Old iBook G4 or Windows PC as iTunes server

[bpmarkowitz]

I am getting tired of always having to have my MacBook Pro running to stream stuff to my 2010 AppleTV.

I have an old G4 iBook laying around and at my parents they have numerous old PCs in their basement. I would like to set either setup one of the old G4 iBooks or one of these old PCs as a fileserver just for movies and music so when I am traveling the wife and kid can still have movies.

Can a G4 iBook run whatever version of OS X and iTunes I need to stream to the ATV? Even if it can now, does not seem like the best future proof solution. Also, an iBook won't run with closed, I'd have to leave it open.

What is the absolute most bare minimum Windows PC I could get the necessary version iTunes running on? That seems like the best solution, I just need it for streaming. I could use something semi-small form factor and just remote to it when i needed to do something.

 

[Hellhammer]

iTunes 10 system requirements:

Macintosh Hardware
Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5 or G4 processor
Intel, PowerPC G5 or 1.0GHz PowerPC G4 or faster processor is required to play Standard Definition video from the iTunes Store
2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or faster processor is required to play HD video, an iTunes LP, or iTunes Extras from the iTunes Store
512MB of RAM; 1GB is required to play HD video, an iTunes LP, or iTunes Extras
Screen resolution of 1024x768 or greater; 1280x800 or greater is required to play an iTunes LP or iTunes Extras
Playing videos also requires at least 16MB of video RAM
Broadband Internet connection to use the iTunes Store
Apple combo drive or SuperDrive to create audio, MP3, or back-up CDs; some non-Apple CD-RW recorders may also work.
Apple SuperDrive to back up your library to DVDs; some non-Apple DVD-RW drives may also work.

Macintosh Software
Mac OS X version 10.5 or later
QuickTime 7.6 or later
Support for HE-AAC requires QuickTime 7.6.4 or later
Safari 4.0.3 or later
200MB of available disk space

Windows Hardware
A PC with a 1GHz Intel or AMD processor
Intel Pentium D or faster processor is required to play Standard Definition video from the iTunes Store
2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or faster processor is required to play HD video, an iTunes LP, or iTunes Extras from the iTunes Store
512MB of RAM; 1GB is required to play HD video, an iTunes LP, or iTunes Extras
Screen resolution of 1024x768 or greater; 1280x800 or greater is required to play an iTunes LP or iTunes Extras
DirectX 9.0-compatible video card with 32MB of video RAM; 64MB recommended
QuickTime-compatible audio card
Broadband Internet connection to use the iTunes Store
iTunes-compatible CD or DVD recorder to create audio CDs, MP3 CDs, or back-up CDs or DVDs

Windows Software
Windows XP Service Pack 2 or later, 32-bit editions of Windows Vista, or 32-bit editions of Windows 7
64-bit editions of Windows Vista or Windows 7 require the iTunes 64-bit installer
QuickTime 7.6.6 or later is required (included)
200MB of available disk space
Screen reader support requires Window-Eyes 7.1.1 or later; for information about accessibility in iTunes, visit www.apple.com/accessibility

http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

What kind of PCs do they have? Remember that a desktop will draw a lot more power than an iBook does. You can use Caffeine to prevent it from entering sleep mode

 

[bpmarkowitz]

iTunes 10 system requirements:





http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

What kind of PCs do they have? Remember that a desktop will draw a lot more power than an iBook does. You can use Caffeine to prevent it from entering sleep mode

I saw those stats but so many of them relate to the playback of HD video, etc. I was thinking they might be lower just streaming.

I forgot about that Caffeine app, thats promising. That might be a better solution...plus its so much smaller, and well...not a PC...

Still, wonder how much longer 10.5 is going to be the minimum requirement. That the last version that is going to support PPC so if they move the minimum iTunes req up to 10.6 anytime soon, I'm screwed. (obviously its going to happen at some point, i mean in like a year or so though)

 

[Hellhammer]

I saw those stats but so many of them relate to the playback of HD video, etc. I was thinking they might be lower just streaming.

Well, a Mac with at least PPC G4 CPU and 512MB of RAM running OS X 10.5 or newer. Those seem to be the minimum requirements to even run iTunes, can't really talk about streaming.

Still, wonder how much longer 10.5 is going to be the minimum requirement. That the last version that is going to support PPC so if they move the minimum iTunes req up to 10.6 anytime soon, I'm screwed. (obviously its going to happen at some point, i mean in like a year or so though)

Well, Tiger support was dropped along with the release of iTunes 10 (i.e. iTunes 9 still supported Tiger) so I can't see 10.5 being dropped anytime soon as that would mean all PPC Macs are stuck with outdated iTunes.

You can still, however, keep using iTunes, even though it wasn't the latest version.