chris.com

I do not disagree. My point is that the Java app is a significant barrier for many people. Not people like us, but to people like my friend Warren for example. He loves tricking out his home and he's got lots of disposable income. He's jealous of all of the home automation I've got running with eisy/insteon/etc and would gladly shell out thousands of dollars to do it at his house. But when I showed him the app, he started asking questions. I'm paraphrasing, but the conversation went something like this. "When you start the app, why do you have to do that thing with the IoX Finder?" "Not 100% sure. I think that if you have multiple eisys, you can pick which one to launch the Java app with." "What's Java?" "Java is a runtime that you have to install on your computer in order to be able to run the eisy app." "Runtime?" "Yeah... it's kind of like an interpreter. A developer can write just one base of code and the then the runtime for that operating system allows that single code base to run." "Why is that necessary?" "Because when they developed the interface, Java was probably the most economical way to get it running on any platform." "So it'll run on anything? Do you install Java on your iPad in order to run the app?" "No. The Java runtime isn't a thing on iOS. iOS doesn't really do 'runtimes.'" "So what if I want to use my iPad?" "You can; there's an app you can download for your iPad, but it doesn't do everything the Java app does." "Why not?" "I'm guessing it's partly because it's still being developed, but probably partly because of some inherent limitations of mobile apps." "So in order to do everything that I might want to do, I HAVE to have a regular computer." "Right." "My computer was issued to me by my job. They probably wouldn't like me installing all that on there." "I suspect that's true." "My wife has a Mac. I could install it on there, but then I'd have to borrow her computer every time I wanted to make programs and do stuff." "Yeah." "Yeah... I'm out." If Universal Devices could create an experience where my friend Warren and people like him could just buy it, get on board, and get a few things working quickly and easily, they would have a whole new market. To use a pool analogy, the deep end is great for us nerds, but people are intimidated by jumping into the deep end. There needs to be a kiddie pool and and a shallow end so that people will be encouraged to get in the pool in the first place and then work their way to the deep end. I think the Java app is part of what makes the eisy platform a bridge too far for many people.

Agreed. I use Ubiquiti Unifi routers, switches, and WAPs. Their web interface is a beautiful example of eisy's potential. I hope they are eventually able to deliver a similar experience. Putting a bullet through the java app will no doubt be a game changer for existing users. But I suspect it will be a game changer for Universal Devices as a company, making the platform far more accessible to many more customers. I also hope that the journey to feature parity doesn't drag on for years. (See Google Voice.) Fingers crossed. 🤞

There's some very exciting and welcome news in this announcement! I am confused on one thing: it mentions OS 14.1. Are we going from version 5.8.4 to 14.1? That would be quite a jump. Or is 14.1 some other operating system component I'm not clued into?

All of the devices appear to have status on the home tab. I suppose it's possible for status to be temporarily lost for some reason. In my case, I don't know why that would be the case. What you're saying definitely makes sense; toggling would certainly require status. In any case, it's not a show stopper and it's fairly easy to solve. Easier now that I understand the logic behind it. Thank you @Javi!

My favorites tiles all have a horizontal white line that separates the icon from the name of the device. If I tap on the icon, it turns that device on/off. If I tap on the name, it invokes that device's dashboard. I've noticed that when an item first gets added to Favorites, it doesn't have a white line separating the icon portion of the favorites tile from the title. (See attachment.) When this is the case, clicking on any portion of the tile calls up that devices dashboard. There is no option to turn the device on/off directly from the favorites tile. Not until that device's dashboard is used to turn the device on or off for the first time does the favorites tile get divided with the horizontal line. Once it has the line, clicking on the icon turns the device on/off and clicking on the name invokes the device dashboard. Anyway... it took some twiddling to figure that out. Not sure if that's the intended behavior, but it was a bit confusing to me and perhaps it may be to others.

@Ross Thank you for your post. I'm experiencing the same thing you are with the moon phase being a bit off from what I think it should be. Suppose we assume that the moon phase value in the plugin denotes the number of days since the last new moon. According to Wikipedia, a synodic month can be as short as 29.27 days and as long as 29.83 days, with the average being 29.53059 days. So let's just pretend that it's 29.53059 days every time. Right now, my plugin says the moon phase is 19.71. Would it be reasonable to calculate the moon's percentage of fullness this way? Moon Phase Value in Sun Polyglot plugin x 100 ÷ 29.53 or.... 19.71 x 100 ÷ 29.53 = 66.74568236% Timeanddate.com calculates the moon percentage in my location at 62.3%. However, nineplanets.org says it should be 69.34%. Sky-tonight says 61.4%. Not sure who to believe. I'm not entirely certain that this moon phase value really is the exact number of days since the last new moon. According to this post, the plugin calculates its values using Astral. And according to Astral's documentation: Not sure how Astral decided that 27.99 would be the number. That's definitely not a synodic month. Are they using a sidereal month? According to Wikipedia, a sidereal month is 27.321661 days. That's close to 27.99, but not quite. Maybe they rounding up? Not sure. But let's try the calculation again: 19.71 x 100 ÷ 27.99 = 70.41800643% That's off from timeanddate.com's 62.3% calculation by an even greater amount, but closer to nineplanets.org's 69.34%. And then there's this in Astral's documentation: If I'm understanding that correctly, it doesn't take your location into account when calculating moon phase. Of course your location does affect when the moon rises and sets. But, from what I've read, your location shouldn't make a noticeable difference in how full the moon looks. It can affect its orientation and its position relative to other stars however. FWIW, in my opinion the moon phase being expressed in this way (a not-quite-accurate sidereal month) is probably the least useful way I can think of. I would prefer the addition of the following values: Percentage Full: 0 - 100 Waning or Waxing: 0 or 1 Next full moon date & time Next new moon date & time Last full moon date & time Last new moon date & time Eisy allows us to schedule events based on sunrise and sunset. It would be nice if we could also include moonrise and moonset as well. (This does require latitude and longitude to calculate.) Of course, in order for this to come to fruition, Astral would have to be updated to produce these values, and/or the Sun polyglot plugin would need to find a different way of procuring and calculating the data. I guess to be fair to the authors of the plugin, it is called "Sun" and not "Sun and Moon."

@TUhl01 Upon visiting the aforementioned URL to see what udx verion I was running, I discovered an interesting result: ************ UDX ************ udx-3.5.6 Name : udx Version : 3.5.6 Installed on : Sun Mar 17 07:07:29 2024 PDT Version 3.5.6 was installed on Sunday morning at 7:07:29. That's interesting since I was asleep at that time. Also, 3.5.6 seems to exceed the "3.5.5_6" version mentioned as a requirement. In @Michel Kohanim's post he also says this version must be installed before installing the plugins. Not sure if I was on 3.5.6 before attempting to install the plugins. Perhaps I shall uninstall them and reinstall them and see what happens.

I attempted to use an Amazon Echo Show. After a dozen failed attempts to get it to pair, it finally did. Not sure what I did differently. While it was working, sounds were glitched and sometimes had static. Other times, sounds were cut off at the end. It quit working spontaneously and I couldn't get it to work after that. The announcement I received via e-mail only mentions needing eisy firmware 5.8.0 and above, however it sounds like it may not actually be fully baked quite yet... In this announcement for AudioPlayer Version 1.1.0 - Professional, @Michel Kohanim mentions the following:

The two main ones we use in our household are: "The garage door is opening." "Front door" (There's motion activity at the front door. It's nice to know exactly when those packages get dropped off or if someone is approaching.) I can think of several more.... If it's after a certain time in the evening, alert you that your front door is unlocked. "Back door" (possibly modify the wording) Announce motion sensor activity at any point of ingress or egress. Using the geo fence feature on UD Mobile, you could announce when certain family members are leaving or arriving. "It's after midnight and your teenage daughter's bedroom window has opened." The possibilities are endless. Of course, everyone will have their limits on how much they want to listen to a speaker squawk stuff at them.

The Polyglot v3 Bluetooth node is new and there isn't yet a section for Bluetooth in "Polyglot v3 (PG3)." Can we get one added?

Thank you @garybixler. That does give me somewhere to start. Much appreciated! 🙏

Thank you very much for the help. I think I'm more clueless that you might realize. Some questions: 1. Where can the audio player config page be found? In the Polyglot dashboard, in the UD Administrative console, or somewhere else? 2. "It should show up on the play list." Where is the play list found? 3. I'm seeing that MP3 files can be played. Where are these files stored and how does one transfer these files to that storage area?

I was delighted to learn about the Audio and Bluetooth plugins. I have numerous events I would like the eisy to announce. I have installed the Polyglot 3x plugins and started poking around and found myself wondering what to do next. Sorry for being a bit dense. Is there some kind of tutorial or step-by-step guide on setting up and configuring audio and bluetooth and making an announcement happen? I looked and looked but couldn't find anything.

What would be even more useful to me would be to have a small palette (maybe ten) of my chosen colors. I actually don't mind using the existing hex system to define what those colors are since I'll probably only have to do that once. Once I have chosen the colors I want, I would like to be able to easily select them from my favorites palette when necessary. Thanks again @Javi for all your hard work on the app. It has passed the "wife test" for usability which is a very high bar. Congratulations.

Thank you, @paulbates. This was a very educational read. 👍