[TriLUG] options for a music server and player

[Christopher L Merrill]

My goal:
Streamed music to my entertainment system from either my personal
collection or from Internet sources.

Available equipment:
My internet connection is on the opposite end of the house from the
entertainment system, but I already have a DLink wireless AP / firewall
installed and working.  There is a FC2 server running behind the
firewall - also a good distance from the entertainment system.  I have
an old Compaq Presario notebook not being used.  266MHz, IIRC.
Currently running Win98, but willing to load anything.

Questions:
For streaming my own collection, I assume I'll need some sort of
music server on my FC2 box (which is where I would prefer to store
the music images).  Is there something already included in the FC2
distribution that would be a good choice?

I assume that installing the notebook in the entertainment system
with a wireless card is the easiest way for me to go.  The notebook
is pretty obsolete - 266MHz, 128Mb.  The existing Win98 installation
would be fine with me...but I'm assuming that getting modern wireless
drivers is already difficult - and only going to get more difficult.
Thus, a lightweight linux distro with a music player sounds like
a better choice.  However, I am not in a position to spend many
hours setting it up.  I'm open to any distro that would make this
easy to accomplish???

I'm also open to music player choices.  Mostly, we'll just want to
choose from playlists on my server or streaming music stations.
Given the limited resources on the machine, would it be wise to
forego X altogether and stick with the command-line?  (FYI, this
particular notebook ran Mandrake 7 in the past, IIRC).

Also, the monitor on the notebook is non-functional.  I can plug
it into a standard monitor for configuration/installation
purposes.  But afterwards, I'll have to figure out how to get
a video signal to my TV.  There is no S-vid output on the notebook.
Can anyone suggest a cheap VGA-to-video adapter?

TIA,
C

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