Current functionality of Pluto system

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Hi,

I'm invited (as semi research project) to national trade fair in section of upcoming smart home technologies. I'd love to take oportunity and show some of Pluto features. But unfortunately I didn't yet have time to try it so have few questions about its current functionality on following areas:
- security - motion detection (is interface working, what version of motion,. etc...)
- Mythtv (is PVr working, what version of mythtv, what cards are currently supported (I have Hauppage PVR 350))
- Media players : - audio (can I hook speakers and play audio?)
                         - video (can i show interface on TV, can it be controlled by mobile Orbiter, by IR remote ?)
- VOIP functionality - I have Grandstream IP phone (is Asterisk interface functional, what version, can I do videoconference ? - I do a lot of Asterisks, so could help in this one if needed...)
- mobile Orbiter (I've purchased Nokia 3650) - can I control above functionality from it ?
- is there any other family functionalities reagrding family calendar, organizers, news, rss feeds, ...

Few other questions:
- are there any news in the field of licensing (OK, I get that your licensing is geared against competition that will take your system and sell it with custom HW in large quantities - what about small integrators like me, that will do few installations per year (our country has only 2Mil population). There is problem with not be able to predetermine HW, that Pluto will work realiably on. Don't get me wrong, I'm willing to pay commercial licensing -but as small integrator will probably not be able to pay same amount as one big company...). After all, the power of open source includes possibility for us small to provide sufficient support for it...
- if I go to trade fair I should have some sort of cooperation with Plutohome pretty cleared. How Plutohome sees us (small integrators) in your future plans ?

- what is current solution for video conferencing? Mythtv has quite astonishing plugin called Mythphone, that could do this job...

I'd kindly ask for short answers. Sorry for taking your time, but I'd be happy to show Pluto to public and must have some basic info on current state of features.

Thanks in advance,

Rob.

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Motion: Using the latest version, although not very well tested.
MythTV: Also the latest version (0.17).  It is integrated and works.  There are still some quirks and enhancements we want to make to Myth itself, but it's useable right now.
Media Players: Xine is fully integrated, and Squeeze Box players are integrated (plug and play even).  So you have full media support, and multi-zone audio.
Video: Yes, it's integrated.
VOIP: Asterisk is integrated and running.  We have plug-and-play drivers for the Snom 200.  For the Grandtek you would need to configure it yourself.  In the 2.0.0.11 build (hopefully posted tomorrow), is a very modified version of Linphone that supports video conferencing.  I've seen it working, but it's very new.
Mobile Orbiter: Yes, we use Nokia 3650's.  They're also plug-and-play.  Just bring the phoen within range of any media director and it will be detected, identified as a compatible phone, and sent the software via Bluetooth.  You don't have anything to do -- just hit 'yes' on the phone when it asks to install the software, and then you can control everything with it.
family functions: Not much done here.  There is an LDAP back-end for contacts, but the PIM is not integrated yet.

Licensing: Traditionally most of our dealers with the series 1 product were very low volume -- like 5 systems per year, since they only sold to ultra high-end markets.  Series 1 started around $15,000 for a simple house, and most of our sales were in the $50,000 range.  We hope that with the lower costs series 2 will hit a much broader market.  Don't worry about the licensing costs--they are very reasonable and reflect the nature of open source and are a small fraction of series 1's.  Obviously we need revenue to support our development efforts.  We have a good size staff of full-time programmers, and provide a lot of support.  You can email me to aaron [at] plutohome [point] com to discuss more about this.  We will work with you and make sure we find a mutually agreeable relationship.

We would definately like the exposure of Pluto at the trade fair and will help you with it.  Just send me an email.

We did play around with the Mythphone, however, it is not fully integrated into the system like the Linphone is.  We will likely add that support in the future.  But, at the moment, to be able to control your video conferencing with the maps, follow-me, broadcast voice for intruders, etc., those features only work with Linphone.

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Motion: Using the latest version, although not very well tested.
MythTV: Also the latest version (0.17).  It is integrated and works.  There are still some quirks and enhancements we want to make to Myth itself, but it's useable right now.
Media Players: Xine is fully integrated, and Squeeze Box players are integrated (plug and play even).  So you have full media support, and multi-zone audio.
Video: Yes, it's integrated.
VOIP: Asterisk is integrated and running.  We have plug-and-play drivers for the Snom 200.  For the Grandtek you would need to configure it yourself.  In the 2.0.0.11 build (hopefully posted tomorrow), is a very modified version of Linphone that supports video conferencing.  I've seen it working, but it's very new.
Mobile Orbiter: Yes, we use Nokia 3650's.  They're also plug-and-play.  Just bring the phoen within range of any media director and it will be detected, identified as a compatible phone, and sent the software via Bluetooth.  You don't have anything to do -- just hit 'yes' on the phone when it asks to install the software, and then you can control everything with it.

OK,

that's more than enough to try it. I'll start installng. Just few quick questions :
- about drives - I know I have to dedicate drive to Pluto - will I be able to select on which drive to install (I'd like to have dual boot with previous windows...)
- about media players:  I'd like to implement multi channel audio (4 or 8x independent stereo channels) that would come out of Pluto Core. Can I have software audio players that can be controlled with Pluto or this could be the first job to integrate with MH (I have this implemented with Alsaplayer under Misterhouse)... I also have all house announcements, voip calls (with proper acoustic cancelling on mics) on this ones too...

family functions: Not much done here.  There is an LDAP back-end for contacts, but the PIM is not integrated yet.

Any plans how to do this? Did you use any particular SW in series 1 ?

Licensing: Traditionally most of our dealers with the series 1 product were very low volume -- like 5 systems per year, since they only sold to ultra high-end markets.  Series 1 started around $15,000 for a simple house, and most of our sales were in the $50,000 range.  We hope that with the lower costs series 2 will hit a much broader market.  Don't worry about the licensing costs--they are very reasonable and reflect the nature of open source and are a small fraction of series 1's.  Obviously we need revenue to support our development efforts.  We have a good size staff of full-time programmers, and provide a lot of support.  You can email me to aaron [at] plutohome [point] com to discuss more about this.  We will work with you and make sure we find a mutually agreeable relationship.

We would definately like the exposure of Pluto at the trade fair and will help you with it.  Just send me an email.

Thanks, will contact you, but before I need to setup Pluto, so I will know what to talk about :-) ...

We did play around with the Mythphone, however, it is not fully integrated into the system like the Linphone is.  We will likely add that support in the future.  But, at the moment, to be able to control your video conferencing with the maps, follow-me, broadcast voice for intruders, etc., those features only work with Linphone.

No worries, I didn't know that you have all this functionality already in Linphone. I just thought of MythPhone if you we're at the start....

Regards,

Rob.

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We are a medium sized ISP company in our city, we do also provide other communication - specific services for our clients:
- building Fiber and TP links across the city;
- providing VoIP services;
- installing and interconnecting surveillance cameras for municipal services;
- doing cable and equipment installation jobs in clients' houses/offices, etc.

Thats why we are always looking for new ideas and projects to try out and to investigate in order to bring it to our clients and local market as well.

PLUTO project impressed us very much, especially because we also widely use Linux and Open Source solutions in our business and also have experienced and trained technical personnel to support it. So after looking through the plutohome.com site we have several questions and ideas arised:

1) we'd like to try offering complete PLUTO systems for our clients, so is it possible to order your ready made hardware with preinstalled PLUTO systems here in Europe?

2) Media Directors look like the most interesting equipment, because as we understand we can use almost any server platform powerfull enough for building Cores. Is it possible to buy/order your MD devices separately, maybe as barebones (no HDD, RAM, processor)?

3) is it possible for us to build our own installations, using locally bought hardware (server systems for Pluto Core, MSI or ABIT barebones as Media Directors, etc) and provide it to our customers for some configuration and support fees? We don't want to brand those systems as ours, we are ready to supply customers with all the required info about PLUTO HOME as well as with your original software and installation sources. Does it requie any licensing from you?

4) if at least one of the options above is true, do you have some other advertising material (both in printed or electronical form) so we can translate it to our local languages? We can also provide you with a mirroring site here, doing all required translations.

5) is it possible to use PLUTO this way: we put a Core server in our communications central and rent/sell Media Directors to our clients so they can watch our video library and listen to our music archives with just some remote touches at their homes? It can even boot right from our servers and incorporate VoIP services, server file storage, mail and personal web pages the same way it provides PLUTO. Most of our networks are built upon optical lines (100 Mbit to 1 Gbit) so we think transfer rates should not be a big issue there.

Sorry if it's a kind of FAQ already, but digging through your site and forums does not bring any complete answers. Your licensing policy is still not clear enough, and becoming a PLUTO systems integrator / reseller is not much covered too.

Thank you in advance,
Best regards
Dmitry

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Hello Dmitri,

Boy I wish we had 100MB internet connections from our ISP's!

There are a lot of issues.  Perhaps we can talk by phone or IM or Skype?  Some brainstorming to see how Pluto can fit your solution is in order.  If so, email me at aaron.b (at our domain name).

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Impressed by so rapid answer!

And sorry for bringing the storm into your minds, guys! :)

Unfortunately I'm leaving the office right now, so can't contact you by mail or IM immediately, only tomorrow morning (localtime).

Just two more points to mention:

1) I've noticed one thing - when the discussion becomes really interesting, you always ask the respondent to contact you directly. May be it would be a better idea do discuss such things in public? This will surely fit into your statement of why did you made the project GPL - more people, more ideas, brainstorm across the Net etc...

2) And why did this idea arised at all. A couple of days before Estonian company Elion announced the end of test period for almost the same project - providing all the media resources (internet, video, music, radio) over one single carrier. They use ALCATEL FTTU (Fiber To The User) technology. But from this point, using PLUTO as a platform for our optical lines we would provide the same kind of service immediately. The user does not even need a special terminating equipment (MD) - he just boots his own PC from our PLUTO Core and gets a very comfortable and friendly environment with a lot of bonus things included.

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I like the idea of the public forum....  But since I'm not clear on exactly what you want to do, nor are you on what pluto can do, during a phone call we can 'bounce back and forth' with you ask a question, i reply, etc., 100 times in a couple minutes.  Over the forums, it would take a month.    So for really broad, wide-open questions like this, a phone call just seems faster--and less strain on the fingers.  It's not a confidentiality issue-just a practicality.

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Your point is clear, I just have to fully agree with you.

OK, maybe lets do the following way: you answer the first 4 questions in forum or by email (those questions don't require a lot of discussion, but may be helpfull for others as I think), but the last one we can discuss in a more interactive manner later. Should it be OK?
 
Sorry, I'm just travelling home right now and answering you through a bit ugly mobile-to-desktop service.

Best regards, waiting for the answer
Dmitry
dmit [at] citynet [ofcoursedot] lv

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Sure, regarding those 4 questions:

1) is it possible to order your ready made hardware with preinstalled PLUTO systems here in Europe?

Yes.  Our strongest manufacturing partner in Europe, Digital Logic, based in Switzerland, already has units ready to ship.  They are awesome boxes--very high-end, though.  If you want something lower cost, we can set you up with another manufacturer.  However, they are just standard Servers and Media PC's, so you could use name brand suppliers like HP, Dell, etc. as well.

2) Media Directors look like the most interesting equipment, because as we understand we can use almost any server platform powerfull enough for building Cores. Is it possible to buy/order your MD devices separately, maybe as barebones (no HDD, RAM, processor)?

We don't make or sell any hardware.  We're like Windows.  We provide the software platform to hardware manufacturers and they pre-install it.  So it's up to the h/w mfg to say what configurations they support.  Or we can provide the software directly to you.

3) is it possible for us to build our own installations, using locally bought hardware (server systems for Pluto Core, MSI or ABIT barebones as Media Directors, etc) and provide it to our customers for some configuration and support fees? We don't want to brand those systems as ours, we are ready to supply customers with all the required info about PLUTO HOME as well as with your original software and installation sources. Does it requie any licensing from you?

Yes, it's possible.  The core libraries and modules are GPL.  A license is never required--we provide them totally free.  The modules that are specific to our smarthome/media server sector are offered under the Pluto license.  That allows you to do whatever you want with the software for free, without paying a license, just like GPL, unless you will be distributing it with hard goods (ie offering a turnkey solution).  It sounds like you will be offering a turnkey solution, so a license is required.  However our license fees are not a lot.  

Go to plutohome.com/support, click 'about', 'licensing'.  It's all explained there, including the full text of the licenses.

4) if at least one of the options above is true, do you have some other advertising material (both in printed or electronical form) so we can translate it to our local languages? We can also provide you with a mirroring site here, doing all required translations.

We do have some brochures and flyers, although 99% of our marketing exposure is through the web site.  We could discuss mirroring/translation options.  I don't know what's involved--not my specialty.

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Going to "plutohome.com/support -> about -> license -> Pluto -> full text" gives me only your front page, no license at all, sorry.

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> Our strongest manufacturing partner in Europe, Digital Logic, based in > Switzerland, already has units ready to ship

1) Why not to put all your resellers info on the web? There's a bunch of "Digital Logic" companies across the Europe, and most of them are in a kind of IT business as you may suggest.

2) Does a company, which is installing PLUTO software on a hardware, choosen by a customer, treated as "hardware manufacturer"?

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I reported the broken link--it will be fixed today.  We will list our manufacturing partners and dealers soon.

Re 2) We have manufacturing partners, and also dealers.  If a dealer builds a custom PC, there is some gray area.  Could you please clarify question #2...  I'm not sure if your question is about become a dealer or a manufacturer, or if your question is if you let the customer pick the hardware, can you use our software for free.  

Regarding the latter, our licensing is one of the most generous--the only others giving open source users all the software for free are hobbyist projects, like Mr. House.  Unlike the hobbyist projects, we maintain a good-sized staff of full-time developers and support staff that provide free tech support--even to the free users.  So we designed a license that allows us to go open source and be a part of that community, and allows end-users to get all of Pluto for free--and even get free support.  But if someone sets up a profitable business delivering turn-key solutions based on our product, they pay a modest licensing fee so we can sustain this model.

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Going to "plutohome.com/support -> about -> license -> Pluto -> full text" gives me only your front page, no license at all, sorry.

Fixed, click here for full text of public license.

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I'm somewhat curius if you have yet gotten any head way on the family functions and LDAP.
This would be a interesting feature on the pluto system.
This would also allow a central user management point for all our windows workstations and I could set shares on the server since it is hardware raid 5 so that we all have a central storage point.
I could also disable my sons login when he is grounded witch would be nice.
Regards,
Cordel

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I'm somewhat curius if you have yet gotten any head way on the family functions and LDAP.
This would be a interesting feature on the pluto system.
This would also allow a central user management point for all our windows workstations and I could set shares on the server since it is hardware raid 5 so that we all have a central storage point.
I could also disable my sons login when he is grounded witch would be nice.
Regards,
Cordel

I put your request in Mantis so you can keep track of the progress.