Actually Misterhouse is updated almost on a daily basis. The SVN version is the one being update. At some point in the year a point release is decided and then the over all number get incremented. I use Misterhouse on a daily basis.
only a matter of time before someone puts a vi vs emacs spin on it, since we haven't had that shoutfest for a while either. Not a chance. Everyone knows that emacs is for little girls, anyway. (Yeah it's flame bait, but I'd like a little fun...)
Yeah emacs may be for little girls but this 'little girl' can kick you're butt. Let's take this outside... owie, owie, bright thing in the sky burns the eyes, it burns the eyes.;-)
My opinion, it's better than X10. I use it I, like it (that's the short answer). Contact me, use one of the links below in my sig. If you want other's opinion go to :
The one thing I have noticed in the various info above is that there are a lot of people sending out a lot of info that just wrong. I hope this message doesn't get lost in the noise. BTW, I'm still working with Smarthome on an Open Source license it's just I'm working on a book and it's keeping me busy. When the book is done it's back to Insteon and an Open Source project for it (see links below for what I've done so far).
1) I don't work for Insteon but I appreciate their support.
2) I'm tired of X10 and their lack of support
3) so far Insteon works better than X10
I've started using Insteon and Insteon products. I still need to do a lot of work on the code to make it work under Misterhouse but I'm much more comfortable with the quality of the products than I am with X10's products.
Actually I think that if the device could be dropped to around $250 (US) then it would be a huge hit. I've run the streamer app and gone surfing at the same time. I used a set of head phones as the tiny speaker is not very good to listen to. It may be possible to use the device as an IP phone but I'm not sure of it's battery life running such an app. Still very nice, powerful and flexible. I need to get it upgraded as it crashes (and reboots). Typically this is because it's run out of memory (I'm running too many apps at one time).
I've been working with the Nokia 770 (http://www.nokiausa.com/770) and it's a nice small wireless (802.11b) ARM PC running Linux. It has a 800x400 touch screen that I'm comfortable with. It has a streaming music app, email, a browser (Opera) and a couple of other apps on it as well as storage for adding more. I plan on using it for my HA interface (running http://www.misterhouse.com/) so the browser is important. So far it works rather well and beats bringing a book into the bathroom for reading.:-) This will be used to replace my my 3COM Audrey, which is hardwired. If they can get the price down I think this device has a chance.
The reason is that some people are building web access kiosks and they're using Linux. The reason for the kiosks are so people can communicate with others. While I agree it's not the first thing on the list of that which is important, communication is important and these kiosks may be the first thing available to many. Also by using the kiosk they may be able to start the FEMA paper work early and get something that can help them soon.
I've read a few BLOGs and quite frankly I've found them to be quite boring. My life is not a lull-you-to-sleep novel but it's not interesting enough for me to write about. Yes I have a BLOG, it lets me spout off my opinion on one subject Home Automation (http://linuxha.blogspot.com/), nothing else! I honestly don't think others will seek it out and find my BLOG but I realize that it might get read. So no embarrassing stuff, I watch my P's and Q's and I try to maintain a professional persona. It's basically a place for me to practice my writing and listen to others comments on the subject.
Some of the other BLOGs I've seen appear to be random thoughts (gibberish) or personal diaries (do they know others can use that info to impersonate them). Some of the BLOGs are just a waste of space and show just how ignorant people really can be). But there a few that give us ideas or show us the way the rest of the world thinks or views events. Some of them we may not agree with and some we want to argue with but it gives us a view outside our own perspective.
Now the big question: How much of this is fact and how much of this is fiction? How do we know when to trust what we're reading and when to ignore it as personal bias or just plain junk wrapped up in a pretty wrapper?
While it is humorous I do find it bothersome. The least he could have dome is automated the show so his wife didn't need to stand there. What would it have taken? An X10 controller and a few X10 appliance modules. Lazy basturd!
Unfortunately for the rest of us hwo actually use home automation he has created a situatuin where doubt is place in the minds of those we are bragging to. Thre goes my collness points. Now I'll have to stick to the talking fish. Hmm, Christmas, talking fish, ethernet controller, X10,... that gives me an idea!
Normally I would agree with your assessment but broadband is going to turn into infrastructure by sometime in the next decade. We're beginning to see this more and more as web links and services are being referenced more and more. Today even local Pizza shops seem to have their location and menus available via the web and a large business without a web site is unheard of (and I don't want to hear about it!;-) ). Anyway the first large scale use of commercial services will be VoIP and it's expanded services. I think many people will eventually replace their land lines with VoIP. I'm not sure that's a good thing as it's till in it's infancy but I think we are seeing the start of this.
Simple, if your voice call has problems you may hear a shift in voice or a brief something odd. But the conversation continues even with static you'll still understand much of what goes on. It's harder to have too many errors in a voice call. But a modem has to be precise, too many errors is easy. Static means the loss of the call because the higher level protocols stop working. If you could see the diagram for V90 modems and the analog - digital conversion it might be easier to understand (well it is for an engineer:-).
Now add VoIP, the voice call can be compressed and silence can be suppressed. Once it's compress you can sample it and make it fit into a much smaller bandwitch. You can't do that with data. So to support data & voice you need use a codec that can supply enough bandwith. Most VoIP uses the lower bandwidth codecs.
I have a Trek 1100 (circa 1992) and a Mongoose TI RX100 (1998). I've upgraded both bikes from 7spd to 8spd to 9 spd. The parts are upward compatible (I could have gone downward too). The bike technology is mostly been replace with much better performing equipment. Today's stuff is great but I won't use top of the line equipment mainly because it's for racing and doesn't survive well on the open roads.
That $99 Huffy won't keep up with the crew I ride with (and we're not the fastest in our club). But then again I don't ride $7000+ bikes. And I'd like to take you up on that 1000 mile challenge (how about we shorten it to a single day double century:-). I hope you're a long distance cyclist (I am). I don't have flashy and I've had to resort to 36 spoke touring rims. The roads around here destroy racing wheels. BTW, if you're that fast I don't mind losing.:-)
Yeah it's neat and everything, but the protocol it runs on is like NetBEUI for Home Automation.
The reason X10 still exists is that it is cheap and semi reliable (ie I can make it work). I feel that it will go away one day but I'm hoping it will not be replaced by closed systems (closed via excessive developemnt tools or NDA's). The other technologies that are available are hardwire, LONWorks and CEBus. The last 2 tend to be very expensive and very little of it is available for the DIYer. The markets are set up for large developers and not the smaller ones such as myself.
The Hardwire method tends to use RS485 (multidrop) and a baud rate of 1200, 9600 or 19200. You can go higher but this tend to be overkill. If the price of microcontrollers w/ethernet contiunes to drop we'll probably see a lot more ethernet in use. But it does bring added expense. The Linux Home Automation project intends on using the currently available products to pull together the appropriate system to intergate them all.
I went on an EBAY binge this summer and spent ~$700 (US) on terminal servers, a router, parts for my Sun IPX, a Vax Station 3100, network hubs, electronic parts etc. All of this can be used to put together an HA system. Mike Baptiste (of Creative Control Concepts) just released version alpha code for an ethernet to RS232 converted to use the Dallas Semi TINI board. I'm working on doing the same thing with Linux (should work on any modern Unix) serial port and ethernet.
I currently have a Weather station (sensors off line, house was resided), a set of Dallas Semi onewire chips for temperature sensing, an HCS II (HA controller), an Ocelet (HA controller), a couple of X10 CM11A's, a LynX10 board, an X10 CP290, several Dallas TINI boards, a bunch of microcontrollers, HTH's 2400 baud power line controllers and lots of X10 and RS485.
There is too much to list here (and explain what it will do). The best place for this discussion is online in the comp.home.automation newsgroup or on my Linux Home Automation project mail list (see below). You can also email me if you wish to ask HA related questions.
--
Linux Home Automation - Neil Cherry - ncherry@home.net Linux Home Automation and Linux Home Automation II The The Linux Home Automation project (SourceForge)
Here is a sample of this weeks log (Started Sunday). Some days there are more attempts other days fewer. This is not the only log but it is of the more common ports. You would be amazed at homw many times these sites will continue to knock even though they get no response.
Oct 22 13:19:17 ng ng: IP[Src=24.3.84.46 Dst=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX TCP spo=00021 dpo=00021]}S03>R02mD
Oct 22 15:40:58 ng ng: IP[Src=199.217.172.253 Dst=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX TCP spo=01301 dpo=00023]}S03>R01mD
Oct 22 15:41:43 ng last message repeated 4 times
Oct 22 15:42:13 ng ng: IP[Src=199.217.172.253 Dst=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX TCP spo=01548 dpo=00021]}S03>R02mD
Oct 22 15:42:58 ng last message repeated 4 times
Oct 23 03:32:35 ng ng: IP[Src=24.19.0.225 Dst=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX TCP spo=02562 dpo=00080]}S03>R03mD
Oct 23 03:32:35 ng ng: IP[Src=24.19.0.225 Dst=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX TCP spo=16419 dpo=00080]}S03>R03mD
Oct 23 06:22:21 ng ng: IP[Src=24.142.211.22 Dst=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX TCP spo=04846 dpo=00021]}S03>R02mD
Oct 23 06:22:30 ng last message repeated 2 times
Oct 23 16:55:25 ng ng: IP[Src=24.142.211.22 Dst=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX TCP spo=02913 dpo=00021]}S03>R02mD
Oct 23 16:55:34 ng last message repeated 2 times
Oct 23 17:54:11 ng ng: IP[Src=24.93.99.103 Dst=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX TCP spo=03195 dpo=00021]}S03>R02mD
Oct 23 17:54:21 ng last message repeated 2 times
Oct 24 06:37:52 ng ng: IP[Src=24.23.155.145 Dst=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX TCP spo=04602 dpo=00021]}S03>R02mD
Oct 24 06:37:53 ng ng: IP[Src=24.23.155.145 Dst=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX TCP spo=04626 dpo=00080]}S03>R03mD
BTW: This is a hardware firewall, I havn't quite figured out how to get it to log only certain things. It's either a specific few or everything. I also have IPCHAINS and TCPD running (just in case). One day I'll replace it with a Linux box running Net Filters.
To me this seems like going out and buying a new Porsche and then complaining about how expensive they are.
How would you like it if you were told that once you purchased your Porsche you were told that you may not drive it to work. That certain roads were off limits. Of course neither my response or your statements are really good examples.
But here is an example that may work a bit better: I work as a network engineer and I produce documents which have to be in Microsoft word. Why because our customers use it and the company has standardized on it (with M$s' help). I could produce the documents in HTML but nobody will accept them. This is a standard and I think everyone has a browser, so why not? I don't know but I do know that when M$ changed from W3.11 to W95 we went nuts trying get get everyone who used W95 to send the documents in a compatible format.
OK, so this is not a good example either and I'm afraid it will take many pages to straighten out all the little details. But I think it gives some idea of the problems, well maybe not the one where opening the package is an agreement to the licence found inside the package!
So what if Unix isn't an OS according to his definition. By using Linux or *BSD distributions I get a stable and usable computer with software on top of software that works. It's close enough for me to be called an OS, I'm happy, who cares.
I started the Linux Home Automation project (LHA project) to accomplish something very similar. Currently I have more of a collection of various software (my Linux Home Automation pages). I've just finished collecting a ton of hardware and getting info on the various software needed. I hope to have non-beta base software within the month. For most, the current stage of the project won't be usable. But for the tinker'r it will at least be interesting.
For those who don't mind getting their hands dirty with software they can try Mr. House (I'll correct my pages, sorry). It's written in Perl and is very functional.
Not if I get my way! I run the Linux Home Automatin project and most of this stuff can be had and run free! I don't like the idea that the controller for my home is not under my complete control.
Come Pinky, let us take over the world... (Brain, from Pinky & the Brain)
Slashdot Mirror
Actually Misterhouse is updated almost on a daily basis. The SVN version is the one being update. At some point in the year a point release is decided and then the over all number get incremented. I use Misterhouse on a daily basis.
Klingon, Swedish Chef, Elvish (can't pronounce Dwarvish), Pirate, Porn Star Dialogue, and Latin.
There's dialog in Pron?
"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." - Inigo Montoya, Princess Bride
ask.slashdot.org
*goose*
I would have thought *asses* would have been a better choice (oops I meant trolls ;-).
Well there goes my karma.
Yeah emacs may be for little girls but this 'little girl' can kick you're butt. Let's take this outside
Maybe what you need is my book (boy am I going to catch sh*t for this): Linux Smart Homes For Dummies
Yup! It's me. :-)
My opinion, it's better than X10. I use it I, like it (that's the short answer). Contact me, use one of the links below in my sig. If you want other's opinion go to :
http://www.accessha.com/forums/
The one thing I have noticed in the various info above is that there are a lot of people sending out a lot of info that just wrong. I hope this message doesn't get lost in the noise. BTW, I'm still working with Smarthome on an Open Source license it's just I'm working on a book and it's keeping me busy. When the book is done it's back to Insteon and an Open Source project for it (see links below for what I've done so far).
1) I don't work for Insteon but I appreciate their support. 2) I'm tired of X10 and their lack of support 3) so far Insteon works better than X10 I've started using Insteon and Insteon products. I still need to do a lot of work on the code to make it work under Misterhouse but I'm much more comfortable with the quality of the products than I am with X10's products.
Actually I think that if the device could be dropped to around $250 (US) then it would be a huge hit. I've run the streamer app and gone surfing at the same time. I used a set of head phones as the tiny speaker is not very good to listen to. It may be possible to use the device as an IP phone but I'm not sure of it's battery life running such an app. Still very nice, powerful and flexible. I need to get it upgraded as it crashes (and reboots). Typically this is because it's run out of memory (I'm running too many apps at one time).
I've been working with the Nokia 770 (http://www.nokiausa.com/770) and it's a nice small wireless (802.11b) ARM PC running Linux. It has a 800x400 touch screen that I'm comfortable with. It has a streaming music app, email, a browser (Opera) and a couple of other apps on it as well as storage for adding more. I plan on using it for my HA interface (running http://www.misterhouse.com/) so the browser is important. So far it works rather well and beats bringing a book into the bathroom for reading. :-) This will be used to replace my my 3COM Audrey, which is hardwired. If they can get the price down I think this device has a chance.
The reason is that some people are building web access kiosks and they're using Linux. The reason for the kiosks are so people can communicate with others. While I agree it's not the first thing on the list of that which is important, communication is important and these kiosks may be the first thing available to many. Also by using the kiosk they may be able to start the FEMA paper work early and get something that can help them soon.
I've read a few BLOGs and quite frankly I've found them to be quite boring. My life is not a lull-you-to-sleep novel but it's not interesting enough for me to write about. Yes I have a BLOG, it lets me spout off my opinion on one subject Home Automation (http://linuxha.blogspot.com/), nothing else! I honestly don't think others will seek it out and find my BLOG but I realize that it might get read. So no embarrassing stuff, I watch my P's and Q's and I try to maintain a professional persona. It's basically a place for me to practice my writing and listen to others comments on the subject.
Some of the other BLOGs I've seen appear to be random thoughts (gibberish) or personal diaries (do they know others can use that info to impersonate them). Some of the BLOGs are just a waste of space and show just how ignorant people really can be). But there a few that give us ideas or show us the way the rest of the world thinks or views events. Some of them we may not agree with and some we want to argue with but it gives us a view outside our own perspective.
Now the big question: How much of this is fact and how much of this is fiction? How do we know when to trust what we're reading and when to ignore it as personal bias or just plain junk wrapped up in a pretty wrapper?
While it is humorous I do find it bothersome. The least he could have dome is automated the show so his wife didn't need to stand there. What would it have taken? An X10 controller and a few X10 appliance modules. Lazy basturd!
... that gives me an idea!
Unfortunately for the rest of us hwo actually use home automation he has created a situatuin where doubt is place in the minds of those we are bragging to. Thre goes my collness points. Now I'll have to stick to the talking fish. Hmm, Christmas, talking fish, ethernet controller, X10,
Normally I would agree with your assessment but broadband is going to turn into infrastructure by sometime in the next decade. We're beginning to see this more and more as web links and services are being referenced more and more. Today even local Pizza shops seem to have their location and menus available via the web and a large business without a web site is unheard of (and I don't want to hear about it! ;-) ). Anyway the first large scale use of commercial services will be VoIP and it's expanded services. I think many people will eventually replace their land lines with VoIP. I'm not sure that's a good thing as it's till in it's infancy but I think we are seeing the start of this.
Remember, IP on everything (XoIP)!
Can I hear an AMEN to that?
AMEN!!!!
Simple, if your voice call has problems you may hear a shift in voice or a brief something odd. But the conversation continues even with static you'll still understand much of what goes on. It's harder to have too many errors in a voice call. But a modem has to be precise, too many errors is easy. Static means the loss of the call because the higher level protocols stop working. If you could see the diagram for V90 modems and the analog - digital conversion it might be easier to understand (well it is for an engineer :-).
Now add VoIP, the voice call can be compressed and silence can be suppressed. Once it's compress you can sample it and make it fit into a much smaller bandwitch. You can't do that with data. So to support data & voice you need use a codec that can supply enough bandwith. Most VoIP uses the lower bandwidth codecs.
Sorry I couldn't explain it any better.
I have a Trek 1100 (circa 1992) and a Mongoose TI RX100 (1998). I've upgraded both bikes from 7spd to 8spd to 9 spd. The parts are upward compatible (I could have gone downward too). The bike technology is mostly been replace with much better performing equipment. Today's stuff is great but I won't use top of the line equipment mainly because it's for racing and doesn't survive well on the open roads.
That $99 Huffy won't keep up with the crew I ride with (and we're not the fastest in our club). But then again I don't ride $7000+ bikes. And I'd like to take you up on that 1000 mile challenge (how about we shorten it to a single day double century :-). I hope you're a long distance cyclist (I am). I don't have flashy and I've had to resort to 36 spoke touring rims. The roads around here destroy racing wheels. BTW, if you're that fast I don't mind losing. :-)
Yeah it's neat and everything, but the protocol it runs on is like NetBEUI for Home Automation.
The reason X10 still exists is that it is cheap and semi reliable (ie I can make it work). I feel that it will go away one day but I'm hoping it will not be replaced by closed systems (closed via excessive developemnt tools or NDA's). The other technologies that are available are hardwire, LONWorks and CEBus. The last 2 tend to be very expensive and very little of it is available for the DIYer. The markets are set up for large developers and not the smaller ones such as myself.
The Hardwire method tends to use RS485 (multidrop) and a baud rate of 1200, 9600 or 19200. You can go higher but this tend to be overkill. If the price of microcontrollers w/ethernet contiunes to drop we'll probably see a lot more ethernet in use. But it does bring added expense. The Linux Home Automation project intends on using the currently available products to pull together the appropriate system to intergate them all.
I went on an EBAY binge this summer and spent ~$700 (US) on terminal servers, a router, parts for my Sun IPX, a Vax Station 3100, network hubs, electronic parts etc. All of this can be used to put together an HA system. Mike Baptiste (of Creative Control Concepts) just released version alpha code for an ethernet to RS232 converted to use the Dallas Semi TINI board. I'm working on doing the same thing with Linux (should work on any modern Unix) serial port and ethernet.
I currently have a Weather station (sensors off line, house was resided), a set of Dallas Semi onewire chips for temperature sensing, an HCS II (HA controller), an Ocelet (HA controller), a couple of X10 CM11A's, a LynX10 board, an X10 CP290, several Dallas TINI boards, a bunch of microcontrollers, HTH's 2400 baud power line controllers and lots of X10 and RS485.
There is too much to list here (and explain what it will do). The best place for this discussion is online in the comp.home.automation newsgroup or on my Linux Home Automation project mail list (see below). You can also email me if you wish to ask HA related questions.
--
Linux Home Automation - Neil Cherry - ncherry@home.net
Linux Home Automation and Linux Home Automation II
The The Linux Home Automation project (SourceForge)
Here is a sample of this weeks log (Started Sunday). Some days there are more attempts other days fewer. This is not the only log but it is of the more common ports. You would be amazed at homw many times these sites will continue to knock even though they get no response.
Oct 22 13:19:17 ng ng: IP[Src=24.3.84.46 Dst=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX TCP spo=00021 dpo=00021]}S03>R02mD
Oct 22 15:40:58 ng ng: IP[Src=199.217.172.253 Dst=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX TCP spo=01301 dpo=00023]}S03>R01mD
Oct 22 15:41:43 ng last message repeated 4 times
Oct 22 15:42:13 ng ng: IP[Src=199.217.172.253 Dst=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX TCP spo=01548 dpo=00021]}S03>R02mD
Oct 22 15:42:58 ng last message repeated 4 times
Oct 23 03:32:35 ng ng: IP[Src=24.19.0.225 Dst=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX TCP spo=02562 dpo=00080]}S03>R03mD
Oct 23 03:32:35 ng ng: IP[Src=24.19.0.225 Dst=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX TCP spo=16419 dpo=00080]}S03>R03mD
Oct 23 06:22:21 ng ng: IP[Src=24.142.211.22 Dst=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX TCP spo=04846 dpo=00021]}S03>R02mD
Oct 23 06:22:30 ng last message repeated 2 times
Oct 23 16:55:25 ng ng: IP[Src=24.142.211.22 Dst=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX TCP spo=02913 dpo=00021]}S03>R02mD
Oct 23 16:55:34 ng last message repeated 2 times
Oct 23 17:54:11 ng ng: IP[Src=24.93.99.103 Dst=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX TCP spo=03195 dpo=00021]}S03>R02mD
Oct 23 17:54:21 ng last message repeated 2 times
Oct 24 06:37:52 ng ng: IP[Src=24.23.155.145 Dst=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX TCP spo=04602 dpo=00021]}S03>R02mD
Oct 24 06:37:53 ng ng: IP[Src=24.23.155.145 Dst=XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX TCP spo=04626 dpo=00080]}S03>R03mD
BTW: This is a hardware firewall, I havn't quite figured out how to get it to log only certain things. It's either a specific few or everything. I also have IPCHAINS and TCPD running (just in case). One day I'll replace it with a Linux box running Net Filters.
To me this seems like going out and buying a new Porsche and then complaining about how expensive they are.
How would you like it if you were told that once you purchased your Porsche you were told that you may not drive it to work. That certain roads were off limits. Of course neither my response or your statements are really good examples.
But here is an example that may work a bit better: I work as a network engineer and I produce documents which have to be in Microsoft word. Why because our customers use it and the company has standardized on it (with M$s' help). I could produce the documents in HTML but nobody will accept them. This is a standard and I think everyone has a browser, so why not? I don't know but I do know that when M$ changed from W3.11 to W95 we went nuts trying get get everyone who used W95 to send the documents in a compatible format.
OK, so this is not a good example either and I'm afraid it will take many pages to straighten out all the little details. But I think it gives some idea of the problems, well maybe not the one where opening the package is an agreement to the licence found inside the package!
So what if Unix isn't an OS according to his definition. By using Linux or *BSD distributions I get a stable and usable computer with software on top of software that works. It's close enough for me to be called an OS, I'm happy, who cares.
I started the Linux Home Automation project (LHA project) to accomplish something very similar. Currently I have more of a collection of various software (my Linux Home Automation pages). I've just finished collecting a ton of hardware and getting info on the various software needed. I hope to have non-beta base software within the month. For most, the current stage of the project won't be usable. But for the tinker'r it will at least be interesting.
For those who don't mind getting their hands dirty with software they can try Mr. House (I'll correct my pages, sorry). It's written in Perl and is very functional.
--
Linux Home Automation - Neil Cherry - ncherry@home.net
http://members.home.net/ncherry (Text only)
http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/ lig htsey/52 (Graphics)
http://linuxha.sourceforge.net/ (SourceForge)
Not if I get my way! I run the Linux Home Automatin project and most of this stuff can be had and run free! I don't like the idea that the controller for my home is not under my complete control.
... (Brain, from Pinky & the Brain)
Come Pinky, let us take over the world
--
Linux Home Automation - Neil Cherry - ncherry@home.net
http://members.home.net/ncherry (Text only)
http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/ lig htsey/52 (Graphics)
http://linuxha.sourceforge.net/ (SourceForge)