[PLUG] House Audio Linux-style?

[Kyle Accardi]

Anyone networked their house with cat5, then used the network to distribute 
audio?

Wanted:
	
Distribute analog?/digital audio from both a central audio source (like a 
dvd movie) and a local source (person in the kitchen wants to listen to the 
radio instead of the movie)

Local amplification.  The kitchen speakers need lots of eq which is only 
feasible using line-level.

Source selection.  The main stereo is in the living room, the mp3 server is 
in the basement (visual browsing of mp3s would be very nice).

As few always-on devices as possible.

==

What is currently working:

A wireless notebook can browse the basement fileserver and select mp3s for 
the kitchen, but cannot change sources (like to FM radio), nor can it affect 
the living room receiver (unless I attach the notebook's headphone jack to 
an aux input).

Currently the kitchen speakers cannot be linked to the living room receiver 
because of aforementioned eq issues, so they are powered from a seperate amp 
in the basement.  This is temporary until I can find or build a small 
reciever to live in the kitchen.

I've run cat5 to every room in the house (except the bathroom).


Since I don't think that a dedicated notebook for the kitchen will be 
happening anytime soon, nor a small lcd touchscreen, I thought a Handspring 
Visor could occasionally be synced to the mp3 database and used to select 
tunage, given an IR detector in the wall.  Problem is, I don't know what 
such an IR recvr-->Ethernet device would be named, so as to google.

I've been trying to hash this out for a while and am having trouble defining 
my topography.  Not sure even what's possible.  Hoping someone here has done 
something similiar and can help bang my head in the right direction.


This is a nice thing,
http://www.gspr.com/integra/nas23.html

I've got a ThinkNIC to which I've added a 40G HD, but it makes noise, 
generates heat and would require a monitor. But maybe a very small 5" lcd 
one...  Since the official website is currently useless, see here if 
interested http://www.hack-a-nic.com/intro.html

Cheers,
Kyle Accardi

PS. Where did the PLUG v.1 website go?  pdxlinux.org isn't listening