OpenRemote+Forums+[Atom]

Proposals and toughts for the next versions

2010-03-10T16:56:01Z

I'm very excited about the upcoming 2.0 version that I would like to use as an interface to my custom build HA controller. The project is still relatively small, but lies on a great architecture that is meant to be easy expandable. That's the reason, this project is great! However I have some proposals and thoughts that I would like to share:

1. It would be nice to have some way of collecting the sensor's data. This would make possible to have some statistics for a given period. Then there would be a special widget of type "chart" that would visualize a chart in the UI.

I imagine something like that:

Request URL: /rest/stats/{sensor_id}/{start_date}/{end_date}/

{start_date} and {end_date} are dates formated in Milliseconds since 1970 (it's easy to make some math)

This would return something like this:

2. Video surveillance and web cameras support. The streaming output must definitely support Flash video streaming. Flash is the future! In Flash CS5 there will be possible to publish the SWF as a native iPhone app. There is also applications like ELIPS Studio, that converts SWF code to a native iPhone/Symbian/Android/Windows Phone code. There is also the Adobe AIR that makes possible to do a multi-platform self containing executable (Linux/Mac OS/Windows). So, using Flash as a panel interface technology is the logical choice. You create just one universal app and publish it to all major platforms.

VLC supports FLV streaming, so maybe it is a good choice, I'm not a specialist in this area.

3. Inline window widget. Imagine something like an IFRAME (the HTML tag), that is capable of rendering OpenRemote panel screen inside itself. This widget will make possible an interface design that always shows the main buttons and a window that shows different information.

4. Scheduling. I think this is already planned... besides we can't speak about HA system without this component

5. Generic serial support. I know this is coming

6. Some sort of plugins engine/framework/build in scripting language. There must be a way the end users to extend the functionality via simple scripts. This is a big task, but will make OR a really powerful HA system!

This are just some thoughts

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Re: Some questions and suggestions

2010-03-10T11:37:37Z

Page commented by Mihail Panayotov

Well, there is also a software way of doing it - "serproxy" for example. It passes socket TCP data to a COM port. But a generic, out of the box, serial support is a must have. I'm sure there will be one in near future

What do you think about the "iframe" widget suggestion? Maybe in the iPhone world there isn't needed, but for a big touch screen tablet interface, it will be more than welcome. It will make possible to create one "master" screen that contains buttons like "Bedroom", "Bathroom", "Living room" that are linked to other screens and targeted to show it's content in the "iframe". So, no matter where you are, you will always see these buttons and will be one click away of changing the room (for example).

P.S. iframe is a HTML tag that describes an internal frame. Think about it like a window that can show screens in it. I don't know how to name it.

In reply to a comment by Marcus Redeker:

I am using an ethernet<->rs232 converter and the already supported TCP/IP commands.
Also for my russound support, I implemented the rs232 protocol.

Having a more general protocol that supports all kinds of devices just by configuration would be nice.
That is definetly on my list Would make it easier to support more devices without creating a special implementation for each device.

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Open Remote ORB

2010-03-10T09:02:34Z

Page added by Jerome

Hi,

I'd like to test Open Remote Boss with some X10, KNX and Xbee (from arduino) devices.

I've seen that Open Remote now proposes an Orb at around 350$, I'd like to know what this box contains exactly

In fact i've seen the pages:

* http://www.openremote.org/display/orb/OpenRemote+Reference+Implementation+-+Hardware+Bill+of+Materials

=> To implement Open Remote Boss on an ALIX board (cost is 190$)

* http://www.openremote.org/display/orb/B202+Bill+of+Materials

=> To implement Open Remote Boss on Asus eee (cost is 200$)

I'd like to compare the Orb at 350$ with these 2 solutions

Thanks for your help

(I've already contacted sales@openremote.org but no answer for now)

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Re: NoSuchElementException during startup

2010-03-10T00:23:11Z

Page commented by Matthias Erll

Beside the stacktrace, I find lots of log entries like this:

2010-03-10 01:01:09,421 INFO [main] org.openremote.controller.protocol.knx.KNXConnectionManager.isCandidate(575) | Skipping disabled NIC: name:net12 (Belkin 54g Wireless USB Network Adapter-WFP LightWeight Filter-0000) index: 29 addresses:
2010-03-10 01:01:09,437 INFO [main] org.openremote.controller.protocol.knx.KNXConnectionManager.isCandidate(575) | Skipping disabled NIC: name:eth13 (Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller-agnitum firewall driver-0000) index: 30 addresses:
2010-03-10 01:01:09,437 INFO [main] org.openremote.controller.protocol.knx.KNXConnectionManager.isCandidate(575) | Skipping disabled NIC: name:eth14 (Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller-WFP LightWeight Filter-0000) index: 31 addresses:
2010-03-10 01:01:09,452 INFO [main] org.openremote.controller.protocol.knx.KNXConnectionManager.isCandidate(575) | Skipping disabled NIC: name:eth15 (Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller-Shrew Soft Lightweight Filter-0000) index: 32 addresses:

I have 2 on-board network adapters and a USB connected wireless adapter. Since I currently do not have access to a wired infrastructure with this system, the on-board adapters are unused. I deactivated them, and now there is the same messages as discussed in this thread. Using the patch mentioned there, I can get the server to start. If you need more detailed information to work on the error handling, please let me know.

Thanks
Matthias

In reply to a comment by Administrator:

This looks like it might be due to it failing to find any valid IPv4 network interfaces on your machine that it could use (as to why is still a question mark).

The fact that it propagates the issue up the call stack and prevents controller from starting is my bad. It shouldn't.

But the obvious questions first – is there an IPv4 interface installed on your machine? Anything else related to KNX in your logs?

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Re: NoSuchElementException during startup

2010-03-09T15:43:09Z

Page commented by Administrator

This looks like it might be due to it failing to find any valid IPv4 network interfaces on your machine that it could use (as to why is still a question mark).

The fact that it propagates the issue up the call stack and prevents controller from starting is my bad. It shouldn't.

But the obvious questions first – is there an IPv4 interface installed on your machine? Anything else related to KNX in your logs?

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Re: Openremote on Win 64Bit

2010-03-09T15:25:38Z

Page commented by Administrator

Glad to hear you got it working.

I've somewhat limited capability to test things in Windows environment at the moment, so if there are any improvements that could be made to the batch scripts, please consider sending patches.

In reply to a comment by Frank:

Hi Matthias

seems I wasn't able to describe what I did clearly, sorry for that: I've done all the stuff you mentioned above already, with no success so far.

What helped finally, was CLEARING the JAVA_HOME variable and setting JRE_HOME as a user-variable instead of a system-variable.

The reason I was setting the JAVA_HOME variable intially, was because of the output the batch script gave me (saying, JAVA_HOME was empty...). So this was missleading me.

Anyway, now the script runs and I can go through the next steps. Thanks so far for your help and patience !

Cu
Frank

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Re: Openremote on Win 64Bit

2010-03-09T11:15:42Z

Page commented by Frank

Hi Matthias

seems I wasn't able to describe what I did clearly, sorry for that: I've done all the stuff you mentioned above already, with no success so far.

What helped finally, was CLEARING the JAVA_HOME variable and setting JRE_HOME as a user-variable instead of a system-variable.

The reason I was setting the JAVA_HOME variable intially, was because of the output the batch script gave me (saying, JAVA_HOME was empty...). So this was missleading me.

Anyway, now the script runs and I can go through the next steps. Thanks so far for your help and patience !

Cu
Frank

In reply to a comment by Matthias Erll:

Hi Frank!

Here's a copy of the comments from the batch file:

JAVA_HOME: Must point at your Java Development Kit installation. Required to run the with the "debug" argument.
JRE_HOME: Must point at your Java Runtime installation. Defaults to JAVA_HOME if empty.

Your JRE_HOME is probably empty, thus the script uses JAVA_HOME. You could try any of the following options:

Download a JDK from hereand install it. Then set the JAVA_HOME to its installation path.
Set JRE_HOME to C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre6 (without quotes) and set JAVA_HOME to empty.

Setting any of JAVA_HOME or JRE_HOME to C:\Program Files (x86)\Java (without jre6 or jdk6) will not work (unless you changed the default path when you installed it, of course). Reinstalling the JRE in the root of C: might avoid other problems in the future, but most likely will also not fix this issue.

Cheers
Matthias

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Re: Openremote on Win 64Bit

2010-03-09T10:41:39Z

Page commented by Matthias Erll

Hi Frank!

Here's a copy of the comments from the batch file:

JAVA_HOME: Must point at your Java Development Kit installation. Required to run the with the "debug" argument.
JRE_HOME: Must point at your Java Runtime installation. Defaults to JAVA_HOME if empty.

Your JRE_HOME is probably empty, thus the script uses JAVA_HOME. You could try any of the following options:

Download a JDK from hereand install it. Then set the JAVA_HOME to its installation path.
Set JRE_HOME to C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre6 (without quotes) and set JAVA_HOME to empty.

Cheers
Matthias

In reply to a comment by Frank:

Hi Matthias

I've tried it with and without quotes. With them, I receive the "Files unepectec" error, without it reads:

"The JAVA_HOME environment variable is not defined correctly
This environment variable is needed to run this program
NB: JAVA_HOME should point to a JDK not a JRE"

This is when the variable is either set to C:\Program Files (x86)\Java or to C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre6

It looks like i'd need to install Java into the root of c:, so the path would read c:\java\jre6...

What as well puzzles me is the hint that the variable needs to point to a JDK, not a JRE, whereas the install documentation refers to a JRE...

Cheers
Frank

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Re: Openremote on Win 64Bit

2010-03-09T07:36:35Z

Page commented by Frank

Hi Matthias

I've tried it with and without quotes. With them, I receive the "Files unepectec" error, without it reads:

"The JAVA_HOME environment variable is not defined correctly
This environment variable is needed to run this program
NB: JAVA_HOME should point to a JDK not a JRE"

This is when the variable is either set to C:\Program Files (x86)\Java or to C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre6

It looks like i'd need to install Java into the root of c:, so the path would read c:\java\jre6...

What as well puzzles me is the hint that the variable needs to point to a JDK, not a JRE, whereas the install documentation refers to a JRE...

Cheers
Frank

In reply to a comment by Matthias Erll:

Initially I had the same issue on my Win7 x64. Installation path of my JRE6 (64-bit version) is C:\Program Files\Java\jre6. Problem was, that there were quotes around the variable string. I.e. if you type

set JRE_HOME

in the command line, it should say

JRE_HOME=C:\Program Files\Java\jre6

and not

JRE_HOME="C:\Program Files\Java\jre6"

If so, try changing it accordingly.

Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a way to check on this inside a batch script (at least not that I know).

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Re: Proposal of New Protocols

2010-03-08T21:02:53Z

Page commented by Rob Batchelder

Thanks. I'll grok it.

In reply to a comment by Kai Kreuzer:

You mean about xPL? No, no diagrams as far as I could see... Try start reading here to get an idea what it is about: http://xplproject.org.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page.

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Re: Proposal of New Protocols

2010-03-08T20:58:30Z

Page commented by Rob Batchelder

Kai,

Not XML - big, big mistake IMHO. If we make it XML, it can submitted to IETF, OASIS, etc. This needs a large, open standards organization to champion the cause. Vendors with proprietary architectures will have no motivation to adopt otherwise - because they are hiding behind the fig leaf of those architecture to create (artificial) competitive advantage.

In reply to a comment by Kai Kreuzer:

Rob,

I would really encourage you to have a look at the xPL protocol definition - this looks pretty much like what you describe as HAXML (with the small exception that it actually is no XML ) It is kept simple, but offers all that you would need for HA (well, that's it's primary purpose).

Due to its broadcast concept xPL can only be used in subnets - so maybe a xPL over XMPP would be a good idea to extend it's range and possibilities?

I have a couple of high level PDF documents I'd like to share in this regard. How might I best do that?

Not sure how to do this in this forum - probably best to host them somewhere else and link to them?

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NoSuchElementException during startup

2010-03-08T20:28:09Z

Page added by Matthias Erll

Hi,

I am trying to run the OpenRemote Boss 1.0.2 from the extracted standard installation. However, during startup "controller" reports failure to start. The stacktrace listed in "controller.log" is the following:

2010-03-08 21:15:41,143 ERROR [main] org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.initWebApplicationContext(205) | Context initialization failed
org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'knxEventBuilder' defined in ServletContext resource [/WEB-INF/classes/applicationContext.xml]: Instantiation of bean failed; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.BeanInstantiationException: Could not instantiate bean class [org.openremote.controller.protocol.knx.KNXEventBuilder]: Constructor threw exception; nested exception is java.util.NoSuchElementException
Caused by:
org.springframework.beans.BeanInstantiationException: Could not instantiate bean class [org.openremote.controller.protocol.knx.KNXEventBuilder]: Constructor threw exception; nested exception is java.util.NoSuchElementException
Caused by:
java.util.NoSuchElementException
    at java.util.HashMap$HashIterator.nextEntry(Unknown Source)
    at java.util.HashMap$KeyIterator.next(Unknown Source)
    at org.openremote.controller.protocol.knx.KNXConnectionManager.start(KNXConnectionManager.java:236)
    at org.openremote.controller.protocol.knx.KNXEventBuilder.<init>(KNXEventBuilder.java:112)
    at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Unknown Source)
    at org.springframework.beans.BeanUtils.instantiateClass(BeanUtils.java:82)
    at org.springframework.beans.BeanUtils.instantiateClass(BeanUtils.java:59)

(cut it from there)

I have the 32-bit and 64-bit JRE installed in parallel on Windows Seven x64. I tried both, but no change. Any ideas?

Best regards,
Matthias

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Re: Proposal of New Protocols

2010-03-08T20:17:48Z

Page commented by Kai Kreuzer

You mean about xPL? No, no diagrams as far as I could see... Try start reading here to get an idea what it is about: http://xplproject.org.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page.

In reply to a comment by Rob Batchelder:

Kai,

Is there a repository of architectural diagrams or canonical forms I can access. I'm looking for some "large animal" pictures. New to the site.

Thanks

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Re: Openremote on Win 64Bit

2010-03-08T20:12:26Z

Page commented by Matthias Erll

set JRE_HOME

in the command line, it should say

JRE_HOME=C:\Program Files\Java\jre6

and not

JRE_HOME="C:\Program Files\Java\jre6"

If so, try changing it accordingly.

Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a way to check on this inside a batch script (at least not that I know).

In reply to a comment by Frank:

Hi Juha

Hm...could it be that the program has a problem with the JRE being installed to "c:\program files(86)\java" ? (which is the default path on x64 systems)

Thanks
Frank

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Re: Proposal of New Protocols

2010-03-08T20:10:40Z

Page commented by Rob Batchelder

Kai,

Is there a repository of architectural diagrams or canonical forms I can access. I'm looking for some "large animal" pictures. New to the site.

Thanks

In reply to a comment by Kai Kreuzer:

Hi Rob,

I do not now about the internals of XMPP, but to me this rather asks to be used on a WAN rather than a LAN. And it is really purely a transport protocol without any semantics about HA.

But as you can see in some other post, I am also very fond of the idea of a pub-sub protocol.

I was actually reading today the protocol definition of xPL and this comes very close to what I had in mind earlier on. And seeing that xPL has already found quite some adoption around Open Source Home Automation, it could be really interesting to at least interface with it.

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Re: Proposal of New Protocols

2010-03-08T20:10:35Z

Page commented by Kai Kreuzer

Rob,

Due to its broadcast concept xPL can only be used in subnets - so maybe a xPL over XMPP would be a good idea to extend it's range and possibilities?

I have a couple of high level PDF documents I'd like to share in this regard. How might I best do that?

Not sure how to do this in this forum - probably best to host them somewhere else and link to them?

In reply to a comment by Rob Batchelder:

Kai,

If I may speak at a conceptual level. What I believe is needed in the HA market is, for lack of a better word, a "dial tone" for issuing control plane messages to devices. Intrinsically, I think pub-sub, rather than request-response is a far better foundation for managing message flows. In addition, I think it will be very helpful to use the concept of "presence" to understand the availability / state of devices connected this way. Further, I think that something like an "HAXML," could be used to create an abstraction layer for HA device characteristics / functions. Further, HAXML could also be used to describe the topology of the devices in the network.

In this regard, perhaps the best, most extensible, light-weight messaging protocol is XMPP for something like HAXML. BTW, XMPP is not just a WAN protocol. It was conceived of as a general purpose framework for pub-sub application messaging - even if its first killer app was IM.

I have a couple of high level PDF documents I'd like to share in this regard. How might I best do that?

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Re: Proposal of New Protocols

2010-03-08T19:57:24Z

Page commented by Rob Batchelder

Kai,

I have a couple of high level PDF documents I'd like to share in this regard. How might I best do that?

In reply to a comment by Kai Kreuzer:

Hi Rob,

I do not now about the internals of XMPP, but to me this rather asks to be used on a WAN rather than a LAN. And it is really purely a transport protocol without any semantics about HA.

But as you can see in some other post, I am also very fond of the idea of a pub-sub protocol.

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Re: Some questions and suggestions

2010-03-08T19:44:57Z

Page commented by Marcus Redeker

I am using an ethernet<->rs232 converter and the already supported TCP/IP commands.
Also for my russound support, I implemented the rs232 protocol.

In reply to a comment by Mihail Panayotov:

Thanks for the answers. I can't wait to see the final 2.0 release. There are two tings that I want to suggest to implement before the final release if possible:

an "iframe" control/widget. This widget would be capable of showing a screen inside itself.
a rs232 support. There are a lot of devices that use rs232 and I think this is a must have interface for a HA software.

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Re: Simple KNX requirement - don't know where to start....

2010-03-08T19:35:11Z

Page commented by Marcus Redeker

Hi James,

I am not the guy behind that video.
This comes from another company in Germany and the product is called m..myhome.
They also promote the same video on youtube.

All of us at OpenRemote are working to create something like this (and better )

@James: I am traveling the whole week but will try to put something together tonight.

--Marcus

In reply to a comment by James Lambert-Knott:

Hi Marcus,

Have you had a moment to put a basic quote together?

Saw your home automation video at

http://www.thebigbencompany.com/nomos/clip_nomos.html

Very impressive indeed. Seems like you're the right guy to answer a few questions!

Kind regards,

James

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Re: Simple KNX requirement - don't know where to start....

2010-03-08T18:44:15Z

Page commented by Kai Kreuzer

Hi Marcus,

Are you actively involved in Nomos? If so, I wonder how quickly you can move OR towards that perfection

Regards,
Kai

P.S.: We have 230V since more than 20 years now!

In reply to a comment by James Lambert-Knott:

Hi Marcus,

Have you had a moment to put a basic quote together?

Saw your home automation video at

http://www.thebigbencompany.com/nomos/clip_nomos.html

Very impressive indeed. Seems like you're the right guy to answer a few questions!

Kind regards,

James

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Re: Proposal of New Protocols

2010-03-08T18:36:34Z

Page commented by Kai Kreuzer

Hi Rob,

I do not now about the internals of XMPP, but to me this rather asks to be used on a WAN rather than a LAN. And it is really purely a transport protocol without any semantics about HA.

But as you can see in some other post, I am also very fond of the idea of a pub-sub protocol.

In reply to a comment by Rob Batchelder:

Kai,

How about XMPP? It would seem to me that pub-sub would be a good framework for an HA messaging protocol.

Thoughts?

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Re: Proposal of New Protocols

2010-03-08T18:18:05Z

Page commented by Rob Batchelder

Kai,

How about XMPP? It would seem to me that pub-sub would be a good framework for an HA messaging protocol.

Thoughts?

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Re: Simple KNX requirement - don't know where to start....

2010-03-08T17:47:28Z

Page commented by James Lambert-Knott

Hi Marcus,

Have you had a moment to put a basic quote together?

Saw your home automation video at

http://www.thebigbencompany.com/nomos/clip_nomos.html

Very impressive indeed. Seems like you're the right guy to answer a few questions!

Kind regards,

James

In reply to a comment by James Lambert-Knott:

Hi Marcus,

In light of your recommendations for DALI, could we ask that you quote for a KNX system, then a separate quote for a DALI systems that manage the following:

12 lights in one room
There are 3 different lights sets (4 uplights, 4 recessed and 4 spot lights).
The lights need to be managed with a wall switch as well as IP control.
For UK electrics

Of course once we've tested and got comfortable with controlling multiple lights in one room we will want to expand the system to incorporate all the lights, so it's important whatever we buy at this stage can also be used in the final solution. Needless to say, we are trying to work to a very strict budget and this is why we are trying to implement the solution ourselves (as we are comfortable with a lot of what's involved here). Please reflect in your quote the bare essentials required to implement our solution without any optional extras. We just want to know what hardware is needed to begin, and although choosing the hardware is one of the most important aspects of the project, it has proved to be the most difficult!

We really do appreciate your help and I look forward to your quote.

Please send to: jknottjames@talk21.com.

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Re: Some questions and suggestions

2010-03-08T11:25:42Z

Page commented by Mihail Panayotov

Thanks for the answers. I can't wait to see the final 2.0 release. There are two tings that I want to suggest to implement before the final release if possible:

an "iframe" control/widget. This widget would be capable of showing a screen inside itself.
a rs232 support. There are a lot of devices that use rs232 and I think this is a must have interface for a HA software.

In reply to a comment by Marcus Redeker:

You can easily host the composer on the same house server where the ORB is running.
Camera support is on my wish list too and after the main features are stable we will look into stuff like this.

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Re: Simple KNX requirement - don't know where to start....

2010-03-07T11:06:37Z

Page commented by James Lambert-Knott

Hi Marcus,

In light of your recommendations for DALI, could we ask that you quote for a KNX system, then a separate quote for a DALI systems that manage the following:

12 lights in one room
There are 3 different lights sets (4 uplights, 4 recessed and 4 spot lights).
The lights need to be managed with a wall switch as well as IP control.
For UK electrics

We really do appreciate your help and I look forward to your quote.

Please send to: jknottjames@talk21.com.

In reply to a comment by Marcus Redeker:

If you provide me with an email I can send you an offer.
Also there is a pretty good online store that has a great selection on KNX and electric devices.

You can look there: EIBmarkt

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Re: Simple KNX requirement - don't know where to start....

2010-03-07T08:10:23Z

Page commented by Marcus Redeker

If you provide me with an email I can send you an offer.
Also there is a pretty good online store that has a great selection on KNX and electric devices.

You can look there: EIBmarkt

In reply to a comment by James Lambert-Knott:

Hi Marcus,

In which case what would it cost me to order the equipment necessary for a minimal set up: (KNX power supply, a switch/dimming actuator, a KNX interface (either IP, serial or USB) and a sensor?

Of course it would be essential that anything I bought could be used to expand into the final solution?

James

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Re: Some questions and suggestions

2010-03-07T08:05:52Z

Page commented by Marcus Redeker

You can easily host the composer on the same house server where the ORB is running.
Camera support is on my wish list too and after the main features are stable we will look into stuff like this.

In reply to a comment by Mihail Panayotov:

That's exactly what I'm talking about
Will this composer be hosted locally where ORB is, or stays remotely hosted by you?

What about the cameras support?

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Re: Openremote on Win 64Bit

2010-03-07T04:02:28Z

Page commented by Juha Lindfors

Possible. Does your JAVA_HOME env variable still contain spaces?

In reply to a comment by Frank:

Hi Juha

Hm...could it be that the program has a problem with the JRE being installed to "c:\program files(86)\java" ? (which is the default path on x64 systems)

Thanks
Frank

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Re: Simple KNX requirement - don't know where to start....

2010-03-07T00:35:06Z

Page commented by James Lambert-Knott

Hi Marcus,

In which case what would it cost me to order the equipment necessary for a minimal set up: (KNX power supply, a switch/dimming actuator, a KNX interface (either IP, serial or USB) and a sensor?

Of course it would be essential that anything I bought could be used to expand into the final solution?

James

In reply to a comment by Marcus Redeker:

I am in Germany. But since England also has 220V, I could probably provide you with some stuff. I am dealer for Siemens KNX devices.

--Marcus

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Re: Openremote on Win 64Bit

2010-03-06T20:16:45Z

Page commented by Frank

Hi Juha

Hm...could it be that the program has a problem with the JRE being installed to "c:\program files(86)\java" ? (which is the default path on x64 systems)

Thanks
Frank

In reply to a comment by Juha Lindfors:

"Files was unexpected at this time"

This would seem to indicate you are still trying to run something from "Program Files".

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Re: Simple KNX requirement - don't know where to start....

2010-03-06T20:02:44Z

Page commented by Marcus Redeker

I am in Germany. But since England also has 220V, I could probably provide you with some stuff. I am dealer for Siemens KNX devices.

--Marcus

In reply to a comment by James Lambert-Knott:

Hi Marcus,

Thanks for the prompt response: we're based in the South East of England, in East Sussex. Where are you then? Are you in the UK?

James

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Re: Simple KNX requirement - don't know where to start....

2010-03-06T17:34:01Z

Page commented by James Lambert-Knott

Hi Marcus,

Thanks for the prompt response: we're based in the South East of England, in East Sussex. Where are you then? Are you in the UK?

James

In reply to a comment by Marcus Redeker:

Hi James,

for that amount of lights I still think that DALI might be a better choice. Do you also want to use low voltage halogen lights? The DALI electronic balast for halogen lights are much cheaper then KNX high voltage actuators. If you also want to use color LED this cannot be done with KNX but with DALI. You can always use a KNX<->DALI gateway to combine the lighting equipment with other devices like audio, visual etc. This is how I normally plan it.

To have a minimal setup to work with KNX you need the KNX power supply, a switch/dimming actuator, a KNX interface (either IP, serial or USB) and a sensor. In case you want to also look into the DALI stuff you would also need a KNX<->DALI gateway.

Where are you guys located? Maybe I can provide you with the equipment.

--Marcus

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Re: Simple KNX requirement - don't know where to start....

2010-03-06T16:49:13Z

Page commented by Marcus Redeker

Hi James,

Where are you guys located? Maybe I can provide you with the equipment.

--Marcus

In reply to a comment by James Lambert-Knott:

Hi Marcus,

I'm James and I'm working alongside Charlie to implement this lighting control system. We had previously looked into DALI, but we are going to use the KNX modules to control over aspects of modern living (such as audio and visual, security etc) so that is why KNX seemed to us the sensible choice.

Ultimately what our beginning requirements boil down to is what equipment do we need to buy just to begin testing our solution? The ultimate solution of 168 lights spread across 41 different light sets needs to start somewhere, and we want to know where that starting point is.

To date we have mapped out each light (and it's position and type) on a floor plan of the property. We have then given each light an individual ID, grouped each light according to the room it's in, as well as what lightset it belongs to (ie kitchenuplights is a separate lightset to kitchenrecessed).

Now we need to know what equipment do we need to control just one light in one room. (We want to start the most simple way possible. Then we build on that).

Bear in mind that the property that will house the final solution has yet to be built, so there's no retrospective wiring, it can be done the most effective way right from the beginning. So our plan is effectively to set up a testing unit of 1 light in our workshop, that is controlled by a switch, as well as KNX equipment required to automate that light, both from a controller AND a browser window (IP control).

As Charlie has said, we are not afraid of software coding, it's just that we want to know where to begin with which modules we need to buy just to automate one light?

We really do appreciate any advice you can offer.

Kind regards,

James

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Re: Some questions and suggestions

2010-03-06T16:12:43Z

Page commented by Mihail Panayotov

That's exactly what I'm talking about
Will this composer be hosted locally where ORB is, or stays remotely hosted by you?

What about the cameras support?

In reply to a comment by Juha Lindfors:

Hello Mihail,

Control interfaces are decoupled from the rest of the architecture via REST interface. This means it is relatively easy to create a control interface for whatever platform you desire. This is well demonstrated for instance in the demo Jerome Velociter posted where he controls the lights from command line using curl.

So if you feel strongly about any control interface, sign up and lead the subproject. This is very much welcome here. Focus is on iPhone and Android because at the moment they are popular interfaces and personally interesting, therefore taking priority over others (as each client platform consumes resources).

The new release does allow custom resolutions. Have a look at http://composer.openremote.org/demo

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Re: Openremote on Win 64Bit

2010-03-06T15:50:22Z

Page commented by Juha Lindfors

"Files was unexpected at this time"

This would seem to indicate you are still trying to run something from "Program Files".

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Re: Some questions and suggestions

2010-03-06T15:46:42Z

Page commented by Juha Lindfors

Hello Mihail,

The new release does allow custom resolutions. Have a look at http://composer.openremote.org/demo

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Openremote on Win 64Bit

2010-03-06T14:23:55Z

Page added by Frank

Hi
I am trying to setup Openremote on a Windows 2008R2 Server which is apparently 64Bit only.
After I figured out, that there are is a mistake in the setup document (like the Java Variable isn't named JRE_HOME but JAVA_HOME) and that Openremote seems to dislike a path with spaces (Like Program Files), I installed it to c:\openremote and tried to run \bin\openremote run. Result is a failure, reading
"Files was unexpected at this time"

Any ideas what went wrong ? Is Openhouse in general working on a 64 Bit System ?

Thanks a lot

Regards
Frank

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Some questions and suggestions

2010-03-06T14:16:41Z

Page added by Mihail Panayotov

Hi, OpenRemote is a great project and I'm sure it will have great success. However I have some questions and suggestions about OR:
1. Why you focus this project only on iPhone? I have iPhone and I'm happy with it, but I would like to control my house via touch panels or laptop also.
2. This is also related to the first question - I think that the Designer interface must have options for different screen resolutions and orientations. This would make possible contributors to make interfaces for other devices. For example I would like to create web or Flash interface for a tablet PC, but I'm stuck into iPhone resolution because of the Designer tool.
3. I think this project will have great success if the whole administration interface goes web based. For now there is a Designer tool that is web based and is hosted remotely. I think this Designer tool must be a part of a whole web based administration interface hosted locally on the house server. There are great JavaScript frameworks like ExtJS or YUI that are capable of creating a desktop like web based interfaces.
4. What about cameras? Do you plan integration?

Thanks for answering these questions.

Mihail Panayotov

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Re: Simple KNX requirement - don't know where to start....

2010-03-06T14:00:58Z

Page commented by James Lambert-Knott

Hi Marcus,

Now we need to know what equipment do we need to control just one light in one room. (We want to start the most simple way possible. Then we build on that).

As Charlie has said, we are not afraid of software coding, it's just that we want to know where to begin with which modules we need to buy just to automate one light?

We really do appreciate any advice you can offer.

Kind regards,

James

In reply to a comment by Marcus Redeker:

What do you mean? What kind of controller? Do you mean a KNX IP-Gateway?

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Re: Simple KNX requirement - don't know where to start....

2010-03-05T20:49:32Z

Page commented by Marcus Redeker

What do you mean? What kind of controller? Do you mean a KNX IP-Gateway?

In reply to a comment by Charlie Evatt:

Hi Marcus, Thanks for the information, it's very kind of you to get back to me.

Do you have any example links to IP controllers/computer connected controllers that we could look into?

Charlie

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Re: CommandFusion iPhone App

2010-03-05T20:09:31Z

Page commented by Marcus Redeker

Here is a video to see the guiDesigner: http://www.commandfusion.com/video/guiDesigner.mov
The already support GlobalCache and a LG television and you can create libraries for your own devices.

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CommandFusion iPhone App

2010-03-05T19:53:25Z

Page added by Marcus Redeker

On the german KNX forum some guys created a Gira Homeserver extension to work with this app: http://www.commandfusion.com/products/view/iviewer

Looks pretty interesting.

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Re: Simple KNX requirement - don't know where to start....

2010-03-05T14:53:39Z

Page commented by Charlie Evatt

Hi Marcus, Thanks for the information, it's very kind of you to get back to me.

Do you have any example links to IP controllers/computer connected controllers that we could look into?

Charlie

In reply to a comment by Marcus Redeker:

Hi Charlie,

if you only want to control lights and groups of lights you might want to look at DALI.
That is also a bus similiar to KNX but especially for lights. There exist gateways from KNX to DALI in case you need booth.

1)
In case you want to use KNX you will need switch and/or dimm actuators depending on the lights.
You will also need a KNX power supply and one programming interface (RS232, USB or IP).

2)
KNX normally uses sensors to send switch commands to the actuators. These are only connected to the KNX bus.
If you want to use already existing 230V wall switches you will need binary input actuators.
You can also control everything just from the computer and don't need wall switches at all if you want to.

3)
Yes. No matter which KNX interface you use to program the KNX devices, this interface can be used to control and to retrieve status information.
If you want to use IP you should already use an IP gateway.

4) Define your requirements, look at possible solutions (KNX, DALI, DMX, X10, ...), read about the solutions or hire an "integrator" that does not want thousands of dollars/euros

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Re: Simple KNX requirement - don't know where to start....

2010-03-05T08:10:31Z

Page commented by Marcus Redeker

Hi Charlie,

1)
In case you want to use KNX you will need switch and/or dimm actuators depending on the lights.
You will also need a KNX power supply and one programming interface (RS232, USB or IP).

4) Define your requirements, look at possible solutions (KNX, DALI, DMX, X10, ...), read about the solutions or hire an "integrator" that does not want thousands of dollars/euros

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Simple KNX requirement - don't know where to start....

2010-03-04T11:22:32Z

Page added by Charlie Evatt

Hello All

We'd like to make a system that contains 168 lights, in 41 light sets, within 23 rooms.

We'd like these lights to be controlled by automation, from a Linux system we are developing. We aren't scared of developing software!

However we are finding no clear information about how to choose the right modules to control the lights, as everything seems to be tied into expensive 'integrators' - people that will charge thousands fof plugging a few bits together etc.

We're sure it isn't so complicated - the lights have a control module, the controle module somehow interfaces with an IP controller, and the IP controller can be talked to by a computer on the network.

We don't mind paying an electrician to wire up the dangerous bits, but want to design the control system ourselves.

The only questions are:

1. What modules should we use? KNX?

2. Can KNX work with switches on the wall as well as controlled from the automated system?

3. Is there a network connectable module that can control and return status all the lights from commands sent over an IP API?

4. Anyone got any recommendations on where to start?

If someone has some time to get back to me it would be absolutely great.

Thanks

Charlie

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Re: Difficulty with first install

2010-03-01T14:46:15Z

Page commented by Jon Sutton

Thanks Juha,

And sorry for the delay from me too - I Have been away from the PC for a while...

Yes, I had installed it into 'c:\program files\'

I've now moved it and that error has gone away.

I now seem to be getting com port in use errors. I'll look into that one.

Thanks,

Jon

In reply to a comment by Juha Lindfors:

Sorry for the delay in responding.

The XML looks fine. I was able to reproduce the same error message on WinXP when the controller is installed to a path with spaces in the name (such as 'Documents and Settings' directory leading to your desktop).

Any chance this is the case for you as well?

The root cause is the XML schema path is not being decoded correctly.

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OpenRemote KNX - many, many questions

2010-02-28T13:20:34Z

Page added by Stefan Schmitt

Hi,

I am using (or better: trying to use) OpenRemote KNX 1.4 which I purchased recently from the itunes store on an ipod touch 3G 32GB. Basically let me explress my regards for the application so far, I really appreciate the approach to have a control software without the need of a server running.

Acutally, I cannot use the software in the way I wanted it because of some restriction (or am I perhaps too stupid to get it working properly - it could be either of both).

I am using the german language version, so I have to use the german expressions ... I will try to add some english translations in brackets.

What I want at first is just to control some rooms for which I am used to using "Lichtszenen" (Light szenes). For instance I have a sczene at 1/3/0 with:
"0" - all off
"1" - all on
"2" - Party light
"3" - TV
etc.

, so I want to send a 8 bit value to the Group Adress. How can I do this?

As a second chance, I installed some logik, so if I send a "1" (1Bit) onto Group Adress 1/7/0, my logik will send the 8bit "0" onto 1/3/0 - this is to start scenes by 1 bit command (this is beeing done by Linknx), but even if I parameter the 1/7/0 in Gruppe bearbeiten (edit group), as lesbar (readable) = 0 and Typ (type) = "1 setzen" (set 1), it will always send a "1" and afterwards a "0" onto the Group Address, so I will always have to push the button twice to start the sczene. Am I doing something wrong, or is this a bug?

What I don't understand in the "Guppen" (groups) setting menu, there is the possibility to say that groups are "abhängig von" (dependant on) - perhaps you could explain this to me? Is there a documentation which I couldn't find?

In addition, I didn't get the very meaning of "Kombiobjekt" (combined object) - and I didn't find any documentation for this. What is the meaning of it?

Best regards,

Stefan

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Re: Iphone app - Control not working!

2010-02-28T06:43:58Z

Page commented by Juha Lindfors

The N000401 has worked for others so should be ok.

For simple control of light on/off, you could try setting up the Boss controller and see if it works from there.

In reply to a comment by Bruno:

Anyone that can help me? What can I do to troubleshot? Could this be an issue with the ip gateway? I still find it very strange how come I can monitor everything and not control it....

What other applications/softwares can I use to connect to the ip gateway and control my home? I would like to give it a try and see if it works with others. This way I will know if this is something related with the iphone app or not...

Thanks

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Re: Iphone app - Control not working!

2010-02-28T00:54:48Z

Page commented by Bruno

Anyone that can help me? What can I do to troubleshot? Could this be an issue with the ip gateway? I still find it very strange how come I can monitor everything and not control it....

Thanks

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Re: Questions about controller install on Linux

2010-02-27T00:10:55Z

Page commented by Miche Arendall

Thanks, Juha. Yeah I'd already tried different browsers IE7, IE8, Safari.

I went back to basics and copied the Tomcat ROOT and examples over to the Linux box and found that I was getting errors with the Tomcat Manager app and any servlet example that I tried to load. Any of these gave an error "resource is not available" but interestingly I was able to load some of the JSP examples.

Checked the conf files but didn't find anything that would point to the problem. Finally I installed the full Tomcat 6.0.18 distribution and the Tomcat manager and servlet examples started working. I then deployed my controller.war file and uploaded the X10Test.xml with no problems.

I haven't had a chance to fully debug the cause of the original error. I tried installing the OpenRemote-Boss-1.0.2 files in different directories like / or /usr/local but had the same errors. I suspect that this might have something to do with a Catalina config or permissions issue.

Will keep you posted if I figure out what was causing the original error.

Regardless I'm up and running now.

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Re: Demo system

2010-02-26T02:48:49Z

Page commented by Juha Lindfors

I don't know of an ETS replacement that people use. Some people with more KNX experience may have more information.

As for the protocol, I haven't yet gone through the details of management primitives in the Common EMI frame so cannot say with certainty how feasible it is to write an ETS replacement (if it is, or isn't). I don't know of one (which would prove it can be done) but that doesn't mean it don't exist.

In reply to a comment by Johan Ekblad:

I'm a KNX newbie, but is this really true as you say "In case of KNX, there's no auto-detection (unfortunately). Devices are programmed with addresses per installation, using a proprietary ETS software, and you enter that address when you configure your device in the modeler."

If you buy new KNX hardware you need to use Windows and buy the ETS software to be able to program the address of your component? Can this not be done using a (open?) protocol through a gateway between your IP network and the KNX/EIB net?

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Re: Demo system

2010-02-25T23:37:54Z

Page commented by Johan Ekblad

In reply to a comment by Juha Lindfors:

How will OpenRemote detect my connected devices?

In case of KNX, there's no auto-detection (unfortunately). Devices are programmed with addresses per installation, using a proprietary ETS software, and you enter that address when you configure your device in the modeler.

Can I monitor/log the state of the light?

Monitoring components are coming in the 2.0 release, the priorities were discussed here: DEV - Current Work and Priorities

Where can I buy these hardware?

EIB Markt (http://www.eibmarkt.com) seems popular. I'm not sure how people deal with getting the ETS, you'll have to ask the KNX-heads.

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Re: Questions about controller install on Linux

2010-02-25T07:58:41Z

Page commented by Juha Lindfors

I don't think root user should be an issue.

The upload feature is a bit flakey though (for example doesn't seem to work with Chrome), so should make sure that you're not getting mislead by the error message even the files are getting correctly deployed on the controller. Sounds like you may have already checked this but just double checking on that.

I don't have other ideas at the moment. Let me know if you find any additional clues that could help tracking down the cause. I'll let you know if I can think of anything else to look at.

In reply to a comment by Miche Arendall:

I have been making sure to do a remountrw after reboot. Still working on getting the persistance working between boots.

I have changed the ACLs to r+w+x recursively on the OpenRemote-Boss-1.0.2 directory and checked that the /webapps/controller directory is indeed writeable but I still get the upload failed message.

I've installed everything as root and I'm also running the ./openremote.sh script as root user. When I was testing on my XP workstation I was logged in as a user with admin group permissions but not as administator. Do you think using root account has something do with it on the Voyage system?

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Re: Questions about controller install on Linux

2010-02-25T03:40:54Z

Page commented by Miche Arendall

I have been making sure to do a remountrw after reboot. Still working on getting the persistance working between boots.

I have changed the ACLs to r+w+x recursively on the OpenRemote-Boss-1.0.2 directory and checked that the /webapps/controller directory is indeed writeable but I still get the upload failed message.

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Re: Questions about controller install on Linux

2010-02-25T02:41:04Z

Page commented by Juha Lindfors

Since the installation worked for you on WinXP, my first hunch would be to look at the user permissions on your Voyage install.

Does your tomcat process have rw access to all files of the OR directory, especially under the /webapps?

Is the Voyage filesystem mounted in rw mode (remountrw) ?

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Re: Questions about controller install on Linux

2010-02-24T22:32:57Z

Page commented by Miche Arendall

Sorry. Just realized I should have posted this on the Users Forum. Will do so in the future.

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Questions about controller install on Linux

2010-02-24T22:23:10Z

Page added by Miche Arendall

Hi Guys,

I've been working with OR a couple of weeks now and this is my first post so consider me still a newbie.

I've successfully installed the OpenRemote-Boss-1.0.2 on my XP workstation for trying things out. I've also order my Alix3d3 board but is seems there is a backlog and long lead times in getting the parts so I decided to install Voyage Linux 0.5.2 live CD on a Geode based SBC I already have. It is based on AMD's SC2200 and is a bit slower but should work pretty well for this application.

Successfully built a generic image and have the board booting, installed Java SDK 6 update 11 and lirc-0.8.4a. I didn't find and detailed setup docs for OR on Linux so I installed the downloaded image to /opt/OpenRemote-Boss-1.0.2 on my voyage installation.

Set the following Environment variables in .bashrc for root:

export JRE_HOME=/opt/jdk1.6.0_11/jre
export PATH=$PATH:/opt/jdk1.6.0_11/bin

Tested Java install using java -version

Invoked OR controller using
cd /opt/OpenRemote-Boss-1.0.2/bin
./openremote.sh run

OR controller started up normally with no errors

From my XP workstation using IE7 http://10.87.86.181:8080/controller (IP address assigned to OR controller)

So the controller page is displayed normally and I browse to my panel ZIP file previously created using the on-line UI Composer.
The controller.xml only has a couple of simple X10 commands of address A1 On and Off.

When I try to upload the X10Test.zip I get "upload failed" but no other information from the console on the OR controller. I checked for some errors in the logs but nothing was logged to the any of the log files. So next I used WireShark to capture the packets over the local network. Looks like there is an error during the uploadForm.

10.87.86.129 -> 10.87.86.181
HTTP request

POST /controller/config.htm?method=uploadZip HTTP/1.1\r\n

10.87.86.181 -> 10.87.86.129
Error response from Tomcat 6.0.18 server

HTTP Status 404 - /controller/config.htm is not available

Is there some other configuration file to set a resource path on the linux platform?

Thanks in advance for any assistance you can offer.

Miche

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Re: Getting sensor data with iPhone interface

2010-02-24T13:35:12Z

Page commented by Juha Lindfors

X10, not quite yet. I first need to get X10 modules that work on 110V power to put that implementation in (or wait for other people with X10 to send patches).

In reply to a comment by Volki Tolki:

Great, can i test it with my X10 devices?

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Re: Getting sensor data with iPhone interface

2010-02-23T22:53:24Z

Page commented by Volki Tolki

Great, can i test it with my X10 devices?

In reply to a comment by Juha Lindfors:

The code for this is in subversion. I'm currently working on getting the first releases out.

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Re: any Idea on releasedate 2.0?

2010-02-23T10:20:04Z

Page commented by Juha Lindfors

Next month.

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any Idea on releasedate 2.0?

2010-02-22T22:54:33Z

Page added by Janmaarten Batstra

Dying to try out the new features of BOSS 2.0

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