joefly Posted March 3, 2009 Posted March 3, 2009 HI guys, you comments are valid. There are many PC native media control applications available and ISY should be focused on home control. By no means, i meant that ISY should focus on this. I was simply asking out of curiosity if it is possible for my own information to see where the future possibilities may go..potentially outside developers to sell plugins that extends the capabilities of the ISY. Or maybe as my future project to learn how to program an interface between ISY and a pc. What leads me to this is that I have a network storage with all my music on it. But have not invested in a media server as a flexible and inexpensive platform have not emerged. So I am thinking of using one of my numerous old PC as the media server. Wondering if anyone have develop something like this already that is willing to share or is available for sale. Again, agreed that UDI should continue to develop the ISY to focus on home control. Keep up the great work UDI
Scottmichaelj Posted March 5, 2009 Posted March 5, 2009 What leads me to this is that I have a network storage with all my music on it. But have not invested in a media server as a flexible and inexpensive platform have not emerged. So I am thinking of using one of my numerous old PC as the media server. Wondering if anyone have develop something like this already that is willing to share or is available for sale. Joefly - Many of us have now have home servers with our videos and music. Personally I have a media pc in my living room, theater room and bedroom. All my "media" sits on the home server in a closet. From there my "end unit" (PC) has each folder mapped to the specific videos or music stored on the server. I use Vista Media Center as my software as it has a ton of plugins that are mature and available for free. Mymovies is one of those "can not live without" plugings that are free and you can use with VMC. Plus if you have a wife or kids it is important to keep it user friendly so they can use this stuff. Then you could also ditch you separate bluray and dvd players. You can use a XBox 360 to do the same thing and they are cheap - what $200? I just built another new HTPC for under $500 - with onborad Nvidia 9400 HDMI that only has 1 fan in it for the CPU keeping it almost at 0db. So to correct you, there is already inexpensive options available that are here, you just need to look around more and do some research. I have a Pronto TSU9600 for my theater room, then to other Pronto TSU9400s in the other 2 rooms, since I didnt need another full blown 9600 in my bedroom or living room. On my prontos I have a macro button (also many logitechs will allow you to do this) that when I hit "watch TV" it turns my TV on, turns on my PC, turns on my receiver then I can control various tasks like watching podcasts downloaded from my home server automatically, listening to music, watch dvds etc. At this point I feel that the ISY would compliment this task so when I hit the power button it also includes the WOL (the reason this topic started in the first place, and forgive me that we are going way off topic) so that I dont have to have the home server running 24/7. I have it running all the time but since I am not home during most of the day there is no need to waste the energy for it to run, since we all trying to be "green" now a days! There are other options but this feature being added to the ISY would be the easiest and best solution. End of my 2 cents. PM me if you want some more specifics so we get this topic back on track. Hope this helps.
Scottmichaelj Posted March 23, 2009 Posted March 23, 2009 Bump - Michel any update on a ETA when this maybe included? There have been a few releases since this has last been discussed and this feature has not made it in.
Sub-Routine Posted March 24, 2009 Posted March 24, 2009 Bump - Michel any update on a ETA when this maybe included? There have been a few releases since this has last been discussed and this feature has not made it in. We haven't forgotten. Of course we all know WOL hasn't been implemented yet. It is still on our list and rising to the top. Rand
Scottmichaelj Posted March 24, 2009 Posted March 24, 2009 Would LOVE to see that "list"! Any idea of an ETA or beta firmware release? Thanks for the update!
Sub-Routine Posted March 24, 2009 Posted March 24, 2009 Would LOVE to see that "list"! Any idea of an ETA or beta firmware release? Thanks for the update! No, you wouldn't LOVE to see the list No idea on a date but Michel did bump it up last week. Rand
Michel Kohanim Posted March 24, 2009 Posted March 24, 2009 huddadudda, Apologies for a tardy reply. It's being implemented as we speak. So, I am hoping for the next 2/3 weeks. Please note the following: 1. We have renamed Web Server Module to Networking Module 2. Networking Module shall include - WOL - URL GET/POST - UPnP Cameras (may be) - Other networking tools/utilities except SNMP As such, it shall be part of a module that is sold ($49.00). Of course, developers still get a $45.00 discount. With kind regards, Michel
gjfrater Posted April 30, 2009 Posted April 30, 2009 NNNOOOOOHH! Okay before I get too excited, Michel, what do you mean by: Other networking tools/utilities except SNMP Do you mean SNMP will not be supported on the ISY at all or do you mean that the networking add on module won't include SNMP because it's (going to be) part of the base unit? I've been reading the forum for a couple of weeks to learn more about the ISY units. One of the specific things I was interested in was SNMP support. I finally registered so I could post that question, apparently searching is not enabled if your not a registered user. Once registered I was able to search and found this thread. If SNMP is available I will for sure add the ISY to my shopping list (I might anyways) but that would seal the deal for me. We have a large number of dry contacts (all the doors and windows including some interior doors) that need to be setup and the thought of using INSTEON dry contact devices to handle them (six or less) at a time requiring an outlet for each one just so I can control them from an ISY does not thrill me. The product I've been looking at http://www.barix.com/Overview/781/ would scale better for our needs but uses tcp/ip as a transport and SNMP for control. If the ISY can (or will) have support for SNMP then we can use it here and not have to try and integrate it with some other automation controller product to utilize SNMP. I did not mean to hijack the thread but your last post was a good spot for me to jump in. Thanks, -greg
Michel Kohanim Posted May 1, 2009 Posted May 1, 2009 Hello gjfrater, It meant that SNMP will not be supported in the near future. The reason is that the SNMP stack and MIBs take too much space/memory which ISY (in its current form) cannot handle. Now, I am still unsure as to why you would need SNMP to interact with your devices. You could simply use our REST interface (using regular URLs) to control and monitor your devices. Wouldn't SNMP be an overkill? With kind regards, Michel NNNOOOOOHH! Okay before I get too excited, Michel, what do you mean by: Other networking tools/utilities except SNMP Do you mean SNMP will not be supported on the ISY at all or do you mean that the networking add on module won't include SNMP because it's (going to be) part of the base unit? I've been reading the forum for a couple of weeks to learn more about the ISY units. One of the specific things I was interested in was SNMP support. I finally registered so I could post that question, apparently searching is not enabled if your not a registered user. Once registered I was able to search and found this thread. If SNMP is available I will for sure add the ISY to my shopping list (I might anyways) but that would seal the deal for me. We have a large number of dry contacts (all the doors and windows including some interior doors) that need to be setup and the thought of using INSTEON dry contact devices to handle them (six or less) at a time requiring an outlet for each one just so I can control them from an ISY does not thrill me. The product I've been looking at http://www.barix.com/Overview/781/ would scale better for our needs but uses tcp/ip as a transport and SNMP for control. If the ISY can (or will) have support for SNMP then we can use it here and not have to try and integrate it with some other automation controller product to utilize SNMP. I did not mean to hijack the thread but your last post was a good spot for me to jump in. Thanks, -greg
gjfrater Posted May 1, 2009 Posted May 1, 2009 It meant that SNMP will not be supported in the near future. The reason is that the SNMP stack and MIBs take too much space/memory which ISY (in its current form) cannot handle. Understood thanks for the clarification. Now, I am still unsure as to why you would need SNMP to interact with your devices. You could simply use our REST interface (using regular URLs) to control and monitor your devices. Wouldn't SNMP be an overkill? I'm not sure about overkill, to me it's pretty straight forward. You issue a command and get a value back or issue a command and change a value. I'm a sys admin, so we use SNMP at work all the time. But I can certainly understand the hardware limitations of an embeded device and can guess that the implementation could be complex. As for REST, the short answer is I don't know. I have a vague understanding of it but have never used it. Presuming it allows you to essentially script interaction with a web page then I would think that is doable, the Barix devices do have a web interface. Hopefully such an endeaver would not require to much effort. If you have to put together a whole script just to check or change any value then the cost in terms of effort would be high (in my opinion). Again this is based on my very limited understanding of it. I will have to do some more reading, do you guys have docs for your REST interface available online? Thanks for the response and please understand I think you guys have put together a great product and from what I have read on the forum, I can see that you guys have are very busy with a lot of new plans and features. I also have noticed and greatly appreciate your availability to your customers (and potential customers). Being able to directly interact with company representatives in this manner is not that common. Well done, thanks again. -greg
Michel Kohanim Posted May 3, 2009 Posted May 3, 2009 Hi Greg, I understand. Coming from a non-administrative world, SNMP seems quite complex to me for things than can be done with simple URL or WebServices. But, now, looking at it in the way that you have described it, I am a little more convinced that we should support this feature. I will look into it further to see if we can add it (somehow) into our current platform. With kind regards, Michel
gjfrater Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 Hey Michel, Just to bring my 2 cent description of SNMP full circle, there's another feature of SNMP that could make it even more desirable of a protocol for the ISY to support and that is the SNMP trap. A SNNP trap is when an SNMP end device, such as the BARIX devices, have a change of state and send a notice to the TRAP manager, in this case the ISY. In some cases such as with a dry contact closure it could send a notice to the ISY instead of the ISY having to poll the device. A push mechanism instead of a pull. I hope that clear enough to make sense. The trap is a valuable part of the SNMP protocol. Regards, -greg
Michel Kohanim Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 Hello Greg, You are right ... as I promised, we'll look into it and hopefully we can find a way to squeeze it into the 99i hardware. With kind regards, Michel Hey Michel, Just to bring my 2 cent description of SNMP full circle, there's another feature of SNMP that could make it even more desirable of a protocol for the ISY to support and that is the SNMP trap. A SNNP trap is when an SNMP end device, such as the BARIX devices, have a change of state and send a notice to the TRAP manager, in this case the ISY. In some cases such as with a dry contact closure it could send a notice to the ISY instead of the ISY having to poll the device. A push mechanism instead of a pull. I hope that clear enough to make sense. The trap is a valuable part of the SNMP protocol. Regards, -greg
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