NUC is it based off? I recently got a Celeron one.

[JimH]

The 2820 FYKH.

[JimH]

Bob has made more progress.  Id's intended to run headless, but at this point, it needs a monitor for setup.

Here's a screenshot (apologies for the quality -- it's a photo from a cell phone):



On the left is the MC GUI, which isn't needed for most functions but is handy for changing settings.

On the right is a text menu that lets you do some things that don't fit neatly in MC.  

The device has a 60GB SSD.  Bob used 20GB for the OS.  The other 40GB are available for audio data.  That's about 120 CD's of FLAC or APE files.  This data space will be available on the network, so you can copy audio to it and MC will import it.  This will let the device act as both a DLNA Renderer and DLNA Server.

Stay tuned.  We hope to push it out in a "draft" form in about two weeks.

[fitbrit]

My Celeron NUC with 16 GB SSD (Win 8 ) is able to run MC VERY well, including ROSQ video. I keep running out of space, so I will upgrade to a bigger SSD. It was a good deal with the RAM, SSD and WiFi card installed for $150. I would love to see the Synapse become video capable - I think it will do an excellent job. Best of luck on the rollout.

[JimH]

Our plan is to make these boxes serve multiple purposes, with only a menu change required.  At least these, for now.

DLNA Renderer

DLNA Server

With the addition of the MC GUI, and using the excess storage of the SSD (about 45GB), it's also a

Portable Media Player (audio only for now)

You could take this on the road, and plug it in to any HDMI equipped amp or TV to play music.

[JimH]

Continued here.