Excellent hardware for streaming!

[WP4MZR]

Also the new intel Atom processor is a power saver.

 

[KC1UA]

Well, strike one for me. The thin client I ordered, from the research I did, appeared to use XPE. The person I bought it from didn't indicate the OS in the auction, and dummy here didn't ask, ASSuming that the information from the manufacturer's website was correct. Instead, it had some sort of Linux embedded. Fortunately the seller is a decent person and accepted a return. With that in mind I ordered a HP/Compaq T5720 which absolutely has XPE on board. Hopefully it'll be here next week, and I'll try again.

 

[jscott02]

Scott, was this an eBay purchase? If it was from a vendor could you post a link?

 

[nydxa]

Must be the same one

I also had a bid on that unit. As you notified him that you were returning it, he just e-mailed me and asked if I wanted it! I explained that I'm also looking for an XPE unit.

 

[KC1UA]

Scott, was this an eBay purchase? If it was from a vendor could you post a link?

This is a link to the HP/Compaq unit I just purchased.

This is information on the Itona unit that I bought and then returned. This info led me to believe that it ran on XPE. I was wrong, unfortunately.

I hope that helps a little. There are a lot of other choices out there. I spent a little bit more for the HP/Compaq because I was able to find some decent literature at HP's site that spelled out exactly what it did.

 

[Uplink]

The ones I was looking at had a mic in jack on the back. They appear to have integrated audio.

Great thread. I may be interested in switching to one of these. I noticed some of them don't have a line input, only mic input. I have never streamed using the mic input, seems kind of harsh since we are already forced to use the speaker output of a scanner. Anyone have sound quality issues using the mic input???

 

[nydxa]

Upgrading Thin Clients

"Usually" you can toggle mic in to line in. If that option isn't available, than at worst you'll need to build a simple audio attentuator, a couple of resistors - not a big deal. I'm also looking, but my goal is to find one below $100 (including shipping). The HP 5700's and 5710's are plentiful, but usually only come with 256 MB of flash memory and 256 MB of RAM. I believe these can be upgraded.

I already found a very good source for he flash memory: http://ec.transcendusa.com/product/ItemDetail.asp?itemid=TS2GDOM44H-S

2GB is only ~ $35 and that's plenty of memory to run Windows XPE and some audio streaming hardware. I've been playing with Icecast. Settint it up was the biggest issue and for someone who never did it (like me), all I can say is good luck! I think Windows Media Encoder (while bigger) is definitely much easier.

As soon as I find the right deal on EBAY, I'll be off and running.

BTW, anyone who is buying these off EBAY, read the adds very carefully. One guy in Canada has several posted. His add reads "supports up to 512 MB Flash and Ram" I contacted him and found out that his units only come with 256 MB. They key is "supports up to". To run Windows Xpe and some streaming software you will need the full 512 MB. I've spoken to a few people who said that the 256 is just enough to run Xpe (only) which is what a thin client was designed to do.

I'm also going to try and load Linux Ubantu. That will easily run on an old 486 PC and it needs very little in the way of resources. There's plenty of audio streaming software for LInux.

 

[Sifter]

Wow I had no idea this hardware would gain so much popularity. A lot of you are taking off and running with it, thats awesome.

Im still reading up on xpe. If any of you have advice on how to load a new image, or even how to build the image from scratch, that would be great. I have the install disks, just unsure how to create the image, and then write it to a thumb drive, and then load it to the thin client DOM.

I see a couple of you have been admins of a thin client environment, however, though not sure it has been specifically with xpe.

The one advantage of getting HP thin clients, is that HP posts the image on their site and it is easily loaded. With off brands, one has to build their own.

Has anyone found a way to use one of HP's files to load a different brand of thin client? It appears that HP has a checking mechanism on whether or not it is genuine HP hardware.

 

[baybum]

OK, I'm not up to speed on these and have an elemetary question....

If I buy this, All I have to do is connect a monitor, keyboard and mouse and I'm running XP right out of the box? And I can download and run encoder?
What if it crashes? How do I re-install XP?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...go=DR&its=S%2BI%2BSS&itu=ISS%2BUCI%2BSI&otn=4

 

[Sifter]

Dont get mixed up with Windows XP, and Windows XP Embedded. These units by default run Windows XP Embedded. It is a slimmed down version of XP, but will for the most part, run any program that runs on XP. There are no moving parts, so the chance of it crashing are slim. But if it does, you go to HP's website, download the image again and load it.

 

[Sifter]

Also, once you get things installed, you can disconnect the keyboard, mouse, and monitor, stuff it in a corner, and connect to it remotely with Remote Desktop to make changes or check up on it.

 

[baybum]

So the specific product I refer to below will boot to XPe and I can download and install encoder?
It will be almost like running a real PC with XP on it.

 

[Sifter]

So the specific product I refer to below will boot to XPe and I can download and install encoder?
It will be almost like running a real PC with XP on it.

Correct, I dont see any reason it would not work. The link you supplied is for an 800mhz unit, I would stay with the 1ghz units. Might come in handy for the encoding. Also, most of the units will allow you to install more RAM, some a max of 512, others a max of 1gig.

 

[baybum]

Sounds good...still wondering how you get the imige on a box that gets wiped out for some reason.
Things do happen.
Do you think I won't be able to run encoder?
I stream my scanner now and only stream at 19KBps voice quality...I'm the only one who listens to it.


Thanks for helping me out on this.

 

[Sifter]

HP supplies the image in the form of an extractable .exe. Once its extracted, a wizard opens up and asks you if you would like to write the image to a usb thumb drive. You click yes, and it will then do so. Once thats done, you insert the usb thumb drive into the thin client, and upon reboot, it should take off on installing a new image to the thin client.

The following link is for the HP T5720. This will give you an idea.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsuppor...Id=1809592&swLang=13&taskId=135&swEnvOID=1058

 

[baybum]

Your assistance has been very helpful. I'm aiming to replace my loud, hot, large laptop for streaming purposes.

Is anyone out there running encoder on an 800Mhz box? I'd like to confirm that before buying this one.

Thanks again....

 

[baybum]

I forgot to ask an obvious question...at least it's obvious to me now....

Does this unit have WIFI?

 

[jscott02]

I forgot to ask an obvious question...at least it's obvious to me now....

Does this unit have WIFI?

No. It does have a wired NIC connection though on the back if you look at the pictures.

 

[Sifter]

I dont believe so. Some units have an expandable pci slot that you can put your own wifi card into. Also, you could get a usb wifi device and hang it off of one of the usb ports.

 

[baybum]

Oh that's right, didn't think about that USB option.
See what a great site this is!!!!