RJ originally was trying to setup where they would do coops for the LED strings and strips, but the legal issues didn't get worked out, so he setup where we had to order those ourselves direct from china.
To do smartstrings you need 3 other things, which are all gotten here. 1) Dongle, either the original USB version or the newer Etherdongle. 2) Smart String Hub, along with a 12V power supply. This supplies power to all the strings and distributes the data from the Dongle. 3) Smart String controllers (SSC) . Each controller can control 128 pixels.
The USB dongle will control 1 universe of pixelnet, which is 4096 channels. Each pixel needs 3 channels, so you can control 1365 pixels. The hub itself has 16 ports to plug in SSCs, although if you max out each SSC you won't be able to go over 1365 without duplicating channels. The Etherdongle can output 4 universes, so could control 5460 pixels. You would need 4 hubs to get that amount. In addition each hub has a DMX output which you can use to control 512 channels, which deducts from the pixelnet, although you can duplicate this also. And you don't have to use all 512. In my case I had 2 Lynx Expresses, so only needed 32 channels of DMX so started my smart string controllers with 34. The reason I didn't use 33 was the red pixel starts with 1, so to get all reds on the correct channels for the color finder had to start there.
You will also have to get stranded Cat5 cables on your own, since there is power going over them, the stranded are safer, as the single wire can break easier forcing more power through the other wires in use. The power supplies you get need to be single rail and of a high enough wattage to power all the strings attached to that hub.
Everything except the USB dongle will be in coops sometime, so watch the COOP forums for what you need. The USB dongle you just have to get a PCB from here and then order the parts yourself.
