Dec 10, 2010    |      0 comments

Experience: HP Proliant MicroServer

Before we go any deeper into this “experience”. I have to explain that this is not a professional review. It is an “opinionated review” (if there is such word) which derive from my experience on using this product.

For the past few years, a new market niche has started to evolve rapidly. This thanks to the emergent of fast internet broadband service and cheaper by the days hardware price. Users start to build their own server at home. Some do it for fun, some for learning, some for work and some for all. Not only that, even small companies can start to afford investing into better and cheaper server systems. This is also due to the fact that a lot of things has gone digital. Gone are the days when people store racks for CDs/DVDs. Those media be it audio or video can now be stored in digital format. Having them all stored in a large storage for easy access is now easier than ever. Thus come the home NAS (Network Attached Storage) which are targeted at home users and small companies. Most of these home NAS are build using cheap solutions such as software/fake RAID system. It might not be as good compared to a full blown server RAID system but sufficient for home usage. These home NAS are selling like hotcakes which I think prompted HP to come up with this microserver.

HP Proliant MicroServer is a little step up from a normal home NAS. Not only it is a storage device, it is also a server where one can install all imaginable OS thrown at it. However, at this moment, HP only provide drivers support for Windows Server 2008/R2 and Linux Redhat.

» Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Foundation Edition
» Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2
» Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Small Business
» Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Server (x86)
» Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Server (x86-64)

 

Here is the specifications of the server:

Processor
Processor family AMD Athlon™ II
Number of processors 1
Processor core available 2
Memory
Maximum memory 8 GB
Memory slots 2 DIMM slots
Memory type PC3 DDR3
I/O
Expansion slots 1 half-height, half-length PCIe x16 Gen 21 half-height, half-length PCIe x1 Gen 2
Network Controller 1GbE NC107i 1 Port
Storage
Maximum drive bays (4) LFF SATA
Supported drives Non-hot plug 3.5-inch SATA
Storage Controller Integrated 4 port SATA RAID

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Dec 8, 2010    |      0 comments

Acer Revo 100 now available in UK with RevoPad

This is a very nice looking HTPC which looks good placed in the living room. Unlike most HTPC that looks like a PC box, this have sleek design. Coupled with the touch RevoPad, friend will be amazed.

London, 7th December 2010 – The Acer Revo 100 is a sleek contemporary design with powerful multimedia capabilities. Place it into your living room and it will easily bring together all your computing device content, whether home based or mobile, as well as Internet for the ultimate home entertainment experience.

Featured on the Revo 100 is Acer clear.fi, an application that runs on your home network that automatically discovers all your household devices and then letting you find, share, play, store and enjoy all your multimedia content anywhere in your home in an easy, intuitive and innovative way. Anything on the home network can be effortlessly connected, be it a Smartphone, notebook, netbook, HD media player, an all-in-one PC or even a home storage device. Enjoy and have fun with your multimedia anywhere, no matter where the content is stored!

What’s more, with a user friendly interface, Acer clear.fi is four time easier: Easy to set up – with immediate connection of your devices; easy to search your multimedia libraries; easy to share – just drag-n-drop to play or save media files to any of the connected devices and easy to scale – allowing you to effortlessly add devices or expand storage capacity.

Slim and elegant, the Acer Revo 100 is graced by a contemporary design and matte black finish, the Acer Revo 100 may be used on its removable vertical stand or be placed horizontally in a Consumer Electronc appliance tradition. Nicely concealed within its lean body is the innovative RevoPad, a dual-mode wireless touchpad. Press the toggle button to transform the RevoPad into a touch keyboard to easily type any amount of text with your fingers. Another tap on the toggle button and you have a multi-gesture large touchpad that lets you move the curser and then browse, rotate and zoom in/out with intuitive finger movements.

The Acer Revo 100 is powered by AMD Athlon™ II Neo dual-core processor and features next-generation NVIDIA® ION™ graphics solution for a premium 1080P full HD performance. The Acer Revo 100 is configurable with an internal TV tuner as well as a choice of either a DVD burner or a BD Combo optical drive. The BD Combo option provides full 1080P 3D playback when connected to any 3D enabled HDMI display. It supports up to 4 GB of DDR3 memory and large storage with up to 750GB of capacity. For even greater flexibility, Acer Revo 100 is equipped with 3 USB ports and a multi-in-one card reader, wireless and wired LAN and is preloaded with Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit operating system enabling all traditional PC usage.

Dec 8, 2010    |      0 comments

D-Link ShareCenter Pulse DNS-320 2-bay Network Storage Enclosure

D-Link UK launches the new ShareCenter Pulse DNS-320, a 2-bay network storage enclosure with backup and media features. The device has two 3.5-inch SATA drive bays and supports Gigabit Ethernet connectivity. It includes the RAID 1 technology to automatically mirror the contents of one of its hard drives to the other, and comes with FarStone Backup software.

The ShareCenter Pulse features built-in UPnP media server for streaming media content to compatible media players such as PS3, Xbox 360, D-Link Boxee Box. It can also be used as web file server, FTP server and print server.

The D-Link ShareCenter Pulse DNS-320 costs GBP89.99.

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