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    #61
    Originally posted by Gogs View Post
    What do you use the signs for?
    Gogs,

    Mine does the following:
    1. Continuously rotating date, time, outside temperature, and a message-of-the-day (more on that in a minute)
    2. Breaking news when it happens (text of the news from CNN)
    3. Caller ID on any incoming calls (name and number displayed on the sign)
    4. Periodic reminders of either of the garage door being open
    5. Hourly display of the CNN headlines
    6. Twice daily display of the weather forecast (morning for the current day, evening for the following day)
    The message-of-the-day (MOTD) has two different flavors:
    1. For any upcoming important dates in the next seven days (birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, etc.), it displays throughout the day what the event is and how many days away.
    2. If there are no upcoming important dates, the Word-of-the-day from Yahoo is displayed, along with its definition.
    I really didn't think the signs (I have two) would be much of a hit in our house. In fact, with a wife and two teenage daughters, I was pretty sure that they would just think it was nerdy and stupid. However, it turned out to be one of the biggest hits with them. My wife *REALLY* loves the caller ID display, and the important dates display has helped us not to forget sending a card to someone many times.

    Most of the things I listed that my sign does are performed by the scripts I included in the "Extras" with Snevl_bb, including instructions. I don't think I put the word-of-the-day in there, and I don't remember if I included the weather forecast stuff (it uses Blades weather.com plug-in).

    I've thought of rotating other stuff periodically. For someone using Jon00's email, I would guess it would be easy to display how many pending emails you have to read. I've also thought that it would be easy to trigger events via a stick-a-switch to display useful stuff out of device text that Homeseer already tracks. This could be things like new NetFlix releases, status of alarm systems, etc.

    Steve

    Comment


      #62
      Originally posted by stevea View Post
      I think so. I added "top", "middle", and "bottom" line controls, but I only have a BetaBrite and a 2-line model so I've never had a way to check three lines.

      Steve
      Steve,

      I got around to testing the "Top", "Middle" and "Bottom" functions and the Top function displays information on the 1st line, and Middle and Bottom both place the information on the middle line of the 3 line display. I cannot get anything to display on the 3rd line using any of the above positions.

      Judd

      Comment


        #63
        Originally posted by jpape View Post
        Steve,

        I got around to testing the "Top", "Middle" and "Bottom" functions and the Top function displays information on the 1st line, and Middle and Bottom both place the information on the middle line of the 3 line display. I cannot get anything to display on the 3rd line using any of the above positions.

        Judd
        Judd,

        Well, rats! Like I said, that part has never been tested. Given the way you described it, I can tell it would have worked fine on my 2-line sign!

        This shouldn't be hard to figure out. Let me look at it.

        Steve

        Comment


          #64
          Judd,

          I am not absolutely certain, but in looking at the Alpha protocol document, it says this:
          Code:
          [FONT=Helvetica-Condensed-Light][SIZE=2]
          [LEFT]20H - Middle Line — Text centered vertically.
          22H - Top Line — Text begins on the top line of the sign and the sign will
          use all its lines minus 1 in order to display the text. For example, a 6-line
          sign will allow a maximum of 5 lines (6 minus 1) for the Top Position. The
          Top/Bottom Line break will remain fixed until the next Middle or Fill position
          is specified.
          26H - Bottom Line — The starting position of the Bottom Line(s) immediately
          follows the last line of the Top Line. For example, a 6-line sign with 3 lines 
          of text associated with the Top Line would start the Bottom Line text on
          the 4th line of the sign.[/LEFT]
          [/SIZE][/FONT]
          Now, that is a little confusing, but it sounds as though "Middle" isn't really the middle line. It sounds like to address where on a multi-line display you display multiple lines, you only use TOP and BOTTOM. So to define stuff on a three line display you could asign two lines for the TOP (with a {newline} between them) and then assign a single line on the BOTTOM. Alternatively, you could assign a single line of text to the TOP, and then a {position=bottom} would start on your second line, so you could put two lines in with the BOTTOM message (with a {newline} between the part on the second line and the part on the third line).

          I realize that isn't very intuitive, but that seems to be what it is saying. In a way, it makes sense, as a six line sign would need some way to define the text on all six lines, and it sounds like the way they do it is really just use TOP and BOTTOM and let you split up the text in each across multiple lines.

          The protocol these signs use wasn't ever intended to be "consumer friendly". I think the idea is that someone would write an application that would force exactly the same behavious each time. Something like Snevl_bb (or LEDAM) that gives you full access to all the capabilities probably would hurt the head of the guys who wrote the protocol.

          Steve

          P.S. I did verify I'm sending the right codes for TOP, MIDDLE, and BOTTOM, and they are in the same position in the message. If it works for one, it would have to work for all. The only explanation I can think of is the one I provided here.

          Comment


            #65
            Originally posted by stevea View Post
            Judd,

            I am not absolutely certain, but in looking at the Alpha protocol document, it says this:
            Code:
            [FONT=Helvetica-Condensed-Light][SIZE=2]
            [LEFT]20H - Middle Line — Text centered vertically.
            22H - Top Line — Text begins on the top line of the sign and the sign will
            use all its lines minus 1 in order to display the text. For example, a 6-line
            sign will allow a maximum of 5 lines (6 minus 1) for the Top Position. The
            Top/Bottom Line break will remain fixed until the next Middle or Fill position
            is specified.
            26H - Bottom Line — The starting position of the Bottom Line(s) immediately
            follows the last line of the Top Line. For example, a 6-line sign with 3 lines 
            of text associated with the Top Line would start the Bottom Line text on
            the 4th line of the sign.[/LEFT]
            [/SIZE][/FONT]
            Now, that is a little confusing, but it sounds as though "Middle" isn't really the middle line. It sounds like to address where on a multi-line display you display multiple lines, you only use TOP and BOTTOM. So to define stuff on a three line display you could asign two lines for the TOP (with a {newline} between them) and then assign a single line on the BOTTOM. Alternatively, you could assign a single line of text to the TOP, and then a {position=bottom} would start on your second line, so you could put two lines in with the BOTTOM message (with a {newline} between the part on the second line and the part on the third line).

            I realize that isn't very intuitive, but that seems to be what it is saying. In a way, it makes sense, as a six line sign would need some way to define the text on all six lines, and it sounds like the way they do it is really just use TOP and BOTTOM and let you split up the text in each across multiple lines.

            The protocol these signs use wasn't ever intended to be "consumer friendly". I think the idea is that someone would write an application that would force exactly the same behavious each time. Something like Snevl_bb (or LEDAM) that gives you full access to all the capabilities probably would hurt the head of the guys who wrote the protocol.

            Steve

            P.S. I did verify I'm sending the right codes for TOP, MIDDLE, and BOTTOM, and they are in the same position in the message. If it works for one, it would have to work for all. The only explanation I can think of is the one I provided here.
            Steve, Thanks for the deep dive into the protocol, I think I read the above also. I will do some testing tonight and let you know how it goes.

            Thanks,
            Judd

            Comment


              #66
              Steve,

              When ever I initialize the script, I get the following in my log.

              5/28/2010 12:28:09 AM Event Event Trigger "snevl Startup"
              5/28/2010 12:28:09 AM Event Running script statement immediately: &hs.runex "Snevl_bb.vben","initialize",""
              5/28/2010 12:28:16 AM Snevl_bb Snevl BetaBrite package, version 1.1 (18-Feb-2010), by Steve Anderson.
              5/28/2010 12:28:16 AM Snevl_bb Sign 'Downstairs', COM2: COM Port Opened.
              5/28/2010 12:28:16 AM Snevl_bb For sign #1 (Downstairs), 9 message buffers and 8 strings were allocated (8882 bytes total)
              5/28/2010 12:28:16 AM Snevl_bb Querying status of sign #1 (Downstairs) ...
              5/28/2010 12:28:18 AM Error Snevl_bb - No response from sign #1! Is it connected?
              5/28/2010 12:28:18 AM Snevl_bb Snevl_bb Initialized.

              I'm able to send messages fine to the display once the script is initialized, just not sure why I get the error messahe.

              Judd

              Comment


                #67
                Judd,

                The serial query to the sign is a little hit-and-miss in terms of timing. What kind of serial interface do you have? I.e., motherboard, PCI card, USB-to-serial? If USB-to-serial, what brand? I don't know that this will tell me much, but I can poke around.

                I had originally thought about putting in some tunable paramters for the query, so that you could mess with it in your config until it worked consistently. However (as you have discovered), not being able to query the sign doesn't usually affect your ability to command it.

                Steve

                Comment


                  #68
                  Originally posted by jpape View Post
                  Steve,

                  When ever I initialize the script, I get the following in my log.

                  5/28/2010 12:28:09 AM Event Event Trigger "snevl Startup"
                  5/28/2010 12:28:09 AM Event Running script statement immediately: &hs.runex "Snevl_bb.vben","initialize",""
                  5/28/2010 12:28:16 AM Snevl_bb Snevl BetaBrite package, version 1.1 (18-Feb-2010), by Steve Anderson.
                  5/28/2010 12:28:16 AM Snevl_bb Sign 'Downstairs', COM2: COM Port Opened.
                  5/28/2010 12:28:16 AM Snevl_bb For sign #1 (Downstairs), 9 message buffers and 8 strings were allocated (8882 bytes total)
                  5/28/2010 12:28:16 AM Snevl_bb Querying status of sign #1 (Downstairs) ...
                  5/28/2010 12:28:18 AM Error Snevl_bb - No response from sign #1! Is it connected?
                  5/28/2010 12:28:18 AM Snevl_bb Snevl_bb Initialized.

                  I'm able to send messages fine to the display once the script is initialized, just not sure why I get the error messahe.

                  Judd
                  Judd,

                  I can open up how long the script will potentially wait. I don't *THINK* it will cause a problem for other people.

                  The protocol doesn't require any ACK on commands. So if you are seeing it work ok otherwise, it just means you can SEND stuff to the sign. The fact that you don't get any status back on the query could mean my timing is too strict, or it could mean that the receive on your serial port doesn't work.

                  Send me an email at snevl at msn dot com and I'll send you a test version which will wait longer.

                  Steve

                  Comment


                    #69
                    Originally posted by jpape View Post
                    Gogs,

                    I'm not sure if your question was directed at me, but I will give you my usage details..................
                    Judd,

                    It was not aimed directly at you, I could not think what people are using the signs for; until your reply that is.

                    Thanks, now you have got me thinking.
                    sigpic
                    A founder member of "The HA Pioneer Group" otherwise known as the "Old farts club!"

                    Comment


                      #70
                      Mine used to show the temperature of the kegerator, and let people send text messages to it during parties (That was a big hit). I also would display the music artist and track playing, as well as weather alerts.

                      Right now it's not showing anything.
                      Joe (zimmer62)

                      BLSecurtiy, AC-RF2, RCS Serial Thermostats, RFXCOM SMarthome SwitchLinc, mcsXap, Global Cache GC100, SqueezeBox, TWA_ONKYOINTEGRA, BLLogMonitor, BLPlugins, BLRadar, BLSpeech, BLZLog.aspx, HSTouch (Windows, iPhone, iPod), USB Mimo touchscreens, VMWare Server, Vortexbox, Windows Home Server, MyMovies, Windows Media Center, X10, ZWave, and much much much more.

                      Comment


                        #71
                        Originally posted by zimmer62 View Post
                        Right now it's not showing anything.
                        How come? Is it broken?

                        Comment


                          #72
                          I'm broken I don't have time to fix anything. When I lost a hard drive many many months ago, and even though I "thought" it was backed up, getting going again is never straight forward.
                          Joe (zimmer62)

                          BLSecurtiy, AC-RF2, RCS Serial Thermostats, RFXCOM SMarthome SwitchLinc, mcsXap, Global Cache GC100, SqueezeBox, TWA_ONKYOINTEGRA, BLLogMonitor, BLPlugins, BLRadar, BLSpeech, BLZLog.aspx, HSTouch (Windows, iPhone, iPod), USB Mimo touchscreens, VMWare Server, Vortexbox, Windows Home Server, MyMovies, Windows Media Center, X10, ZWave, and much much much more.

                          Comment


                            #73
                            Originally posted by zimmer62 View Post
                            Mine used to show the temperature of the kegerator, and let people send text messages to it during parties (That was a big hit). I also would display the music artist and track playing, as well as weather alerts.

                            Right now it's not showing anything.
                            how did you get the text messaging to work? mind sharing?

                            Comment


                              #74
                              Yeah, I'd like to hear the "how" of sending text messages to the sign as well.

                              I just wrote an AutoIt script that periodically checks my Hotmail account, sees how many unread emails I have, and then puts the result in a device string & value. I'm planning on adding that info to the normal rotation on my signs.

                              Steve

                              Comment


                                #75
                                I was using textmarks, and some scripts I wrote to handle those requests.. When someone texted my magic word to 41411 then a short message, their site would hit an aspx page on my site with the text message details in the request. I'd write that out to a config file, and update the sign's variables which in turn would display them on the next loop.

                                It was pretty cool, but I think I'll go the route of facebook and twitter feeds for my next big party. just mention "Joe's Party" in your tweet or facebook update!

                                I suppose I could get the texting going again, but I was always annoyed that people would get a confirmation text message back with some sort of ad in it.
                                Price you pay for free stuff I guess.
                                Joe (zimmer62)

                                BLSecurtiy, AC-RF2, RCS Serial Thermostats, RFXCOM SMarthome SwitchLinc, mcsXap, Global Cache GC100, SqueezeBox, TWA_ONKYOINTEGRA, BLLogMonitor, BLPlugins, BLRadar, BLSpeech, BLZLog.aspx, HSTouch (Windows, iPhone, iPod), USB Mimo touchscreens, VMWare Server, Vortexbox, Windows Home Server, MyMovies, Windows Media Center, X10, ZWave, and much much much more.

                                Comment

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