Rebuilding KMAG and its hardware was like this
Shortly around KMAG’s 17th anniversary, its ten-year home, a 2009 Mac Mini I bought mainly to host the stream and all the cool services Mac OS 10.6 Server used to have…crapped out. It only took me a week to ten days to realize it occurred.
When I finally figured out that rebooting wasn’t making any difference, I took the Mini to work in order to pop it open. The initial forensics told me the hard drive crapped out but I didn’t have any luck upon replacing the part. The hard drive was definitely kaput since it wouldn’t mount and all my software tools said, it was done. As for why the new hard drive (really another 500 GB I had lying around) didn’t solve the issue? I may not have put the computer back together correctly; this model has a bunch of wonky sensors and wires you have to put into place to the letter or else. It did work for a couple boots, then it behaved in the same manner. Power on, boot chime, then nothing.
Alternatives to resurrecting KMAG in another incarnation were examined. None really worked (“smart” playlists in iTunes) or an iPod Touch with enough storage to contain KMAG’s 14,000+ songs. Capacity wasn’t the issue, randomization in a fashion similar to how my stream has operated from since inception was. I have to have my Top 35 dominating the vast catalog.
I was about to give up the ghost by Labor Day as KMAG had been offline for around a month. I desperately tried a Google search find hope. An online store offering the right model of Mini capable of running 10.6.8 Server for only $170 with a 90-day warranty turned up! It arrived in several days and over the weekend I got through the next series of hurdles installing a decade-old OS via a series of FireWire connections. Plugged the new Mini into the stereo, made a couple adjustments remotely to operate properly with AT&T’s overpriced DSL/Fibre and boom! Rock n’ Roll!!!
I did cheat on the stream’s playlist play log by borrowing the missing time from KMAG’s work counterpart for I wan to keep plugging away to see if I can get KMAG to last to three million songs played.
It’s great to have KMAG back in the house again. I will never bother with Spotify and their ilk when I own good stuff in which the artists were properly paid.