The Home Computing Master Plan
This is where I lay out my aspirations, dreams, and plans for our home computing setup. Various editions of the Plan have existed over the years, but I have finally decided to keep one central page with the most up-to-date version of the Plan. Maybe it'll help someone. Mostly it will help me.
Needs Assessment
Precious Data
Personal Processing
Access Anywhere
Next Steps
The Home Computing Master Plan has several components that fill basic needs in our digital life. Those needs include keeping our data safe, having decent computers to work on, and being able to get to our digital life from anywhere.
- Precious Data: We have a lot of data that only exists in digital form. Pictures, movies, music, documents, etc. Much of that (the photos especially) is priceless and irreplaceable. In 2007, we spent upwards of $2,000 recovering that data from two failed hard drives, and I don't care to do that again. Our data should be secure and backed-up.
- Personal Processing: The original plan called for "Powerhouse Processing," a tower-grade computer somewhere in the house that could really crunch. At the time, I was coming off of a job where I had that kind of power, and I thought it was a required item in the Plan. Well, it isn't. We just need competent computers. But we each need our own, that much is clear.
- Access Anywhere: To best enjoy our digital life, we need to be able to get to it from where we are: the TV room, the kitchen, the car, the store, school, vacation, wherever.
Status
In June of 2008 we upgraded this system extensively. Right now we have a Mac mini with an attached 1TB disk (one of those footprint-matching jobs from Newer) and that whole combo contains all of our data. That is backed up hourly (via Apple's Time Machine) to a 1.5TB NAS device (Infrant's, nee Netgear's ReadyNAS NV+). So our data is backed up hourly to a redundant RAID storage device. Pretty sweet. We have one slot left on the four slot NAS, if we really end up needing more storage space. I can't imagine that.
For offsite backup, I'm currently subscribing to Backblaze. I don't backup everything (unlike the Time Machine backup) but just the Precious Data. I have yet to try recovering anything from them, and I hope I never have to.
Thoughts
I really like having a redundant backup that I can recover from with the flexibility of Time Machine. I've already done that with a couple of files. Really nice. What's missing from this system? When are holographic discs coming out? I'm not sure what I'll do when/if it comes time to replace the NAS. I used to think I'd get a Drobo, but I'm starting to hear mixed things about them and their support, so.
Someday I'm going to have to address the backup of remote devices, if we get any. The iPod backs up to the mini, so good. But the wife's laptop isn't backed up anywhere, and if I ever get a laptop of my own, that one has to play, too. Not a problem we have right now, though.
Then there's the hardcopy route. I could produce (the much desired and often started) photo books. That would be one way to preserve some of our precious data in case of disaster. It is actually how we have any wedding photos at all, as we kept our photographer's proofs after she somehow destroyed all our wedding photos. Nothing say "backed up" like a stack of CDs in the closet!
The Plan
It all works pretty well right now, and I am comfortable with the set up, so I don't have any plans. Having the mini pull double duty as main computer and cpu brains behind the backup system seems to be working, and I don't envision a server-only approach anytime soon. The Newer disk has unmounted itself a couple of times, so I have a contingency plan that involves an Apple Time Capsule, but hopefully it won't come to that.
Status
Right now the adults have their own computers, and the kids share one. I'm using the Mac mini mentioned above as my main machine, coupled to a 24" Dell widescreen LCD. My wife has a Windows laptop. The kids are currently sharing our old swing-arm iMac. We also have an iPod touch (which I Love, Love, Love), and an old iBook that hasn't been powered on since I got the iPod.
Thoughts
The pent up need for a new computer was quenched with the mini (but wow was I hurting before that). My use of the iBook fell off a cliff when I got the iPod touch, and so too my desire for a laptop. Just looking at the cost of a laptop, plus all the docking station stuff I'd want... I could just wait and buy a faster mini in a couple of years (assuming Apple keeps making the mini), and a couple of iPads, for the same price. And that time is coming, as the current mini is starting to chunk on some of the video and image stuff I am doing.
The wife will be sticking with her Windows laptops for the foreseeable future. Plus, she gets them from work. More power to her.
With the advent of first grade (and more importantly, after school care) the boys are now using our old swing-arm iMac to play online games. We have it locked down (as much as OS X Leopard allows, since Snow Leopard won't run on the G4), so it is fine, but it really struggles with some of the Flash content. Still, the boys don't need their own personal machines (yet), although that time is coming. Last time I updated this document, I was imagining them each with an iPod touch... but now I think we could put that off a bit by getting an iPad. Initially, we'd just get one for the household, with no 3G and not a lot of memory. That could be our test mule for how practical/useful/ohmyGodIhavetohaveone they are in reality. The existence (or lack) of parental controls in the iPod/iPad remains a sticking point, however.
The Plan
I'm in a very comfortable waiting mode right now. The boys are a little frustrated by the slowness of their iMac, and I get a little frustrated by the slowness of my mini, but we can abide. Probably the next purchase will be an iPhone (this summer?) and then my iPod will be free for the wife and/or kids to play around with. At that point we'll consider an iPad. And maybe a new computer down the road.
Status
An inconvenient gremlin in our AirPort Express caused us to have to buy a new wireless network early, so we are rocking the 802.11n via new AirPort hardware. That has very little effect on our setup right now (mostly because we're still rocking 802.11g, as the TiVo and the iPod touch can't do n, and I'm not about to buy a new new Airport to get the dual band feature, sigh), but paves the way for large data files, like movies, in the future. Also, we've gone to a more secure WPA2 encryption on our wireless system.
Our music listening system is just about perfect. iTunes runs on the desktop, sends the signal to the AirPort Express, which sends it to a hobby-built (by someone else) FM transmitter, which is received on our household radios. Which already exist in every room. To change tracks remotely, we use Apple's awesome Remote app for iTunes. Hell, we can even listen outside, just by bringing a radio outside with us.
Other media is sort of at a standstill. Our TV is not hooked up to our iLife ecosystem, so we don't watch movies or slideshows or anything like. We still have our HD TiVo, which I still love, and that sates a lot of my boob tube desire.
And it has always been way too complicated for me to figure out reliable ways to access our data remotely from outside the home.
Thoughts
I keep waiting for Apple to get off the stick and update the Apple TV into something really useful. Or at least useful enough that I might ditch my TiVo. Though Apple's 1.0 editions are not known for their extensive feature sets. Still waiting, several years later.
I'd like to work with our photos wherever I am in the house. I'd like to be able to get to my Precious Data when I am away from home. I want to show off my photos, or watch my movies, or play games on the biggest monitor in the house, the 46" TV. The iPad is still announced unobtanium (it is currently Feb 2010 as I write this) so there's no telling what it might do for me in this regard.
The Plan
Leopard's "Back to My Mac" feature (requiring a MobileMe subscription) worked pretty well for me (at least until my work tightened their firewall security and I grew too cheap to pay for Mobile Me anymore). An Apple TV would work with our ecosystem to make our TV part of it all, though again, I am not sure I really want to screw with that part of our digital life right now. So we're not doing anything about this right now.
Our TiVo is getting a little long in the tooth, we have a new Wii, and a brand new Blu-Ray player, and they all can access Netflix, but not much else. If we did get a new Time Capsule (see above) the old 802.11n Airport would come down to the TV room, and all this would get a faster and more direct connection. But I won't do it just for that. (Note to self, encourage kids to play with Newer drive, perhaps as frisbee.)
Finally, to really get the most out of our digital life, I really need to make more picture books. I've made a few, but they are a little expensive, so the incentive is not there. I could also make some DVDs, but I am perennially waiting for the next version of iDVD to make the process easier. I wait still.
This is where I prioritize the plan, where I can come and look and know what to buy next. Surprisingly, I don't really have anything targeted right now. Maybe an iPhone, though I am pretty committed to Verizon at the moment, and we all know how that seems to be going. I know the iPad is the new hotness, but it really doesn't factor into our ecosystem right now. When stuff gets too old, and we have to get something newer/faster, we'll consider it along with everything else.
- Other items. There are a few items that don't fit neatly into the schedule. Fun things, or future things. They could be bought anytime. iPod touches for the boys. iPhones for everyone! The Apple TV. And while I got a Panasonic GF1, I really want their 14-140mm zoom. Previously on this list: a Blu-Ray player, a Wii, and a nice digital camera. It would appear that we are busy fulfilling the "other items" moreso than the home computing core. Interesting.
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