Low Powered SOHO Server?

meroo asks: "I am building a new home that is completely solar/wind powered. I need to conserve power wherever I can, but I don't want to leave all my tech toys behind. I need advice about building a low power, Linux based, file and print server. It should be scalable to more than a terabyte of storage (we are video artists) with at least four HDD bays for flexibility and data redundancy. I would like advice on processor/mainboard combos, low power HDDs and a distro with the best power management to bring this thing down to idle when we are not using it. The server will be accessed via our laptops (Mac OSX and Ubuntu), a future home theatre PC and visitors assorted laptops. I've been looking at using laptop components, miniITX and professional server solutions, but now I'm thoroughly confused. Has anyone on Slashdot been faced with this problem before?"

Comments

Low power video?

[gambit3]

Those two things don't seem to go together. I'm interested what advice people come up with since video rendering is just about the most processor-intensive thing you can do on a computer.

Re:Low power video?

[monkeyserver.com]

I agree, this doesn't seem too thought out. If you are video artists you will need to run good lcds, fast cpus, lots of ram, and fast hard drives. That is the opposite of low power. Suck it up, you can't have your green house and work in it too ;)

If you are dead set on low power then I suggest you invest in some fun ways to occupy your time, and a good stress ball, because you'll be doing a lot of waiting...

good luck though.

your best solution

[coreboarder]

is to accept that what you want to do probably does not fit into where you want to do it. then have a plan to turn the fridge and everything else off when you need to work...