Author Topic: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured  (Read 34991 times)

jetrich

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Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
« Reply #30 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...  ;)
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Zaerc

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Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
« Reply #31 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?
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totallymaxed

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Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
« Reply #32 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.
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marrandy

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Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
« Reply #33 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 ?

totallymaxed

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Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
« Reply #34 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.
« Last Edit: November 12, 2007, 09:55:03 pm by totallymaxed »
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Zaerc

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Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
« Reply #35 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).
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marrandy

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Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
« Reply #36 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.

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Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
« Reply #37 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

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Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
« Reply #38 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.


Veidit

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Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
« Reply #39 on: November 24, 2007, 10:11:02 pm »
I'm mostly intrested in buying the fiirechief in other colours then poop-brown ;)

Harry the Satman

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Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
« Reply #40 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


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Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
« Reply #41 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
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tschak909

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Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
« Reply #42 on: January 06, 2008, 07:17:18 am »
basically, it's a per unit license if the software is paired with the hardware.

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Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
« Reply #43 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.

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Re: Selection of Core's & MD's available pre-configured
« Reply #44 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