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General => Marketplace => Compatible Products & Services => Topic started by: totallymaxed on November 06, 2007, 06:25:57 pm

Title: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: totallymaxed on November 06, 2007, 06:25:57 pm
We have a range of Core's & Media Directors that we have used exclusively for Pluto/LMCE testing internally (these units have only been used lightly in our labs for compatibility testing). All units are 12 months or less old. We are now preparing to launch our UK based service that is built upon lmce and therefore have excess hardware available for immediate purchase.

The hardware has all been tested with lmce-0704 in our labs and can be configured with hard drives, nVidia video cards, RAM etc to suit your needs. We will also pre-install a working lmce-0704 and configure it for the hardware options that you choose.

So if you are looking for a fully configured & working lmce Core or Core + Media Directors please contact me and I will be happy to provide more details of what we have and also listen to your requirements.

Fully configured and ready to go Core's start from 300 UKP + VAT for a slimline 'under TV' style Hybrid Core but many other configurations are available.

Regards

Andrew
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: Zaerc on November 06, 2007, 08:34:57 pm
We have a range of Core's & Media Directors that we have used exclusively for Pluto/LMCE testing internally (these units have only been used lightly in our labs for compatibility testing). All units are 12 months or less old. We are now preparing to launch our UK based service that is built upon lmce and therefore have excess hardware available for immediate purchase.

The hardware has all been tested with lmce-0704 in our labs and can be configured with hard drives, nVidia video cards, RAM etc to suit your needs. We will also pre-install a working lmce-0704 and configure it for the hardware options that you choose.

So if you are looking for a fully configured & working lmce Core or Core + Media Directors please contact me and I will be happy to provide more details of what we have and also listen to your requirements.

Fully configured and ready to go Core's start from 300 UKP + VAT for a slimline 'under TV' style Hybrid Core but many other configurations are available.

Regards

Andrew

What I find a tad disappointing is that you haven't really shared the results of your testing efforts.  In my opinion that's exactly why there is so little progress in this project, seems like (almost) nobody can be bothered to share their experience with the rest of the community. 

Nothing personal though, I highly appreciate the help you have been giving to n00bs like me (eventhough I'm not very proficient in expressing that).
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: totallymaxed on November 06, 2007, 09:10:13 pm
We have a range of Core's & Media Directors that we have used exclusively for Pluto/LMCE testing internally (these units have only been used lightly in our labs for compatibility testing). All units are 12 months or less old. We are now preparing to launch our UK based service that is built upon lmce and therefore have excess hardware available for immediate purchase.

The hardware has all been tested with lmce-0704 in our labs and can be configured with hard drives, nVidia video cards, RAM etc to suit your needs. We will also pre-install a working lmce-0704 and configure it for the hardware options that you choose.

So if you are looking for a fully configured & working lmce Core or Core + Media Directors please contact me and I will be happy to provide more details of what we have and also listen to your requirements.

Fully configured and ready to go Core's start from 300 UKP + VAT for a slimline 'under TV' style Hybrid Core but many other configurations are available.

Regards

Andrew

What I find a tad disappointing is that you haven't really shared the results of your testing efforts.  In my opinion that's exactly why there is so little progress in this project, seems like (almost) nobody can be bothered to share their experience with the rest of the community. 

Nothing personal though, I highly appreciate the help you have been giving to n00bs like me (eventhough I'm not very proficient in expressing that).


Point taken... so i will try to make the time to document the hardware we have tested :-)
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: tkmedia on November 07, 2007, 05:36:41 pm
totallymaxed

That is great I have been looking to do the same here in the USA. I have been working with Pluto since 2.036  I think and haven't felt the project has matured enough to go main stream.  I am glad to hear you have overcome the Issues enough to start selling and servicing LinuxMce. I have / am considering putting up a web store to start offering LinuxMce tested hardware. I don't want to step on your or fiire toes, but I do want to help grow this project and think there is plenty of opportunity. Id love to setup a LinuxMce services business here in New England USA. Id would greatly appreciate any input regarding these thoughts.


Thanks

Tim
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: totallymaxed on November 07, 2007, 05:38:51 pm
Hi again...

Ok thanks for everyone who has contacted me. The response has been fantastic! We are responding to everyone so please be a little patient with us - we wont forget to get back to you!

Due to the response and also a recurring request from many people for more options and configurations than we have currently we have decided to broaden out our service for pre-built and configured lmce systems and components. As many of you will know I work for a UK based company that is a long time Pluto partner/Integrator and that we are about to launch a UK European focused product called Dianemo that is based on lmce and will be a professionally installed system with a support and service package attached. Clearly Dianemo is not aimed at most of you but at a non-technical customer who just wants a working, usable system and wants that system supported and maintained. Take a look at our current 'stealth mode' site here www.dianemo.co.uk (http://www.dianemo.co.uk) for more info... bare in mind this site is not aimed at a technical audience though!

However what has become clear to us as we talk with the lmce community is that there is a need for a service that has all those characteristics I outlined for Dianemo minus the installation & ongoing support costs. We envisage a service which would pre-configure new hardware and lmce to a customers requirements and then ship that to you fully working and would provide online support and hand holding in the forums to make sure that what we supply continues to give value for money and enjoyment. We would make a reasonable profit on the hardware we'd supply but would be able to offer working systems at far less than we would with a fully installed and maintained Dianemo system.

In the next few days I will make available here details of the new hardware we can configure and support. In the meantime we still have lightly used hardware that has lived its life so far purely inside our test labs and is actively looking for a new home! So please contact me if you would like details of what we have left and pricing.

Regards

Andrew
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: totallymaxed on November 07, 2007, 05:49:10 pm
totallymaxed

That is great I have been looking to do the same here in the USA. I have been working with Pluto since 2.036  I think and haven't felt the project has matured enough to go main stream.  I am glad to hear you have overcome the Issues enough to start selling and servicing LinuxMce. I have / am considering putting up a web store to start offering LinuxMce tested hardware. I don't want to step on your or fiire toes, but I do want to help grow this project and think there is plenty of opportunity. Id love to setup a LinuxMce services business here in New England USA. Id would greatly appreciate any input regarding these thoughts.


Thanks

Tim

Hi Tim,

The more the merrier as we say here in the UK! The important thing for us all is to grow the community here and to grow the realisation in the broader market for home automation. So what Fiire are upto and what you have planned is an essential part of that. Its why I devote a growing percentage of my work (and spare time) here helping people here... and also I have to say learning a lot too!

Best of luck with your plans to setup your lmce services business... I'm more than happy to answer questions etc if you have them.

Andrew
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: jetrich on November 07, 2007, 08:50:30 pm
I operate a small custom installation business in Kansas and am also looking to offer LMCE systems to clients. I feel that this system far exceeds any other offering of complete packages on the market. Niveus is the only thing I've found to really come close (except for $$$$$$$$$) and it doesn't offer automation and security and ....

My fear is that with the addition of commercial offerings the "openness" of the project may suffer. I will do my best to give feedback and any additional information that I may come across. Hopefully the rest of the "commercial" side of this project will do the same.

If we can pair this project up with affordable whole-house audio solutions (NuVo) and integrate other helpful additions like the recipes module I suggested while utilizing legal playback of media in the US this system could well be THE system to have.

Although, admittedly, the Fiire systems are great and ready-to-go so I will probably just offer those as my own systems for install. I would still love to see the NuVo re-integration as well as a whole host of other additions.

Oh, and the re-release of the Sony XL1B3 would be nice too.  ;)

Jason
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: totallymaxed on November 07, 2007, 09:28:24 pm
I operate a small custom installation business in Kansas and am also looking to offer LMCE systems to clients. I feel that this system far exceeds any other offering of complete packages on the market. Niveus is the only thing I've found to really come close (except for $$$$$$$$$) and it doesn't offer automation and security and ....

My fear is that with the addition of commercial offerings the "openness" of the project may suffer. I will do my best to give feedback and any additional information that I may come across. Hopefully the rest of the "commercial" side of this project will do the same.

If we can pair this project up with affordable whole-house audio solutions (NuVo) and integrate other helpful additions like the recipes module I suggested while utilizing legal playback of media in the US this system could well be THE system to have.

Although, admittedly, the Fiire systems are great and ready-to-go so I will probably just offer those as my own systems for install. I would still love to see the NuVo re-integration as well as a whole host of other additions.

Oh, and the re-release of the Sony XL1B3 would be nice too.  ;)

Jason

I don't see that commercial offerings should change anything at all - they certainly wont from our perspective - we will likely contribute a major piece of TV integration in the next lmce release for example. We plan to be full participants in the lmce community and will put back in as much as, or hopefully more than , we take out. We don't expect that most people who are interested in building their own system will be interested in our full service Dianemo product... that addresses a completely different market and audience (there is little overlap at all between the two).

But the lmce community is full of people that add enormously to the understanding and knowledge  base about lmce integration, installation, reliability and all other aspects of living with lmce. Helping people explore the lmce system on the forum is helpful to us as it enables us to understand how better to serve our full service customers.

Great to hear from you by the way. I hope your venture into lmce is very successful Don't hesitate to contact me if you need to.

all the best

Andrew
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: tschak909 on November 07, 2007, 09:46:55 pm
I wasn't aware the XL1B3 had even been DISCONTINUED... I ordered my third unit from Sonystyle.com last week!

-Thom

(should I order another 4?)

-Thom
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: jetrich on November 07, 2007, 10:43:22 pm
I wasn't aware the XL1B3 had even been DISCONTINUED... I ordered my third unit from Sonystyle.com last week!

-Thom

(should I order another 4?)

-Thom


I ordered one from Vanns a week and half ago and wish I could have purchased five as only Amazon seems to have any left, other than eBay.

Of course there is the http://www.niveusmedia.com/products/icevault.htm (http://www.niveusmedia.com/products/icevault.htm) or the Powerfile c200, not that there is much difference between the icevault, c200 and XL1B3, but I digress. Quite frankly, even for that price ($1,600) they are a good deal considering what they do for distributed media. I would need 1.8 TB under LMCE (non-compressed .dvd) to do the same thing that one jukebox does. No to mention the time required to rip all those DVDs. If only there was a 400 disc model...

Jason
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: totallymaxed on November 07, 2007, 10:57:24 pm
I wasn't aware the XL1B3 had even been DISCONTINUED... I ordered my third unit from Sonystyle.com last week!

-Thom

(should I order another 4?)

-Thom


I ordered one from Vanns a week and half ago and wish I could have purchased five as only Amazon seems to have any left, other than eBay.

Of course there is the http://www.niveusmedia.com/products/icevault.htm (http://www.niveusmedia.com/products/icevault.htm) or the Powerfile c200, not that there is much difference between the icevault, c200 and XL1B3, but I digress. Quite frankly, even for that price ($1,600) they are a good deal considering what they do for distributed media. I would need 1.8 TB under LMCE (non-compressed .dvd) to do the same thing that one jukebox does. No to mention the time required to rip all those DVDs. If only there was a 400 disc model...

Jason

Hmmm... the ripping time is an issue I agree but 2TB of HD storage now costs well under 200UKP (ie less than $400 retail).... ;-)
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: jetrich on November 07, 2007, 11:09:19 pm

Hmmm... the ripping time is an issue I agree but 2TB of HD storage now costs well under 200UKP (ie less than $400 retail).... ;-)

But it needs to be redundant as I don't want to rip 2TB of discs twice. So for a good Raid5/6 with 2TB usable it is much more than $400. I'd be lucky to get a good eSata cage for $400, let alone the drives.
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: rafik24 on November 07, 2007, 11:46:37 pm
  Hi Totallymaxed, Zaerc and all others.

 I actually had the same taught about making some contribution to the project / community and try to generate some service by doing basically what i like doing the most (Linux geekness).

 Here in Algeria they are many people building big houses / residences and there is a need for those king of home automation solutions.

 Well, i think that rather than having many personnal lmce brews we should all share our efforts, and i will do so even if some customer ask me to develop a custom (wrapper / hw support / skin or else) that he would pay for.

 Because i think that the base of the code is quiet big and event if we spent hours / month we've done nothing compared to what have been done so far.

 I shall admit that i worked on many kind of different solutions before but pluto is quiet complex and requires a lot of knowledge in many areas.

 There are so many opportunities, the solution is so well taught and customizable that it should not be hard
to have many kind of customers (personnal use, sme's, particular setups).

 So i think together we'll be stronger and since we're not on the same part of the globe we don't have any
conflicts of interest.

 What do you think ?

Best Regards,

Rafik
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: tschak909 on November 07, 2007, 11:56:48 pm
holy shitballs! glad I bought that last unit! it turns out they just stopped selling them on Sonystyle!

-Thom
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: jetrich on November 08, 2007, 12:03:20 am
holy shitballs! glad I bought that last unit! it turns out they just stopped selling them on Sonystyle!

-Thom


You seem to make at least one comment daily that makes me laugh out loud.  ;D
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: jetrich on November 08, 2007, 12:04:34 am
Rafik,
I concur.
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: totallymaxed on November 08, 2007, 11:52:04 am
  Hi Totallymaxed, Zaerc and all others.

 I actually had the same taught about making some contribution to the project / community and try to generate some service by doing basically what i like doing the most (Linux geekness).

 Here in Algeria they are many people building big houses / residences and there is a need for those king of home automation solutions.

 Well, i think that rather than having many personnal lmce brews we should all share our efforts, and i will do so even if some customer ask me to develop a custom (wrapper / hw support / skin or else) that he would pay for.

 Because i think that the base of the code is quiet big and event if we spent hours / month we've done nothing compared to what have been done so far.

 I shall admit that i worked on many kind of different solutions before but pluto is quiet complex and requires a lot of knowledge in many areas.

 There are so many opportunities, the solution is so well taught and customizable that it should not be hard
to have many kind of customers (personnal use, sme's, particular setups).

 So i think together we'll be stronger and since we're not on the same part of the globe we don't have any
conflicts of interest.

 What do you think ?

Best Regards,

Rafik

I agree 100% with you
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: Zaerc on November 08, 2007, 07:49:47 pm
I think you're hitting the nail right on the head there Rafik.  And even if we'd all be in the same part of the world I'd reckon there still are a lot more people looking for a solution like this without the hassle of doing it themselves then there are people that can deliver it.

Eventhough I have no intention of making money on LMCE, that might change in the future given the opportunity, I can certainly think of worse things to do for a living.  Besides, I'm not really suited to deal with customers directly anyway.  ;)
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: tschak909 on November 08, 2007, 07:52:57 pm
now if we can just build a base of available RS-232 TV's... I just spent the last hour on the phone with all the major AV suppliers, and there just isn't much of anything out there right now that's RS-232 or ethernet controllable.. maybe i'm missing something....but this seriously pisses me off..

-Thom
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: jetrich on November 08, 2007, 08:18:57 pm
now if we can just build a base of available RS-232 TV's... I just spent the last hour on the phone with all the major AV suppliers, and there just isn't much of anything out there right now that's RS-232 or ethernet controllable.. maybe i'm missing something....but this seriously pisses me off..

-Thom


Several of the Mitsubishi and Olevia televisions that I carry are RS-232 controllable. I believe there are several Samsung and Sony models that controllable as well. I'll try and amass a list of said televisions in the next couple days.

Jason
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: Greg on November 08, 2007, 08:56:55 pm
My Samsung HLN507W has an RS232 port on it.   Don't know anything about how to use it, though.
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: bulek on November 08, 2007, 10:42:32 pm
now if we can just build a base of available RS-232 TV's... I just spent the last hour on the phone with all the major AV suppliers, and there just isn't much of anything out there right now that's RS-232 or ethernet controllable.. maybe i'm missing something....but this seriously pisses me off..

-Thom

Hi,

LGs are in my knowledge by far well controlable over rs232. I still don't have it, but will purchase one in near future. You can even read rs232 protocol in last pages of user manual. But beware, presence of rs232 connector doesn't mean that protocol is available.

I'm also using other well supported audio receiver. Marantz brand has quite good support for rs232 control.

I've written completely new template for almost all features of Marantz, but don't know when I'll have a chance to contribute it...

HTH,

regards,

Rob.
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: DBSHomes on November 08, 2007, 11:43:15 pm
Gentlemen,

I have been a lurker for awhile but now decided to jump in.  Kudos to Rafik, great idea.  Together we can help each other and still not step on each other's toes.

D
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: tschak909 on November 09, 2007, 12:35:33 am
I agree, as well. :)

-Thom
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: rafik24 on November 09, 2007, 12:52:46 am
 Hi Zaerc,

 I do agree with you i'm not here to work my ass off to get other people to contribute from it making dosh, however there is something you've go that some others dont. You got tech skills and shall be quiet good at you linux stuff where you could give your work and contribution on media, the people getting it won't be able to make great use of it.

 Believe me anyone can build a small lmce / pluto sys with 3 mds and it's fine with basic functions and it fine. but when it come to bigger when customisation is invoved you wont have many available guys around that master all the skills.

 since i worked with gpl'ed stuff that i could never build even if a had 10 lifes, i really insist in giving back since we use beautiful tools done by people egger of technologies spending their own time.

 I had the chance to work on lmce since i managed to make a comfortable living on consultancy, i gave my self 3 month to play around since i really think there a way of making a living out of this solution doing what we like.

 However i've been in other project and i can tell that i'll always contribute and keep projects as gpl.
It would be to easy to say well that all mine and mount a fully commercial company like others did.

 Today we got 2 solutions, either buy the great unbranded solution and just be a reseller (that involves having a lot of money to invest first) or use the actual solution with the whistles and bells we added on it to support new functions / hardware getting pluto further.

 I like the second

 At last i would say that we all need each other and we should really keep it this way.

 Best Regards,

Rafik
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: Zaerc on November 09, 2007, 03:47:11 am
I do agree with you i'm not here to work my ass off to get other people to contribute from it making dosh, ...

Well that's not entirley what I meant, in my opinion the more people make money out of it the more time and effort will be put back into improving things for everyone, and I think we have some examples of that happening already.  What I meant to say was that I'm not really in it for the money, although I certainly wouldn't mind earning some doing the things I like enough to do them for free anyway (as long as it doesn't become "work" if you know what I mean ;)). 

To me this is the greatest scavenger hunt ever and other people making money with it can only improve that.  Like you (more or less) said before: in the end everybody wins if we pull together.
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: tkmedia on November 09, 2007, 05:06:20 am
Quote
everybody wins if we pull together

I am in, :)
I will try to help where I can
1st project is to get a handle on rs232 tv control as with others  I am frustrated with the lack support for current models.
If I can get mine going (Olevia 232) I will happily add it to the wiki .
I have been holding off on posting my hardware spec, hoping that the 710 release would fix some issues and would have some better results and post them at that point. If it would be better to post my hardware and problems sooner than later I would be happy to. Most problems I have found work arounds through the forum  or have unanswered posts.

Thanks

Tim
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: PeteK on November 09, 2007, 05:28:31 am
Sounds good.  Eventually, with sqlCVS, templates created by one user will be available for other users.  This is the way Pluto was originally implemented.
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: totallymaxed on November 09, 2007, 07:47:34 am

Hmmm... the ripping time is an issue I agree but 2TB of HD storage now costs well under 200UKP (ie less than $400 retail).... ;-)

But it needs to be redundant as I don't want to rip 2TB of discs twice. So for a good Raid5/6 with 2TB usable it is much more than $400. I'd be lucky to get a good eSata cage for $400, let alone the drives.

Hmmm... but still less than the auto-changer if you don't count your time ripping all the content that is! I am playing with you a little here... but my perspective is that auto-changers are not where media storage is going. Users here in Europe are just not interested in them... which i guess colours my view a little. Auto-changers do have there uses though... customer has 1000 CD's or DVD's... with an auto-changer you can mass rip the customers audio/video collection for them and provide that as part of a service ;-)
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: totallymaxed on November 09, 2007, 06:34:56 pm
Sorry for the delay in getting this info up on our site. Below is a link to a page that describes the Artisan Hybrid/Core;

http://chtukltd.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8&Itemid=8

I'll post more (I promise!) over the next few days. By the way if you have contacted me regarding hardware/software configs and any other matter relating to the hardware we offer I will respond in the next day or so.

Thanks.

Andrew
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: jetrich on November 09, 2007, 06:58:43 pm

...Auto-changers do have there uses though... customer has 1000 CD's or DVD's... with an auto-changer you can mass rip the customers audio/video collection for them and provide that as part of a service ;-)

I honestly didn't think of that. Good thing I bought that jukebox...  ;)
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: Zaerc on November 09, 2007, 07:38:41 pm
Out of curiousity, are you guys going to sell these machines new when you go live, or aren't you planning on just selling machines but only as a part of a complete package?
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: totallymaxed on November 09, 2007, 09:04:19 pm
Out of curiousity, are you guys going to sell these machines new when you go live, or aren't you planning on just selling machines but only as a part of a complete package?

The machines that have been in our testing lab are machines that we can't now get in reliable volumes from our manufacturing partner... they are i915 based and MB manufacturers can't get the chipsets from Intel any longer. If we could get them in reliable volumes we would continue to sell systems around them as they are excellent machines and have proven to be real workhorses.

We have a new range of Hybrid/Core machines that we are bringing on stream now... they are AMD based to deliver UI2 efficiently. We will make those available a part of our Dianemo product/service and also as pre-configured lmce-0710 Hybrid/Cores unbundled from our service.
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: marrandy on November 12, 2007, 09:14:32 pm
totallymaxed said...

"Hmmm... the ripping time is an issue I agree but 2TB of HD storage now costs well under 200UKP (ie less than $400 retail).... ;-)"

Best I have found is USD$550.

But that reminds me.  Having searched and found a lot of threads on RAID in the forums, I'm still unclear about the best way to go.

What I mean is, the basic linuxmce has software RAID which takes some processing power to manage, in addition to potentially having Two (or more) PVR's grabbing content and storing it on the H/D whilst streaming Two (or more) movies from the hard drives (picture two people recording a show in different rooms whilst watching streamed movies).

So, would it be better to have your movies on a NAS somewhere else ?

Or would it be OK, performance wise to have software RAID 5 with 4 H/D's, one being a hot spare.

That's a thought...does the current linuxmce RAID have the capability of having a hot spare ??

I'm looking at LSI (open source and document friendly) hardware RAID as well but that could be an additional issue as in, will linuxmce recognise it ?
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: totallymaxed on November 12, 2007, 09:46:28 pm
totallymaxed said...

"Hmmm... the ripping time is an issue I agree but 2TB of HD storage now costs well under 200UKP (ie less than $400 retail).... ;-)"

Best I have found is USD$550.

But that reminds me.  Having searched and found a lot of threads on RAID in the forums, I'm still unclear about the best way to go.

What I mean is, the basic linuxmce has software RAID which takes some processing power to manage, in addition to potentially having Two (or more) PVR's grabbing content and storing it on the H/D whilst streaming Two (or more) movies from the hard drives (picture two people recording a show in different rooms whilst watching streamed movies).

So, would it be better to have your movies on a NAS somewhere else ?

Or would it be OK, performance wise to have software RAID 5 with 4 H/D's, one being a hot spare.

That's a thought...does the current linuxmce RAID have the capability of having a hot spare ??

I'm looking at LSI (open source and document friendly) hardware RAID as well but that could be an additional issue as in, will linuxmce recognise it ?

Well... here's a url to an example of a 500gb SATA drive for about $100... http://www.ebuyer.com/product/124228 and this is retail in the UK... I am sure this price could easily be bettered in the US ;-)

As to your RAID options... not sure as they all work fine in our experience. As to performance of software RAID... I think the common thinking is that there is no appreciable performance hit in reality.
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: Zaerc on November 12, 2007, 09:49:46 pm
That is a bit of a tricky question, in my opinion unless your CPU is fully loaded go for software raid.  It has a lot of advantages and can often be faster then hardware RAID.  If you do go for hardware RAID you need to be careful to get a decent controller that is not "fake" RAID (in other words software raid from the bios) that is the worst solution you can buy into.

I haven't tried RAID under LMCE yet, but iirc linux software raid can have hot spares.  There is also raid 6 which I believe has 2 redundant disks, whether this is supported under LMCE I don't know (Kubuntu likely has it).
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: marrandy on November 12, 2007, 10:21:57 pm
Great...I'm going to hold-off the hardware RAID and will search for a better, reliable hard drive source in the States.

My previous  'best'  of $550 included tax + shipping, but will research others.

Thanks again.
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: sdf on November 14, 2007, 04:00:02 pm
marrandy

I have been getting my H/D's from ClubIT, great pricing and good service.  They are somewhere in Calif. and seem very responsive, I'm in Ohio and get products within 3 to 4 days ground.  I have included a link to a Western Digital 500 GB / 7200 RPM for $96.40 + $6.95 shipping, I have one in my current core, not problems and been running for about 8 months.

http://www.clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=CA3494869

Hope this helps.

Steve
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: marrandy on November 16, 2007, 06:18:18 am

OK - I just realised I'm looking at 1TB H/D's and people are talking prices of 500GB H/D's - my bad.

I'm having a long think about the whole RAID 5 thing and will let you know the what, and why of what I decide to do.  It might be useful for other people down the line.

Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: Veidit on November 24, 2007, 10:11:02 pm
I'm mostly intrested in buying the fiirechief in other colours then poop-brown ;)
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: Harry the Satman on December 10, 2007, 01:40:04 am
Hi Andrew,

About 2 years ago I got in contact with Plutohome, looking for more information in how this piece of software could become a new part of my business. We had a few emails back and forth, but I never felt comfortable about it, and I never took the plonge. Most because of the fact that I couldn't find one single piece of text on the internet about somebody having implemented Plutohome with success.

When I started reading about LinuxMCE I got the same impression, even though a hand full of brave men managed to get the basics up and running, often paired with a fair amount of sweat and tears. So you can imagine my joy when I found your entry on this forum. Finally a possible partner that knows what they are talking about?

My main business is ISP/ASP. But with a small twist. Finding a service that is different from all the rest that we can offer to a new target group. I spend a great deal of time in researching what technology was needed (and available) to offer tripple play to smaller communities in rural areas, without having to have access to f.ex. fiber broadband. How to stream VoD or nVoD over Wifi? MPEG-2 or MPEG-4? Low cost video servers for small ISP? But also hosted VoIP apps have been looked at with great interest. And last but not least video surveillance over IP. And, for those who really live in waste-land: internet, VoIP and video via satellite.

Just to give you an idea about the line of work I am in.

Back to LinuxMCE: I would love to set up a test/demo unit that will deal with the full range of possibilities it is capable of. There seem to be a 1000 issues one need to be aware of, before one can be sure he has the right hardware. One of those things is f.ex. the control of lights and other appliances. Pluto is speaking highly about x-10. On some website is found that other find z-wave has better solutions, but as a contradiction one or more units of the z-wave series are going out of production, and nobody can confirm what is going to be a working alternative...

I am interested in one of your test units. For starters one that can serve as core+MD. Where I live (scandinavia) there is close to none OTA tv, and all is coming in by (encrypted pay TV) satellite. So here is raised 2 questions: A- can this be done, B- do I then still need a tuner card (or 2 when opting for looking at one channel, record from another)?

What if the TV (or VCR, or SAT, or projector) hasn't got rs-232? What do I need to keep in mind there? What are the options?

If you think you have a working solution for me, please let me know. As by others on this thread already stated: There are lots of ways we could try to work together. Maybe this could be the start of something new.

Looking forward to hear from you,

Best regards,

Harry

Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: totallymaxed on December 10, 2007, 07:37:24 am
Hi Andrew,

About 2 years ago I got in contact with Plutohome, looking for more information in how this piece of software could become a new part of my business. We had a few emails back and forth, but I never felt comfortable about it, and I never took the plonge. Most because of the fact that I couldn't find one single piece of text on the internet about somebody having implemented Plutohome with success.

When I started reading about LinuxMCE I got the same impression, even though a hand full of brave men managed to get the basics up and running, often paired with a fair amount of sweat and tears. So you can imagine my joy when I found your entry on this forum. Finally a possible partner that knows what they are talking about?

My main business is ISP/ASP. But with a small twist. Finding a service that is different from all the rest that we can offer to a new target group. I spend a great deal of time in researching what technology was needed (and available) to offer tripple play to smaller communities in rural areas, without having to have access to f.ex. fiber broadband. How to stream VoD or nVoD over Wifi? MPEG-2 or MPEG-4? Low cost video servers for small ISP? But also hosted VoIP apps have been looked at with great interest. And last but not least video surveillance over IP. And, for those who really live in waste-land: internet, VoIP and video via satellite.

Just to give you an idea about the line of work I am in.

Back to LinuxMCE: I would love to set up a test/demo unit that will deal with the full range of possibilities it is capable of. There seem to be a 1000 issues one need to be aware of, before one can be sure he has the right hardware. One of those things is f.ex. the control of lights and other appliances. Pluto is speaking highly about x-10. On some website is found that other find z-wave has better solutions, but as a contradiction one or more units of the z-wave series are going out of production, and nobody can confirm what is going to be a working alternative...

I am interested in one of your test units. For starters one that can serve as core+MD. Where I live (scandinavia) there is close to none OTA tv, and all is coming in by (encrypted pay TV) satellite. So here is raised 2 questions: A- can this be done, B- do I then still need a tuner card (or 2 when opting for looking at one channel, record from another)?

What if the TV (or VCR, or SAT, or projector) hasn't got rs-232? What do I need to keep in mind there? What are the options?

If you think you have a working solution for me, please let me know. As by others on this thread already stated: There are lots of ways we could try to work together. Maybe this could be the start of something new.

Looking forward to hear from you,

Best regards,

Harry



Harry - just sent you a quick reply via private message (see My Messages above).

Andrew
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: tschak909 on January 06, 2008, 07:17:18 am
basically, it's a per unit license if the software is paired with the hardware.

-Thom

Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: 1audio on January 06, 2008, 07:24:32 am
Selling Hardware with Pluto installed (and some parts of LMCE) does require a royalty to Pluto but its only fair, given the amount of work that came from them. However the DIY and install yourself is legitimately free (or as much so as any Linux installation is). I suggest that anyone considering selling hardware with the software installed as a way to make money get in touch with Pluto. You will get support and they can continue to work on the software and contribute back to LMCE. And I'm sure the cost would be reasonable.
The Fiire deal is like this and the markup is small as retail products go. I don't think selling to most of the people on this forum will be a high margin business, but the LMCE package could be something the very well off would pay a lot for. A typical Crestron installation is over $25K PLUS $25K for the Kaleidascape (overpriced video iPod) before any TV's are purchased. And no live TV on it. Be realistic about your customer base and your business model and it could be pretty successful. Also there is more money in selling the rest of the stuff and the setup/installation than in the core hardware. Sometimes I'm astonished how hard people will work to save $50. In some cases it works out to $2/hour or less.
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: Harry the Satman on January 06, 2008, 12:43:05 pm
In a case like this, where one chooses to develop/build a hardware unit that suites the technical requirements of the software, it is very important to draw the line in what it is one wants to charge to the end user. For example: A school wants to run Linux on all their computers, and decides to throw out MS Windows. The entire operation can be done by one of persons working at school. Or they call in professional help from a company that knows what they are doing.

The company that is helping them with the project can not charge them for the operation system. But they charge for possible new hardware, and for the time they are using on installing it and integrating it on their network.

Do they need to contribute to the makers of the Linux OS? Only if they want to. Is it required by the GPL? No.

This topic was started on the same foundation. If one looks at the many discussions out on the internet, people that are having problems with installing their downloaded software on their DIY server, becoming frustrated after a while and finally give up on the whole thing. Who benifits of this. The worst publicity it bad publicity. Even if the word is spread by a total newbee that doesn't know sh*t what he is talking about... The software sucks, got no support, the forums are talking hi-tech jargon, .... what ever. When the learning curve is long, people tend to give up if it is not really in their blood to fulfill the project.

So back to my own project. I tend to compare this with the school project described above. I am not selling it. I am selling computer configurations that we have tested and that we know will work with the software pre-installed. We charge for the hardware, and the time used to install and configure the OS and other software.

I discussed this matter with Pluto 2 years ago. They are talking about their core server, but it is not available. They are looking for resellers, but they don't have the core. So what is there else to do? Right, make your own system, test it, and if it works, I could consider to sell the hardware. I could also take it one step further and discuss with Plutohome if we could use this hardware to sell as approved hardware in the same line as they had thought to do their selves, as they announce it on their website (since 2 years)... and sell a concept of hardware + software license.

But it is here the situation becomes different from that with LinuxMCE. Here we are talking about a project that never intended to sell hardware in the first place. So if people would ask me to install this software on a server, and sell them the unit. Does this conflict with the GPL? I don't think so. And if I was to offer my professional services to help them install the system in their home surroundings, or even would offer them a monthly fee subscription to keep the system updated/fine tuned... I am not selling them the software. I am not modifying the software. I am just selling hardware and my knowledge on how to install and maintain the system.

So please guys, keep things in perspective before this thread is getting out of hand.

I wish you all a very entertaining and happy new year. Greetings from the land of Santa Claus ;-)

Harry
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: totallymaxed on January 06, 2008, 01:13:14 pm
For those talking about making money with LMCE doesn't the Pluto GPL prevent this without their concent (your $$$)?



Their are two licenses embodied in any LinuxMCE or Pluto installation - GPL and the Pluto License

GPL is quite clear there are no restrictions on 'selling' systems or in fact on selling software either as long as the sources are also provided (thats a simplified statement but iys essentially the case) and freely available without having to purchase. Look at the commercial Linux distributions or almost any mainstream Switch/Router/Wifi AP... almost all of those are build around Linux.

The Pluto License is not quite the same... it basically requires you to pay a fee to Pluto for those components distributed under their licence. Again thats stripping a lot of legal stuff away but thats what it amounts to.

My company has an agreement with Pluto, and has had one for some considerable time in fact. If we supply either LinuxMCE pre-installed or our full-service custom installed Dianemo product to a customer then we pay Pluto some money. Simple as that.

We also contribute our vdr based DVB TV integration as of 0710 and we also work directly with Pluto, WebPaul and the Dev team to test and improve LinuxMCE in our test facility. That testing we do benefits us of course but it also benefits everyone else who downloads and installs LinuxMCE and means that we all get a better more reliable LinuxMCE (it doesn't mean we catch all the bugs though ;-) )

It benefits all of us collectively to have all types of involvement in LinuxMCE - commercial and non-commercial individuals. Putting something back is important to make this work. Its whats called a 'virtuous' circle. Some of us here contribute purely by downloading and installing/using LinuxMCE, others develop new components of the system as hobby, some so do as part of a business, others contribute by just helping people solve problems, some of us are commercial entities that have a LinuxMCE based business but we still 'give away' our expertise here freely (if I can help someone here then I do so - i dont ask them to buy something from us first)... all these types of involvement and more are important as its the total critical mass of people who are here that is important in my opinion. As we grow interest in LinuxMCE then I believe that all sorts of commercial and private involvement here will grow exponentially and that benefits all of us

Happy New Year!

Andrew
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: tschak909 on January 06, 2008, 06:48:56 pm
Never better said, Andrew.

Now if we could just get more developers with cojones to jump into the code and make new features... :-)

-Thom
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: Matthew on January 06, 2008, 07:03:09 pm
For those talking about making money with LMCE doesn't the Pluto GPL prevent this without their concent (your $$$)?

Their are two licenses embodied in any LinuxMCE or Pluto installation - GPL and the Pluto License
(...)
The Pluto License is not quite the same... it basically requires you to pay a fee to Pluto for those components distributed under their licence. Again thats stripping a lot of legal stuff away but thats what it amounts to.

My company has an agreement with Pluto, and has had one for some considerable time in fact. If we supply either LinuxMCE pre-installed or our full-service custom installed Dianemo product to a customer then we pay Pluto some money. Simple as that.

Doesn't the Pluto license (http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/License) require an explicit license from Pluto (and money paid by the licensee to Pluto under that license) only on people selling HW that includes some Pluto-licensed components (like LMCE does)? If I read it right, SW (SW-only) distributors don't have any obligation other than that covered by the GPL (or perhaps other SW with other licenses bundled with LMCE). Though HW distributors are explicitly prohibited from selling HW only that is "intended" to run Pluto-licensed SW (eg. selling HW with a blank hard drive - or just Kubuntu - and then telling the customer "just go to LinuxMCE.org,  and install their app to finish the job, which we'll then support as part of your purchase price").

Correct?
Title: Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
Post by: totallymaxed on January 06, 2008, 07:57:38 pm
For those talking about making money with LMCE doesn't the Pluto GPL prevent this without their concent (your $$$)?

Their are two licenses embodied in any LinuxMCE or Pluto installation - GPL and the Pluto License
(...)
The Pluto License is not quite the same... it basically requires you to pay a fee to Pluto for those components distributed under their licence. Again thats stripping a lot of legal stuff away but thats what it amounts to.

My company has an agreement with Pluto, and has had one for some considerable time in fact. If we supply either LinuxMCE pre-installed or our full-service custom installed Dianemo product to a customer then we pay Pluto some money. Simple as that.

Doesn't the Pluto license (http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/License) require an explicit license from Pluto (and money paid by the licensee to Pluto under that license) only on people selling HW that includes some Pluto-licensed components (like LMCE does)? If I read it right, SW (SW-only) distributors don't have any obligation other than that covered by the GPL (or perhaps other SW with other licenses bundled with LMCE). Though HW distributors are explicitly prohibited from selling HW only that is "intended" to run Pluto-licensed SW (eg. selling HW with a blank hard drive - or just Kubuntu - and then telling the customer "just go to LinuxMCE.org,  and install their app to finish the job, which we'll then support as part of your purchase price").

Correct?

100% correct Mathew