Simplest stand alone setup

[DavidHB]

First things first. You very much do have a network - a wired one. What you (apparently) don't have is a wireless network. And that is, or may be, all you need to achieve the required level of convenience.

I am assuming that, when you say you have router, that is in fact what you have (not just a switch). The router not only acts as the 'junction box' for your connections (that's the 'switch' bit), but it also provides a device called a DHCP server, which allocates network addresses to the various devices. I'd guess from what you say of your capabilities that you haven't been allocating network addresses manually, so it is likely that you do indeed have a router.

I also assume that your router does not have wireless networking capability, though that is relatively unusual nowadays. If your router has one or more aerials/antennae, it has wireless capability, which is usually activated by default. Let's assume that that does not apply (otherwise, please could you let us know what model your router is). Your laptop will have a wireless networking capability, unless it is a very old machine.

You can buy a wireless access point (WAP) which plugs into the network and gives it access to any wireless device, including your iPAD. Note that the access point has to connect to the wired network. The Synology device you mention can function as a WAP, though there are cheaper ways of doing the same thing with separate NAS and WAP devices, and the best location for your NAS (ideally in another room from your player) may not be the same as the best location for a WAP (ideally in the living area with line of sight to your iPAD, laptop or whatever).

As a first step, I would be inclined to get a WAP, and leave the laptop with a wired connection to provide the server capability (using MinimServer, for the reasons you give). It can be somewhere in a corner out of the way when doing this, although you should probably adjust the power settings so that, when it is mains connected, the laptop does not go into sleep mode. With the laptop/MinimServer as server and the Akurate as renderer/player, your iPAD/Kinsky then functions as the Control point.

Note that, if the music files on your laptop are all MP3s or another 'lossy' format (not WMA, which MinimServer does not support), you might get away with streaming them though the wireless connection on the laptop, especially if it has a line of sight path to the WAP. There are a lot of variables here, so no guarantees that this will work (there is a reason why your Akurate only has a wired network connection).

With this system in place, you might find it useful to get a relatively inexpensive NAS (a single disk model will do, as you don't need RAID), which should be one of the models supported by MinimServer. I can confirm that the instructions for installing Java then MinimServer on your NAS are easy to follow. Copy the music from your laptop to the music folder on the NAS (if your laptop is a Windows machine, it is easy to use the (free) Microsoft SyncToy to ensure that what is on the NAS is the same as what is on the laptop). Then, for music purposes at least, you can leave the laptop at home and simply use your iPAD to play the music through the Linn.

You can certainly use a Sheevaplug, or even a Raspberry PI, to run MinimServer. If you have to buy a USB hard drive on which to store the music, this approach (which has some advantages for technically literate users) will probably cost nearly as much as buying a single disk NAS, and will involve you in the complexities of configuring and running Linux, and installing Java and MinimServer on a fairly basic platform. Only take this on if you fancy the challenge.

AFAIK, Twonky and MinimServer can coexist on the same device, though it is probably better to disable the one you are not using. On my NAS, MinimServer happily co-exists with the DNLA server I use to stream images and video to my TV; the Kinsky control point sees both servers on its Library page, and I simply select MinimServer to access the music.

Sorry for rather a long reply. I cannot resist adding that, having just bought an Akurate DSM myself, the mind did rather boggle at the thought of your having one in your cabin. I then reflected on the fact that my Linn dealer makes a good business of installing high-end multi-room systems in super yachts, and decided that perhaps it was just my boggle meter that needed re-calibrating.

David