Q: Can I have a Dianemo-Rpi2 system and a Dianemo X86/LinuxMCE system on the same LAN?Yes you can. I realise this is an important question for many of you. As Dianemo-Rpi2 will not expect to be the DHCP server on its LAN it can happily be connected to the LAN side network of a Dianemo X86 or LinuxMCE Core.
Q: Will Zoneminder be supported?Yes it will. This is still not set in stone, but it's likely that for anything other than a very minimal camera setup (1/2 cameras), we will recommend setting up a dedicated Rpi2 for Zoneminder. Zoneminder integration will be the same whether running on a single or separate Rpi2.
Q: Who can write Plug-ins for Dianemo-Rpi2 Base?Anyone can create a plug-in and install it in Dianemo-Rpi2 Base. There are no restrictions on doing that at all. Plug-ins can be installed from a local zip file or added manually. When we launch we will also host a central library of Plug-ins, but anyone can host there plug-ins anywhere they choose. Plug-ins do not have to be registered with us.
Q: Do I need a Dianemo-Rpi2 Developer Subscription to write Plug-ins?No you don't. A developer subscription is not required to write and create your own Plug-ins. However we hope that anyone who is serious about creating their own Plug-ins, or that wants to build a business around writing Plug-ins, or build a business Consulting on installations will become subscribers. A Dianemo-Rpi2 Subscription will deliver access to a lot of technical resources, direct technical support from us and a load of other benefits too; See here for details -
http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=14048.msg101427#msg101427 or email me here
inquiries@ellipticalcurve.comQ: What is Dianemo-Rpi2 Base?Dianemo-Rpi2 Base will be the freely downloadable version that will be available when we launch. This version will be fully functional but will not have any of the Plugins or Plugin Extensions that will come with the Dianemo-Rpi2 Preview. Think of Dianemo-Rpi2 Base like a basic install of the Wordpress software for managing and building Web sites. The additional Plugins and Plugin extensions that come with Dianemo-Rpi2 Preview will form part of the package of added value features and services you get when you become a subscribe to a Dianemo-Rpi2 Developer Subscription.
The Dianemo-Rpi2 Preview gets you early access to Dianemo-Rpi2 and includes a free life-time developer subscription once we launch. So overall its pretty good deal - and its our way to thank you to everyone who gets involved early with Dianemo-Rpi2.
Q: How will Dianemo-Rpi2 licensing work after launch?See here for the details;
http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=14048.0The Dianemo-Rpi2 Base system will be GPL and freed to download by anyone. The monthly subscription gets you direct technical support and access to MD capability and special Plugin Extensions (both GPL too but with license keys) and a lot more too.
Q: Can I use Dianemo-Rpi2 in a commercial installation project?A number of you have asked this question, or something similar. While Dianemo-Rpi2 is in preview mode I would not recommend using is for commercial installations as although it will be usable and stable we will still be adding features and making changes to its overall look and feel too.
But once we ship Dianemo-Rpi2 you can certainly install it commercially, build a business around it, offer consulting or other added value services, create and sell your own Device templates or other add-ons. In fact we'd like to encourage users who develop skills around Dianemo-Rpi2 to build business, small or large, around it. So the answer is yes be our guest!
We would also like to encourage anyone here on the forum who is thinking of starting a Home Automation consulting and installation business to get involved with the Dianemo-Rpi2 preview too. We'd love to get your feedback on the installation and configuration process in particular - and don't worry if you don't have much or any experience with Home Automation (if you do that's fine too though) we still want your input.
Q: Are you discontinuing X86 Dianemo?No. The current X86 Dianemo will continue to be available and is in active development. See this announcement re Ubuntu 14.04LTS just this week;
http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=14058.0Q: Is the Athena UI & Orbiter the only Orbiter supported by Dianemo-Rpi2?Yes it is. Traditional UI1 or UI2 style Orbiters require full UI regens to work and so these are not supported on the Rpi2 for performance reasons. The only UI/Orbiter supported on Dianemo-Rpi2 is the Athena UI & Orbiter. In fact one of the driving reasons to develop Athena was to reduce the impact of regens on NC's and to make the Orbiter + its UI skin very light weight so that they could be run effectively on devices with very tiny processors.
Q: Is my Dianemo-Rpi2 Preview license a one time cost?Yes. For preview customers the $99 USD is a one time charge that gets you a continuous ongoing license to Dianemo-Rpi2, inclusive of updates, for as long as we release & maintain the software. Once we launch however we are looking a number of new ways to make Dianemo-Rpi2 available to customers and we may not offer a continuous license after launch. One possibility is that we may move to a subscription model in some shape or form with monthly and annual rates.
So if you want a continuous license at a low fixed cost then I would encourage you to purchase a preview license now.
Q: Where will Dianemo-Rpi2 differ from existing Dianemo software?Dianemo-Rpi2 will share considerable commonality of features with the current Dianemo software but there will also be many areas where we will take the opportunity to have a re-think of our approach. One such area is in the way that you create device templates and interconnect devices with other devices or aspects of the system. In Dianemo-Rpi2 we plan to have a visual editor fro creating/editing device templates (both code and screen layouts) and for how you decide the interconnections between a template instance and other devices too. We want to make that process visual rather than simply a matter of editing text files of code or settings. We will support traditional editing too but we want to make creating and using device templates and devices much more accessible to users and we think this visual approach, dragging elements onto the screen and then connecting their inputs/outputs and adding logic etc, will make customising and extending Dianemo-Rpi2 by non coders much more accessible.
I'm not sure this feature will be in place for the first release but we will release it asap. There will be other differences and enhancements too and we will announce more details of those in the coming weeks.
Q: If I'm an existing Dianemo customer will I need a new license to get access to Dianemo-Rpi2?Unless you have already been allocated a trial slot then yes you will need a new license. Dianemo-Rpi2 is our first ARM based product and will require a separate license to our current Dianemo X86 based product. The good news is that you can get a new ARM only license for a special $99 USD price currently.
Q: Will the current ARM only license price of $99 USD be available after you launch Dianemo-Rpi2?The honest answer is we have not settled on our pricing yet for Dianemo-Rpi2. But we do see the current $99 USD price as a special introductory price prior to launch. So we would encourage you take advantage of this pricing now if your interested.
However whatever our eventual pricing is if you purchase your ARM only license now we will provide you with whatever features benefits we announce for Dianemo-Rpi2 at its launch - essentially you will be 'Grandfathered in'. So getting involved in the trial by purchasing an ARM license now will be a saving and will also get you any other benefits etc that we announce when we launch. So there is no risk to participating.
Q: How long will the current $99 USD ARM only license offer continue for?The current ARM only license offer will only be available until we feel we have enough people for the trial testing period. So our advice is that if you want to participate in the trial or want an ARM based NC/Core then you should purchase an ARM only license soon.
Q: Will my Dianemo-Rpi2 license work with the final released version?Yes it will. Any ARM only licenses purchased now are full licenses and will work as they should after we launch Dianemo-Rpi2.
Q: When will we receive the first preview release of Dianemo-Rpi2?We are currently expecting to have the first builds ready for release to preview users in
May 2015. This has slipped to late June now.
Q: Which OS will Dianemo-Rpi2 be compatible with?Dianemo-Rp2 will ship on Raspian which is already ARMv7 compatible. We will also support Ubuntu 14.04LTS too - see this announcement
http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=14058.0Q: What CODECS are available for the Rpi2?Both the MPEG2 & VC-1 codecs are available for all models of the Rpi. The codecs can be purchased from here;
http://swag.raspberrypi.org/collections/software**Bare in mind you only need CODECS on RPi's that will be playing Video**
Q: Can I install Dianemo-Rpi2 on multiple SD cards?Yes you can. We've tried to make the license much less restrictive than previously. Each install will be associated with your License & details. With Dianemo-Rpi2 we allow you to install on multiple Rpi2's but they must be owned by you and be located at a single location as your license identifier will be on each install. You can also do a bootable image backup of you SD card to your PC's hardrive - this will enable you to restore to your SD card if you need to. You could even have multiple SD cards with a copy of Dianemo-Rpi2 on each that has different configurations - you might do this if you were experimenting with several configs or want to test different 3rd party hardware projects etc. The only limitation is that your license can only be installed on Rpi2's that are owned by you at a single location.
Q: Will Dianemo-Rpi2 support serial devices?Yes we will support any USB serial adapters that are compatible with Rpi2. We will also support IP addressable serial servers/adapter such as the GC100 etc too.
Q: Will a Dianemo-Rpi2 Core/NC support a local MD & HDMI audio?While the Rpi2 hardware will definitely support HDMI audio we do not currently plan to support MD functionality on the Core/NC itself. We don't think the performance will be adequate (we may revise this if tests prove performance is not a problem). But since adding another Rpi2 as an MD or as a UPnP Media player is simple and only costs an additional $35 USD we feel that’s an acceptable limitation.
Your license will provide a separate Rpi2 MD image and a Rpi2 compatible UPnP media player install too.
Q: Will Dianemo-Rpi2 support MD's?Yes we will but probably not at first release. We also will almost certainly not support PXE booted MD's for performance reasons - MD's will boot from a local SD card image. Our updater scripts will manage the updating of MD's automatically for you.
Q: What hardware will I need?For your NC you will need a standard Raspberry Pi2 board and a compatible USB Gigabit NIC (you will need both a LAN side & WAN side NIC). Obviously a Raspberry Pi compatible case would also be a useful purchase and a suitable USB power supply (2500ma or greater rated if multiple USB ports used). A 32gb or larger Micro SD card will be needed for the OS and Dianemo firmware. All of these items can be purchased from any Raspberry Pi reseller.
For MD's you will need either a Rpib+ or Rpi2. No 2nd NIC required. Again a suitable case is not required but is probably a good idea and a USB power supply (2500ma or greater rated if multiple USB ports used). A 8gb or larger Micro SD card for the MD OS and Dianemo MD firmware.
Q: Will I be able to access the Rpi2 GPIO pins?Yes absolutely. If the Rpi supports it we want to too. One of the many advantages of the Rpi platform is being able to use all the I/O on the board either directly for simple projects or by using any of the many Rpi expansion boards that are available.
Q: What kind of system can be built around Dianemo-Rpi2?Because MD's (if you use them) will boot from local SD storage and only Athena based UI skins will be supported the average load on the system will be much lower than with existing NC's. There will also be other architectural changes that will improve performance on low power ARM hardware too. Add all these changes together and we are confident that a Dianemo-Rpi2 NC will be able to support an average sized house. Part of the testing process during the trial will be designed to measure performance capabilities for a range of system configurations.
Q: What expansion limitations will there be?The Rpi2 obviously lacks PCie slots so any expansion in the NC will need to be achieved without requiring those. But it does have 40 GPIO pins and both DSI & CSI expansion connectors for all manner of add on hardware (it's full compatible with Rpi expansion boards Etc). We hope that many standard Rpi expansion boards/projects will be integrated into Dianemo-Rpi2 by both you guys and also by us. The Rpi2 also has 4x USB 2.0 ports (although we use one of those for the 2nd NIC). Adding audio/video media storage is easily handled by adding a low cost NAS (or multiple NAS's even) to your LAN for unlimited media storage. Ripping disc based media can be done from a PC or by adding a USB optical drive. So all in all there are few if any expansion limitations that cannot be easily worked around.
Q: How many MD/MM's will Dianemo-Rpi2 handle concurrently?Since MD/MM's will boot from local SD storage and will stream media from LAN based storage like a NAS the load imposed on the NC will be considerably lower. Also there will be no UI's to regen which also removes a large overhead. So our expectation is that Dianemo-Rpi2 will handle these loads comfortably but until we have the Preview underway we can't provide a definitive answer. My feeling is that in reality this will not be a limiting factor for most users.
Q: Will Dianemo-Rpi2 support LMS and SqueezeSlaves?Yes it will. Again as in the reply to the question re MD/MM's above we will need to test the limits of performance during the Preview. Clearly a Rpi2 Core will have a more limited capacity than a big Intel based Core but we expect for the vast majority of use cases this will not be a factor. For the most of the time our big Intel based Cores are barely being used and it's only during regens and PXE booting MM/MD's that there big processors are needed. So by removing these, and a few other performance hogging pieces of code, we can build a Core on Rpi2 that will perform well overall with far less hardware.
