Hello,


I hope, although this site is for Debian administration, you also answer such questions.


### Short Version ###

I would like to have _minimum_ power consumption, access to my data and e-mails from around the world while doing mostly office work (surfing, writing e-mails) and _sometimes_ multimedia work (recording TV-shows, editing movie footage).

Any ideas how to set this up? Multiple devices and renting servers are allowed, money is disregarded.
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### Long Version ###

I am interested in your ideas, thoughts or implementations of the following project/problem. For the beginning it should not deal with the actual hardware.

** In this scenario power consumption is the only criterion. Money does not play any role ;) **


=== 1. Requirements ===

I would like to

a) access my data (incl. e-mails) from everywhere

b) _mostly_ surf on the net and write e-mails

c) _sometimes_ edit videos and record TV-shows, and replace my multimedia stuff (e.g. DVD player)

d) stream music

e) have high availability, i.e. look up a website without waiting for the computer to start up

f) multi-user setup, e.g. at least two people are able to work in this setup

g) The TV is not in the neighborhood of the working place, where the computer is situated
- e.g. living room and office are not the same room

h) have a secure setup

i) have a noiseless or quiet working place.


=== 2. "material" ===

I thought of the following devices to use. You can supplement it at your will. Please use those devices, you think are needed, and leave out those which are not.

a) rent a root server

** power usage: ?? Watt (Guess: 100 Watt)
** price: 50 € per month

b) DSL-Router (e. g. FritzBox) with USB plug for external hard drive
* ca. 200 MHz

** power usage: 15 Watt
** price: 50--250 €

c) "MiniPC" or ThinClient (requirement: power usage < 20 Watt, fast enough for surfing the net and for writing e-mails)

e. g.: DT168 - miniPC2+ (www.dt-research.com)
* 800 MHz prozessor
* 512 MB RAM
* 4 GB Compact-Flash-Card (CF-Card)
* Sound, Ethernet, USB

** power usage: 12 Watt
** price: 360 €

d) any desktop PC
** power usage: > 100 Watt
** price: > 500 €

e) any multimedia PC
** power usage: > 80 Watt
** price: > 700 €

f) media-/TV-Box with network support

e. g.: auvisio Digital Media Box with 54Mbit-support
(http://www.pearl.de/pearl.jsp?redir=yes&screenX=1280&screenY=1024)

** price: 130 €

g) uninterruptalbe powers supply (UPS)

h) any networking periphery, like switches und cables


=== 3. my idea (until now) ===

a) ** In this case, I do not know if it possible from a hardware point of view. **

The core is multimedia-PC, acting also as a file and e-mail server and which is always running (24/7). A processor is needed, which can be put into something like a hibernation mode with almost no power consumption (perhaps a mobile processor?), where it still can serve files and e-mails. Other components are turned off when not needed (e. g. graphics card, TV-card, sound-card). Now there exist two possibilities:

i) The PC is put in the working room. If a second person wants to work, the person is doing this over a thin client on this PC.

advantage:
- everything is in one PC, no multiple costs

disadvantage:
- 2f): You need a TV-Box for the living room.
- probably not the solution with minimum power consumption
- 1h): Not very secure.
- ? low usability from the living room. (But I have never tried out such a media box.) ?
- 1i): not noiseless

ii) The pc is put in the living room. Then you need at least two additional thin clients for work. One thin client is running on fixed times (e. g. in the evening and on the weekend all-day).

advantage:
- 1i): noiseless.
- probably high usability from the living room

disadvantage:
- costs: you cannot work directly on the pc, so you need two additional devices.
- probably not the solution with minimum power consumption

Independently one can think about using the pc as a DSL-route too.


b) The thin client is used as the working PC and as well as the file and e-mail server with an external hard drive and is running 24/7. For CPU-intensive tasks and for recording TV-shows an extra PC is turned on which is suited for such work.

advantage:
- 1i): noiseless
- IMHO the setup with minimum power consumption.

disadvantage:
- thin client is heavily used
- For recording TV-shows a solutions has to be found to turn it on. (maybe Wake-On-LAN?)


c) You rent a root server and save your data there. In the apartment a thin client runs on fixed times and a multimedia PC is turned on as needed.

## Actually this looks like solution 3 a), only that you do not have constantly running devices in your apartment. ##

advantage:
- 1h): physically save, since the server is taken care of by the hoster (backup, UPS).
- 1i) noiseless.

disadvantage:
- Data is not save when the server is configured wrong.
- Same, maybe higher, power consumption as in 3a)i)
- costs are higher, since you still need a multimedia PC at home
- low transfer speed (max. 16 MBit).


=== 4. The End ===

I hope, you could understand my English and my project.

I thank you for reading that far and for you replies in advance.


Greetings

PaulePanter


PS: If you know a different forum for such problems, please tell me.