OpenRemote Community Blogs [Atom]

X10 Domotics With OpenRemote

2009-12-20T16:13:42Z

News Item edited by Administrator

Cross-posting from my blog

My X10 integration patch made it through Open Remote B.O.S.S. 1.0, so I think I owe a blog post

Fun things first, here's a demo of the whole thing :

X10 is an ancestor amongst domotics protocols. It is flawed by many ways and I guess pretty outdated if you are into modern domotics, but it has two main advantages : it's cheap, and you don't have to re-wire your home. So that makes it a good candidate for prototyping and experiments of all kinds. Which is exactly what I am using it for

Making OpenRemote talk to the X10 controller has been pretty smooth, thanks to Jesse Peterson's library. I guess next steps will be to support dimming commands, as well as status inquiring.

If you are interested in controlling X10 devices with OpenRemote, I've written a short HOWTO, you can read it here.

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Russound Demo

2009-11-25T22:21:42Z

News Item added by Marcus Redeker

After finishing the first implementation of Russound support, I figured it is easier to demonstrate this with a little video then writing a long story
Currently the Russound commands are configured inside a property file so it is easy to extend.
We support 6 zones and 6 sources in the moment. Each zone can be turned on/off, the source selected and the volume changed.
When the server push is working, I will try and implement feedback so you can see which zones are active and which sources are selected.
Also, I want to use a slider to control the volume. So look out for a new version

Enjoy the video!

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Catching Up On Hardware News

2009-11-22T21:48:13Z

News Item added by Administrator

Catching up on some hardware news from the last couple of months. With the release of Windows 7 there's been a bunch of updates to low-cost Atom-based hardware units, all of which look attractive as an entry-point to host OpenRemote Boss at your home, among other things.

The hardware at E300 price level is now coming with a dual-core Atom and NVIDIA ION graphics processors. With the entry of NVIDIA to low-end market, the units can now reportedly handle 1080 resolution high-definition content with ease (something that was too much to ask from the previous generation a year ago) and HDMI connectivity comes as a standard. DVD drives are becoming part of the hardware configuration as well, see for example the latest Eee Box model at Engadget.

Of course for people like us who like to hack things together, the interesting bit is these are generic PC's and you can easily install additional software as you please on them. They can be used for multiple purposes at home, so generic does have an added value here, although the out-of-the-factory experience requires some extra skills to set things up.

I was also browsing through the Taiwan retail store and noticed that the previous Eee Box model (B202) now retails at around $155 (USD). In about one year, the price has halved. Will be interesting to see if the same evolution occurs on the current models by the time we get to end of 2010.

The other relevant observation here is that the Eee B202 had plenty enough of resources to run home automation controller, Java or even low-end middleware server. That hardware is now selling at around $150. The price is less than for many peripheral "dumb" units that you need in a HA deployment that handle your IP to infrared or serial or other protocol translations. It now costs more to buy a mere IP gateway to KNX than it costs to buy the hardware to run full HA controller with web user interfaces, rule engines, and all.

Funny, isn't it?

To me the trend here is clear. It is going to be increasingly difficult to argue for the development cost of "specialized" home automation controller units. Don't get me wrong, I still see value in a pre-installed, out-of-the-box, plug-it-in-the-wall controller unit but the price of these units must be comparable to the hardware prices which are being driven down by the fiercely competing PC industry, with Intel pushing towards the low-end with their Atom product-line and ARM pushing up towards the smart Internet device market with their low-cost, low-energy architecture.

HA business models based on pure hardware sales margins are getting squeezed and harder to defend.

So good and interesting news all around. By the way, if a pre-built pre-installed OpenRemote Box (ORB) is something that you'd be interested in, we'd like to hear from you. If we can get enough interest, we might put some boxes together to save you from the installation exercise. So let us know if you're interested.

– Juha

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OpenRemote KNX 1.2.1 Lite Available on App Store

2009-10-13T09:26:21Z

News Item edited by Juha Lindfors

A very quick update on the OpenRemote KNX Lite application. It has been updated on the Apple App Store to version 1.2.1 and can be downloaded via iTunes. The KNX lite application has moved to a new OpenRemote account – we are still migrating the full version of the app which you can get from Jorg's personal account.

The OpenRemote KNX Lite allows you to test the iPhone user interface for free before buying the full version. It is useful for people who already have an existing KNX installation with an IP gateway or router installed. It does not require additional hardware or software installation from OpenRemote.

For more information, see the OpenRemote KNX home space.

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UPnP Integration Example

2009-09-28T08:21:11Z

News Item edited by Administrator

It has been a few month since I have made a post about the UPnP integration for the OpenRemote Controller. I have in my previous post discussed about the possibilities of UPnP. Now, here is a quick video of this implementation in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbJDTnPtMKY

The "scene" takes place with an iPod touch, where the OR app has been installed. The controlled device is the virtual UPnP light which is part of the Intel® Tools for UPnP. The action are simply "On" and "Off".

Here is the controller's xml code which has been used :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><openremote xmlns="http://www.openremote.org" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" 
xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openremote.org http://www.openremote.org/schemas/controller-1.0-M3.xsd">
<buttons>
  <button id="4">
   <event>6</event>
  </button>
  <button id="5">
   <event>7</event>
  </button>
 </buttons>
 <events>
  <irEvents/>
  <knxEvents/>
  <httpEvents/>
  <upnpEvents>
   <upnpEvent id="6" label="On" device="uuid:3724a423-1569-489b-907b-98ee8bc0d413" action="SetTarget">
    <upnpEventArgument name="newTargetValue" value="True"></upnpEventArgument>
   </upnpEvent>
   <upnpEvent id="7" label="Off" device="uuid:3724a423-1569-489b-907b-98ee8bc0d413" action="SetTarget">
    <upnpEventArgument name="newTargetValue" value="False"></upnpEventArgument>
   </upnpEvent>
  </upnpEvents>
 </events>
</openremote>

Unfortunately, for now, the parameters (device's id, action to trigger, arguments...) have to be filled manually. Doing it using the composer might be complex has it needs a local discovery and some basic processing.

Also, yet, only A/V products are widely UPnP compatible. Lights, as in this video, is still a developping case. Maybe someday a manufacturer will sell UPnP controlled bulbs with a wifi/IP stack ?

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