This happens for two reasons: the speed at which the data is being read off the disk drive, and the speed of the Ethernet port. Strictly speaking the latter isn't really an issue — 100MB Ethernet is perfectly capable of streaming HD video content. But the original Bubba's hard disk drive wasn't.
So the first thing I did with Bubba|Two was try the same thing. I tried to watch a 1080p video file stored on the drive within Bubba on my Media Center PC in another room of the house. And it worked fine. So hurdle number one successfully, um, hurdled.
Which brings us to the question of just what Bubba|Two is capable of bringing to your network. Answer: an awful lot. I've made this new and improved Bubba do all sorts of things in the time I've had it. I've been fiddling about with it while I really should have been writing this review.
First I installed the popular blogging software WordPress. This required installing database software (MySQL) and configuring the Web server (Apache) along with installing the actual WordPress files themselves. Once done, WordPress worked fine. You're not going to want to host your million-visits-a-day Web site on Bubba, but for a small family blog or development installation it's absolutely fine.
Next I installed Subversion — a superb source code control system. Bubba had no problems with that either. Happy for a while that Bubba was a far more capable box than its younger brother, I started to explore the software that Bubba comes with. It's got built in e-mail software, a print server (along with USB port to hook up your printer), torrent downloading software (so don't leave that energy hungry PC on all day torrenting kids, use one of these!), and support for a large number of different file sharing protocols (including recently added support for AFP). It comes with iTunes and UPNP streaming software (Firefly and MediaTomb), too. Which gave me another idea.
Could I put all my iTunes music on Bubba|Two, and use FireFly to stream it around my house? Answer: yes. Any machine with iTunes installed can listen to anything on Bubba. Can I share photos with my PS3 using the MediaTomb UPNP software? Answer: yes again. Having moved my iTunes library to Bubba, I tried connecting iTunes directly to the shared files in order to rip new CDs and manage my iPod. This worked fine too, although I wouldn't want to do it regularly on a 54MB wi-fi connection.
It's also theoretically possible, with some hacking, to use Bubba with Apple's Time Machine software, now support for AFP has been added. While this isn't something I've tried as yet, it highlights exactly the reason this review's taken so long: it's another thing to try. It's partly a combination of me thinking of new things to try, and Excito adding features to Bubba that's held me up so long. That's worth stating twice: Excito keep adding features. As another example (beyond AFP) they recently announced an official agreement with Logitech for the distribution of their SqueezeCenter software. Since Bubba|Two launched it's had numerous bug fixes, enhancements, and updates. It's easy to keep track of these and interact with users and developers alike on the company's forums. I'm ceaselessly amazed by the brilliance on display here.
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