Ubuntu. s3 sleep on samba, few other issues

[Sporkk]

I've been experimenting with ubuntu. I like it so far but I'm having a few issues with some things. I had to edit the samba config and force user for my ntfs drive so it would share properly because nautilis didnt work. I was happy until the thing falls asleep while samba is in use. I've been reading that ubuntu doesn't have a feature to detect active samba like win 7 does. Are all distributions like this? I also had to use some hidden settings in gconfig editor to keep it from pestering me for a password when coming out of sleep (disabling the monitor lock doesn't work for s3 sleep). The other minor thing is that you can't wake on keyboard by default and have to use the power button.

I like ubuntu because sabnzbd is easy to install however the sleep during samba is kind of a deal breaker for me. I could setup sab on my xbmc win 7 pc in the basement but then I would need to learn how to wake it up with a magic packet. I'm wondering if the best way is to play with linux in a virtual box instead.

thanks for the help

[Artemis]

A simple but basic question, why do you have your filesharing machines go to sleep in the first place ? i.e. you say you have to wake the ubuntu machine but also an xbmc machine based on win7. Surely the simplest thing is to disable sleep on the machines (or in the case of win7 drive power down), you can still have the monitor sleep but keep the drives running, like anyone would in a filesharing system.

[markose]

weird.

[Artemis]

weird.

One word in a support forum ? Well aren't you just the poster child for the dildo generation.

[Sporkk]

My basement computer is only used as a media player in our little basement theater. Also we only use it a few times per week so I only need samba then. The only monitor is a projector for our 100" screen and they aren't good to turn on unless you use it for a while.

I have sabnzbd setup on my primary desktop (upstairs file sharing machine) and we only need to use samba when were watching stuff. I think s3 sleep is great. It saves a huge amount of $$ over s1. Even when I had a media center dvr setup on win7 it would auto wake out of s3 sleep and go back when done recording. Your probably right that the best solution is to disable sleep on the upstairs computer before watching a movie if I'm booted into ubuntu.

I had thought about using the basement computer for sabnzbd remotely so I didn't have to deal with sleep issues but its probably less confusing to keep using my primary machine. I don't think many people use s3 sleep or disable it on their file sharing machine otherwise I think we would see more complaints about linux sleeping on samba. This is all I could find elsewhere but I think it might be a bit complicated until I learn more about linux.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1359820

anyhow thanks for responding

[Artemis]

I have a few additional thoughts for you, regarding your networks configuration. The first suggestion is to look at a Debian based distro rather than Ubuntu if you are going use a machine as a server (any kind of server including just a fileserver).The command structure is similar for Deb & Ubuntu (Ubuntu was originally a branch of Debian development) so would not require relearning commands but Debian is a more server orientated environment and has more management tools in the distro.
Another thought involves the hardware itself, I have a machine that is used as a remote media player running XBMC myself, it simply shares the drives from the main mediacenter using SMB (SaMBa).This machine is an Atom based PC so it uses negligible power yet is capable of smooth 1080P playback of mkv and MP4 files because it uses the NVidia ION chipset (the ION chipset uses an integrated NVidia GPU with the ION 1 it is a 9400M), so an ION based Atom chipset or one of the new Fusion boards by AMD would be an ideal setup for a mediaplayer.
An Atom (or Fusion) based machine would also be ideal for a fileserver as well since once again the amount of power used by the whole board is typically 20W TDP so then you only have to add the power used by the HD's themselves. The new e350 CPU based Fusion chipset by AMD includes both Sata3 & USB3 onboard as well, although for a fileserver data access many not be an issue if it is media files.
Incidentally XBMC is also native to Linux, so you can have a Linux based mediacenter/media player on any of the popular distributions. In fact the functionality within Linux seems to be more sophisticated than Windows. You can also install a MythTV frontend and have liveTV on the Linux version, something not available to Windows or Mac users yet.

[Sporkk]

great suggestions thank you. You have given me some more things to think about. If I build a new pc I would like it to be one of the small efficient models that you mentioned. I'm temped to build one for a file server or whatever but I'm getting by with the 2 desktops I have now. I was using sagetv over the air with 2 extenders which was a great setup until google bought them out. Some say its the best dvr setup ever created and had / has a fanatical following. I haven't messed with setting a dvr back up since its easier to obtain my shows through alternate methods and playback on xbmc. Most nmts are very junky and it seems the guys that post the stuff have changed standards so things aren't compatible. I will also check out new linux distros.

thanks!