Hi all, I have just bought a Raspberry Pi for Christmas, and want to put a XBMC distro on it (OpenElec or similar) and pair it with my HP mini fileserver. I am unsure of what server OS to use on the server, as I want to be able to automate torrents on it, as well as renaming and scraping. I'm thinking WHS or similar would be the best choice, but I am a fan of the Linux route due to price. Just wondering if any of you have a similar setup as to that which I'm going for, and if you have any suggestions? Thanks.
If you're comfortable with linux or bsd I would go that way. The only thing is getting samba set up properly but if you're familiar with it, it's not difficult. As far as software for torrents and media streaming there are plenty of choices to suit particular needs. The only thing WHS offers is more integration with other Windows machines and a bit easier to configure certain things.
I work with AIX everyday at work, so feel fairly comfortable. It's more the remote torrenting and integration with my Windows based home network I want to nail.
If the integration you are talking about is as simple as getting the server to show up in Network, and being able to access files, then Linux is as easy, if not easier to set up than a Windows based solution. For that you will want Samba3 - there are plenty of guides available on the Internet. If you want domain logins, then Samba3 will still do all you need, but there is a bit more work to get it set up correctly. If you want Active Directory support, then you will need Samba4, which at the moment you can only really get my compiling from the source - or you could wait for Karoshi Server 9, which will have Samba4 support built in (along with Samba3 or any other configuration you could possibly want). I wouldn't recommend using Karoshi Server 8 at the moment because it is hardcoded to a school environment, so you would end up with masses of bloat, but Karoshi 9 should (I am certainly pushing for it) have a preset option during installation, which allows you to select the context in which you will be using the server (like a home/small business set up).
Several torrent programs have a webadmin feature these days so if you don't mind using that it's pretty easy to sort the remote admin of torrents. Set up xbmc server side for all the media streaming needs. Should cover a good deal of it, not sure what other integration you may need?
I played with unraid couple of years ago, tbh its just easier to install ubuntu and be done with it. remote torrent admin is a pain in the a** with webUI, not worth wasting your time as they all suck so bad it hurts.
