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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'>Hi,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'>I’m currently working on MythRecipe and a few folks were curious
about my home brew “home automation system”. Below is some
information about it.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'>Initially I used MisterHouse, but I found that Perl does not handle
thread management every well. I needed to communicate with serial ports
quickly, 5 times a second, and MisterHouse does not do that well. <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Jakarta</st1:City></st1:place>, does this much
better, plus it has a great web server built in. So, I built a system that
controls a lawn sprinkler, alarm system, sound system (output only), HVAC
(8 zones), door bell, mailbox. <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jakarta</st1:place></st1:City>
runs a numbers of threads which monitors the alarm, HVAC, etc. This worked well,
but for light control I was using X10. <br>
<br>
X10 does not work well because there is a lot of interference in the power line
wires. Many times the lights would not come on correctly. So I research a bit,
and found that a Crestron light control system, while expensive, work fine for
me. Plus it provides control for keypads. The <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Jakarta</st1:place></st1:City> is the master in the system, while
the Crestron unit responds to light command. Its used TCP/UDP/IP between the
crestron and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Jakarta</st1:City></st1:place>.
While the Crestron unit can provide a web server, it is limited and the touch
panels are very expensive (>$2000) each. So, <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Jakarta</st1:place></st1:City> serves the web pages which are built
to be touch controllable. Its just standard HTML, javascript, and JSP stuff. <br>
<br>
My home automation system consists of the following: <br>
<br>
- A crestron central light controller which manages lights and keypads in every
room. <br>
- A <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">jakarta</st1:place></st1:City> web
server, which handles the sprinkler system, alarm system, HVAC, sound output,
doorbell, and mailbox. Most of this is controlled thru relays, digital inputs,
and analog inputs via the serial port on a PC. The same PC which runs the <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">jakarta</st1:place></st1:City> web server. <br>
<br>
I have partly merged MythTV and the home automation system in the web page
interface only. The interface to the home automation system has
always been a web page. So on the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Jakarta</st1:City></st1:place>
web server, I added mythweb (php) which runs on apache. Apache handles
myth php stuff, <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">jakarta</st1:place></st1:City>
handles java stuff (home automation). <br>
<br>
This took a huge amount of work, running wires, installing relays and
controllers. It also cost a bit, mostly the Crestron stuff, although I bought a
lot of it thru Ebay. To program the Crestron stuff you have to know how to
program it. I did this is a previous job for 6 months. This type of
work does NOT pay well.<br>
<br>
The work is on going and is customized for my system and thats while I did/do not
actively advertise it. This is not as easy as MythTV, and MythTV is not really
that easy, yet. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'>It would be great to integrate some home automation stuff into mythtv.
However, we need to find some inexpensive HW that works well and does not take
a PhD to setup/install. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'>Regards,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'>Kevin<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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