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Pluto: Linux-based Do-everything System
tazzzzz writes "Ever wanted an easy-to-configure, whole-house, internet-accessible, Linux-based VOIP PBX with video, PVR, firewall/router, security system, MP3 player, file server, personal web server, home automation (lights, thermostat) controller? I just came across the Pluto which claims to do all of this (and more, of course!). It'll set you back $15,000 if you're living in a small bachelor pad, but you didn't need that car anyway, did you?"
$15000? No thanks.
I built a MythTV system (using a hacked XBox as a frontend!) with a USB webcam for videoconferencing on my TV for less than $2000. It can do everything the Pluto adverises except home automation, but some X10 devices would take care of that.
This is a perfect toy for the busy executive who loves using the latest technology but doesn't understand it -- not for us able Linux lovers on slashdot!
My thoughts exactly. When I read this article the phrase "Jack of all trades, master of none" sprung to mind. I have never seen a "does everything" device that actually worked well.
Let's make a difference
No kidding. Get r00ted and there goes your TiVo, your mp3 collection, your heat, your security system! There goes your whole freaking house! No thank you.
Etiquette is etiquette. He kills his mother but he can't wear grey trousers.
So what you are saying is: Thanks to Tivo, you haven't been introduced to new shows that you might like. And now that you're tired of watching repeats of shows you once liked, you are quitting TV completely.
Not exactly the pursuasive argument you were going for, now is it?
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
I do have to agree with this, some things should be seperate.
:
My concerns would be
* load on the machine if it's used for everything at once, or at least two or more CPU/Memory intensive apps at once.
* the quality of the services, would they run slower because it's running multiple services at once,
* single point of failure
I hope the $15,000 can compensate for all that.
This device is probably targeted for someone who wants a plug and play solution, or does not have the technical knowledge to build their own from a variety of parts offered at the consumer level (server, software, tv tuner, big hard drives, mic...) Someone with some level of putting together a computer can probably come up with a more economic version of this item.
However, if you do not want to build your own and have money to burn this is a perfect oppurtunity to buy one!
Make me your friend. All my friends get +1 modifier and I need friends :)
...is this actually cheaper and more convenient than just purchasing and/or making the individual systems yourself with your own Linux setup?
And another thing: is it just me, or is this only news because it's Linux-based?
Slashdot: when news breaks, we give you the pieces.
Security is our top priority. All communication is encrypted using an unbreakable 2048-bit system. The whole Pluto network, including your existing pc's, sits safely behind the protection of the Pluto Core, which includes a commercial-grade Linux server that is not susceptible to the viruses and security breaches you find in Windows pc's.
These guys are just ASKING for someone to hack their system. As computing power increases, 2048 will take very little time to brute-force (though this probably won't happen for a while). Not susceptible to security breaches? Please. Tell that to Debian and GNU. If this thing connects to the outside world (it does), it can be hacked. End of discussion.
I consider a lot of the built-ins on this product as "24x7x365" services". I am not sure that I want those all built into the same machine. I don't want my firewall taking down my lights or my tv when it crashes.
Also... Upgrades... There is a lot to break when you illegally expand that hard-drive or want to make your lights in your house turn on and off to Jingle Bells at Christmas.
I think some products were never meant to be unified. Kinda like my cell phone being able to play tomb raider... I don't want a large phone and I don't want a crappy screen with mono sound. Nuff said.
It's quite surprising that people have so much money to spend these days.
When I was young an offer to buy something besides houses or companies for 15000 $ would be considered to be a tasteless joke. Even for extremely rich people this would be too much. I still remember that there was much talk in the New York high society when Rockefeller bought his wife a collier for 20000 $.
It seems that capitalism had really achived what the communists always wanted: the make common man really rich.
Funnily in the 1930ies when some guys predicted exactly this development they were considered extremist fools even in academic circles.
Over 90 years and counting !
Who says it's just one machine? I don't know the system details, but it's quite possible that the system includes multiple actual computers that would have a firewall in front of everything, and eliminate the single point of failure. $15000 buys a lot of hardware, even if the system includes several "orbiters" and a fancy cell phone and whatever else.
-3Suns
~~~~
The Revolution will be Slashdotted
If only posts could be moderated as Funsightful.
You missed the point. It's all integrated, and "easy to use". What you just listed are completely un-integrated, discrete projects. So, to quote jwz, "Linux is only free if your time is worth nothing". Sure, I could spend a ton of time learning to do each of those things for myself, or I could just buy a box that already does it for me.
That said, the price is way too high, and I'm betting it's not quite as easy to use or configure as they think it is. However, if they made it truly easy to configure and use, and brought the price to more like $5000 (you're paying for software and customization here), then they might have something - I could certainly see the Sharper Image types digging this. Plus, it would probably have the effect of spurring guys from projects like the ones you listed to make their stuff easier to configure and use, and would also likely result in a FreePluto project... bwahahahaha...
The Free desktop that Just Works
Thanks to Tivo, you haven't been introduced to new shows that you might like
Not exactly the pursuasive argument you were going for, now is it?
Wow, he is really missing out. All that time he is spending doing constructive things, he could be watching TV.
I think you are missing the point.
From the sounds of it, your home security system is acessible on the internet... that in it's self would make me very wary :S
Reece,
Yes, but it's still not a PBX (perhaps would be with Asterisk. It would take some pretty intense programming to put a gui on that that'll allow you to drag and drop to transfer calls though.
Not that Pluto is the answer to everything, but it looks like they aim to have *everything* integrated to a pretty high degree. I wouldn't necessarily use drag and drop call control, but I can see a lot of people being wowed by it.
-Pete
Errr, or there's the other alternative, the one the original post suggested -- ditch TV altogether. It's amazing how well it works.
It isn't TiVo doing this to you.
The Simpsons, Futurama, Friends, Seinfeld and Frasier represent a generation of television that was compellingly watchable. Some of those shows are still soldiering on, some of them aren't. As they die off, they are being replaced by shows like Survivor, The Bachelor, American Idol and Fear Factor. Yes, there are a few decent shows still being produced, but they are being crowded out of the schedule. I haven't added up the numbers, but I would bet that in the 2000 - 2003 time period there were less than half as many great new shows as there were in 1996 - 1999.
What it boils down to is, the advertising market has crashed, so budgets for TV series production have disappeared. Reality shows are cheap to produce, and they pull in the numbers. So that's where TV has gone. If you like reality shows, this is a Golden Age. If you don't, welcome to the post-TV consciousness.
TiVo or no TiVo.
-Graham
While it is possible to have many of the features installed in your home for a fraction of the price, most people, probably including yourself wouldn't know where to begin. Pluto is a simple to use/install system that takes care of all the hard stuff for the end user. Yes your can have Freevo/Myth but will it intergrate with your phone system, yes, but you must install a voice modem, pray for drivers, recompile kernel, write software, do some voodoo and have a half ass system.
No, Pluto isn't for these die hard geeks out there but most of you geeks probably can't afford this stuff anyway. You probably wouldn't even care about it if it was based on any other OS but because it is a Linux based core, you are whinning that it is too expensive or finding any other flaws to cut it down. I am a Windows user. I like Macs. I have 2 linux boxes running my home/webserver. Would I buy a Pluto? No. Not now. In the future, maybe. But for now, I am looking into what the system has to offer and am already looking for ways to implement this into my own system.