My T30 Thinkpad is now a digital music player...

[robert213]

My T30 Thinkpad is now a digital music player.

I purchased Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 USB Audio interface
http://us.focusrite.com/usb-audio-inter ... arlett-2i4

I downloaded and installed "Windows driver for Focusrite Scarlette ver 2.5". Yes, it works fine with Windows XP SP3.

I inserted my USB 2.0 BC168 CardBus into PCMCIA slot.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/PCMCIA-to-USB-2 ... XQfvlSd0Qo

USB Audio interface requires 5V DC power from USB connection. I purchased Belkin 7-port USB Hub with 5V DC power supply. Windows XP did not immediately recognize USB Hub. I inserted a flash drive into one of the USB Hub ports, to force Windows XP to detect the USB Hub.

After this, Windows XP recognized USB Audio interface and began running "New Hardware Device" wizard.

From Windows Control Panel - Sounds Section, I changed default Audio device from SoundMAX soundcard to Focusrite Scarlette USB Audio Interface.

I connected USB Audio interface into my vintage Harman Kardon Amp powering Vienna Acoustic book-shelf speakers.

Sounds Great!!!

I am evaluating from File Hippo website...

Apple iTunes 12.1.2

Music Bee 2.5

Foobar2000 1.3.9

mp3Tag 2.73

dBpowerAMP (Commercial Trial)

[danikayser84]

The main use of my T30 right now is to play some old Windows 98/XP games, as well as act as a bridge from modern to vintage machines (because of its serial and parallel ports and a real floppy drive, as well as if I ever need to read a ZIP or LS-120 disk)

Similarly, my A31 is used to clone hard vintage laptop hard drives because of its two UltraBays (I can use my two HDD adapters and not have to use a USB box with a power adapter)

[Dekks]

Hows the T30 doing now after a month robert123?

[robert213]

Hows the T30 doing now after a month robert123?

I have been preoccupied with a couple of others projects.

I was configuring one of my T61(s) as a Digital Recording Studio, using Presonus Studio One. It took awhile, but I figured out how to do a "non-internet" activation. But, I became distracted and...

I am now configuring another one of my T61(s) as a Web Server running Windows Server 2008 R2 OS. It took awhile but I figured out how to:
1) Install Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS, i.e. Domain Controller) along with Domain Name Services (DNS) role. I had many problems, because I was not aware of the correct use of DCPROMO.EXE.
2) Install Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) role. I had many problems, because I did not dis-able DHCP services in the configuration settings in my wireless router.
3) Install IIS role.
4) Build a simple ASP.NET 4.0 website.
5) Last year, I had previously installed MS SQL Server 2005 Std on this T30 with Linksys Wireless -11g PC Card.

Now, another one of my T61(s) is acting as a client, wirelessly browsing my simple ASP.NET 4.0 website from my other T61 which is acting as a web-server, wirelessly retrieving data from my T30 which is acting as a data-server.

Anyway, to answer your question...

I copied a few sets of *.MP3 files onto my T30. I have been using the share-ware version of Media Monkey. It is working fine for my limited purposes. I haven't found the time to properly configure Media Monkey (or to evaluate the other media players).

In summary, I have found two purposes for keeping my T30 alive and running:
1) Digital Music Player - running Media Monkey
2) Data Server - running MS SQL Server 2005 Std