Dea pimatics, here is my two cents:
I do not understand the “Node” discussion at all but it would really be a pitty if this great platform would fade away…
It is true that pimatic seems largely unknown. I myself stumbled over it upon searching for a solution to start/stop my Sonos with a Dashbutton. I remember having searched for some time till pimatic came up on the radar quite late.
There are already really cool things here with existing Plugins and the possibilities are infinite if more developers would be on board.
However after having used pimatic for some time I have to say that in my opinion pimatic will never make a real breakthru and generate a broad user platform due to one simple fact:
The initial installation process is very well documented for an enduser like myself who knows nothing about Linux, however the Plugins unfortunately are not. Much knowledge is taken for granted and other things are not mentioned at all. “Just change the config file” or “Just install the API” pose an almost unsolvable quest to people like me. "Where is this config file, how do I access it, what is the command…"
Values that have to be entered in the plugin config are also not documented at all or to a point that a newbie understands it “What is an “API key” and where do I get it from??”. Bits of information are scattered in the forum and elsewhere and have to be found and put together like little puzzle pieces.
The Developers / Pros here are very helpful and will answer all these questions one by one but I doubt many people have the patience to go thru this process and with a good documentation this would not be necessary. Most will turn away frustrated and leave this platform to the little community of Pros.
I would like to encourage the Plugin Developers to just walk the last mile and invest a little time into the documentation of the Plugins by a adding a simple! step by step guide to install and configure it (including Hardware and other software components). The initial installation guideline is a good example of what I mean.
Keep up the good work 
