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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?"
Hmm... as "nifty" as this might seem, I think I'd rather my firewall be separate from my mail/mp3/whatever server.
TiVo: You love it or you haven't met it.
I got tivo four years ago and instantly fell deeply in love with it. That love continues to this day, but has changed form. About a year ago, I realized that my giddy passion had given way to serenity, by which I mean that I realized that I just didn't want to watch tv any more, even on tivo. It was tivo that got me to this state of mind. It started by seeing how intrusive commercials were, and how much better tv was without it. The next phase for me was the realization of how manipulative the networks were with their program timing and scheduling; how wonderful to be free of that too! And then last summer I found I had dined at the table of paradise enough. I had actually watched enough episodes of The Simpsons, Futurama, Friends, Seinfeld, Frasier, and tons of other shows. To borrow an analogy from another slashdot writer, it was like the weekly trip to the hardware store after you've bought a new house, where one day you get there and you realize that you just don't need anything else, and you turn around and leave.
This has been a profound experience for me. And I don't think I could have gotten here without Tivo. Maybe I would have and it would have taken longer, but I like to think it was tivo.
Now I keep tivo around for the kid (Sesame St, etc).
The linux hacker
$15000? No thanks.
"I'm afraid I can't do that David"
But my name's Mike. Hey, where'd Poole go?
Etiquette is etiquette. He kills his mother but he can't wear grey trousers.
$15000 bucks is a little less what I make per year. It'd be much more cost effective if I built one of these myself. Not that I need one, anyway. VoA (Voice over Air), gesture controlled light switches and junk-made file/mp3/web server work perfectly well at my home.
If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you
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!
Yes, but does it run Linu...
Oh, wait.
EvilCON - Made Famous by
I can custum build it for almost free(just takes me 20 hours of so, but 20 hours against $15/h == 20*15=$300 and only need an old PC, and linux). I've already a MP3 server, soldering a com-port relais board for the lights etc is also possible . The video stuff could be a VCR controlled by you relais :-) or a tv-caputere card with hardware mpeg decoding ($150 or someting, not worth 15000)
Why pay $15000 for something you can make yourself and o'course it's much more fun DIY
cooked, cleaned, played music and gave you updates on all your favorite shows, while having I/O communication (read into the I/O and you will get the joke). Why you can then replace your own girlfriend, and patch her everytime a new kernel came out.
. . . this thing made a good cup of coffee. Then we might be able to talk . . .
Eagerly awaiting the mod to "-1, Troll".
Not if Pluto comes with four wheels and a V8 engine.
Hate me!
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.
I wonder what the market for something like this is? I mean $15,000? First Adopters, I thank you for taking the brunt of R&D and other costs. Maybe they are pricing the first ones high to recoup costs, but all their profits are going to pay for the extra bandwidth on their Flash-sucky site. At first I was thinking "Awesome way to advertise your product or service", and then I thought "Oh, wait, maybe not".
-cp-
Alaska Bugs Sweat Gold Nuggets
I would think many if not most slashdot readers would rather create their own system from scratch, both for the fun of it and for the reduced cost.
Twenties Retirement
Sounds like a Mikey Mouse operation here.
----
"Ours was a free culture. It is becoming much less so."-Lawrence Lessig
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.
It's a classic argument. Is it better to have a single device that does everthing where all features work together under a single uniform interface, or many devices that are all designed to perform a single task and do it well. The problem with the all in one approach is that it's nearly impossible to everything well. What happens when you want the new features of a competing PVR product? Maybe dual sattelite recivers, or HD capability. On the other hand, what if you want to automatically have your tv volume mute and your stereo turn into a quadriphonic speaker phone when you recieve a call. That's harder to do with seperate devices that don't know about each other. What we really need is a standardized control/communication interface so all the seperate devices can communicate and work together, yet any one piece can be replaced or upgraded with a competitors product at any time.
"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?"
:)
Yes, it's called Windows XP
--- any post that takes longer than 20 seconds to write, isn't worth writing
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 !
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?
No.
Not for $15,000 anyway.
The short answer would be "No".
The longer answer would be "No, but I'll have some of whatever you're smoking/drinking/injecting/snorting".
The sympathetic answer would be "No, and I can recommend a very good psychiatrist if you continue to use the terms 'MP3 Player' and $15,000 in the same sentence."
But I think the most accurate answer would be "BWAAAA HAAA HAAA HAAA HAAA HAAA oh jeez *wipes eyes* HAHHHAAAA *snif*".
Ceci n'est pas une signature
when the site gets /.ed, do their lights turn off? Maybe it calls their upstream provider and asks for more bandwidth, automatically?
====
Crudely Drawn Games
From website: Pluto will protect your home and family, entertain you, save you time, and change your life. Better buy a dog, if you want those things. A whole lot cheaper. You have to stand some occasional drooling, 'course. But hey! nothing new for a geek, who just got word they're making a crossover between LOTR and star Wars! "Frodo, I'm your father!" ----Got Carried away. Excuse me.
Seriously.
I realize Slashdot readers as a group are probably pretty diverse with regard to age, race, jobs, background, etcetera. But what unites us is curiosity: we want to know how stuff works, how to solve a specific problem or how others have chosen to tackle those problems. That's what
I'm sure most of us would build an pluto-like device (I'm actually surprised they didn't name it iHouse) ourselves, even if turned out to cost the same, just for kicks...
How about combining IPchains, MythTV and/or Freevo with MisterHouse and some X10 equipment on a commodity $300 1.5-2 Ghz machine?
Problem I see is, the demographically ideal purchaser?
never, ever leaves the house
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
I should have given some more info knowing that the site would be slashdotted...
For that price, you get the Pluto Core, which is the Linux-based server. You get some number (unclear to me how many) of media distributors (PCs with DVD drives and network interfaces) that hook up to your TV and the Core to show video and play music. You also get "Orbiters", which are hand-held devices to which you can stream video from your security cameras and control the Pluto system.
So, we're not talking one Linux PC. It's a whole system of stuff. I've requested more pricing info, because I'm curious how much you have to pay for the various parts. $15K is a lot of money, but this can give technically unsophisticated folks a usable "home of the future" sort of setup.
Kevin
Um, my lowly RedHat 2.1 Linux box was doing all this (except video) back in the early 90's.
:)
:). Today MP4's are flying across the network to a Powerbook for watching movies on any TV wirelessly.
:) and every toy out there. Probably have a few $K left over... And no, I did not read the article.
Web, File & Print? Trivial.
Lights / HVAC? X10
MP3 music: SliMP3
(and no, you don't need to buy to use their software -- I just happen to own a couple of them
Answering machine I hacked up waaay back when myself (still use it via ISDN inbound
For $15K I'd spend it on a Dual G5 with Dual monitors (why not?
Now -- I did look around the (html version) of the site. Nice little product, though IMHO over priced. I hacked it all up for under $3K (including X10 re-wired outlets as needed). A couple of [radio] all-in-one remotes from The Shack and I can control the lights, TV, and stereo as needed throughout the house. I have a remote for each floor actually, though Radio Shack has since discontinued the model I like -- the new one doesn't work with X10 unit codes 11+ anymore for some reason.
- Alarm System: 2k
- Phone System: 1k
- Home Automation: 2k
- Entertainment: 5k
- Personal Computer: 10k
- Everything Running Linux: Priceless
Forgive me!Never underestimate the dark side of the Source
1. Open source software that does everything this thing does is available for free.
2. To do something like this on your own you really CAN'T use old PC parts you've got laying around the house. Assuming you plan to do the PVR functions you'll need a decent processor (otherwise you could get by with 500mhz), lots of memory, a very large RAID array (can't have all your work lost to one bad drive, plus video/mp3's are going to need some room), a good UPS, heavy duty power supply system, cooling that won't die on you, and a couple higher end video capture cards... That all probably all adds up to around ~$3500. The good thing is this is upgradable and expandable for the future.
3. Next you need some way to interact with the system in a easy and natural way. Voice control isn't exactly ready and if you go with touchscreen LCD remotes.. you'll end up spending nearly as much as this system. RF remotes connected to a computer that distributes video to TV's thoughout the house (so you can see what you are doing) is probably cheapest and easiest way to do this. Say ~$1000 for that (including extras you might need)
4. Lots of time... For someone who's fairly tech savvy say two weeks worth of work or about ~$3000. Most people would probably who are tech savvy would consider this part of the fun an not an expense though. If that's not you you'll have to pay someone to do it for you.
Can you get James Bond? (Pierce Brosnon, not George Lazenby)
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
"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?"
I assume you get the small bachelor pad thrown in for free? Might be worth it then,.
(This post is really for the folks who haven't seen what exactly is home automation. Before I started doing this stuff I was completely unaware how mature that home automation industry is. The Pluto is a very-low-end system that doesn't do a whole lot, and the price really reflects that.)
/any/ home entertainment/theater systems. We can integrate with climate control systems too, and along the way make it all web accessible. I work for a Crestron shop here, but many other folks uses AMX as well. It's pretty standard in this space.
While it is probably true that no other product integrates even 2 out of 5 of the home electronics systems, in the world of home automation and home integration, folks tends to pick the best-of-breed hardware and integrate them.
I can say this: I do this for a living.
For instance, one generally uses Vantage or Lutron for lighting or other high-voltage controls, Radionics and Pelco (among others) for fire/intrusion control. We can integrate with
The reality is that you can't do true home automation for $15K, or by yourself. Installing high-voltage, and sometimes low-voltage wiring, requires a electrician's license. (So you have to hire someone and pay labor.) Low-end AV equipment controlled by IR can be easily DIY, but to do the really cool stuff, there are many AV gears that can be controlled by RS-232. (Rotel and Meridian, for example.) With that you can get feedback of what the device is doing, and display that information on the UI; having that information helps you make much more reliable code too. (Try having your system find out the volume level on your IR-controlled AMP, for instance.)
The stuff is not cheap, but it's solid and well supported. We have projects between $200k to $2mil+, and there's no shortage of people who has that kind of money and are willing to spend it in their house. These systems has much better uptime than any of my Linux, OS X or Windows boxes; they are so stable, in fact, I heard that the BART in California uses Crestron and AMX as part of a redundant system.
You can go cheap too: If you just want an IR controlled home theater with existing IR controlled gears, RS-232 control of an alarm system, plus some minor goodies like web access, I can prob do it for less than $2000. (Notice no real wiring required here.) Start with a Crestron QM-RMC or MP2E.
Check out http://www.crestron.com/ and http://www.amx.com/
Errr, or there's the other alternative, the one the original post suggested -- ditch TV altogether. It's amazing how well it works.
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.