INTRODUCTIONThis took about 2.5 years to develope, as I've spent alot of time researching, experimenting and purchasing the required parts for this project. Basically, I'm creating a music distribution/multi-zoning system in my house for whole house audio. It will comprise of 7 independent zones (up from 5 zones originally) with the ability to sync multiple sources of music to either the main floor zones (Zones 1, 2, 3,4), to the bedroom zones (Zones 5, 6, 7), or the ability to sync the whole house or any zone in between the two floors. The independent zones are following: Zone 1: Livingroom -status *working* Zone 2: Familyroom -status *working* Zone 3: Backyard -status *working* Zone 4: Garage - status *incomplete* (just haven't had time to run the wire for the speakers...speakers will be an older pair of Hitachi bookshelf speakers I have lying around the house, but the zone should work without issue) Zone 5: Bathroom/Masterbedroom - status *working* Zone 6: Bedroom 2 - status *working* Zone 7: Bedroom 3 - status *working* Reasons for wanting to take on a DIY project of this magnitude? 1. I love music and felt that my family doesn't listen to enough of it. I felt that this would be an interesting way to present music in my house, which should be accessible virturally anywhere within the compounds of my property. 2. One system required. I don't have to buy a seperate cheaply made getto-blaster for my each of my kids. Or worse, a system for my music tastes for each room. We'd be living in the poor house then. 3. No CD's. Anyone with small kids will understand this point. No CD's that little fingers can claw at and destroy. My CD collection, now ripped into mp3 format, is placed safely away from those little prying hands. Not to mention that no running around to find that CD to play anymore. Or to run around from upstairs to the basement to find a CD. Also, this takes away CD's from being left out and cluttering space. All music is accessible, and may only require a search of the music database. 4. Don't have to purchase a CD or DVD player for each room that I want to listen to music. Again, less equipment, less money spent, one less thing that can break down. 5. I wanted to turn my house into the eventual "gathering" home for my kids and their friends to hang out at. One way is to make it a "cool" house where they will want to come and enjoy some sort of freedom, within the safe confines of my home. 6. I want to prove that an individual doesn't have to spend an extravagent amount of money to acheive whole house audio from a one source system...well unless you have the thought process that "time equates to money"...then I have spent lot's...but even so, if I went and bought a dedicated system...I would have spent even more. Also I would like to mention that I was very inspired by what an individual, that goes by the nick-name "Mastiff", has been able to accomplish in his DIY approach. His chronicles can be viewed here (Damn...his site is down again), and is very much a worth while read over. Now...
MUSIC SOURCES AND OUTPUTSThe system is computer based as listed below. Currently there is a total of seven music sources per floor in my house. These options are: 1) All music CD's have been converted to MP3. Each floor has the ability to play four seperate/selectable MP3 streams. 2) Along with having the ability to play four different MP3 music, the server will be able to connect to the internet for streaming in Shoutcast broadcasts. Again up to four streams/floor can be accomplished. 3) Another source of music and local news will be able to be attained via the soundcards line-in that will be connected to a DIY Matrix switch unit called the Maytrix. This will allow the selection of up to 4 external sources to ouput to either soundcard (4x2 matrix). One source will be from an addition of a Yamaha TX-480 AM/FM tuner. A second source is from a JVC XL-M403 CD player. Each one of those sources are controlled by a USB-Uirt. The third input of the Maytrix is connected to the music-servers motherboard audio Line-out, and this serves as a source that can feed MP3/Shoutcast music to zones on each floor. The thing with this source is that the music is in total sync as to compared to how I used to do it. This also serves as a Party source, as all zones can then play the same music, and the house can really "ROCK". The fourth input of the Maytrix currently is a spare but an additional devices could be added. The computer will output to all the zones via two Audigy 7.1 sound cards. Read again! Only two sound cards are used to output upto seven (7) different souces (per floor) to a total of 7 zones. These sound cards I have defined as the Mainfloor sound card which deals with Zones 1/2/3/4 and the Upstairs sound card that outputs to Zones 5/6/7. All this is possible using certain Creative Lab cards along with the KX Drivers. The amplification for this project will be from two 6 channel amplifiers that are capable of roughly 30W/channel into 4 ohms. The volume and source control for each zone is controllable by the computer server via PervTalk which integrates the Xlobby GUI to the KX Drivers DSP.
COMPUTER SYSTEMCurrent Hardware: Motherboard: Chaintech 9VJL5  -this motherboard is a P4 Socket 478, with built-in audio and 10/100 LAN, 5xPCI slot, 1x AGP8x slot, 2 sata ports that support SATA1 (1.5G transfer rate). It supports RAID 0/1 as well. CPU: Intel P4 1.7G CPU -this CPU was fairly cheap at the time. I had thought about upping the CPU as the motherboard can handle up to a 3G non-Prescott, but I haven't had the need to. Memory: 1.5 Gig of DDR Ram - Combination of Samsung brand (DDR400 - 1Gig)  and Kingston ValueRAM (DDR333 - 512M)
 The system hasn't run as smooth as it does now...absolutely no crashes since upgrading from just 512Meg. Harddrive: Segate Barracuda ST3250620AS  -this is a 250 Gig SATAII drive that has a 16mB buffer. (was thinking to pick up another drive for a basic RAID setup, but opted to backup the music-server onto an UnRAID server) Graphics: ATI Radeon 9550SE
 - This card replaces the Rage Fury Pro that was giving me continuous greif in the system. The 9550SE is the lite version of the board, and really is not that good, in terms of the Radeon family. But for this system, I'm just looking for a reliable card that can run at a resolution of 1024x768. It was just nice to have this card on hand so I didn't have to spend needless money on another. I purchased this card off ebay, and I think the previous owner tried to flash the BIOS of the card to turn it into a Radeon 9600. The thing he didn't realize was that only the early edition 9550 cards that were not the SE version to boot, could be flashed modded this way. I, at first deemed this card non-functional...but decided after about 2 years of sitting on a shelf, to flash the BIOS with 9550 SE firmware. Well now it is working, and as long as it is reliable...I'll be happy. This card has 128Meg of memory and is AGP 4x/8x compatible. Soundcards: 2x Creative Labs Audigy 7.1 Value (SB0400)  Creative Labs Audigy 7.1 Value (b400) sound card (Zone 1, 2, 3, and 4) Creative Labs Audigy 7.1 Value (b000) sound card (Zone 5, 6, 7, and spare) - These cards are the stripped down version from the Audigy 2 series. They were pretty comparable to the ZE version of card minus some of the extra connections (Firewire, gameport, etc). According to the KX website, these cards are only partially supported by the drivers, but they are working out great in the system. Power Supply: Enermax EG435P-VHB SFMA  - This is a 430W power supply. It is very quiet, and has an additional blower that stays powered after the system has shutdown to aid in cooling. I'm really happy with this one. Additional I/O: STLabs PCI-IO9835-2S1P  - I just picked up the card that was collecting dust at work. I was going to use this for controlling the Maytrix circuit, as the on-board parallel port is used to drive the MayLume VFD. It is a 2 serial/1 parallel port card, though I'm only going to be using the parallel port. I had another parallel port card that I was going to use, but it didn't have a backplate, so if this card didn't work, I was going to swap the plate and use the other card...but now that it does, I don't have to worry about it. Unfortunately the LPT port does not operate as intended after the system has come out of sleep. So this card, though still in the computer, is not used. I'm looking into a USB2LPT device now. Current Software: WinXP Pro w/SP2 Xlobby (last free release loaded with ZS5 replacing the now retired ZoneSkin4) -running XPert/PervTalk, Xweather,CDEX, Xintheater, XEvent, XLiveShout, XSend/XReceive plugins KX Drivers 9 Instances of Winamp v2.94 (or is it 2.95? Whatever...it is just not the latest version...no need for all that) -Winamp instances are using the following plugins: waveouts output plugin Now Playing plugin for displaying info to a VFD Girder v3.31 for controlling the "Maytrix". LCD Smartie 5.4 CDex (audio ripping software) Tag n' Rename (ID Tag Editor) The Godfather (ID Tag Editor) RealVNC - remote admin software (server side) Poweroff.exe for shutting the system down...running in service mode.
SOUNDCARD and AUDIO SOFTWARE CONFIGURATIONThe Audigy cards use the KX Drivers as opposed to using the standard Creative Drivers that come with the cards. Using the KX Drivers allow for more control of the main microprocessor on each board. The power of the KX Drivers lie with what is called the DSP. You can think of the DSP as a rack and that your going to configure this rack with different equipment, in this case some mixers, EQ's, gain controls, and input and output devices. Now with this control, what was once a dedicated 7.1 surround sound card, now becomes a powerful 4 seperate zone beast. In my case, I have two of these Audigy's which will allow for up to 8 independent stereo zones (or 16 mono should I choose to go that route....NOT!). The actual physical outputs of each Audigy can be broken down in the following format (number in brackets are for the second Audigy ): Zone 1 (5) - Left/Right Surround outputs (Line Out 2 Jack) Zone 2 (6) - Left/Right Main outputs (Line Out 1 Jack) Zone 3 (7) - Center/Sub outputs (Line Out 3 Jack) Zone 4 (spare) - Left/Right Side Surrounds outputs (combo output from Line Out 2/3 Jacks) The actual Audigy backpanel looks like this:
Where: 7.1 channel analog audio Note:The B### is the board name created by the KX drivers that are used by the drivers to indentify the board. The board being controlled will be indicated in the bottom right corner of the DSP display. For a more detailed tutorial of understanding the KX DSP can be found here. Please note though that this document covers the Audigy 7.1 Value card which I have learned is quite a bit different from other Audigy cards and is completely different than the Live cards, though the general concept of routing in the DSP is the same, the physical outputs defined and used in the output module could be very different. For my application, the KX Drivers will define the source inputs as 0/1, 4/5, 6/7, 8/9. Each input is connected to the FXBus modules. The FXBux modules are the switching modules for each zone. If an individual opened an individual FXBus module, they would see that it composes of a bunch of sliders. If these slider are set to mininum value (sliders are to the left), then that sources sound will not play out to the zone. If any of the sliders are moved to the right, then sound will play out to the zone that is connected to the slider. The two images below indicate the current configuration of each one of the Audigy SB0400 cards in the KX DSP: "Main Floor" Audigy
This SB0400 KX DSP represents the main floor zoning. The three FXMix (from top to bottom) are for the Familyroom, Livingroom, and Backyard. The additional FXmix is for the garage zone. The first four SCR modules are used for MP3/Shoutcast playback. The fifth source (Src module) is the Tuner on the line-in input. I added the gain control as the raw signal coming from the tuner was too loud. Notice that the gain does not connect up to the first mixer. That mixer's output goes to the home theater (Familyroom) that has its own volume control. "Upstairs" Audigy
The second SB0400 in the system supplies all the outputs to the upstairs. It is pretty much the same as the first image minus the additional FXMix and all tuner outputs come off the gain control.
Below is how I basically define my source modules and output module:
 I'm only showing the Mainfloor DSP as the Upstairs DSP is the same minus the fourth FXMix module.After defining the DSP screens, the next step is to identify the audio software to the number of sources required. For my application, I wanted to have 8 individual winamp sources (4 per floor), and 1 multi-floor winamp source for playback to multi zones on both floors and whole house synced audio. That is a total of 9 specific requirements, or 9 instances of winamp. Each output of each instance of winamp is then configured to an input of the KX DSP, except for one instance, which will be directed towards the motherboard sound chip and its eventual line-outs. I used for the instances of winamp, version 2.94(5?) as Xlobby does not require the latest and greatest for playback and control.  Winamp instances defined (Note: House instance was used for ZoneSkin4, but was renamed to Floorsync for ZS5) Winamp output configuration...this has to be done for each instance, each one tied to a sound input.After this, Xlobby is setup to control each zone. This is done in the setup of Xlobby, by associating all the instances of winamp. Also required is defining the music server as the Xlobby XNET server (also within Xlobby setup). This is imparitive otherwise Xlobby will not see all the seperate Winamps and the user won't be able to connect to the server via PPC or PC based means. For a more indepth tutorial on how to set the system up, I include an indepth manual with my latest skin: ZS5 , which is now complete and can be downloaded. I also discuss the setup on the Xlobby ZS5 forums here.
EXTERNAL TUNERI moved from my home theater a TX-480 AM/FM Tuner to be used as an additional source for local terrestrial AM/FM radio. Originally I had connected the outputs of the tuner to a seperate soundcard line-in. I then used a Shoutcast server to locally broadcast to all the zone instances of winamp. I then changed this and connected the tuner output directly to the Audigy inputs via a "Y" adapter. I now have changed this setup again and now the tuner runs into one of the Maytrix inputs, and is switchable via a Maytrix selection. To control the tuner, I use a USB-Uirt. The Uirt is a device that can both receive and transmit IR codes. Since Xlobby is able to send IR commands via UIRT, to add functionality to control the tuner was not difficult. Please view the diagram further down the page view the updated setup. EXTERNAL CD PLAYERI have now added the JVC XL-M403 CD Player, into the music server system. It resides under the Yamaha Tuner. This is connected to one of the Maytrix's inputs, and is selectable via controlling the Maytrix. This player was removed from the home theater setup once the HTPC came on line, and it was just sitting in the equipment rack collecting dust. In its day, this player was at the top of lhe line and is still a pretty advanced player to this day. I now have full control of the player from using the USB-UIRT within xlobby. The main purpose of adding this player allows for the use of CD, if by chance a friend or family member brings music over when having a party.
AUDIO AMPLIFIERSI was able to get my hands on a couple of BSG 6ch amps off Ebay. These are no longer in production...heck the company is no longer in business. I ended up getting these off ebay for $19.95US ea + shipping. Two of these amps alone cost less than just the transformer required to power a DIY Gainclone project I had intended, called the Mayclone (6 channel amp), and to boot, I get an extra 6 channels. That was a driving force for shelving the DIY amplifier project as I could not justify the cost when these were so available. The only info on the BSG amps were discussions on the Parts Express Tech Talk website, DIY Mobile Audio website (good breakdown and review done by "Chad") and the Xlobby website. Who knows, I may even mod them to produce better sound. From what everyone has reported on these amps, they are a solid performer. They output 30W into 4ohms, stable, lacking a little in the bass department (too small a filter cap most likely), and a few individuals have reported that they run a little hot, even at moderate levels. An awesome review of the amp, done by an individual nic'd named "Chad"...right down to performing modifications can be found here, at the DIY Mobile Audio website.
ADDITIONAL CIRCUITRYI have finished off building The Maytrix, which is a 4x2 matrix switch. What this allows for is the connection of up to four external devices to be selected between the two "zoning" soundcards. So users on the different floors of the house can either listen to: 1) AM/FM Radio via the tuner mentioned above, 2) External CD player as mentioned via the CD Player above, or 3) a internal winamp source for MP3 playback which can be completely synced between the two floors. The fourth input currently is spare, but could be used for connecting something like an IPOD docking bay or something along those lines, or even feed/distribute the audio of a satellite reciever. The Maytrix is controlled by the data lines of the LPT parallel port via Girder/Xlobby commands. The Maytrix is powered by one of the BSG amps external peripheral power plug. It is a RJ-11 6 conductor connector that supplies +/-15VDC @ 200mA. A VFD based on the Hitachi HD44780 display IC for indicating server status information, and to show source playing status. This display is a 4x20 character type with LED backlighting. It connects to the server via parallel port and is housed inside the MayBALD/breakout enclosure. In order to display the source playing information, I used the Winamp Now Playing plugin along with LCD Smartie. You can read more about it here in a document I wrote. Balanced Audio Line Driver/Receiver circuitry (The MayBALD), or balun, for suppling low-level balanced audio from the server room to the adjacent familyroom with the hopes of keeping the signal immune of noise. I've built a circuit based on Elliot's Sound Product's "Simplest Ever PC Peripheral Switch" (project#: 118). This allows for the equipment to shutdown when the music-server goes into standby, and all turn back on when the music-server wakes. Not the best way, but works right now in conservering energy when the system isn't even in use in the wee hours of the night/morning.
MAIN SYSTEM PLACEMENTThe main parts of the system (computer, amps, MayBALD/VFD Enclosure, tuner, etc.) resides in the basement, in my office. The office is also the basics of multiple distribution hubs for not only the music server, but all satellite TV connections, which are made at a 2x4 Microyal switch, the phone hub, internet/LAN connections, and the electrical breaker box (see here for more details). Below are some pics of how the system is installed. Basically the computer sits on a small platform, about 3" high, just enough to get it off the floor. Above that on some overhanging shelving, resides the AM/FM Tuner and MayBALD/VFD Enclosure. The amps sit on top on some more overhanging shelving.
Server
Maytrix 4x2 Switch MayBALD Enclosure TX-480 AM/FM Tuner XL-M403 CD Player
2x BSG 6 channel Amplifiers
SYSTEM WIRINGThe diagram below is a system overview drawing that show how the major components fit together.
 From an audio interconnects point of view, the diagram below shows how everything is connected together between the music zoning components (tuner--->soundcards--->MayBALD enclosure--->amps).  I did not show speaker hookup, as I felt that this is pretty self exclamatory. I will add though that all speaker runs are 16AWG (16 guage) two conductor in-wall wiring, meaning that all in-wall wiring meets CL3 fire code. I chose 16 guage over thicker 14 guage, mainly for cost. But as none of my runs are more that 100' (the longest is around the 75' mark), there shouldn't be an audible signal degradation from using the higher guage. Also what constitutes not using a heavier guage is that all my amplification is low...which equates to lower current draw across the load (speakers). I should also indicate that the 3.5mm to triple RCA connectors were right angle types (at the 3.5mm end). In order to connect them side by side at the soundcards, I had to trim some of the plastic insulation away from the jack. SPEAKERSLivingroom: A set of Polk Audio R10 bookshelf speakers that I've had for many years. These may be little speakers, but they put out some great sound. Familyroom: Since the familyroom that is also the theater room is right next to the room where the music server resides, low level audio will be utilized for this zone and using the theater room equipment/speakers. See my home theater page for more details of the equipement, but in the short, the speakers are a combination of Signet and Paradigm, with a Cerwin-Vega 200W amplified sub. Backyard: I have a set of HT5 patio speakers from outdoorspeakerdepot.com. These speakers are actually made by Sonance (Sound Advance) using the HomeTech name, but they have got some pretty nice reviews, and fill my backyard with beautiful music...though I guess the neighbors would disagree. Bathroom: an in-ceiling stereo speaker made by Dayton that can be purchased from Parts Express. This speaker is the KS622C KEVLAR 6-1/2" STEREO CEILING SPEAKER. I've found the big problem with this speaker is once you go off -axis, the "highs" drop off rather quickly. Garage: I have given thought about what sort of speakers to use in the garage. I had to consider alot of things to determine what would be best for this location. Let's face it, it is the garage, so I don't want to spend a lot of money on speakers, but at the same time, I wanted something that I know would sound half decent. Well, I have an old set of Hitachi speakers that were part of a Boom Box I had many moons ago. The enclosure is a simple plastic that houses a 5.25" woofer and 3/4" tweeter. Currently they are used with my workhorse computer, but what I'm going to end up doing is swapping them out for a simple computer speaker. I will have to modify the Hitachi speakers for mounting on the wall, but I feel that is the easiest and most economical way of doing things. Bedrooms: All bedrooms will utilize the CS620C 6-1/2" 2-WAY CEILING SPEAKER PAIR from Dayton Speakers. View link above for more details. After using these for over a year, I can honestly say that these speakers are awesome sounding. The image below outlines the placement of the speakers in the system. The red dots are speaker locations. From left to right, Upstairs (Zones 5/6/7), Mainfloor (Zones 1/3/4), Basement (Zone 2).
SYSTEM CONTROLThe system is controllable via a Dell X3i pda running at 400MHz. The operating system is Microsoft Windows Mobile Pocket PC 2003 Premium. Installed memory is 64MB and it has WIFI built in running a Xlobby thin client shell. It will be able to Wake the server in the event that the server is asleep, and to even put the server to sleep upon exiting the Xlobby client if required. It is running macro-script software called ButtonMax. This allows macros to be run by simply pressing one of the hard buttons on the PPC, which will allow for automatically waking the server and connect to it via thin client. The PPC is able to access the system via a Linksys access point (WAP54G). I have two hubs in which the PPC can be plugged into and the batteries recharged. One is in the kitchen and is somewhat the main docking center. The other is on my bedside table. Below are some typcial xlobby PPC client screens from the latest ZoneSkin4:
The system can also be controlled by a number of additional Xlobby thin or fat clients depending on individual needs/requirements. This is what is so interesting about Xlobby. Additional fat clients can also act as additional zones as well. The only limitations is the amount of bandwidth is used across the LAN. If too many clients are connect concurrently, then I could see this effecting the servers ability to playback without issues. All work/maintenance on the system can be performed from another computer, or by using the PPC, via free remote admin software called VNC, as the server does not have a monitor connected to it.
CURRENT STATUS LOGI decided to start this log before it is too late. Though now I will have to play catchup on a lot of what has happened with the overall design and current implimentation of the project. 30/11/06 At this point almost all of the parts for the main system have been purchased. For the computer, the only extra thing to get is a SATA drive and maybe more memory. All the soundcards have been purchased. The system is up and running. From a software standpoint, the system is almost fully functional. I only have to finish off the Girder control of the parallel port, and then add USB-UIRT commands to control the external tuner. The integration of the tuner has gone well. Except for the UIRT commands, it is fully working and control is integrated into the Zoneskin2 skin of Xlobby. The amps have been delivered, I have yet to connect them up to try them out. The MayBALD is almost completed testing. You can view the current status of that project on its compliment page. I only really now have to box it, and try out some final, full audio testing to officially say it is a go. The Maylume volume control is now starting to get underway. I've acquired most of the parts now. I hope to have a bench mock version to try out and verify the components work prior to populating a board. I'm soon to start tooling the box that the Maylume and MayBALD driver circuit will be housed into. It will be a retrofit of an enclosure I got from Hammond for the Mini Mayclone (so unfortunately it has some holes drilled into it). Besides the Familyroom zone (which will be utilizing the home theatre equipment), I haven't spent much time in setting anything up. I do have final placement of the speakers for the Livingroom zone. I haven't run speaker wire from the basement to the attic yet. I kinda put that off as I've purchased quite a few other parts for the project.
6/12/06 The MayBALD receiver circuit is now housed in its final enclosure. Check out photos on the MayBALD page.
14/12/06 I haven't updated here for a while...as I haven't done too much lately. Been mucking with the Maylume project, and now understand that I will need more parts. I made a few changes to my ZoneSkin2. I've added AM/FM Tuner control using the UIRT, and a couple of other minor changes. I've dumped it to my space on the Xlobby website. If you wish to download, goto my ZoneSkin2 page and follow the link. Another thing is that I had a problem with the music server crashing and randomly rebooting. This has plagued me from the start, but it has been getting increasingly worse. Before, it happened once every few days, but for the past few weeks, it would crash once or more a day. I determined that the first area that I would look at was the memory. I ended up going into the BIOS and played around with some of the timing settings. Normally I don't touch those, and leave them at factory defaults, but this time, changing them appears to have paid off. The systems been running flat out for the last two days without a hiccup. It's gone to sleep as scheduled, and I woke it, and it continued where it last left off. Hopefully now the system is stable. Anyways, that's it for now. Hope everyone has a Happy Holiday.
19/12/06 Finally finished off the Girder commands required to control the parallel port that will interface with the Maylume/MayBALD enclosure. So now, I can command Xlobby to turn up/down volume, outside of winamps volume, to any zone. I did this especially when running a PartyZone, if controlling the volume via winamp, it would effect all the zones. If, let's say, it's late at night and I don't want to have the music in the backyard zone, but I don't want to effect the other zones in the party enviroment, then I can turn just that amplifier channel pair down, without effecting the other zones in the party enviroment. I haven't uploaded the skin updates yet, but when I do, also included will be the Girder .gml file as well.
21/12/06 Finished making the 3.5mm patch cables that will interface the music server soundcards to the Maylume/MayBALD enclosure. Next steps over the Christmas break is to finish wiring the power supplies, mount the MayBALD driver circuit (and wire what I can to it) and figure out mounting the Maylume circuit. Also over the break, I'm intending on purchasing the FET's I require to continue testing the Maylume circuit with hopes of building the final circuit at the start of the new year. I will be adding pictures of the enclosure at different stages of completion for all to enjoy.
31/12/06 Had a friend come by and help in running speaker wire from the basement to the attic. Mainly this was for speakers up in the main bathroom. I also ran speaker wire for each of my bedrooms for possible future use. Another thing that I ran was a CAT5 cable for future expansion of a wired LAN to the upstairs. I have wireless (for the PPC to control the system), but I figured that an actual wired connection will allow for the streaming of video files. Over Christmas, I got a 250Gig SATA drive for the music server, so I re-installed everything onto it, and upgraded to WinXP Pro. The computer is now in its final resting place awaiting for connections. I'm hoping to wire in the Living Room zone before our New Year's Eve party, so I can brag a little and officially show what it can do. Hopefully everything will come together. Have A Happy New Years!
2/1/07 Test Successful! I was successful at running one zone for our New Years Party. It ran great. We did discover that some of the .mp3 files were corrupted, and I'll have to re-rip those songs again. The over-all operation was very smooth. Some further tweaks are required, mainly at default setting the volume so upon first run, the volume isn't loud enough to blow speakers...or eardrums. Other than that...the wife finally came out and said that it is pretty cool. That alone in my eyes constitutes a successful test run. Hopefully by the end of the month I will have mostly completed the Maylume and added that to the mix, along with the MayBALD so then the family room will be a zone. Around early spring, I'm hoping I will have saved enough for speakers for the bathroom and maybe even for the backyard. To which I will be able to add those zones as well.
8/1/07 Adjusted the amplifier/speaker output more by making adjustments to my KX drivers EQ levels. System master volume is at max and the Winamp volume now is at 10% to 20%, and it fills the livingroom with music nicely. I'm very happy with the BSG amps so far and I'm looking forward to connecting up the remaining zones that will require the amps. Haven't done too much more except for updating my music tags and creating a Bootskin for the music-server.
12/1/07 Recieved more parts for breadboarding the Maylume circuit. View that page for updates pertaining exclusively to that project. Also made changes to the above zoning layout diagram. Added additional bedroom zones (since I've run the wiring for them), and moved the Garage zone to the BSG amp that also powers the Livingroom and Backyard zones. This way all the zones on the first floor are powered off the same amp, and all the zones on the second floor will be powered from the other amp. Also waiting for some X10 devices to come in so I will be able to control the AC power to the rest of the equipment when the server goes to/comes out of sleep mode. I'm expecting a CM11a serial controller and an appliance output receptacle. More to do...no time to do it.
22/1/07 Milled out all the holes and mounted all the additional connectors on the backpanel of the Maylume enclosure. Wired in the MayBALD driver except for the input lines. Hopefully this will be done by the weekend, and I will have a second zone (familyroom) up and running. Will be adding up-to-date pictures of where I'm at with the enclosure.
23/1/07 Powered up the MayBALD circuit. The only thing left to wire in is the input feeds for music input. Measured 14.98V at the driver ciruit. At the receiver end, after going through about 30' of CAT5 cable, I measured 14.96V. I connected the receiver to my processor, cranked the volume and didn't notice any audible noise. The X10 stuff ended up being a bust. I purchased a CM11a serial controller and a 3-prong appliance module off ebay. I could only talk to the controller and have it trigger the module sparadically. After reading up on the internet, I found out that lot's of people have had problems talking to the serial controller with a WinXP (SP2) machine. I decided to shelf that project and may build something bassed off of Elliots Sound Products website. Maybe the PC Peripheral Switch project, or the Signal Detection project. Or I may build something that combines the two projects together. I have to figure out my ultimate need for something like this and more so, how to control it. Basically I want to shut down the AC to the rest of the equipment when the server goes into standby, and to turn it all back on when the server wakes up. This is to mainly save on electricity costs when the system is not being used.
24/1/07 I temporarily rigged some wire from the RCA input to the individual Driver input of the MayBALD, just to try it out with some music. The test was successful as I was listening to music in my familyroom (considered zone 2). Now I will be finishing off the wiring properly so this zone can be completed. View the MayBALD and the enclosure project pages for the most recent pictures.
25/1/07 Test Successful! I finished wiring the RCA inputs to the MayBALD driver. Last night I listened to music in the familyroom zone for about 4 hours. I feel pretty confident that the MayBALD is working correctly. I would say that zone is now completed. So now I have 2 working zones. The next zone to finish will be the bathroom zone, where now I just have to get the speakers. 26/1/07 Another Test Successful! I've benched it by swapping a set of speakers from soundcard output to output, but I finally tested the party zone in two of the three areas defined in the party zone: the livingroom and familyroom. I must admit, I'm impressed at perfect sync between the rooms.
23/2/07 I've gone now and in the midst of making some big changes to my system. I'm in the middle of creating a new skin, with the hopes of an improved WAF (wife acceptance factor). I'm now steering away from building a digital volume control as an individual on the XLobby forums has created a plugin that can control the KX drivers right within Xlobby. So now I have control of the volumes sliders within the KX DSP (view the KX website for info on the DSP and usage). I've also decided to expand the amount of zones from 5 to 7, and from one "Party" Sync capabilties of three zones to two synced areas (each consisting of three zones), and a whole house sync capability. To do this, I ended up removing a stereo output soundcard, and replaced it with a Creative 5.1Live, that also can utilize the KX Drivers like the Audigy. Everything, I'm hoping, will be ready soon. I'm also hoping to have a "how to" document that will explain the setup and how anyone else can be able to achieve something similar...so stay tuned.
5/3/07 Late last week, I released a new skin called ZoneSkin3. It was based on my previous zone skin, but now takes advantage of more zone abilities, and new features. Check it out more on the Skins page.
12/3/07 So the enclosure that is used to interface the computer to the amplifiers, house the MayBALD, and display server status is now complete. Equipment wise, I'm pretty much finished. Below are some pics of the current system. Currently I have 2 zones wired and working. All but the backyard and garage are wired...just not populated with speakers yet. I have migrated over to using ZoneSkin3, and it is working fine. The KX Drivers and PervTalk are running excellent. If all works out well, I'm hoping to have the bedrooms/bathrooms wired sometime this spring. The backyard I'm hoping to do over the summer. And if all works out, wire in the garage speakers by this fall.
23/3/07 I've built a little circuit totally based on Elliot's Sound Products project 118. Which is called the PC Peripheral Switch. What this does is when the music server goes into standby mode, it turns off the rest of the equipment. When the computer wakes, the equipment turns on. I did this so I don't waste electricity. The project was real simple. Three things in my eyes you have to worry about. 1) Getting a proper sized relay. I ended up using a Potter Brumfield 12V coil and rated for 7.5A across the contacts with 120VAC. 2) Finding a properly sized powerbar that will be able to house the relay and 12V input socket. 3) Your dealing with house AC mains wiring and voltages...so extra care and awareness has to be taken into account. Finally ordered all the speakers for the upstairs, so when they come in I will be able to complete a bunch of zones. Then we will be able to really see what the system can do. For the bathroom, I will be using KS622C KEVLAR 6-1/2" STEREO CEILING SPEAKER. For all the bedrooms, I settled on the CS620C 6-1/2" 2-WAY CEILING SPEAKER PAIR. Ordered them all from Parts Express, so hopefully they will be here in about a week. I've also ordered, and waiting for an Audigy 7.1 Value to replace my Live 5.1. This way I can take full advantage of the Audigy with the KX drivers. So now I won't be limited in registers, and let's face it, the Audigy is a better sounding card. I can also take advantage of the Side Surrounds for additional zones, so in all reality, I could have 8 individual zones off of two cards...not bad. Finally, I've updated my KX DSP for the existing Audigy (the new Audigy will emulate this DSP). Made alot of changes to it to include a direct line-in from the AM/FM tuner, used 6-1 mixers (6 stereo inputs/1 stereo outputs). These mixers also incorporate a master volume, so I was able to drop the seperate volume controls. The only thing the pic below does not show...which was a recent addition, was that I had to add a gain control to the output of the line-in source as even at low volumes, it was too loud.
SB0400 KX DSP settings
27/3/07 The Audigy finally arrived...after almost 2 weeks of waiting. It is now installed. All channels work with the KX configuration. Xlobby and PervTalk just require some updating to control the card's mixers. This shouldn't be too bad. Now just waiting on the speakers.
8/4/07 Test Successful! Got the speakers last week, and finally got to install the bathroom one (so far). I must say that I'm very impressed with the Dayton's. Very musical sounding. So now I only have to finish off the bedrooms and a good portion of this project will be complete. I also came up with the final configuration (for now) of my Audigy cards. You can view the configuration above. Finally, I figured out a way to display Artist/Track/Album information for each zone on the VFD. View the document here to learn how to do it. So now my system displays information for all the individual zones, as well as the three sync possibilities. So now sitting in my office, I don't have to start an Xlobby client or VNC into the server to see what is going on around the house...it is a quick visual on the VFD.
12/4/07 I had ordered some 3.5mm to RCA Steren cabling and it finally all came in. This is used to interconnect the server to the Maylume Enclosure and Tuner. The 3.5mm 4-pole cables were at a right angle and were just a little too large to fit side by side. I ended up "trimming" some of the outside sleeve with a knife. They fit perfect now.
29/4/07 Test Successful! Another zone has been completed. The bathroom/masterbedroom speakers have been installed and that zone is fully operational. I've also installed one speaker into bedroom2 and have run a successful test in operating that zone, as well as a basic Upstairs zone sync.
22/5/07 Test Successful! The bedroom2 zone is now finally completed. I finally had a chance to install the second speaker into that room. It sounds really good. So now counting I have: Living room, Familyroom, Bath/Masterbed, Bedroom2 all complete. I am able to verify all three sync possibilities (mainfloor, upperfloor, wholehouse) and every thing works. Now I just have to install the final set up speakers in Bedroom3 to complete the upstairs. Also hopefully I will be getting on with running conduit/wire to the backyard and pick up a set of speakers for the backyard. The other zone to complete is the wiring and connection for the garage. I'm still not completely sure which way to go about wiring the garage. I was going to just run some speaker wire and connect a couple of speakers. Now I'm thinking about using a MayBALD circuit to a cheap getto-blaster I currently have in the garage. Life is hard....
3/7/07 I haven't updated for the last little while, as I haven't done much work on the system to warrent anything being entered here. I did though work on the backyard to level the patio stones. After pulling them all up, it gave me the chance to also run some conduit and speaker wire for the eventual backyard (zone 3) speakers. Nothing much more has been done with the system lately.
17/7/07 I decided to make some mods to the ZoneSkin3. I broke the whole music library down into smaller alphabetical subsections. I then created databases for the whole library, and each sub-section. I modded the album select screen and its equivalent ppc screen to allow for the user to select the artist in alphabetical order. I hoping that this will increase the WAF.
13/8/07 Ordered a set of HT5 outdoor speakers from outdoorspeakerdepot.com. They seemed to have OK specifications, and individuals seem to like them. The speakers are really made be Sonance, which is a pretty respected audio company. So they should be here in a week and that zone should hopefully be finally completed. Also a neighbor with an industrial hammer drill came by and drilled a hole through the foundation in order to run the speaker wire from the outside to the amplifiers. All that's needed now are the speakers, which are in transit.
16/8/07 Test Successful! I ran some temporary speakers out to the backyard to try out that zone, and it all ran pretty well. Found out my speakers should be here tomorrow, so I will have the weekend to enjoy some music in the backyard...not to mention that I will most likely piss off the neighbors.
21/8/07 Test Successful! The HT5 outdoor speakers came in. I installed them and had a quick listen. I tried some frequency sweeps, and different levels of bass from a CD called "Food for Woofers" (from my car audio days). Those little speakers sounded real good. It also allowed me to set some EQ levels in the KX DSP for that zone. So now that zone is completed. Total count: 5 zones complete, 1 zone I just have to install the speakers. If the weather remains as cool as it has been for the last couple of days, this may allow me to get up in the attic and complete the third bedroom zone. The garage zone is the only zone that I have not done anything with. I've also been looking at a little circuit from here, which would allow me more sources plugged into the audigy line-ins, and switch them in at any point. What this would allow for is the ability to have something like an IPOD docking station in the kitchen, and at any point can switch to that source and play music from the IPOD to any zone. The only limit is that every zone dedicated to an audigy would have to listen to the same "external" source (if people wanted to listen to something other than CD music, or internet music).
30/8/07 Looking at some Polk R1 bookshelf speakers. They're pretty cheap, but the specs are almost the same as the R10's that I'm using in the livingroom. The R10's sound good, so I'm expecting the same for these as well. I will know more tonight as to if I actually will get them or not.
17/9/07 In the midst of making some major changes to my setup. I creating a new skin...called...get ready for this....ZoneSkin4. My whole philosphy and outlook of what I wanted out of my system has changed (hopefully for the better). I'm designing a skin to exploit this philosphy. This will make some pretty big changes to this page once it is all done. You can view my progress here. Oh and by the way, I didn't get the speakers...I was beaten out on eBay. Oh well, I guess I'll have to keep looking.
24/9/07 The new skin has been distributed. It is running pretty good. Check out the link in the entry above to goto the xlobby forum post where you can download the skin. I still have to update this page to accomodate the changes. I will also be updating the "Skins" page as well over the next few days. I'm just taking a little break from all this, as I've put alot on the side so I can complete this massive modification in the shortest time possible. Nothing else to report.
1/10/07 Updated this page to reflect the recent skin change. So far, things have been running really smoothly. With ZoneSkin3 I was getting an occasionnal crash...now its been a week with ZoneSkin4 and siil running smooth. Ab individual on the xlobby site is currently working on a new Shoutcast plugin, so I'm looking forward to getting my hands on it. Also nice is that my google pages and the xlobby site have generated some interest from individuals who want to achieve the same as what I have. Very nice to see this. Look for more page updates over the next few days.
1/11/07 Picked up 1 Gig of Samsung Memory and a new Enermax EG435P-VHB SFMA Power supply to throw into the music server. This should all help in making it a little more responsive and reliable. Currently it only has 512 Meg of RAM and a generic cheap supply. Now I just have to purchase a second, redundant hard drive and setup a basic RAID.
10/12/07 Over the weekend, I had the chance to actually install the extra memory and power supply. I'm very impressed with the supply and how quiet it is. I'm so impressed with it, that I may be purchasing another one for the use in my HTPC project. Not much more to report on. Still have to do the following: 1) install speakers in the final bedroom upstairs 2) run cabling to the garage 3) install speakers into the garage More updates later...but if not before Christmas...everyone have a Happy Holiday.
24/12/07 Test Successful! Since the weekend was a little warmer than usual, I decided to take advantage of the warmer temperatures to get back up into the atic and finish off the third bedroom zone. So now the speakers are installed,and everything is working well. I synced that zone with the other two upstairs zones and then with the whole house sync audio feature. Everything went great. I just have to tweak the KX EQ for that zone, but that is the least of my worries. This just leaves the garage zone remaining. Hard to believe that almost a year ago, I was just getting ready to pull the wiring for all these zones. Now the job is nearing completion.
2/1/08 Test Successful! Start by saying "Happy New Years!" Now, we had a New Year's party and I ran the system in Whole House Sync for many hours. It ran flawlessly, though I only had the volume turned up in 4 zones. Very happy.
28/2/08 Forgot that I had made a small update to ZoneSkin4 and uploaded the latest version for all to download on 17/2/08. This updated basically did the following: - Fixed PPC album search screens - taken out PPC control screens and added its functions to the playback control overlay (EQ nav button, shuffle toggle and repeat toggle). - replaced "control" button on menu "nav" overlay with a "music" button which will take user direct to album select screen. This screen will select for current source. - gave the manual a much needed update to indicate XLiveShout, and additional screenshots to show some of the above changes. - gave the PPC EQ overlay a little bit of an update to show the EQ parameters. You can download the latest version by going to my skin section here, or by going to my alternate download site, or by the link on the xlobby forums that cover ZoneSkin4.
10/7/08 Its been awhile since I have done any updates or changes. Some of the things I have done: 1) configured the skin for using the Xintheaters plugin. This was mainly using the same events as before, only now tswhite (creator of the xintheater script) made a nice interface/plugin. Works great. 2) my wife has grown increasingly frustrated over the cumbersome setup to playback music. So taking note of this low WAF, I'm almost completed updating/creating some new PPC screens, to hopefully make her experience a little bit easier, and more enhanced visually. I will soon be releasing this ZoneSkin update after some field testing and feedback, so stay tuned. 19/9/08 I moved from the home theater to the music system my JVC XL-M403 CD player. Though I don't have the audio outs integrated into the system yet, as they will be connected to the Maytrix switch unit when it is finally completed. I did power the unit and setup an IR config with the USB-UIRT within xlobby. This also allowed me then to setup the events/commands that will be used in ZoneSkin4. In the coming days I will make modifications to the skin to accomodate the extra sources...I just have to work out the details of how I want both the main screens, and ppc screens to flow. 29/9/08 Converted ZoneSkin4 from xoapweather to xweather for reliability when bringing the system out of sleep mode. Will release updated skin once the Maytrix has been integrated into the system.
13/10/08 In playing around with a thin client on the MediaPVR machine, I found out that the Hauppauge remote control can be used to navigate around the different screens. I'm now going to setup navigation in ZoneSkin4, so this will be a viable option, if using the PVR and would like to setup some music from it.
6/11/08 Well I pulled the trigger and purchased a 2.8G Northwood CPU for this system. I'm hoping that this will give it a noticable speed boost, and the system will have better playback capabilities...especially when driving a whole house audio sync across the two sound cards. Picked up the CPU and fan/heatsink off of ebay for around $30.
7/11/08 Test Successful! I installed the new (well really its old, but new for the system) parallel port card. It started at address 9C00h which is 39936 decimal. I upgraded the girder scripts for this new address, powered everything up and was successful at controlling the Maytrix circuit by toggling the different latches for both main floor and upstairs. I tested this by applying 5v to the second set of 4052 and measuring the output of each channel.
10/11/08 Over the weekend I pulled out the Radeon 9500 and replaced it with a lesser ATI Rage Fury Pro. Though the Fury Pro has capture capabilities, I will never use them, and the 9500 would be more pratical in using in a future media system, since its graphic subsystem is that much more powerful and has more memory. This along with the CPU that will be pulled for the 2.8G Northwood. So eventually I will be looking out for a socket 478 board to start a new build.
13/11/08 Well, the 2.8G CPU came in but there is a couple of issues. The first was that the CPU had four bent pins. I was able to correct this, but after installing it in the computer, it ran really flakey. Sometimes at startup, it would be recognized at 2.8G, other times it wouldn't. I had problems when windows was loaded. The KX drivers were amuck. XLobby wouldn't start...I'm assuming DotNet2 was corrupt. I tried to re-install and got errors. Went to control panel and looked at hardware, the General window wouldn't open..and when it finally did, the information pertaining to the CPU speed was empty. Then the system would just reboot. I think if I try this CPU in the system again, I'm going to have to update the BIOS for sure...should do that anyways. So I may just put this chip aside and try it in another future 478 board.
14/11/08 An update on the CPU issue. I think a large part of the problem was that I had an incompatible stick of RAM. Since I was trying to run a 2.8G Northwood CPU, it uses a 800MHz FSB. The Samsung RAM stick was a 1G DDR400 which can run fine at 800MHz. The Kingston is a DDR333 which run optimally at a 533MHz FSB. Even though the Chaintech manual stated that the Kingston did work at 800MHz, it seemed to be not fast enough and would corrupt the system. I took it out and the system did run better, but I think now there are limitations in the actual motherboard. I think I will go back to the 1.7G with the two sticks of RAM installed, as the system did run fine there.
So I think the CPU is fine, but is too much for this motherboard. I do want to upgrade my test/everyday use machine one day, so maybe I will use this CPU in that system when I decide to actually replace it. Motherboards and RAM can be found on ebay if required.
The only other drawback was that I had to re-install the OS, and more or less I have to bring the system back from scratch, so currently the music server is offline. I'm trying to avoid any re-formatting of the drive as all my music right now is on the system until the UnRAID server is completed with drives.
So during this rebuild time, I will also want to make some changes to the setup by actually driving the multi-floor sync from the MB soundcard, through the Maytrix and have that as a selectable external source. I've started discussing this concept on the xlobby forums here: http://www.xlobby.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6616 . I will be adding this to the system description above over time as it pans out. But in the meantime, it is requiring some skin updates, and adding more instances of winamp to the mix. It also requires some re-defining of the KX DSP and the P3rv .ini files. It's going to be a busy weekend I see.
17/11/08 Finally got the system all put back together. I had issues that the VFD wasn't displaying anything using LCDSmartie. I re-installed the software, played around with the BIOS settings for the LPT port. What seemed to work was to actaully shut the system off after making BIOS changes. Upon restart, LCDSmartie finally displayed its default information on the VFD.
I have to make upgrades to the skin now to take into account the extra sources and the addition of the Maytrix. I'm starting to consider creating a new skin for the system, with slightly different graphics codenamed "ZoneSkin5" (boy, how original). I want to make it easier in selecting the different sources, and once a source is selected, it will automatically goto its respected setup page. The limiting factors in how things are currently done is also the resolution of the PPC is stuck in portrait mode. I'm going to look at some software that will rotate the display to 320x240 landscape mode.
25/11/08 So I started creating a new skin for the music server, codenamed "ZS5" or ZoneSkin5. This skin will integrate the Maytrix better into the mix, it also will free up the 0/1 input to each KX DSP, which was used to sync mp3/shoutcast music between zones on different floors in my house. So each floor will have upto 4 independent mp3/shoutcast selections to choose from. Once the Maytrix is on-line, that will introduce two external sources being the AM/FM Tuner and CD Player to each floor, as well as I'm using the motherboard sound output, routed back via the Maytrix for a true multi-floor sync. I'm discussing the skin on the Xlobby website, here: http://www.xlobby.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=6635. As more details are worked out, I will be updating that site, as well as this one with details of the new skin and philosphy.
While working on the Maytrix circuit, and testing the control with Xlobby/Girder, I found a major issue that the PCI Parallel port card I was using had problems responding after the system came out of standby. The card wouldn't respond unless I rebooted the computer. The chipset used on the card is from a company called NetMos, which was taken over by MosChip. The chipset is a NetMos 9835. After google searching I found plenty of companies used this chipset, so I tried a whole plethora of drivers, but none of them addressed this "resume" issue. Last night I finally found the MosChip has a newer driver, which I wasn't sure would be compatible with the card, but since I've tried everything else....I figured, what the hell. Well it worked, and the port seems to be operational now after resuming from standby....YAH! 29/11/08 I had the chance to connect the Maytrix, with connect LED's into the system. I was using the PCI port card to control it. I noticed that it would sporadically change channels. I decided to swap the LPT ports with the VFD. So far the VFD is working off the PCI card fine. I did notice that after resuming from sleep, I had problems issuing commands. So I went in the BIOS and changed the Parallel port setting from ECP+EPP to exclusively EPP. The initial test resuming from standby seemed to be successful. I will try again though, just to make sure as this connection has to be reliable.I also had the chance to work some more on the ZS5 skin. Check out the xlobby site for a new pic. 1/12/08 I was testing the Maytrix over the weekend (well basic control), and noticed that if I left it at some settings, over time, I find out that the system seemed to reset to some default configuration (both Main and Upstairs Channel 4 selected). It appeared to be random in nature, until I finally notice the switchover when the compressor of a freezer close by kicked on. Late yesterday it dawned on me that I'm powering the Maytrix with a small 5V supply that is plugged into a different receptacle from the music-server. So there could be some difference in grounding. I replugged the supplying into the same outlet as the rest of the equipment, and it never randomly switched again for the rest of the night.
I also found out that it takes time for the PCI card to start responding to request so soon after coming out of standby. I was frustrated that it wasn't responding, but finally did after about 20 seconds. Will do some further testing to confirm. I figure I was also having communication issues due to the fact that the power supply for the Maytrix testing was plugged into a different outlet/breaker to the music-server as well.
5/12/08
The issue of the PCI parallel port not functioning after the system resumes from standby is still persistant. I'm looking into some other means of controlling the Maytrix via USB. I have added an extra wire to the 25-pin DSUB. It is connected to the 5V supply through a current limit 3.3k ohm resistor. It goes to pin 13 which is an input pin and normally indicates that there is a printer connected. I'm hoping to trick the system in thinking there is a device present and wake the port automatically after a resume. 10/12/08
   Default start - Upstairs on left/Mainfloor on right, both input 4 are on Mainfloor Input 1 selected Mainfloor Input 2 selected Mainfloor Input 3/Upstairs Input 1 selected Upstairs Input 2 selected Upstairs Input 3 selected11/12/08
This site is now in the process of being updated to include the integration of the Maytrix, ZS5 (ZoneSkin5), and all the changes required. It will take a few days to complete so please be patient.
6/1/09
Test Successful! I have been running, successfully, test using ZS5 and the Maytrix. So far everything is working well. Only complaint from the wife was that the music was too loud....I only had it at 10% volume. So I added to the volume control, buttons that will set the volume at 5%. Overall, I will be doing some tweaks, but I'm really pleased at how everything has turned out.
3/2/09
I have been working on client screens to fit in with the flow of the AppleTV skin used on the MediaPVR to start. The one issue was the ability to close the client via remote. I've finally found a way to do this by using Xsend from the music-server to OS:Kill Process on the MediaPVR, which closes the thin client screen. So far it works very well. Now I just have to complete the documentation, and the skin will be ready to release.
17/2/09
I've been busy working on other projects, mainly the BES system, so I've been putting this one aside. Recently though, I've been having a number of crashes that indicate that the ATI rage driver lost its connection with WinXP. The thing is, the drivers are the last ones distributed for the Rage card with the intentions of using them with WinXP. Also after the last crash, I've been running with the Microsoft certified drivers...so we'll see how these perform. If I get another crash, I will for sure have to replace the card, so I'm thinking of pulling out the card and replace it with a Radeon type card or an equivalent nVidia card. So I'm watching ebay at a couple of Radeon 7000 series cards (7000 and 7500). I just want something that will work with WinXP.
I'm also thinking of pulling out the DVD-Rom drive so I can use it in BES. It is a Pioneer DVD-115. An older drive, but should be fine for using in this system.
28/2/09
Well, the DVD-Rom swap over wouldn't work as the Pioneer is too long for the BES box. But I've been having another issue with this system lately. I originally was using a Radeon 9500 in this system and opted to swap that out for using in the BES. So I ended up using an older ATI Rage Fury Pro, as this system isn't graphic intense. Little did I know, though, that the Rage drivers are too ancient for XP, and are not totally compatible. So what happens is the drivers will crap out, give a big warning to re-start the system, and drop back to 640x480 with 16-bit color depth. I've tried the last set of ATI drivers, and recently noticed XP has a set of different drivers, which I tried as well. So I want to replace the card.
Enter the ATI Radeon 9550 SE card...I had bought this card in the early stages of piecing this system together, only to find out that it had issues of its own...it didn't work. It would output video only on the VGA connection, and not the DVI or s-video outputs. It would only load into XP as a generic vga card, so no better than 800x600 resolution with 256 colors. The system couldn't figure out what the card actually was. So I ended up shelfing the unit...to this day, I don't know why I never just threw it out...but I'm glad I didn't. I started to expect that the BIOS may have been curropted. I figured the ebay dude I bought the card from may have attempted to BIOS flash the card...thinking that he could take a 9550 and turn it into a 9600 (there is information on how to do this), but didn't realize that this mod was only for a 9550 PRO, not for this card...being a shitty SE board. So I decided to flash the BIOS. Last night, I put together a DOS Boot CD...getting the flash software on the CD was one of the most difficult endeavours. I don't know why, but man did I ever have problems. Got the flash software to work...flashed the card...VOILA! I now have a working 9550 series card. WinXP recognizes it. The ATI Cataylst driver recognize it. I even have DVI output now (was using it in the BES, hooked up to the RPTV and a seperate monitor in Extended desktop mode). So I figure now I can use this card to replace the Rage Fury. There is just a little bit of a bearing noise issue when the fan starts up now that I will have to attend to. I'm hoping to pull back the label on the fan an have access to the bearings so I can spray a little bit of WD-40 to help take the noise away.
2/3/09
So I setup the 9550 card temporarily in the BES box to verify its operation. I noticed the fan bearings were making a little noise so I ended up add some WD-40 and that all seems fine now...but using the latest Catalyst (9.2) caused some crashing issues when the system booted into WinXP. I ended up uninstalling the drivers and went with the plain default VGA drivers WinXP provides. Though those gave me my 1024x768 required resolution, it didn't allow the system to go into sleep mode...which is really important for the music server. Thinking all is lost, I decided one last ditch effort with the Catalyst 8.4 drivers that I had downloaded for the HTPC video card back when I first installed that card. Though they gave me some problems during the initial install, now that the system is running, they haven't crashed on a system startup like the newer Cat drivers were doing. I spent plenty of time rebooting, and starting the system from a power down state. So this card may just work out in the system now. I will spend a couple of more nights to see if this card will fail...but I may have just saved myself from spending some needless money on something I didn't have too.
4/3/09
I was almost set to distribute ZoneSkin5 to the xlobby world...but now I'm having second thoughts. I don't like the interface graphics. So now I'm looking at recreating the interface. I have already done some button design, but I'm still trying to get a display to work for me. It's taking some time as I have to learn either photoshop or gimp alot more than what I know. I feel bad for the setback and delay, but I want it to be all worth while.
11/3/09
I finally got around to installing the ATI 9550 card into the music-server. Hopefully that will now take care of the video crashing issues. Had some moments during the driver install that had me a little worried, but so far, in the early going, the card is working fine using the CCC 8.4 drivers. We will see what the future holds.
25/3/09
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Whole House Audio Zoning |
