www.linuxmce.org improvements

[tschak909]

yup, i agree. I just typed it off the cuff as example, and eventually THAT scenario WILL work OOB.... The point being to find language that can smoothly describe how all these pieces can meld together.

-Thom

[jimbodude]

Key word: "eventually".  Until then - need a configuration guide.  Hell, even I could benefit from a configuration guide for the lighting and telecomm stuff...

It addresses 2 main problems: 1) what hardware to buy for newcomers  2) how to make cool things happen without asking lots of questions

[murcel]

Key word: "eventually".  Until then - need a configuration guide.  Hell, even I could benefit from a configuration guide for the lighting and telecomm stuff...

It addresses 2 main problems: 1) what hardware to buy for newcomers  2) how to make cool things happen without asking lots of questions

The hardware part will be a tough one.
As i described before. LMCE works with "mostly all" hardware. In theory.
In pratice, you will have to choose components from the wiki, which are 100% tested and working.

Some month ago, i was thinking of having some kind of "compatible with" Program. Maybe we should again think of that.

But back to the hardware part. How can we suggest hardware to the user, which is a) really working b) is more or less available round the globe and c) is still buyable?
So it means we have to update it regular.

So my idea is, that we have to set up a "logo programm" for hardware. i will take this part.
Until that user have to be redirected to our wiki, with the compatible hardware.

[murcel]

Key word: "eventually".  Until then - need a configuration guide.    2) how to make cool things happen without asking lots of questions

Mostly the problem, that things are not working out of the box is, that users are thinking "to-much".
You know, it like the apprentice in a company. Nobody know s.th. about networking. But he already made a connection between 2 computers at home. So he thinks the he is the master of the universe regarding networking and takes the job in the company as a administrator.
Those guys mostly ruin the network :-) hacking here a little bit, hacking there a little bit.

How often someone is coming into irc and is asking about networking in LMCE (my network is not working) - why? because he didn't let lmce do the job.

First rule always should be LET LMCE DO THE JOB.
That should be in front of EVERY tutorial.

[jimbodude]

First rule always should be LET LinuxMCE DO THE JOB.
That should be in front of EVERY tutorial.

Then they should be easy to write. 

The hardware part will be a tough one.
As i described before. LinuxMCE works with "mostly all" hardware. In theory.
In pratice, you will have to choose components from the wiki, which are 100% tested and working.

What we need is a hardware compatibility database.  Thom and I each took a swing at this - neither of us finished anything terribly usable.  I'm really surprised there isn't something to handle this in the open source space - there are a lot of projects that could benefit from it...

[Lexje]

What we need is a hardware compatibility database.  Thom and I each took a swing at this - neither of us finished anything terribly usable.  I'm really surprised there isn't something to handle this in the open source space - there are a lot of projects that could benefit from it...

2 €cts:
I've been pondering this idea too.

Ubuntu has a its update-notifier https://wiki.ubuntu.com/IncreaseHardwareDatabaseParticipation where you have a choice to sort of record and register the hardware on your system to the hardware database.
I'm not into coding, but would it be do-able to adapt this to LinuxMCE's needs?

I think most if not ALL participants here on the forum will be more than glad to help out and fill the database, or not?

Also, it would provide more accurate data in terms of date/time, statistics etc.
In a second order, one could even think of a couple of well chosen media files to be used as 'benchmarking' material, using various media containers, Dolby / DTS tests etc.

Erwin

[dlewis]

Seems like a good idea Lexje. Would take some dev'ing though.

[dlewis]

I suggest we create a separate thread for each section of the site. Here is a new 'Features' thread for the site. I've written a new 'Telecom' section for your review: http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=8967.0

[dlewis]

I've written a new 'Lighting' section for your review: http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=8969.0

[dlewis]

I initially thought describing a series of story scenarios, an example:

It is a late late afternoon, I am watching afternoon television, and my friend Steve calls. The Television pauses, and I tap answer phone using my remote or orbiter tablet. Steve and I talk and he says he's coming over. After I hang up, the TV resumes playing. 30 minutes later, I hear a ring from my cell phone, I pick up, and the system has connected to my door phone. I see the image from the front door, and see that it's my friend. I tap the # key to open the door. He comes in, we hang out for a bit, watching some Sealab 2021 episodes that he selects from my orbiter tablet next to the couch. As we hang out, the sun outside sets, and the house adjusts its light level appropriately. Later, he leaves, and I switch to some audio. I keep my cell phone in my pocket, and as I move between the living room and the kitchen to prepare dinner, the audio I am listening to follows me to the kitchen, and back to the living room. Later that night, it had recorded in the background my episodes of the Daily Show and The Colbert Report, so I start watching them. I decide to move to my bedroom, so I take my mobile phone with me to the bedroom. The system detects that I have left the living room, and have moved to the bedroom, and has turned off the TV in the living room, and turned it on in the bedroom. As I tap House to Sleep mode on the orbiter near the bed, the rest of the house shuts down nicely, lights, audio equipment and all, and I can finish watching The Colbert Report. As I get ready to go to sleep, I tap the sleep button, and the TV and lights shut off, while setting my user mode to Sleeping so that non-important calls immediately pass to voicemail, and I go to sleep.

-----------

A bit rough, but that's the idea.

-Thom

I like this idea... Murcel, we should add a section of the site titled "Application Ideas". Each "Application Idea" should be focused on a particular features of LinuxMCE. I found this as a good example: http://www.litetouch.com/content.aspx?pg=2002

[murcel]

yeah, good idea, but lets focus on the basics first, and keep that in mind.

[wombiroller]

I initially thought describing a series of story scenarios, an example:

It is a late late afternoon, I am watching afternoon television, and my friend Steve calls. The Television pauses, and I tap answer phone using my remote or orbiter tablet. Steve and I talk and he says he's coming over. After I hang up, the TV resumes playing. 30 minutes later, I hear a ring from my cell phone, I pick up, and the system has connected to my door phone. I see the image from the front door, and see that it's my friend. I tap the # key to open the door. He comes in, we hang out for a bit, watching some Sealab 2021 episodes that he selects from my orbiter tablet next to the couch. As we hang out, the sun outside sets, and the house adjusts its light level appropriately. Later, he leaves, and I switch to some audio. I keep my cell phone in my pocket, and as I move between the living room and the kitchen to prepare dinner, the audio I am listening to follows me to the kitchen, and back to the living room. Later that night, it had recorded in the background my episodes of the Daily Show and The Colbert Report, so I start watching them. I decide to move to my bedroom, so I take my mobile phone with me to the bedroom. The system detects that I have left the living room, and have moved to the bedroom, and has turned off the TV in the living room, and turned it on in the bedroom. As I tap House to Sleep mode on the orbiter near the bed, the rest of the house shuts down nicely, lights, audio equipment and all, and I can finish watching The Colbert Report. As I get ready to go to sleep, I tap the sleep button, and the TV and lights shut off, while setting my user mode to Sleeping so that non-important calls immediately pass to voicemail, and I go to sleep.

-----------

A bit rough, but that's the idea.

-Thom

That'd be a pretty cool video if someone could pull it off ;-)

I am limited to media (core and one MD) currently so bit beyond me...

[jimbodude]

The changes made earlier look very nice.  A few more improvement suggestions:

Can we update the picture on the climate page (http://linuxmce.org/index.php/features/climate) to be a floorplan or something?  Right now, it looks like a list of audio or something...

Can we make the climate section of the features page (http://linuxmce.org/index.php/features) talk about climate instead of blinds and windows?

We need more "getting started" links on the downloads page... At least something that says "read this FAQ first" (http://linuxmce.org/index.php/download)

Developer section (http://linuxmce.org/index.php/developer) needs some grammar/spelling attention, so does the donate (http://linuxmce.org/index.php/contribute/donate) section.

[murcel]

Hey jimbodude,
you are allowed to jump in and give your corrections here :-)

Murcel

[totallymaxed]

...
What I am wondering most about is the definitive requirement of two NICs - one for the internal LAN and one for the external LAN. There is no doubt about it in the wiki.
Only the FAQ mention that it might be possible to have the core with only one NIC.
...

...
I only needed the PC to act as a "media player" and not have any other functionality. I do not need it to serve files nor monitor anything. Also, that board only has one NIC.

...
Someone suggested that I use 804 because the machine was new and do a CD install.  I was able to get 804 installed and copied the ISO to the hard drive.  I did a fresh install of the two discs for both the 32 and 64 bit versions.  Every time I try to install LinuxMCE, I get an error message that says that the install failed because CD1 could not be cached. 
...

hmm, why do people not read the #@$(@$( directions?
...
You guys need to actually need to:

(1) read the directions
(2) actually understand what this system is meant to do. It is a smart home platform.

-Thom

The reason these fundamental network and setup issues are coming up often again is probably because the information is buried on the website.  The "Getting Started" stuff needs to be at the forefront with the "What LinuxMCE does for you" stuff.  Go to the website, pretend you're a noob - try to get information about installing LinuxMCE - all you get is a link to the 0710 installer, no FAQ, no Network Setup.

Before the new website, this stuff was right in your face - since the main page was basically a mask for the wiki.  Now the site actually has content on it - and it's much nicer - but it buries the important information which still lives on the wiki.

I agree that the new site is visually much more appealing but functionally much less useful. The 'old' site was a front piece to the Wiki essentially, and I still believe firmly that the Wiki is where all content should reside. The Web site should only deliver the 'bait' to get people interested in 'digging' further...so I would see it carrying these front-piece 'articles' with visuals etc...but everything beneath that should be in the Wiki.

The Wiki enables us to leverage the community in terms of creating/editing/updating pages rather than specific people or individuals. What we need is some 'design' guidelines for the Wiki so that we get a more consistent 'look & feel' to all the pages.

Andrew