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    I/We need more information on this plugin

    I/We need more information on this plugin.

    What computer interfaces will it work with?
    Can I still use my PowerLinc USB for X10 and a new Interface as the Insteon controller?
    What device type do I define my Insteon switches as in HS?
    If I have given my Insteon an X10 address will it communicate with both the X10 Plugin/Interface as well as the Insteon Plugin/Interface?
    What do I gain when using Insteon only?

    I guess a FAQ would be a nice sticky thread here.
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    #2
    Originally posted by Rupp
    Can I still use my PowerLinc USB for X10 and a new Interface as the Insteon controller?
    I don't see why not. Just disable the X10 portion for the 2414U in the setup page, and enable it for the PowerLinc USB. HS will use the 2414U for INSTEON, and the PowerLinc USB for X10.

    Originally posted by Rupp
    What device type do I define my Insteon switches as in HS?
    Right now, it's a little odd. INSTEON devices aren't given a device type that you can see or modify. You add an INSTEON device in the INSTEON plug-in.

    You'll need to define each INSTEON device twice... Once for INSTEON control, and once for X10 control. The X10 portion you do as a normal device. For INSTEON control you add the device as I mentioned above - through the INSTEON plug-in.

    Long-term, it would be nice if the INSTEON device was only listed once, and that HS would report both the X10 and INSTEON addresses in the Code column. For example: A1 / 00.00.00. Right now, HS doesn't list the INSTEON device code correctly at all.

    Of course, if the device was listed once, with two protocols available, HS would need to be told which protocol to use for sending and receiving. I don't think you'd want both an X10 and INSTEON command going out in sequence.

    Eric

    Comment


      #3
      For all of that HS would have to support Insteon natively. I don't think that is going to happen as there are lots of new protocols and they can't all be shoehorned into the app with protocol specific code without breaking the app all the time. The Insteon address doesn't mean anything anyway, so it isn't any better (and in fact it is worse) than a plug-in address.

      Jon


      Originally posted by ehill99
      I don't see why not. Just disable the X10 portion for the 2414U in the setup page, and enable it for the PowerLinc USB. HS will use the 2414U for INSTEON, and the PowerLinc USB for X10.

      Right now, it's a little odd. INSTEON devices aren't given a device type that you can see or modify. You add an INSTEON device in the INSTEON plug-in.

      You'll need to define each INSTEON device twice... Once for INSTEON control, and once for X10 control. The X10 portion you do as a normal device. For INSTEON control you add the device as I mentioned above - through the INSTEON plug-in.

      Long-term, it would be nice if the INSTEON device was only listed once, and that HS would report both the X10 and INSTEON addresses in the Code column. For example: A1 / 00.00.00. Right now, HS doesn't list the INSTEON device code correctly at all.

      Of course, if the device was listed once, with two protocols available, HS would need to be told which protocol to use for sending and receiving. I don't think you'd want both an X10 and INSTEON command going out in sequence.

      Eric
      Jon Ort
      JonOrt@The--Orts.com
      (Remove the dashes in the address, spam is getting out of hand)

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by Oman
        For all of that HS would have to support Insteon natively. I don't think that is going to happen as there are lots of new protocols and they can't all be shoehorned into the app with protocol specific code without breaking the app all the time.
        Long-term, the market will make those decisions easy.

        Originally posted by Oman
        The Insteon address doesn't mean anything anyway
        Knowing and keeping track of the addresses is valuable.

        To add an INSTEON device to HS, it's required.

        Also, the master-slave relationships between units is based upon the INSTEON address. For example, the 2414U can be queried to determine if a device is in its database, and what the relationship is.

        You can get all that information from the INSTEON plug-in, so it isn't a big deal. It's just that the Code looks odd on the Status page of HS.

        Eric

        Comment


          #5
          The approach I took was to pretend that Insteon devices were ordinary X10 devices, with standard X10 house and device codes. My plugin registers itself as an X10 plugin, replacing (e.g.) the CM11 plugin. The "secret sauce" is that I look at the User Note field in the standard HS device structure, and if it contains an Insteon address (in the form "@xx.yy.zz"), I send out Insteon commands and process Insteon responses for that device. If the Insteon address isn't there, I treat it as an ordinary X10 device. There are (obviously) some Insteon capabilities that this model doesn't support, but it covers all the basics - On/Off/Bright/Dim/Direct Dim/Get Status.

          It works for me.

          - Dennis Brothers

          Comment


            #6
            Dennis,
            Where was your plugin posted?
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            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by Rupp
              Dennis,
              Where was your plugin posted?
              As I said in another thread, as soon as I offered to post my plugin, Jon announced the imminent availability of the official HS beta plugin, so I elected not to post mine so as to not confuse things. Conspiracy theorists, have at it

              I'll quote here something I posted in another thread, which explains how easy it was to bang out an Insteon plugin in a few hours:

              "The approach I took was to pretend that Insteon devices were ordinary X10 devices, with standard X10 house and device codes. My plugin registers itself as an X10 plugin, replacing (e.g.) the CM11 plugin. The "secret sauce" is that I look at the User Note field in the standard HS device structure, and if it contains an Insteon address (in the form "@xx.yy.zz"), I send out Insteon commands and process Insteon responses for that device. If the Insteon address isn't there, I treat it as an ordinary X10 device. There are (obviously) some Insteon capabilities that this model doesn't support, but it covers all the basics - On/Off/Bright/Dim/Direct Dim/Get Status."

              As I said elsewhere, I haven't looked at Jon's yet, but I'd guess it offers most of the capabilities of mine. Since Jon is directly plugged into HST (I had to reverse-engineer a s**tload of stuff), I assume that in the long run, he'll be able to do stuff that I won't be able to do.

              I have solved some of the gnarly linking problems; I've got to figure out whether there's any benefit to the community to posting my non-blessed plugin, or whether I should try to extract the linking stuff into something sort of standalone, independent of the officiial plugin.

              Bear in mind that what I've done so far has been a few hours of work aimed solely at making my house work right - my serious Insteon development is in completely other areas.

              - Dennis Brothers

              Comment


                #8
                I don't think that HST would mind at all if you wanted to post what you have. They clearly benefit from an active developer community. HST has been burned by relying on developers that come and go for core support so they wanted a very basic plug-in that they would own and control. That's what I did for them as soon as the computer interface and SDM software were stable enough to put out. We actually got engineering samples quite some months ago. With everything else that is going on and the commitments that SmartHome has made about creating stand-alone link management software I don't think that HST will want to come out with a more functional plug-in for a while, at least until SmartHome does or doesn't do any additional software support.

                The plug-in I did is an X10 and IO support module. It does not use standard X10 addresses for the devices, instead you add the devices into the plug-in's setup.

                The SDM is pretty good at setting up links in the PIM and the remote units but it still has problems with link removal. Link corruption is the #1 reason for unit failures right now according to SmartHome. Homefully another couple of months down the road this whole thing will smooth out.

                Jon


                Originally posted by brothers
                As I said in another thread, as soon as I offered to post my plugin, Jon announced the imminent availability of the official HS beta plugin, so I elected not to post mine so as to not confuse things. Conspiracy theorists, have at it

                I'll quote here something I posted in another thread, which explains how easy it was to bang out an Insteon plugin in a few hours:

                "The approach I took was to pretend that Insteon devices were ordinary X10 devices, with standard X10 house and device codes. My plugin registers itself as an X10 plugin, replacing (e.g.) the CM11 plugin. The "secret sauce" is that I look at the User Note field in the standard HS device structure, and if it contains an Insteon address (in the form "@xx.yy.zz"), I send out Insteon commands and process Insteon responses for that device. If the Insteon address isn't there, I treat it as an ordinary X10 device. There are (obviously) some Insteon capabilities that this model doesn't support, but it covers all the basics - On/Off/Bright/Dim/Direct Dim/Get Status."

                As I said elsewhere, I haven't looked at Jon's yet, but I'd guess it offers most of the capabilities of mine. Since Jon is directly plugged into HST (I had to reverse-engineer a s**tload of stuff), I assume that in the long run, he'll be able to do stuff that I won't be able to do.

                I have solved some of the gnarly linking problems; I've got to figure out whether there's any benefit to the community to posting my non-blessed plugin, or whether I should try to extract the linking stuff into something sort of standalone, independent of the officiial plugin.

                Bear in mind that what I've done so far has been a few hours of work aimed solely at making my house work right - my serious Insteon development is in completely other areas.

                - Dennis Brothers
                Jon Ort
                JonOrt@The--Orts.com
                (Remove the dashes in the address, spam is getting out of hand)

                Comment

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