linuxha-misc — General topics for Linux Home Automation

[LHA-misc] gui library in Linux

[Niranjan K. <kn...@so...>]

does any body have any idea as to which is the best and easier gui library
available in Linux..


regards
Niranjan




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[LHA-misc] SCADA NEWS

[SCADA NEWS<web...@sc...>]

If you are interested with IT in the Industry
like HMI, SCADA or other MES software
feel free to visit                     www.SCADANEWS.com


This message will be send only one time it is not necessary to ask for remove.

If you are not interested please accept our apologies,


Thanks for your attention,

	SCADA NEWS WEBMASTER 

Re: [LHA-misc] New upnp project

[Neil C. <nc...@co...>]

Lee Nash wrote:
> Just another link for Neil.
> 
> http://linux-igd.sourceforge.net/index.html

I checked out the site, very new so not much there yet. The above link didn't
work so try this:

http://linux-igd.sourceforge.net/

The download didn't work so try this if you wish to download the code:

http://linux-igd.sourceforge.net/download.php

Thanks

-- 
Linux Home Automation           Neil Cherry             nc...@co...
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ncherry/                  (Text only)
http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/lightsey/52           (Graphics)
http://linuxha.sourceforge.net/ 
			(SourceForge)

[LHA-misc] New upnp project

[Lee N. <le...@co...>]

Just another link for Neil.

http://linux-igd.sourceforge.net/index.html

-lee

[LHA-misc] send and receive

[Edward V. P. <wi...@in...>]

Hi.
I tought the FireCracker also receive signals from the transceivers,
but it doesn't   :(
Do any of you know if there is a dispositive that does that for the same 
low price or a little bit more expensive??
AH!!! it has to run with 220 V, 50 cycles AC

Thanks!!

[LHA-misc] Sending X events from perl

[David N. <jud...@ad...>]

Could someone point me to a perl module or script that would show me how =
to send keystrokes and mouse events to X windows applications.  I want =
to control mplayer from a cgi script, and I'm looking for functionality =
similar to irxevent from the LIRC package. =20

David=20

[LHA-misc] More interesting links:

[Neil C. <nc...@co...>]

Here are 2 interesting links:

http://www.nwlink.com/~kellee/HomeAutomation.htm

Kellee's site has links to his RS485 modules, including software and PCB
(but no schematics).

http://www.truetex.com/poolcontrol.htm

Rich went to a lot of trouble explaining pool chemistry, plumbing and his
controller. This software runs under Linux.

-- 
Linux Home Automation           Neil Cherry             nc...@co...
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ncherry/                  (Text only)
http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/lightsey/52           (Graphics)
http://linuxha.sourceforge.net/ 
			(SourceForge)

Re: [LHA-misc] FireCrack

[C. R. B. I. <cr...@ea...>]

On Thu, 2 May 2002 17:25:33 -0400 (CLT)
"Edward Vargas P." <wi...@in...> wrote:

> I need to know if someone is working with FireCrack
> because i would like to start working with that
> If not, please, send me information about some others
> devices.
> 
> Bye.
> 

Assuming that you're referring to X10's firecracker module and not some
program called FireCrack, yeah, I'm using it. I drive it with bottlerocket
(look for that on http://freshmeat.net).

I've got close to a dozen X10 modules in play around the house. I wrote a
CGI button page on my main Linux server so anybody on the LAN can control
things, there are a few wall-mounted transmitter switches around, and I've
got X10 events in the Linux box's crontab along with event chime sounds
(6:00pm weekdays it's the clock-tower sound of Furinkan High School). I
use it all to run incandescent lights, get us up in time for
off-to-school, and enforce TV dark-times (my kids are 8 & 10 and anime
otaku like me, but nobody gets to watch TV except on the weekends).

Nothing fancy compared to some of the plans discussed on this list, but it
works as far as it goes (I still need to write a cron-like scheduler that
understands holidays and school vacations, so nobody has to listen to all
of "Welcome To The Jungle" at 7:45AM when the 10-yr-old has a vacation
day).


I can toss you the pieces, all but the MP3's, and point out where I
downloaded the Ranma-1/2 WAVs, if you're interested.

btw if you put bottlerocket/firecracker X10 events into your crontab,
space them a minute apart, otherwise one or both won't get executed.

cr

Re: [LHA-misc] FireCrack

[Neil C. <nc...@co...>]

Edward Vargas P. wrote:
> I need to know if someone is working with FireCrack
> because i would like to start working with that
> If not, please, send me information about some others
> devices.


Firecrack? If you mean the Firecracker (CM17A) there is bottle rocket
and a few others. See the X10 Firecracker software on my web pages under
the software section of my web page.

-- 
Linux Home Automation           Neil Cherry             nc...@co...
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ncherry/                  (Text only)
http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/lightsey/52           (Graphics)
http://linuxha.sourceforge.net/ 
			(SourceForge)

[LHA-misc] FireCrack

[Edward V. P. <wi...@in...>]

I need to know if someone is working with FireCrack
because i would like to start working with that
If not, please, send me information about some others
devices.

Bye.

[LHA-misc] new to list

[jrhartley2 on west.cox.n. <jrh...@co...>]

Hello I am new to the list.  I have an interest in discovering as much 
as possible about Linux in the Home Automation area.   Can anyone give 
me some useful links on the subject.  Any information on companies that 
deal with HA and linux  appliances and any of the applicable standards 
that are in use, would be appreciated.

Thanks

James

RE: [LHA-misc] FW: Info

[Niranjan K. <kn...@so...>]

Hi All,
	Is there a place I can get a overview of the cebus stack. The
specification docs are just too massive to go through. Hence if there is a
doc which could give me the cebus implementation logic, command format that
goes on wire, the architecture etc it would be very nice. If we want to
develop a controller that would be able to coordinate any powerline protocol
device, are you aware of any feasibility and difficulties involved , could
you let me know.

thanx a million

regards
Niranjan



> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Brian [SMTP:br...@fu...]
> Sent:	Thursday, March 28, 2002 8:16 PM
> To:	Mike Baptiste
> Cc:	lin...@li...
> Subject:	Re: [LHA-misc] FW: Info
> 
> At 09:27 AM 3/28/2002 -0500, Mike Baptiste wrote:
> >I didn't mean to imply the physical layer was exclusive.  However one of
> >the 'selling' points of CeBus was that it would 'join' the physical
> >layers with a common protocol/architecture. That was my point.
> 
> No problem.  My point was simply that the physical layer thing was/is a 
> silly selling point.  It would be trivial to create a bridge for any of 
> these protocols, should the need arise.
> 
> >TO this day one of Home Automation's problems is the continued lack of
> >industry wide standards for various phsyical layers.  CeBus tried to
> >fill this void, but it went WAY overboard to try and please everyone.
> 
> Yeah, no kidding.
> 
> >RS-485 sure could use
> >a control and protocol standard.
> 
> Amen!
> 
> 
> 
> Brian Karas -
> br...@fu...
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/linuxha-misc
> To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe Linuxha-misc"
> in the body of a message to  Lin...@li...
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Re: [LHA-misc] FW: Info

[Brian <br...@fu...>]

At 09:27 AM 3/28/2002 -0500, Mike Baptiste wrote:
>I didn't mean to imply the physical layer was exclusive.  However one of
>the 'selling' points of CeBus was that it would 'join' the physical
>layers with a common protocol/architecture. That was my point.

No problem.  My point was simply that the physical layer thing was/is a 
silly selling point.  It would be trivial to create a bridge for any of 
these protocols, should the need arise.

>TO this day one of Home Automation's problems is the continued lack of
>industry wide standards for various phsyical layers.  CeBus tried to
>fill this void, but it went WAY overboard to try and please everyone.

Yeah, no kidding.

>RS-485 sure could use
>a control and protocol standard.

Amen!



Brian Karas -
br...@fu...

Re: [LHA-misc] FW: Info

[Mike B. <bap...@cc...>]

I didn't mean to imply the physical layer was exclusive.  However one of
the 'selling' points of CeBus was that it would 'join' the physical
layers with a common protocol/architecture. That was my point.

TO this day one of Home Automation's problems is the continued lack of
industry wide standards for various phsyical layers.  CeBus tried to
fill this void, but it went WAY overboard to try and please everyone.
X-10 is a 'standard' I guess, but it is lacking.  RS-485 sure could use
a control and protocol standard.  Ethernet is making a splash in HA, but
it too needs soem type of standard as well (ports, protocol over
sockets, etc)

A few have tried to support as many modules as possible (Commander-X)
but its difficult to do and standards would make that a lot easier.  But
vendors see standards and think loss of monopoly in that once they sell
a controller, the user has to buy their add ons.  Th eproblem is not
every company has every type of add on - so often it would be nice to
buy fro9m another vendor.

But I digress ;)

MB

Brian wrote:
| At 09:03 AM 3/28/2002 -0500, Mike Baptiste wrote:
|
|> becomes less useful.  Sure it coudl transmit over wireless, AC, twisted
|> pair, etc.
|
|
| So can any protocol.  The physical layer choices aren't exclusive to
CeBus.
|

Re: [LHA-misc] FW: Info

[Brian <br...@fu...>]

At 09:03 AM 3/28/2002 -0500, Mike Baptiste wrote:
>expensive.  And that is the key - CeBus is expensive.  Getting chipsets
>is expensive.  And due to the complexity of the system, anything that
>uses it is bound to be expensive due to teh development effort and CPU
>horsepower required.

And CeBus share([s|d]) many of the same noise and interference problems as 
X-10.

>becomes less useful.  Sure it coudl transmit over wireless, AC, twisted
>pair, etc.

So can any protocol.  The physical layer choices aren't exclusive to CeBus.

Re: [LHA-misc] FW: Info

[Mike B. <mi...@th...>]

I'd have to second Neil's opinion.  Cebus had a lot of promise.  However
it suffered from being overly complex.  My favorite example was an
article in Circuit Cellar a few years ago dedicated to how Cebus works.

The whole premise was turning a relay on and off.  Fairly simple (on,
off, etc)

It took MANY pages of info and code to describe a fairly complex system
just to turn a relay on or off.

CeBus is in use - GE has a system based on it - but it is really
expensive.  And that is the key - CeBus is expensive.  Getting chipsets
is expensive.  And due to the complexity of the system, anything that
uses it is bound to be expensive due to teh development effort and CPU
horsepower required.

Compare this with something like the HCS - 8-bit Microchip CPUs can
handle plenty - including X-10, etc.

Given how quickly embedded ethernet has come down in price (I still
can't believe you can get Dallas TINI boards for just over $50), CeBus
becomes less useful.  Sure it coudl transmit over wireless, AC, twisted
pair, etc.

But look at it from a different perspective.  Use RS-485 twisted pair
for simpler control like the HCS and use Ethernet for more complex wired
AND wireless control.

So in teh next few years I'd say any HA controller would HAVE to haev
ethernet control, should have RS_485, but CeBUs?  Nah.

Now many complain about X-10 and how CeBus is so much better.  Well,
check out A-10 from ACT - I've seen demos of this technology and it is
amazing how powerful and reliable it is.  Plus the switches are much
more feature rich than your usual X-10 gear.  Yes, its more expensive,
but not obscenely.

Mike


Neil Cherry wrote:
| Niranjan K. wrote:
|
|>> Hi all,
|>>     We want to develop an application in Linux, which would act as a
|>> readymade soft box for any kind of power line communication
|>> protocols.  I
|>> had some basic doubts about cebus, if any body is aware of, do help
|>> me out
|>>
|>> *    What are the minimum requirements needed to set up a CEBus
|>> network. *    What are the CEBus products available? *    Is it
|>> mandatory to have a PC interface with the network, what kind
|>> of interfaces do the products provide?
|>> *    Does each individual chip needs to be programmed for the
|>> functionality?
|>> *    What is the implementation architecute, ie the various components
|>> involved in the CEBus system?
|>> *    If we want to write an application (to be run on a PC) to configure
|>> the CEBus network, what are the details we need to know?
|>> *    Is CAL a set of API's provided by the manufacturer. Can we write
|>> the
|>> application without CAL's help?
|>
|
| My experience with CEBus has been nil. I haven't been able to find much in
| the way of controllers or devices to control. From the people I've spoken
| to on the subject the impression I got was that CEBus would go nowhere.
| Anyone else care to add to this?
|
|

Re: [LHA-misc] FW: Info

[Neil C. <nc...@co...>]

Niranjan K. wrote:
>>Hi all,
>>	We want to develop an application in Linux, which would act as a
>>readymade soft box for any kind of power line communication protocols.  I
>>had some basic doubts about cebus, if any body is aware of, do help me out
>> 
>>*	What are the minimum requirements needed to set up a CEBus network. 
>>*	What are the CEBus products available? 
>>*	Is it mandatory to have a PC interface with the network, what kind
>>of interfaces do the products provide?
>>*	Does each individual chip needs to be programmed for the
>>functionality?
>>*	What is the implementation architecute, ie the various components
>>involved in the CEBus system?
>>*	If we want to write an application (to be run on a PC) to configure
>>the CEBus network, what are the details we need to know?
>>*	Is CAL a set of API's provided by the manufacturer. Can we write the
>>application without CAL's help?

My experience with CEBus has been nil. I haven't been able to find much in
the way of controllers or devices to control. From the people I've spoken
to on the subject the impression I got was that CEBus would go nowhere.
Anyone else care to add to this?


-- 
Linux Home Automation           Neil Cherry             nc...@co...
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ncherry/                  (Text only)
http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/lightsey/52           (Graphics)
http://linuxha.sourceforge.net/ 
			(SourceForge)

[LHA-misc] FW: Info

[Niranjan K. <kn...@so...>]

> Hi all,
> 	We want to develop an application in Linux, which would act as a
> readymade soft box for any kind of power line communication protocols.  I
> had some basic doubts about cebus, if any body is aware of, do help me out
>  
> *	What are the minimum requirements needed to set up a CEBus network. 
> *	What are the CEBus products available? 
> *	Is it mandatory to have a PC interface with the network, what kind
> of interfaces do the products provide?
> *	Does each individual chip needs to be programmed for the
> functionality?
> *	What is the implementation architecute, ie the various components
> involved in the CEBus system?
> *	If we want to write an application (to be run on a PC) to configure
> the CEBus network, what are the details we need to know?
> *	Is CAL a set of API's provided by the manufacturer. Can we write the
> application without CAL's help?
> 
> 
> thanks a million
> 
> regards
> Niranjan
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RE: [LHA-misc] YA

[John K. <jk...@pr...>]

On Thu, 21 Mar 2002, Cherry, Neil J, ALBAS wrote:

> What does AYBABTU mean?

All Your Base Are Belong To Us.  Last year's fad.  Ask Google.

> BTW, I've got my 2nd Audrey and I can't get it to flash the new
> code (ARGH!). I know the code works as I can flash the 1st one.
> I tried the marimba server, it upgraded the first, went on to
> the second and hung at 5 of 7 files (left it for 12 hours, that's
> hung). At least it still works but I'd really like it to work
> properly.

I was able to set up a private Marimba server (and DNS server)
to upgrade both mine.  I'd have to dig up my notes on how to
do that, but I won't be able to get around to it for about a week
or two.

If you still need them and I haven't followed thru by the begging
of April, feel free to send me a reminder...

John

RE: [LHA-misc] YA

[Cherry, N. J, A. <nc...@at...>]

>=20
> On Wed, 20 Mar 2002, Neil Cherry wrote:
>=20
> > command:What is your up time	code:date
>=20
> response:AYBABTU! code:ha ha ha ha
>=20
> :)

What does AYBABTU mean?

BTW, I've got my 2nd Audrey and I can't get it to flash the new
code (ARGH!). I know the code works as I can flash the 1st one.
I tried the marimba server, it upgraded the first, went on to
the second and hung at 5 of 7 files (left it for 12 hours, that's
hung). At least it still works but I'd really like it to work
properly.

--=20
Neil Cherry
Systems Engineer
AT&T ALBAS
nc...@at...

Re: [LHA-misc] YA

[John K. <jk...@pr...>]

On Wed, 20 Mar 2002, Neil Cherry wrote:

> command:What is your up time	code:date

response:AYBABTU! code:ha ha ha ha

:)

Re: [LHA-misc] YA

[Neil C. <nc...@co...>]

Neil Cherry wrote:
> command:What is your up time    code:date


OK so that wasn't one of my wisest moves! ;-) For those of you who don't know
what that is, it's just me working with Mr.House. for some strange reason.
MH can't send mail to comcast.net. I did a sniffer trace and the packet
was garbage. I would have expected to see the typical HELO .... QUIT exchange.

After I get his fixed I'll be working on the VCR/Ocelot/MH interface. My wife
won't go for the Tivo (we don't watch that much TV).

Also I'll be putting a lot of effort to clean up the LHA pages as they're
too large. Any suggestions.

-- 
Linux Home Automation           Neil Cherry             nc...@co...
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ncherry/                  (Text only)
http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/lightsey/52           (Graphics)
http://linuxha.sourceforge.net/ 
			(SourceForge)

[LHA-misc] YA

[Neil C. <nc...@co...>]

command:What is your up time	code:date

-- 
Linux Home Automation           Neil Cherry             nc...@co...
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ncherry/                  (Text only)
http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/lightsey/52           (Graphics)
http://linuxha.sourceforge.net/ 
			(SourceForge)

[LHA-misc] Tiny motherboards

[Mike B. <bap...@cc...>]

VIA just announced a motherboard using the 'Mini-ITX' form factor.  This 
thing is SMALL - about 6.5" square and it includes built in Audio, 
Video, NIC, etc plus a PCI slot to boot for whatever I/O it may not have

http://www.via.com.tw/en/VInternet/mini_itx.jsp

Plus the C3 Pent III clone (800MHz) it uses often can be run with just a 
heatsink (no fan) which means it'll be quiet.

Boy what fun it would be to put embedded (or even normal) Linux on this 
baby and hide it somewhere.  Shuttle had a nice small system in teh 
SV24/25 series (http://www.shuttleonline.com/spec.php3?model=sv25) but I 
imagine someone will come out with an even smaller box based on teh 
above board.

Sigh - so many toys, so little time.

Mike

Re: [LHA-misc] Keyboardless Server

[Lloyd F. <llo...@us...>]

This is a great group, thanks to everybody.  I found it under something 
like error in the BIOS, have never looked there before assuming it would be 
something to do with Keyboard.

Thanks to everybody.

Lloyd Ferguson
llo...@us...