HA (Home Automation) That's Gone But Not Forgotten

[macromark]

Could just be a temporary glitch but the Charmed Quark (CQC) website appears to be offline now: There's a thread on cocoontech discussing it here: https://cocoontech.com/threads/is-ch...rk-gone.33445/

[outbackrob]

Here's an oldie but goodie. HC2000! My first automation system. Tons of wires and use of each pin of the parallel port ( Yeah, you had to be really good at soldering!). I just checked and yes, I still have my original 386 machine still loaded with HC2000 on my shelf in the basement. I wonder if the machine/software is now a collectors item like one of the original Apple II's?? Hummm..

Yes, it's an Everex 386. Everex, one of the pre-Dell premier systems. I guess I'm just a pack-rat or just too lazy to clear out shelves of 'stuff'

OMG! I haven't seen one of those in DECADES! I sold a TON of IBM PS/2 Model 70's after one of these caught fire in a rack and took out a new fiber network. Had to be 1988? Maybe late 1987. Yeah, so 35ish years ago.... Wow. Don't feel bad. I recently came across an original PC XT and PC AT in my storage unit. ...along with several large boxes full of Micro Channel cards....

[macromark]

Zipato was acquired by Smartrent in 2020: https://seekingalpha.com/article/442...mparison-latch

Good Sleuthing! It appears that their "ZipaTile" hub is now branded as the SmartRent "Alloy Fusion" hub. Otherwise, I don't see anything else that survived the buyout. It's odd that the Zipato website still exists (and has signup forms) without any reference or press release regarding the acquisition though.

[Kevb]

Zipato was acquired by Smartrent in 2020: https://seekingalpha.com/article/442...mparison-latch

[macromark]

Looks like Zipato is no longer in operation as no products are available on their website and most are marked as "clearance" items in the HomeControls web catalog. We interacted briefly with these guys at CES years ago and tested some of their Z-Wave products for use with HS3. The copyright notice on the website extends through 2020 so I guess it's been a few years since they gave up.

[George]

So is that EVEREX 386 configured with an Extended Memory board or an Expanded Memory board?

Humm, good question. Next time I pull it out I'll have a look. Rather sure is was/is an ESDI hard drive. They were built like a tank!

[randy]

Yeah, but who needs more than 640k of memory?

[JimSpy]

So is that EVEREX 386 configured with an Extended Memory board or an Expanded Memory board?

I remember I finally learned the difference between those two right about the time it became ancient history....

[upstatemike]

So is that EVEREX 386 configured with an Extended Memory board or an Expanded Memory board?

[George]

Here's an oldie but goodie. HC2000! My first automation system. Tons of wires and use of each pin of the parallel port ( Yeah, you had to be really good at soldering!). I just checked and yes, I still have my original 386 machine still loaded with HC2000 on my shelf in the basement. I wonder if the machine/software is now a collectors item like one of the original Apple II's?? Hummm..

Yes, it's an Everex 386. Everex, one of the pre-Dell premier systems. I guess I'm just a pack-rat or just too lazy to clear out shelves of 'stuff'

[macromark]

smarthome.com is gone but
Insteon.com is back online

smarthome.com domain was apparently purchased by Control4.com as it redirects to that site now. That's honestly a huge blunder (IMO) as redirect domains are ignored by search engines. I remember doing searches on "smart home hubs", "smart home switches", etc... and always seeing smarthome.com pages show up on the first page of results. No more...

insteon.com was never offline but simply changed hands and is now back in business.

[drhtmal]

smarthome.com is gone but
Insteon.com is back online

Looks like Control 4 purchased the smarthome.com domain.

[mnsandler]

smarthome.com is gone but
Insteon.com is back online

[cadillackid]

Couple sites to add

hobby-boards. They use to make all kinds of neat 1-wire based products, hubs and such.. there’s a place holder site now there but updates for awhile.

RCS technology made some of the first remote controllable thermostats and zone controls.. really what lead me to homeseer in 2003 was an rcs plugin existed that I later updated to work with zone control.

they still show swabs stats on their site but not much info and the zone controls and original communicating stuff is long EOL

[macromark]

Dan (Electron) is the owner of the site so he's the one that would need to step in to fix things. I'm guessing he doesn't monitor the site anymore or maybe he just decided to shut it down? not sure.

Cocoontech had been updated now and has a more modern look and feel. Removed from the list! Hi Dan! electron