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| − | <table width="100%"> <tr><td bgcolor="#FFCFCF">This page was written by Pluto and imported with their permission when LinuxMCE branched off in February, 2007. In general any information should apply to LinuxMCE. However, this page should be edited to reflect changes to LinuxMCE and remove old references to Pluto.</td></tr> </table><p>This section has recommendations about what equipment works, what doesn't, and general observations. Feel free to add to this documentation yourself so other user's benefit from your experiences (see below).</p> | + | <table width="100%"> <tr><td bgcolor="#FFCFCF">This page was written by Pluto and imported with their permission when LinuxMCE branched off in February, 2007. In general any information should apply to LinuxMCE. However, this page should be edited to reflect changes to LinuxMCE and remove old references to Pluto.</td></tr> </table>#REDIRECT [[Getting Started]] |
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| − | <h1>What equipment do I need?</h1>
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| − | <p>To get going with Pluto you actually don't need any special equipment. You can just install the software on your existing PC and start using it. But there are a lot more benefits if you have some extra equipment, as described here.</p>
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| − | <p>If you want a whole-house solution you will need to designate one computer to be the Core, or server. It can be any generic PC. But if you have a big home and you will be streaming lots of audio/video throughout the house, having several phone calls and video conferences going, and other activity then we recommend a powerful server. If you have a lot of media, it will need to have a big hard drive--we recommend a RAID array. The ideal Core would be similar to our Pluto Pro model: It has dual Intel Xeon Processors (although in most cases a normal Pentium 4 is adequate), a RAID 5 controller with lots of storage, and 2GB of RAM (512 MB is the recommended minimum). We recommend dual network cards for the Core. [[Why dual network cards?]]</p>
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| − | <p>For the media directors it is not necessary to have such a powerful system, but it will need to have compatible media components. Usually a PC similar to a Windows XP Media Center is best. We recommend that the media directors do a "network boot". This means you won't need to install any software on them, plus they will become dual purpose. You can use them like a normal PC when you want a computer, or hit a button on the remote to turn them into "appliances" when you want to watch tv or listen to music and don't want to mess with computing issues. Plus it means you don't have to worry about crashing your media director. You can install a virus, crash Windows or just about anything else and the media director software won't be affected--it acts like an appliance like a DVD player. [[Network Boot for Media Directors]]</p>
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| − | <p>We presently use the Hauppauge PVR-250 cards in our commercial product, however, we are developing device drivers for the newer "Blackbird" cards that are popular in Windows XP Media Centers. We also use the THX-certified Sound Blaster Audigy 2 sound cards. Most video cards are fine--we use nVidia, ATI and Intel-based cards.</p>
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| − | <p>For the tablet Orbiters you can use a Linux or Windows PC with your keyboard and mouse, although a better choice are portable, wi-fi enabled touch-screen webpads running Windows, Windows CE or Linux, like the Orbiters featured on our website. For the Mobile Orbiters you will need a mobile phone with Symbian Series 60 operating system and Bluetooth, or one of the Microsoft Smart Phones. You will also want a Bluetooth Dongle.</p>
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| − | <p>You will also need some accessories to be able to control your a/v equipment, security system, lights, climate, pool, sprinklers, etc. Plus there are accessories like digital telephones and surveillance cameras, and optional services like VOIP telephone service. [[Recommended Accessories]]</p>
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| − | <h1>Add my own documentation</h1>
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| − | <p>If you already have Pluto going, Pluto's documentation is wiki-style. Access your <b><i>local</b></i> copy of the support documentation by going to http://[my core's ip address]/support. Click [Activate Edit Mode], and then find the document you want to edit, or add to. In the document tree, you can find this document under Pluto Home / Installation / Equipment / User's Experiences. You can edit any page by clicking 'Edit' and add child documents by clicking 'Add Child'. Whatever changes or additions you make automatically get sent to our main server once a week, and, pending our review, become part of the next release of Pluto. All other users will get your changes automatically.</p>
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| − | <p>Explore this document's sub-documents in the document tree.</p>
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