Messages

31

Marketplace / Dianemo X86 for Ubuntu 14.04LTS - Airplay Audio Streams Now Supported

« 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

32

Marketplace / Zoneminder 1.28.1 Debs are successfully building Dianemo-Rpi2

« on: May 18, 2015, 01:36:09 pm »

We built the first Zoneminder 1.28.1 Debs for Ubuntu 14.04LTS ready for Dianemo-Rpi2 yesterday. A small but important milestone to providing an independent Zoneminder install for Dianemo-Rpi2 systems.

We will probably release these debs to Dianemo-Rpi2 license holders later this week so that you can get familiar with setting up ZM on your Rpi2. PM me here on the Forum or drop me an email at inquiries@ellipticalcurve.com if you'd be interested in getting access to the ZM debs.

Best

Andy

33

Marketplace / ONVIF Device Discovery Coming in Zoneminder 1.29

« on: May 17, 2015, 10:49:16 pm »

In Dianemo X86 for Ubuntu 1404LTS we currently integrate Zoneminder 1.28.1. Zoneminder currently has good support for ONVIF compliant cameras but it has no in built ability to discover ONVIF Cameras on the LAN. ONVIF Cameras today have to be added manually and each camera needs a different setup to access its video stream.

However in Zoneminder 1.29 we should see in-built ONVIF device discovery which will make adding cameras far simpler than it is today. A simple click on any of the discovered cameras will add them to your system. We don't know when Zoneminder 1.29 will be released but we will update to it as soon as we can after its release.

All the best

Andy

34

Marketplace / Dianemo X86 14.04LTS Update

« 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

35

Marketplace / Re: Dianemo-RPi2 Preview Release - for Raspberry Pi2! *Order Here*

« on: May 17, 2015, 12:43:42 pm »

Hello,

I'd like to ask regarding RPi2 :
- any chance to transfer whisperer interface devices to RPi2 system (I've written one for Marantz Audio Receiver) ?
- I 've also written Perl DCE device for connection to my home automation system from Cybrotech. Will it work also on RPi2 ?
- what are possibilities to code plugins for RPi2 ? Will the DCE device interfacing protocol remain also on RPi2 ?
- will RPi2 also be based around Mysql database ?
- any plans regarding connections between several NCs (for instance I'd like to connect to NC in our vacation flat) ? Obviously I'll also have to buy another license...

Thanks in advance,

regards,
Bulek.

Hi Bulek,

Whisperer Devices - yes this is likely although they will probably need some code changes.

Perl DCE Device - Since Dianemo-Rpi2 is not based on DCE this would need some code changes or possibly a DCE compatibility library. So I cant see this would be impossible but would need some work.

Plugins - Plugins are written in Python. Other languages could be supported (and probably will in time). A DCE compatibility library is most likely the way we will go on this.

MySQL - Yes Dianemo-Rpi2 uses MySQL.

Interconnecting Systems - yes we are very interested in connecting systems together and there will be functionality to enable this.

Overall I would say that for if you have only a few DCE/Whisperer Devices it may be just as easy to re-write them. But both options will be possible.

Either PM me here or send an email to inquiries@ellipticalcurve.com if you would like a Dianemo-Rpi2 license.

All the best

Andy

36

Marketplace / Tips for using ZoneMinder with Dianemo X86 or Dianemo-Rpi2

« on: May 16, 2015, 07:08:12 pm »

This thread will gather together tip/suggestions relating to Dianemo's new ZoneMinder security camera functionality. If your thinking of upgrading your exisitng Dianemo X86 installation, purchasing a Dianemo X86 license or Dianemo-Rpi2 and Zoneminder is on your radar as one of features you are excitied about then this thread will be where I post useful information for you.

My first tip is about cameras; Zoneminder can use a wide range of cameras including analog, direct connect USB and IP models. The biggest hurdle you are faced when adding cameras to ZoneMinder is determining the url and options that the camera supports. For some reason camera manufacturers always seem to omit that crucual information from their documentation with the end result being a lot of experimentation and googling to find what url's and features are supported and what shape the url should take. A good place to look for the url for your camera is here;

http://www.ispyconnect.com/sources.aspx

We will be maintain a section of the wiki to provide a central place where Camera configuration details can be collected together (if you have any for specific camera models then please let me know). I will post information here about the Wiki section shortly.

Best

Andy

37

Marketplace / More Users Successfully Update to Dianemo X86 for Ubuntu 14.04LTS

« 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

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

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

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

38

Marketplace / Re: Dianemo-Rpi2 - How will Licensing Work After Launch?

« on: May 15, 2015, 06:49:33 pm »

Of course you do, answering questions about your 'community' involvement appears to be above you.  Profit is a great motivator and working with the community here seems to be one of the last things you are interested in, in my opinion.

It is quite clear based on the functionality of your system that there are aspects of PPL code that have not been pushed to the linuxmce.org svn system, and would be incompatible if you did.  Again I ask you to make this code available as is your responsibility to the OSS community.

Jason.

Well yes we are a commercial company and we have a license to do what we do, but we have always cooperated with the community here - way before you were ever involved with LinuxMCE too. Although we have always done so, we have no obligation to hand PPL code back to the community. In this case though as far as i am aware we have handed back all of our changes to PPL code, as we always have. All of our current work, and this has been true for some considerable time now, is in code that is certainly not PPL and is not currently GPL either (that may change though in the future).

Andy

39

Marketplace / Dianemo-RPi2 Preview will support a Zoneminder image

« on: May 15, 2015, 12:56:23 pm »

Zoneminder 1.28.1 or later will be the supported IP camera server for Dianemo-Rpi2.

We plan to provide a separate install image for ZM so that it can be installed on a separate Rpi2 - Dianemo-ZM-Rpi2. This will distribute the processing load more evenly and allow for more cameras to be supported. The Dianemo-ZM-Rpi2 machine will feed motion detection and other events back to Dianemo-Rpi2 so that it can respond to these appropriately. Multiple Dianemo-ZM-Rpi2 machines will be configurable on a single Dianemo-Rpi2 system.

We think 3 or possibly 4 IP Cams at 640x480 and say 10fps will be manageable on a Rpi2. But this will need testing to be confirmed.

Best

Andy

40

Marketplace / Zoneminder 1.28.1 and Dianemo X86 for 14.04LTS

« 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

41

Marketplace / Assistance with updating your Dianemo System to Ubuntu 14.04LTS

« 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

42

Marketplace / Re: Dianemo X86 Will Be Transitioning to Ubuntu 14.04LTS **Get Ready!**

« 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

43

Marketplace / Re: Dianemo-RPi2 Preview Release - for Raspberry Pi2! *Order Here*

« on: May 12, 2015, 04:14:05 pm »

We are looking for Dianemo X86 or LinuxMCE users who are willing to test Dianemo-Rpi on the LAN side of their existing Core's. If you already have a license to both Dianemo X86 & Dianemo-Rpi2 and would be willing to test the two systems alongside each other then get in contact. Similarly if you have a Dianemo X86 license or LinuxMCE Core and would like a Dianemo-Rpi2 license to participate in this configuration test then get in contact too.

Contact us at inquiries@ellipticalcurve.com with 'Dianemo/LinuxMCE + Dianemo-Rpi2 LAN Test' in the subject line. If you need a Dianemo-Rpi license then please provide your Paypal details in the body of the email too.

Best

Andy

44

Marketplace / Re: Dianemo-Rpi2 - How will Licensing Work After Launch?

« on: May 12, 2015, 03:06:20 pm »

Thank you for that information Andrew, and for ignoring the entire post, including the questions within it.  I am happy to start a new topic if that is what you would prefer in order to respond to my inquiries.

-Jason

To be perfectly frank Jason I have far better things to do with my time than respond to you.

Yes I am a shareholder in CHT Ltd and I have been for the last 11 years. I also have my own consulting business too. CHT Ltd was the first Pluto Inc licensee, and as far as I know, currently is the only one still trading. Our Pluto license applies to Dianemo X86 only. We fully comply with our Pluto license and always have. Any code that we develop ourselves, that is not derived from or an enhancement of PPL code, we have every right to distribute anyway we please. Dianemo-Rpi is a separate product and is not based on PPL code.

If we make any changes to PPL code then we have always made those changes available to LinuxMCE.

Thanks

Andy

45

Marketplace / Re: Dianemo X86 Will Be Transitioning to Ubuntu 14.04LTS **Get Ready!**

« 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