LinuxMCE Standard Plug-ins

Do I need them? What are they for?

All the standard plug-ins are added automatically to a LinuxMCE installation. There are no options or settings.

By putting all the logic in the Plugins, the DCE Devices become very simple. For example, if you want to add support for an alarm panel, you need only add a DCE Device that talks to the panel and fires 1 Event: Sensor tripped. You don't need to worry about whether the house is armed or not, or how the user wants LinuxMCE to response to security breaches. All that logic is in the Security Plugin. Therefore the homeowner can mix and match a variety of alarm panels and sensors, even add sensors that are wired directly to an interface module, like a gc100. They are all treated like a single security system, and there is no logic in any of the low-level devices.