STV Import: HAL Home Automation

[DFA]

OK. Ripped out .NET 2.0 and installed 1.1. HALiTS installed w/o complaint. Sage is now able to link with HAL. Just have no end devices yet for any control!

Now in the process of deciding on alarm panel for my pre-wired home and getting some Insteon switches.

DFA

[Bohica]

Very cool. You know that if you installed HAL in line to your phone line, that calls in and out as well as callerID will still work. Let me know if you see any bugs...

Caio...

<T>

[DFA]

Bohica:

Any chance of updating HALiTS to install and run on .NET Framework 2.0?

I am making progress. Have purchased and am installing ELK Gold w/ Insteon support (complete package from SmartHome). Also got a few Insteon dimmers to start out with.

The reason I ask about .NET 2.0 is because the ElkRM interface software requires .NET 2.0! In the end, I would like to have installed on my machine just the latest and single version of .NET.

Well, got to get back to terminating the 30 some odd cables to the alarm panel. Should finish the panel install by weekend.

EDIT: Since .NET 2.0 is supposed to be downward compatable and run apps. developed under .NET 1.1, it may just be an MSI installer issue. I noticed setup.ini referenced 1.1. The installer refused to install HALiTS when I had only .NET 2.0 installed but that does not mean that HALiTS would not acutally run under 2.0.

DFA

[gplasky]

Not an installer issue. The majority of .NET programs written for .NET 1.1 have to be rewritten/recompiled to run under .NET 2.0. As an example of changes made between 1.1 and 2. you can check out this Help file: .NET 11 to 2.0 changes
Some APIs and commands were changed/removed. MS recommended to Developers to test their app. If it was written for 1.1 and all you have is 2.0 installed it will try to run it. If an app was written for 1.1 and you have both 1.1 and 2.0 installed it will run against 1.1. Having both installed is not an issue and you'll probabaly need to do it until developers rewrite their app for .NET 2.0. Here's a quote from a .NET developer:

I was over in the Devlab - Compatibility Testing at the end of March, we found some breaking changes, and had an awesome time, met up with Jesse and Rob and others

they are a great bunch of people, if any of you out there have any .net 1.1 apps, sign up for compatibility testing as detailed in the video. You wont regret it and you'll come away with a lot more knowledge and appreciation of the work involved in Backwards and Forwards compatibility and the wide variety of breaking changes.

Gerry

[foolio]

DFA: which alarm panel are you using? Is it easy to program? Does it support remote monitoring via a central office?

thanks

[DFA]

Yes, ELK (ELK M1 Gold w/ Insteon support is the one I just bought from SmartHome) supports the main monitoring protocol and a couple of lesser used ones. It seems to have reasonable automation capabilities and an intuitive software interface. A lot of options and lighting protocol versions, Insteon being one of them; one of the reasons for my choice. Also has an ethernet option. I was looking closely at the Omni IIe but does not yet support Insteon (I think) and could not find out when and if it will since no one at HAI would answer the phone or return my voice mail messages. I have talked to live people at ELK two times; knowledgable and helpful. Omni had higher price as well but beautiful keypad options that won't quit.

ELK is also one of a number of alarm panels that will interface with HAL. Still in installation stage so can't really say more than what the book says.

DFA

[DFA]

Gplasky:

I don't know much about .NET. My only reference of recent reading is here.

I format my main drive as C:, D:, E:, F:, and G:. C: is for OS only, D: is for Apps and E: is for files generated by those Apps. The directory structure of E: mirrors D:. C:, D:, and E: are formatted FAT16 and limited to 2 GB partition. F: and G: are large NTFS partitions for audio (MP3) and photos. H: drive is a pair of 250 GB HDD's in SATA Raid 0 striped set primarily for Sage video files.

I have reason to maintain FAT16 for the OS partition and is just fine as long as I don't have to start dropping a bunch of .NET versions in. As it is, I have eliminated DLL cache and file protection and silly stuff like OOBE and such. (no "Program Files" folder exists on my machines; everything is rearranged and structured to suit). Hence, I don't have a bunch of real estate to give out to the "flavor of the week" .NET.

It is understood that a 1.1 app may or may not run on 2.0. But if the installer won't put it in, one can't find out as is the case for HALiTS. On the other hand, the installer for the ElkRM interface software installs even if no .NET is installed at all. Won't run ofcourse until .NET 2.0 is actually installed. Point being that the installer configuration for HALiTS is not going to give it a chance.

As of late, I just now have these 2 very small apps that require .NET. Just trying to avoid installing double the Megs just to run them. Not very efficient even if not tight on space.

DFA

[gplasky]

My first thought would be the installer is enforcing that BECAUSE it won't work with .NET 2.0. I guess you could install 1.1 to get through the install and then uninstall .NET 1.1 and see if the app works. You would just need about 50 MB for both .NET.

FAT16? Not even FAT32? yuck. That can't be good.

Gerry

[geogecko]

Does HAL 2000 control Insteon devices?

I noticed gorr said that there is beta support for it, but how do you get the beta, is that a different download? Does HAL support the Insteon USB controller?

[DFA]

HAL has basic Insteon support in beta 3.6.6. As I understand it, HAL supports the Insteaon USB interface 2414U and only that.

Contact Greg at HAL for beta download.

DFA

[geogecko]

Thank you. Does the support appear to be any good? Have you used it?

I was thinking of getting Insteon stuff, after reading comparisons between it, X10 and UPB. Hopefully, I'll get something setup soon, so I can use this import.

[DFA]

Just getting started. Just finishing installing new ELK alarm box w/ Insteon support in pre-wired home. Have bought 2 Insteon "Icon" dimmers to start but have not yet installed. Insteon also requires a pair of RF boosters / phase x-over things as well. But at $20.00 / dimmer for Icon, hard to beat and technology (performance) is on par with alternatives (UPB, etc.).

Greg at HAL is responsive. However, software updates, fixes and developement seems slow from what I can tell with what little time I have spent at their site.

I don't yet know enough about any of it to say much. Just hope I'm making the right choices.

DFA

[geogecko]

I was thinking of going with that starter kit, the one with the two dimmer switches, two RF boosters/thingamajigs, and in-wall keypad/dimmer. Not a bad price.

I haven't bought the software yet, just kind of researching right now.

About the software updates, I got that same impression. There is a thread over on the HAL web site, about Insteon support, and it started back in 2003? Why it's taking this long, I don't know, other than I read something about SmartHome dropping the ball or something, since they were developing the technology...

[Homebuilder]

Looks like a great addition to SageTv!

I am looking at getting HAL, either the ELK or Omni II alarm, thermostat controls, and home video monitoring as well as voice control.

What I am curious about is CPU and RAM power needed to run and if it will overwhelm a sage box?

How do you suggest hooking it all up?

For sage control of HAL, do they need to be on the same box? Can they be on seperate networked computers and still have SAGE control?

How much CPU power does HAL take? Does it crash much?

For the video inputs for home security, do they need to be on the HAL box? can they be on another networked computer?

Any info is appreciated!

[wrb6]

Everything works except HALits. Everytime I try to load it on the hal server it has an exception and stops. Tried to get it to work with nothing else running and same thing happens. Says exception could not be handled and gives a process and thread ID. Anything I can do to make it go???


I also love HAL and Sage. Thanks for your hard work.

[Homebuilder]

Hi,

I am seriously looking into doing HA, looked into HAL, seems pretty good but another person was telling me that CQC (charmed quark) is much better and more stable and more customizable.

Anyone have experience with both? any reccomendation on which way to go?

[Bohica]

Originally Posted by wrb6

Everything works except HALits. Everytime I try to load it on the hal server it has an exception and stops. Tried to get it to work with nothing else running and same thing happens. Says exception could not be handled and gives a process and thread ID. Anything I can do to make it go???


I also love HAL and Sage. Thanks for your hard work.

What does the exception state? What is the message...

[wrb6]

Hi,

It says:

Application has generated and exception that could not be handled.

Process ID= 0xcb9(3256), Thread id = 0xba0 (29760).

I installed .net 1.1 and 1.1 SP before trying it out.

Thanks for your help and for all of your hard work. The integration looks beautiful.

Bill

[steingra]

Hello

WOW!!!! This plugin looks great. It is going to take me some time to read up on all of this. I tried out X10 technology a long time ago. Never did much more than control some lights. But I always remained interested in the ideas of controlling a lot more with it. Well I love SageTV, and now seeing this HAL is awesome.

Can you outline what steps I should take to get started in this technology? And list any useful URL's you can think of. I didnt see many URL's listed in this thread. Maybe I overlooked them?

At first I would just like to replace light switches, and eventually would like control over the thermostat too.

I know this might not be the place to ask, but if you happen to know, that would be great to find out for sure: I thought I remember there were *issues* with using X10 on different power circuits in the home? So I could only control devices that were basically all hooked up to the same wires going back to one circuit on the main fuse box.

Is that still true? I never got far enough into it, to know how to overcome the problem. But I seem to remember that was an issue. Im just curious about that.

Now my interest is peaked in doing this home automation project again coool!!! I just need a decent roadmap to follow

Thanks for any advice.

[Jester]

I can't seem to get the port and server IP address working. How do I identify these settings for my Sage server? or are the settings listed in HAL?

This is the only piece I am missing to get this mod running

Thanks