raspberry PI and streaming media

[Bigbacon]

GGot the idea in my head of wanting to build a VERY low power machine to stream media to my PS3s.

Raspberry pi popped into my head. Now I don't know much about them, but is it possible to use one, say with a 1tb drive (or smaller) and stream media to devices on a local network?

Thing would be left on 24/7 and I am also a Linux NEWB. I assume there will be a lot of frustration trying to use it and configure it if it is possible?

Also, what about using one for just basic web browsing? I also want something I can plug into a 15lcd monitor i have and stick it in the garage. I like the idea of no moving parts (Fans) because any other computer will just get full of insects out in my garage. Something eady I cam move around also.

 

[crABtoad]

Well, I haven't actually got a chance to play around with a Raspberry yet, but Raspbian Wheezy running XBian (which is XBMC for Raspberry Pi) has been tested successfully streaming media to a PS3, and you could set up Samba shares on it as well.

Probably a Raspberry Pi isn't terribly great at browsing today's fancy webpages but I don't know that for sure either. I do know there's a Raspbian image you flash over to an SD card that takes advantage of some floating point hardware stuffola that improves web pages (and probably other performance things)

Stay away from Arch if you're a linux newb

 

[wearingmyrolex]

I bought a pi a few months ago and set it up to be a NAS, torrent box (transmission) and mini dlna server attached to a 2tb external. It can stream 1080p and other media to my ps3 and my tv no problem.I can control and add torrents using a web browser on my phone or desktop, even outside the LAN.. Pretty nifty little thing, I haven't switched it off since I've set it up. There are load of tutoials around that helped me set it up as I am not proficient in Linux either-it's quite straightforward. I would probably not use it for browsing though as it was incredibly slow when I attempted it.