control software & touchscreen on WHS?

T

tiredder

Member
I know this might be a duplicate topic, but I can't really find the answers I am looking for!

If I have a media server set up in my pantry with windows home server, can I run control software like QCQ or mControl (etc.) on this PC (w/o any restrictions or downfalls?)? Also, I am interested to attach a touchscreen display which I can mount to the wall right next to the pantry. (Convenient location in the middle of the house)
I'd like to use that touchscreen to access the control software and my media.

I just keep reading that there's no monitor supposed to be hooked to WHS, is this just trying to point out that one won't need one or that this PC should really ONLY run WHS and nothing else?

any thoughts?

in case anybody cares for the setup I am ready to order at Newegg:

HITACHI Deskstar 7K1000 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
ECS GF8200A (V1.0) AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 8200 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
CORSAIR Dominator 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
AMD Athlon X2 4850e 2.5GHz Socket AM2 45W Dual-Core
Microsoft Windows Home Server 32 Bit 1 Pack (Power pack 1) - OEM
RAIDMAX APEX ATX-802BP Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450W Power Supply
 
I installed WHS recently and have since a screen peramently connected to it...

I have an ATI 3450 graphiccs card in there with supports dual screens...although i havent tried to hook up a 2nd screen i don't really see why it wouldnt work.

WHS is somewhat intended to run as a headless device...but this doesnt mean you cannot have a local screen.

By default WHS's internet explorer is locked down tight and will not play flash, download files and a bunch of other things...I'm sure there is a way to reduce those restrictions...but for stability/security reasons you probably don't want your WHS server to be the machine that you surf the web with.

I have ElkRP installed on the WHS machine as well and plan to install CQC soon along with MusicPort software from Nuvo. The MusicPort from Nuvo is intended to run on a dedicated machine but we'll see how that works out.

In the end the WHS machine presents itself as a regular windows machine with some additional features...

Some items to keep in mind:
- I had issues getting WHS installed when my disk controllers were in AHCI mode.
- The antivirun i got (TrendMicro) doesn't want to install on WHS, saying the OS is not supported. Not sure if other version of Trend will work...right now mine runs without AV

I see you got 45wayy CPU...this is good..i got a Intel E8500 with appear to be much overkill ( I have yet to see the CPU's break 10% load) and at 65W takes more power...it depends on what you plan to have the machine do..mine is intended to run SageTV in service mode using hardware encoders/extenders so there's little CPU load, CQC as a service, and multiple sessions of iTunes for the Nuvo MusicPort.

You could consider a smaller power supply for further increase the energy efficiency..since i assume this machine woudl be on 24x7 this will make a difference over the long run. If the PSU comes with the case it may not be that good of a PSU...I would suggest looking into high efficeincy supplies and consider if you can do with less than 450w. I got a 380 and my machine seems happy...you could probably go lower than that..

If you're looking into RAID carefully consider this along with WHS's data replication features to make sure it's all compatible.

Good luck to you on the build, I'm still in the early stages of working with WHS so once you get it up send me a message and we exchange experiences if needed.
 
Bandido
You can connect a monitor to the WHS server.
It is 2003Server OS running "under the covers"
Microsoft's licensing for the WHS "logo" restricts the hardware from being a full blown PC
You probably don't care much about the logo, so I wouldn't worry about that.

I have MainLobby running great on WHServer.
 
MavRic - if you care to fix the IE issue, go to Start > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs > Add/Remove Windows Components -- then uncheck Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration, then OK all the way out. That's one of the first things I tend to do to Win2k3 servers.

I do know I run other things on mine, but nothing processor intensive (foldershare to sync some of my files, uXM, Tiversity, and I loaded Premise on there - but I don't really use any of those... Mine is the true HP home server, so there's no actual video port on it - otherwise I'd probably hook it up to my livingroom TV in place of the separate PC.

Idle curiosity - are you guys using any of the Windows Home Server features, or is it just cheaper than using XP Pro or Win2K3 Server? I use mine for the automatic PC backup, and that's about it for the WHS features.
 
MavRic said:
I have an ATI 3450 graphiccs card in there with supports dual screens...although i havent tried to hook up a 2nd screen i don't really see why it wouldnt work.

I have ElkRP installed on the WHS machine as well and plan to install CQC soon along with MusicPort software from Nuvo. The MusicPort from Nuvo is intended to run on a dedicated machine but we'll see how that works out.
Click to expand...
Thanks, that's exactly what I wanted to confirm. I assumed so, but never really was sure...

MavRic said:
- The antivirun i got (TrendMicro) doesn't want to install on WHS, saying the OS is not supported. Not sure if other version of Trend will work...right now mine runs without AV
Click to expand...
Do you think it's needed to run an antivirus software on there w/ all of MS's firewall, etc.?

MavRic said:
You could consider a smaller power supply for further increase the energy efficiency..since i assume this machine woudl be on 24x7 this will make a difference over the long run. If the PSU comes with the case it may not be that good of a PSU...I would suggest looking into high efficeincy supplies and consider if you can do with less than 450w. I got a 380 and my machine seems happy...you could probably go lower than that..
Click to expand...
That's another thing I wanted to look into further. I think I'll look at the cases and see what I can find. It sounds like that included PSUs are really not worth it to save money, huh? It really only needs to be bottom of the line case but with decent cooling in case I expand to more hard drives down the road.

MavRic said:
If you're looking into RAID carefully consider this along with WHS's data replication features to make sure it's all compatible.
Click to expand...
I did, but for what I want it to do it seems to much right now. I started reading up on it and I just want to get started, maybe i'll add a Raid setup later down the road.

MavRic said:
Good luck to you on the build, I'm still in the early stages of working with WHS so once you get it up send me a message and we exchange experiences if needed.
Click to expand...
most definitely!! I'll keep you in the loop once I get started. I have a feeling though that the experience exchange might be a little "one-way" oriented since I am a total beginner when it comes to all of this. I just hooked up my first network w/ my new DIR-825 and still can't get my xbox360 to connect... ;-))
 
Todd:

I bought WHS for $99 which was actually cheaper than XP Pro, Cheaper than Vista which i don't like anyway, and cheaper Win2k3 which ran as a trail and really liked but didn't want to shell out the money for.

I don't currntly use the backup functions...I plan to have all the home PC's configured such that all their 'data' (pictures/music/etc) comes directly of the WHS machine...then I'll configure the PC's the way i want and back them up once. Maybe if i install something new on them i will back them up again...but don't see the need for daily backups if there's no actual data on the machines...

With XP support running out at some point and Win2k3 (basis for WHS) likely to remain i thought this was the better option...

I didn't get the HP hardware box WHS server because for Home Automation i wanted to be able to add lots of PCI-E cards, more hard hards, etc....the HP box seemed a bit limited in that sense..
 
What anti virus would run under WHS?

I guess the version of Trend Mirco that i got was not compatible with WHS/Win2k3.

Todd: should we run antivirus on such a server?
 
There are several users running HomeSeer and the new HSTouch touch screen software on the WHS OS with no problems. Here's an example pic of an alarm clock screen made with HSTouch.
 

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I originally did the WHS just for testing, but keep it around because I like the regular backups. Oddly enough, when I go on a long vacation, I take it to my office and leave it there in case I get cleaned out while I'm gone. It does seem like a waste though not doing much else - it's got like 1.4TB free right now too. It's built-in RAID leaves some to be desired - I keep getting warnings and failures from it - I'd rather use RAID any day.

As for anti-virus, that depends on the person. I put anti-virus on every machine I touch (family, friends, coworkers, employees) - except my own. I don't like that it slows my PC down, and I don't get viruses outside of e-mail - and my e-mail servers are protected with hourly live-updates. For what it's worth though, my WHS server keeps prompting me to download McAffee Total Protection - I'd hope it's not expecting me to pay for it, but it shows under status that I need to do it. It comes down to if the PC will just have controlled apps on it, or if anyone will be opening e-mail or browsing the general web with it - if they are, it'd be smart to protect it with something. Also, I only use normal anti-virus (for files and email), not the total-protection suites - they always cause more problems than they fix.
 
Rupp said:
There are several users running HomeSeer and the new HSTouch touch screen software on the WHS OS with no problems. Here's an example pic of an alarm clock screen made with HSTouch.
Click to expand...

That looks nice. I still can't decide what automation software to go with...

Todd B said:
As for anti-virus, that depends on the person. I put anti-virus on every machine I touch (family, friends, coworkers, employees) - except my own. I don't like that it slows my PC down, and I don't get viruses outside of e-mail - and my e-mail servers are protected with hourly live-updates. For what it's worth though, my WHS server keeps prompting me to download McAffee Total Protection - I'd hope it's not expecting me to pay for it, but it shows under status that I need to do it. It comes down to if the PC will just have controlled apps on it, or if anyone will be opening e-mail or browsing the general web with it - if they are, it'd be smart to protect it with something. Also, I only use normal anti-virus (for files and email), not the total-protection suites - they always cause more problems than they fix.
Click to expand...

I won't be doing any email checking or downloading with it. Maybe AVG will run on WHS...

I guess now I just finally need my server PC first. I think I'll order all the parts tomorrow and start building next weekend! YAY
 
I built a WHS macjine last summer using an ASUS board, 2 Hitachi 1T drives etc. It backs up our machines and is a repository of a number of our shared files. The backup has saved me several times.
It backs up the HS machine, several laptop[s an a multimedia machine with a number of movies. With the way it's designed, I have only used a little over 1T on it.
will prob add some more DVD's online as it is so nice when you want to watch them.

Hope that helps someone.
 
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