Do I need Pluto? Can I use the projects by themselves?
From Pluto Wiki
Pluto includes a lot of other open source projects, like Xine, Asterisk, MythTV, VideoLan, etc. So we are often asked, "Why do I need Pluto, can't I just use those other projects by themselves?"
Pluto has a lot of it's own software--it's not just a collection of other projects. In fact, Pluto's own software is bigger than most of the key outside projects combined. Pluto includes it's own messaging platform. Most of the logic and functionality, such as how to handle home security, media, etc., is in Pluto's plug-in's--not the other projects. Plus Pluto includes a GUI that runs on Linux, Windows, Windows CE and Symbian. There are already thousands of DCE Devices for various smart home components. And Pluto includes lots of development tools, like the GUI Designer, code generators like DCEGen and sql2cpp. There are also some fairly substantial stand-alone projects with Pluto, like sqlCVS. sqlCVS has essentially all the same features as CVS or SVN, but it works with databases--not source code. It is what ensures that when one user translates a screen on the GUI, or learns an infrared code, or creates a new GSD device, that this is committed to a central repository, reviewed by our staff, then propagated to all other users.
Additionally Pluto has it's own "wrappers" for all the outside open source projects we integrate. This is what allows them work together seamlessly.
Example #1: Pluto's wrappers allow open source projects to be interchangeable modules. For example, on one media director un-check the box for the 'Xine' media player, but leave 'VideoLan' checked. Do the opposite for another media director. And for the rest, leave both checked (the default). Now start watching a movie in 1 room. As you move from room to room the movie will seamlessly move from Xine to VideoLan and back. If you leave both checked, Xine will be used when the movie is playing in 1 room only, and VideoLan when it is playing in multiple rooms. This interoperability is not possible outside of Pluto.
Example #2: Pluto allows a bunch of disparate projects to work together as a seamless whole For example, if there's a security breach in your house, the lights and TV's in the house come on automatically using our home automation DCE device interfaces, and the security pin pad appears on all the Windows webpads and PDA's. After 30 seconds a menacing video plays for the burglar using Xine, while the surveillance cameras monitored by Motion feed a live video to your mobile phone over GPRS. Hit 'Talk' on the phone and Xine suspends, passing control to Linphone which makes a call using Asterisk to your mobile phone with the audio piped through the stereo so you can shout at the intruder and let him know you're watching him from a remote location and calling. To the end-user, it works seamlessly, like 1 cohesive whole, but in reality, what Pluto did is enable a bunch of existing applications to work together.
