Internet based operation

[cadillackid]

I too was the same about leaving a PC on 24/7.. well actually a second PC on 24/7 as i already have a Linux box running my website and firewall / router services. i originally wrote a little program that interfaced to my web server so I could control my heat / air remotely as I had just bought an RCS serial thermostat and travelled all over.. ten i found the pain of trying to communicate with a CM-11a myself.. i surfed the web , found homeseer and havent looked back. though ive been a little slow at learning the scripting , programming and such for it.. this board has been my life line.. code snippets, responses etc.. however if you are totally set on a non-pc solution.. there are all kinds of things i can think of... maybe an ocelot controller linked to a basic stamp controller with a built in web server.. you could do some with that.. but of course the web server doesnt support php or ASP. my Linux server has run for years with no trouble.. I do vacuum the heat sinks nowand then and have to change a fan every so often..

now im running my homeseer win XP box alongside which helps with my website as well and wooah ive got one heck of a powerful system with more to come
-christopher

[BrettS]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Larry Crowley:
It really surprises me that the HS software was not designed to download to either the CM-11 or the new Powerlinc interface but there must have been overriding reasons. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The reason for this, I believe, is the fact that the types of events you can download to a CM-11 (or the new powerlinc interface, AFAIK) is very limited. You can do time based events - at 8:00PM every day turn on the outside lights) and you can do macros - when A1 OFF is received then turn A2, A3, and A4 off and that's about it. Homeseer allows you to do so much more - you can say turn on the outside lights at 8:00PM every day if no one is home. Or when A1 OFF is recieved and no motion has been detected in the hall then turn off A2, A3 and A4. Or if A1 OFF is recieved and motion has been detected, then only turn off A2 and A3. Obviously these are kind of off the wall examples, but the issue is that because homeseer can provide so much functionality that downloaded events cannot then it's not likely that people would use the ability to download events even if it was available. You (and your family) will get used to what homeseer can do very quickly and you'll loose 90% of that if you turn your PC off and rely on the CM-11a

Homeseer is a very stable software package and particularly if you install it on a dedicated computer you should have no problems with it running for 6 months with no one having to touch it. You can also configure homeseer to start automatically when the PC starts, so if people are at home and the system fails for some reason you can simply instruct them to turn the computer off and then turn it on again. My homeseer system has been running for years without a crash and the only reboots it gets are every few weeks or few months when I update something or apply a microsoft patch. Leaving a Windows system running for 6 months can sometimes lead to problems, but you can also configure homeseer to automatically restart the server in the middle of the night periodically to clear things out. There are even hardware devices out there that can detect a software or hardware lockup and automatically restart the PC if necessary.

The other thing I wanted to mention is that it's my understanding that Homeseer doesn't support the Powerlinc controller that allows you to download events at all. It's not like the CM-11a where you can use it and just not download events - you simply can't use that controller at all. Homeseer does suppport the Powerlinc controller that you can't download events to, however.

In answer to your other question, you can use ActiveHome or the Plugin for homeseer to download events to the CM-11a and still use the CM-11a with homeseer, however, homeseer won't know about the events that are triggered by the CM-11a. You could still set up some sort of 'minimal' system on the CM-11a and also use HomeSeer. That way if the PC running homeseer did fail then you would still have the CM-11a to rely on. Unfortunatly, this probably won't work out as well as it initially sounds, again because of the limited functionality of the CM-11a's downloaded events. In my system, at least, most of what I would want for even a minimal configuration would be more than the CM-11a could handle.

HTH,
Brett

[LarCrow]

Christopher,
I think I'm begining to soften on having the PC on 24/7 if I can back it up with a minimum fallback schedule on a downloaded program on my CM-11 via Activehome software or a plugin to HS that several users have mentioned.
Larry

[LarCrow]

Brett,
I think this discussion has convinced me to go ahead and buy HS and maybe the plugin that allows me to download to the CM-11a. I have an old unused 133 Mz PC running Win 98 that I can dedicate to run HS. I also have a 450 Hz Pentium 3 that I could use as well although at this point I couldn't dedicate that one. All of these are linked to my router and cable modem so I'm all set in that area.
Larry

[Stevech]

I'd use the 450MHz P3. I have a 133MHz laptop which is just too doggy.

I ran XP on the P3 450Mhz. Not too bad if I don't try to surf the web using the bloated IE.

Win98 is too frustrating for me, reboot, reboot, reboot all the time.

[fireball]

From the HS website -

# 300Mhz or faster processor. Slower machines will run HomeSeer if voice recognition is not used.
# 64Mb of RAM Memory. 128Mb recommended for voice recognition.

I'd go with the 450 P3.

[HardwareHacker]

I like the CM unit sending a lights out signal at 8am each day.
If the PC has crashed or for some reason failed to switch off the garden flood lights.
They would stay on all day until something triggered them off the next night, running up the power bill.
I can’t get Active Home to run on XP so have to load 98 to do it
Can anyone suggest a better way please?

[cadillackid]

larry, you could also back up a PC with an ocelot controller. the programming of those are real easy to learn and they can handle some of your more critical events standalone. I even have mine set up to detect if my homeseer computer is dead via a script and a program in the ocelot, ifthe HS server is dead, it sends an X-10 command to the appliance module off, then 30 secnds later an On.. and reboots it.. my PSC05 is connected to the ocelot so ultimately the ocelot has control over the X10 interface.
-christopher

[outbackrob]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Larry Crowley:
Christopher,
I think I'm begining to soften on having the PC on 24/7 if I can back it up with a minimum fallback schedule on a downloaded program on my CM-11 via Activehome software or a plugin to HS that several users have mentioned.
Larry <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Larry, the plugin is loaded on the updater page. I think it is like $20? I am remote right now and cannot check it. I have the same thing set up now. I use HS 24/7/365, but I also have another CM11A that runs some of the very basic functions of the house. 9AM All lights off, evening/night security lighting, etc. (I uses IBM's version of Activehome to load it...)

As far as the machine. I started with a P1/75 with 80MB of mem. It ran a fairly busy HS fine (with no voice recognition..) as well as additional minimal IIS webpage and Winamp (with SeerAmp.) Once I started adding a lot more function and used HS to check email remotely, I bumped it up to a PIII/300 laptop with 256MB mem. If you don't add too many of the cool plug-ins and scripts, you should be able to get away with your 133 for a while. I can guarantee you that you will eventually build a machine dedicated to HS once you start to find all the things HS can do that you never thought you ever "needed." I'm building my 4th machine now.....

Rob

[LarCrow]

Christopher,
Thanks for the suggestion on using Ocelot. I hadn't ever heard of it until I started this discussion. I like the idea of sensing that the PC has died and getting an autoboot. I take it that the hardware has been around for some time as I would think a new product would offer a USB interface. But if I end up using my old 133 Mz PC to start with it only has the serial interface. I think I'll start with just the CM-11 but I'll keep the ocelot in mind.
Larry

[LarCrow]

Steven,
I think I'll start with the 133. I'm not interested in voice recognition or anything that takes a lot of bandwidth, at least initially. I think if I limit the use to just HS that should minimize any problems. If that doesn't work I can always use my 450 and then buy another PC for my other uses for which I'm overdue anyhow. Anymore I use my 1600 laptop for almost everything particularly when traveling.
Larry