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General => Marketplace => Topic started by: totallymaxed on April 28, 2015, 04:27:45 pm

Title: Dianemo X86 is Transitioning to Ubuntu 14.04LTS **Update Available**
Post by: totallymaxed on April 28, 2015, 04:27:45 pm: Dianemo X86 Update to Ubuntu 14.04LTS
A new Era in Smart Home Technology

The a preliminary Updater for our new Dianemo X86 release for Ubuntu 14.04LTS is available now. The major changes in the 14.04LTS release are around security cameras and the overall hardware compatibility of the new kernel. Dianemo will be transitioning to Zoneminder + Cassandra for its IP security camera functionality (we suggest any existing users should familiarise themselves with Zoneminder in preparation).

The update will be free for existing Dianemo license holders - as usual. However new Dianemo 14.04 licenses will undergo a price increase once we ship 14.04 - to purchase at the existing price please order Dianemo x86 licenses now (you can then update to 14.04 for free).

Please contact; inquiries@ellipticalcurve.com if you have any questions or wish to place an order.

Best

Andy
Title: Re: Dianemo X86 Will Be Transitioning to Ubuntu 14.04LTS **Get Ready!**
Post by: totallymaxed on April 29, 2015, 06:38:46 pm: Hi there,

Just to clarify that the kmotion package will still be present in new, and updated, Ubuntu 14.04LTS installations after updating. So it is possible to retain your current Kmotion set-up if you want to and there is no requirement to switch to Zoneminder immediately. However we cannot guarantee that the kmotion package will be maintained, or included, in the future for more than 6 months after our 14.04LTS release. However this should provide you with plenty of time to move your system over to ZoneMinder.

All the best

Andy
Title: Re: Dianemo X86 Will Be Transitioning to Ubuntu 14.04LTS **Get Ready!**
Post by: totallymaxed on May 01, 2015, 10:30:58 am: As with Kmotion, we have taken the approach with Zoneminder, that basic configuration etc will be supported as it is now directly inside Web Admin. But detailed configuration and setup, fine tuning and advanced features of Zoneminder are best handled in its native configuration pages. Therefore we will provide access to Zoneminders own configuration Web UI from inside Dianemo's Web Admin.

Best

Andy
Title: Dianemo X86 on Ubuntu 14.04LTS - Pre-Release Testing Update
Post by: totallymaxed on May 01, 2015, 03:33:48 pm: Here is a very brief update on our testing of Ubuntu 14.04LTS installs, and updates from 12.04LTS, for Dianemo X86;

Progress on testing updates is progressing well, with very few issues now remaining. So far we completed 45 updates from Dianemo on 12.04LTS and the last 7-8 have been clean & successful.

Clean installs of Dianemo on Ubuntu 14.04LTS are also reaching the end of pre-release testing. So far we have completed 27 clean installs and the last 5 have been successful.

We also have several Dianemo X86 systems that have been running continuously on 14.04LTS now for about 10 days without any major issues

We expect all test series to continue into next week. If no major issue appear we will likely release the new Dianemo X86 installer and update scripts by Fri next week.

Best

Andy
Title: Dianemo X86 Licenses only $249 USD before Ubuntu 14.04LTS ships
Post by: totallymaxed on May 01, 2015, 05:26:07 pm: If you are thinking of purchasing a Dianemo X86 License then you might want to look at our Dianemo X86 Basic license that is currently available for only $249 USD.

See here for details; http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=8880.msg100221#msg100221 (http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=8880.msg100221#msg100221)

Once the Ubuntu 14.04LTS Update ships Dianemo Basic can be updated to 14.04LTS for FREE.

Dianemo X86 licenses will undergo a price increase when we launch support for Ubuntu 14.04LTS. We've released the Updater but we have some components like ZM integration with Dianemo events & viwing ZM cameras in Athena UI that are still not complete. Therefore the price increase will not happen until those are complete.

Best

Andy
Title: Re: Dianemo X86 Will Be Transitioning to Ubuntu 14.04LTS **Get Ready!**
Post by: phenigma on May 02, 2015, 04:15:09 am: Hi Andy,

Since it is May already (when you're making this post) and you're asking for money for a specific product.... Do you have a more specific date for the end of your 'sale'?

Thanks,

J.
Title: Re: Dianemo X86 Will Be Transitioning to Ubuntu 14.04LTS **Get Ready!**
Post by: totallymaxed on May 02, 2015, 01:18:05 pm: Quote from: phenigma on May 02, 2015, 04:15:09 am
Hi Andy,

Since it is May already (when you're making this post) and you're asking for money for a specific product.... Do you have a more specific date for the end of your 'sale'?

Thanks,

J.

Your confusing yourself again. This thread is about our imminent update for Dianemo X86 that takes it to Ubuntu 14.04LTS, from its current Ubuntu 12.04LTS base. We have numerous systems in final testing both in the field and in our testing lab too.

We expect to release our Ubuntu 14.04LTS updater for existing customers, and our installer for new customers late next week.

All the best

Andy
Title: Re: Dianemo X86 Will Be Transitioning to Ubuntu 14.04LTS **Get Ready!**
Post by: Garbui on May 06, 2015, 12:34:14 am: Hi Andy,
I just purchased an Rpi2 preview licence but also currently run an x86 system that I've run from early Dianemo 710 times. Can you provide any update as to the development path / life of x86 platform and how Rpi is likely to diverge from it. I am particularly interested in the media server and control changes as the Dianemo approach has changed a lot in this area over the years to be focussed more on control over separate hardware devices (PVR, STBS etc,) rather than a server/client software based approach.

Thanks again
Garath
Title: Re: Dianemo X86 Will Be Transitioning to Ubuntu 14.04LTS **Get Ready!**
Post by: totallymaxed on May 06, 2015, 12:38:09 pm: Quote from: Garbui on May 06, 2015, 12:34:14 am
Hi Andy,
I just purchased an Rpi2 preview licence but also currently run an x86 system that I've run from early Dianemo 710 times. Can you provide any update as to the development path / life of x86 platform and how Rpi is likely to diverge from it. I am particularly interested in the media server and control changes as the Dianemo approach has changed a lot in this area over the years to be focussed more on control over separate hardware devices (PVR, STBS etc,) rather than a server/client software based approach.

Thanks again
Garath

Hi Garath,

Dianemo X86 is under active development and there is really no change there at all. This week we will release our update to Ubuntu 14.04LTS for Dianemo X86 and that will incorporate a number of changes 'under the hood' but the biggest change will be our support for the Zoneminder IP security Camera server. We will run Zoneminder in parallel with Kmotion for some time but our future direction and efforts will be directed towards Zoneminder as it provides a much better environment for RTSP cameras, and can support more cameras with less load on the system. While its true to say we have not been updating our support for MythTV backend we do still support it in Dianemo (although it is not being actively developed).

We have also completely transitioned our audio side over to LMS (even when using MD's) and we use LMS's playlists, plugins and playlists etc. So that is an example of us actually developing and deepening our support for a media server.

We hope to develop Dianemo-Rpi2 into a very flexible, low energy, distributed system that will make customisation and development of add-ons much more accessible. Dianemo-Rpi2 will also be very compact in its hardware form factor obviously and that will open it up to applications that cannot be easily addressed by X86 hardware. Dianemo-Rpi2 will also support the Athena UI and will support many of the server functionalities supported in Dianemo X86 ie Zoneminder, LMS etc but they are likely to be installed on separate Rpi2's so that the load is not sitting on a single CPU.

I hope that provides a flavour of where both systems are going in the medium term at least.

All the best

Andy
Title: Re: Dianemo X86 Will Be Transitioning to Ubuntu 14.04LTS **Get Ready!**
Post by: phenigma on May 07, 2015, 01:17:19 am: Hi Andrew,

Quote from: totallymaxed on May 02, 2015, 01:18:05 pm
Your confusing yourself again. This thread is about our imminent update for Dianemo X86 that takes it to Ubuntu 14.04LTS, from its current Ubuntu 12.04LTS base. We have numerous systems in final testing both in the field and in our testing lab too.

No, I am not confusing myself at all. You specifically indicated that prices would be increasing once you released your 1404 update in May. Your post was just 2 days from May and I was seeking clarification as to 'when' in May you would be releasing your update and, therefor, increasing your price. A quote from your OP here:
Quote from: totallymaxed on April 28, 2015, 04:27:45 pm
The update will be free for existing Dianemo license holders - as usual. However new Dianemo 14.04 licenses will undergo a price increase once we ship 14.04 - to purchase at the existing price please order Dianemo x86 licenses now (you can then update to 14.04 for free).

Quote from: totallymaxed on May 02, 2015, 01:18:05 pm
We expect to release our Ubuntu 14.04LTS updater for existing customers, and our installer for new customers late next week.

All the best

Andy

Thank you for the clarification! Much appreciated, and all the best to you as well Andrew.

Jason
Title: Re: Dianemo X86 Will Be Transitioning to Ubuntu 14.04LTS **Get Ready!**
Post by: totallymaxed on May 07, 2015, 10:28:44 am: Quote from: phenigma on May 07, 2015, 01:17:19 am
Hi Andrew,

No, I am not confusing myself at all. You specifically indicated that prices would be increasing once you released your 1404 update in May. Your post was just 2 days from May and I was seeking clarification as to 'when' in May you would be releasing your update and, therefor, increasing your price. A quote from your OP here:
Thank you for the clarification! Much appreciated, and all the best to you as well Andrew.

Jason

Jason - I expect our Dianemo X86 update to Ubuntu 14.04LTS to be available in the next few days for existing users at zero cost. When we release the update we will also release a new installer that will install Dianemo X86 for Ubuntu 14.04LTS on new systems, new licenses will ship with this going forwards. But as ever with software testing the update may get held back if any of our testers experience a last minute issues.

There will be a price increase for new X86 licenses after we ship the update - what that increase will be I don't know at this time. As soon as I do I will post that information here, which is what I said in my original post too.

All the best

Andy
Title: Re: Dianemo X86 Will Be Transitioning to Ubuntu 14.04LTS **Get Ready!**
Post by: phenigma on May 10, 2015, 12:23:19 am: Hi Andrew,

Again, thankyou for additional clarification. I was wondering when, as 'May' is a large timeframe.

-Jason
Title: Re: Dianemo X86 Will Be Transitioning to Ubuntu 14.04LTS **Get Ready!**
Post by: Marie.O on May 10, 2015, 12:45:23 am: He said May, 8th - but the software made a 8) out of it.
Title: Re: Dianemo X86 Will Be Transitioning to Ubuntu 14.04LTS **Get Ready!**
Post by: phenigma on May 10, 2015, 01:05:40 am: posde, thank you. Yes I do understand the delivery schedule, I did not intend to convey any misunderstanding. I do understand when the update is expected. Thank you both!

-Jason
Title: Re: Dianemo X86 Will Be Transitioning to Ubuntu 14.04LTS **Get Ready!**
Post by: totallymaxed on May 12, 2015, 10:29:32 am: Hi there,

Firstly let me just reiterate; This thread is about Dianemo X86 and our update to Ubuntu 14.04LTS. This update, as is true for all previous updates, is completely FREE to anyone who has EVER purchased a Dianemo license. No exceptions or caveat’s - anyone with a license can get it.

Here is another quick update for everyone following this thread. As you probably know last week we asked if there were any volunteers who would like to test upgrading their current Dianemo installation to Ubuntu 14.04LTS.

A number of you stepped up to the plate and said yes - a very big thank you to anyone who did!

So where are we? Well the testing we are doing is all around the update process itself mostly, ironing out the wrinkles in the installer is where most of the remaining effort is needed. We have fully upgraded systems with all areas of the system working under 14.04LTS, but importantly these were at least in part, manually updated and 'tweaked' by hand to make them work. We're close, but as usual the last '10%' takes a disproportionate amount of the total effort.

As of right now this what we're working on;

- ~~Diskless Create TBZ; This is needed for MD's. Due to some changes in bash this code is currently broken (we may have fixed this...test running currently)~~
- Zoneminder; The server part is working but the installer currently does not automatically install ZM. We don't have the Athena changes ready yet to access ZM cameras from the Orbiter. Adding cameras in Dianemo Web Admin is not integrated (but you can add them in ZM directly of course) and Camera events are not working inside Dianemo yet.
- Asterisk & FreePBX; Asterisk is working and gets installed but we need a new FreePBX deb and that is not ready yet.
- ~~MythTV Backend; Working but needs some manual changes to Mythweb.conf~~

- As far as I know everything else is working - but there may still be obscure parts of the system that throw up some issues in the coming weeks. Below is a sample of SOME of the working components (picked pretty much at random);
- Networking, Firewall
- Remote Assistance
- Virtualised Audio & LMS
- MythTV Backend
- Athena UI
- Asterisk
- UPnP Video
- Kmotion
- iTunes Integration
- Insteon Support
- Zwave
- Lutron
- Device Templates
- Scenarios - auto & user generated
- Timed events

For the reckless and intrepid few...
As of today if you upgrade your Dianemo installation to Ubuntu 14.04LTS by using 'do-release-upgrade' and then run the Dianemo installer (**note I said Dianemo Installer**) your installation will get upgraded to Dianemo 1404. However currently you will hit all of the above issues and we simply cannot support you through the manual fixes needed. So please understand that you are on your own if you do this - unless you have volunteered and we have accepted your offer (this is important because we can only support a few volunteers simultaneously, so we need you to wait until we give you the go ahead please).

As soon as we have the wrinkles worked out I will let everyone know here - Thank you for your patience!

Best

Andy
Title: Re: Dianemo X86 Will Be Transitioning to Ubuntu 14.04LTS **Get Ready!**
Post by: totallymaxed on May 14, 2015, 01:20:36 pm: Dianemo X86 Ubuntu 14.04LTS - Update;

- (NOW FIXED) Diskless Create TBZ; This is needed for MD's. Due to some changes in bash this code was originally broken. Its now fixed and working. Ubuntu 14.04LTS uses a PAE Kernel and this will cause some older machines to cough and not PXE boot (realistically there is no real fix for this other than getting newer hardware)

Best

Andy
Title: Assistance with updating your Dianemo System to Ubuntu 14.04LTS
Post by: totallymaxed on May 14, 2015, 01:52:36 pm: We've had a few requests for help updating to 14.04LTS and in particular with the transition to Zoneminder. We can also help you test your NC & MD's for PAE compatibility - something the 14.04LTS Kernel requires.

We're happy to help and can do so over Remote Assistance - simply contact me if this is something your interested in.

Best

Andy
Title: Zoneminder 1.28.1 and Dianemo X86 for 14.04LTS
Post by: totallymaxed on May 15, 2015, 11:59:50 am: Apart from getting access to the 14.04LTS development path, and the overall improvements that will from flow from that, the big news initially for Dianemo X86 after updating to 14.04LTS is the integration of Zoneminder 1.28.1

Zoneminder provides a very substantial upgrade to Dianemo X86's security camera capabilities and also delivers some substantial improvements in Camera support (ONVIF/RTSP), picture quality/frame rates and importantly much lower processor/ram loads on the system than with motion based cameras.

Here is a real world example of the load that a 6x camera configuration (all running at 640x480 res) places on a system with an AMD A10-5700 CPU based processor. This 5700 processor has 4x cores rated at 1.4Ghz. In tests this system saw an average processor load of 26-30% with all cameras in ZM's 'Modect' motion detection mode. This same system with 4x cameras saw a load of 65-72% when managed by motion. So this is an impressive gain whatever way you look at it.

ZM is possibly somewhat more complex to configure than our previous motion based Kmotion configurations, but this is mostly because it offers more options during configuration. Strangely enough we looked at ZM back in the day, but we went with Kmotion because it was simpler to integrate with the original Pluto motion based functionality. We are still working on the code that allows camera events to be sent back into Dianemo/DCErouter and an update to the Athena UI to allow ZM's monitor view (ie cameras) to be displayed. We hope to have an update ready for those in the next few weeks. However even standalone ZM offers some great adavantages and any configuration etc you do now will work tranparently with Dianemo/Athena when the time comes.

If you take all of the improvements ZM offers I think this is a substantial gain and will enable you to get more mileage from your existing system hardware and useful set of poweful new capabilities too. If you are thinking of updating your system get in touch first so we can advise you on how to carry out the update;

Contact me vie DM here or email me at inquiries@ellipticalcurve.com

All the best

Andy
Title: More Users Successfully Update to Dianemo X86 for Ubuntu 14.04LTS
Post by: totallymaxed on May 16, 2015, 01:50:33 pm: A steady stream of Dianemo X86 users are successully updating to Ubuntu 14.04LTS - which is great news. I expect this weekend will be a busy time for Updating systems and I also expect a few shouts for help. So far every system has been successfully updated, sometimes with some manual intervention. Every day our installer gets small improvements from our experience with users upgrading - we thank you for all of those pieces of feedback on issues you hit.

Now some tips on upgrading your 12.04LTS Dianemo X86 systems...

If you are intending to update to 14.04LTS this weekend please remember to do a PAE Kernel compatibility test before you start - grab a 14.04LTS LiveCD/USBstick and boot your NC (and any MD's) from it. If your hardware boots ok then you are good to go for PAE Kernel compatibility. The only deal stoppers we have hit so far are users that have CPU's that are not PAE Kernel compatible. As far as we know this only affects Pentium M and Celeron M processors, and even then only early production chips. For most of you this test will be uneventful, its only really likely to affect you if you have older hardware.

Get the current Desktop Ubuntu 14.04LTS iso here; http://releases.ubuntu.com/14.04/ubuntu-14.04.2-desktop-i386.iso (http://releases.ubuntu.com/14.04/ubuntu-14.04.2-desktop-i386.iso)

This page contains details of how to add the forcepae option to your Grub config. This can sometimes enable systems that fail the PAE Kernel test to boot. So try this if your system reports a PAE incompatibility; https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Lubuntu/AdvancedMethods#Pentium_M_and_Celeron_M (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Lubuntu/AdvancedMethods#Pentium_M_and_Celeron_M)

Another 'must do' item is to backup your system. I can't emphasize this enough... minimally do a backup of your Config in Web Admin. Make sure you download a copy of your backup to another system ie your Laptop/PC's local drive by clicking on the backup file you just made in Web Admin. See here for a mini howto guide; http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Dianemo_S#Backing_up_your_Dianemo_Database (http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Dianemo_S#Backing_up_your_Dianemo_Database)

If you can make an image backup of your systems boot volume that is also a great idea too.

Once you have completed the two steps above you are ready to start;

step 1: do-release-upgrade (this will take a long time...especially if your Internet connection is not fast)
step 2: run the Dianemo installer (**Not the updater**)

/usr/pluto/install/install-dianemo.sh

If you hit any problems then either PM me here on the forum or email me at inquiries@ellipticalcurve.com

Happy updating!

Andy
Title: Dianemo X86 14.04LTS Update
Post by: totallymaxed on May 17, 2015, 01:23:43 pm: So far the this weekend updates seem to be going well. I've heard from two users who got PAE Kernel fails on some older MD hardware they were planning to 'retire' soon anyway.

Just keep in mind that if you need functioning IP Telephony right away you should hold off on the update currently.

Happy updating!

Andy
Title: Dianemo X86 for Ubuntu 14.04LTS - Airplay Audio Streams Now Supported
Post by: totallymaxed on May 18, 2015, 05:45:07 pm: In Dianemo X86 for Ubuntu 14.04LTS we now support direct Apple AirPlay streaming from any iOS Device directly to any of your Squeeze based audio zones. Simply activate the Airplay plugin in LMS settings and your ready to go.

Selecting Airplay while playing music in any audio App on your iOS device will display your Squeeze audio zones, select one and your stream will play in that Zone. Simple as that.

Happy Updating!

Best

Andy
Title: Dianemo X86 14.04LTS - 13 IP Camera System
Post by: totallymaxed on May 19, 2015, 07:32:58 pm: I thought this might be interesting for anyone considering upgrading to Dianemo X86 14.04LTS;

We've been upgrading a Dianemo X86 14.04 LTS system today (4x Core I7 with 6gig of RAM) that now has 13 IP cameras configured and working in Zoneminder. The cameras are mostly running at 640x480, but there are a few at 720x480 and one at 1080p. All cameras have been limited back to 10 fps and we are masking out as much as possible in each camera view to limit the motion detection workload.

The NC is currently running at an average processor load of 78% which is a little high but with some tweaks in the various camera configs and some other changes we think we can hopefully reduce this a little. This system is doing, in addition to ZM, some lighting, a little audio and may also monitor an alarm panel. So even though this is pushing the performance limits a little the system still seems responsive outside of the ZM functionality.

This is an example of what can be delivered by Dianemo X86 14.04LTS with ZM at one extreme of the performance envelope.

All the best

Andy
Title: Re: Dianemo X86 is Transitioning to Ubuntu 14.04LTS **Update Available**
Post by: mardibloke on May 19, 2015, 11:49:58 pm: Will there be an option to run ZM on a seperate hardware install to the main Dianemo S hardware?
Title: Re: Dianemo X86 is Transitioning to Ubuntu 14.04LTS **Update Available**
Post by: totallymaxed on May 20, 2015, 01:59:30 am: Quote from: mardibloke on May 19, 2015, 11:49:58 pm
Will there be an option to run ZM on a seperate hardware install to the main Dianemo S hardware?

Hi Rod,

Yes we do plan to support running ZM on a separate Ubuntu 14.04LTS based system as we do with Kmotion. I can't say exactly when we will have this capability ready for release but I would imagine around the end of this summer would be an approximate timeframe.

All the best

Andy
Title: Dianemo X86 14.04LTS Upgrade Slots Available for Thurs/Fri/Sat
Post by: totallymaxed on May 20, 2015, 04:15:31 pm: Due to re-scheduling we have Dianemo X86 14.04LTS upgrade slots available on each of the following days; ~~Thurs 20th, Fri 21st & Sat 22nd of May~~. The cost for us carrying out the upgrade is a fixed $60 USD.

If you are interested in having us upgrade your system for you please get in touch either by PM here or by email to inquiries@ellipticalcurve.com with 'Remote Upgrade' in the subject line and your installation ID and your PayPal details in the body of your email.

All the best

Andy
Title: Dianemo X86 Ubuntu 14.04LTS - Athena Orbiter Now Supports Zoneminder
Post by: totallymaxed on May 28, 2015, 11:13:13 pm: We have released an update today to Dianemo X86 for 14.04LTS that adds support in the Athena Orbiter UI for a Zoneminder 4x Camera View & Archive access and playback. This is supported in all Athena Orbiters including the iOS App and any Web browser based Orbiters.

Give it a try - you'll like it.

This is a free update for all Dianemo X86 users - simply run the updater script to get the update.

Best

Andy
Title: Dianemo X86 14.04LTS - Athena UI Screenshots
Post by: totallymaxed on May 29, 2015, 12:38:17 pm: Hi again,

I've uploaded some example screen-shots of the Athena UI's new Zoneminder support. Simply configure Zoneminder on your system and the camera icon will be added to your Orbiters icon bar. That's all there is to it.

Athena/Zoneminder screen-shots - http://wp.me/P4KgIc-aF (http://wp.me/P4KgIc-aF)

Best

Andy