Long time ISY user first time Roadmap member

I have always found it confusing where to find stuff. and how to connect to my unit for the task at hand.

https://my.isy.io

http://192.168.1.xxx

https://my.isy.io/udajax/udajax.htm?mode=corp

UD Mobile App

IoX java app (Admin Console where I find myself going 90% of the time)

Each one, presents you with a different interface, and different options. My frustration was where do I set, stuff like Google Home connection, programs, add a new device. It took me a few years but have a better understanding now. I'm loving the new eisy_ui and trying to favor that for all my configurations and programs. The UD Mobile app was written by a programmer and its clunky at best, Its something I would write for myself but not the public.

Also when to log in using ADMIN vs email address. At work when I connect to home its ADMIN, but at home its my email address.

That is pretty much my frustration with UD, other than that, once it's set it it just seems to work and I forget about it for months, years. It just works.

So take this as a what to do next and give us 1 spot to connect to all the functions we need to manager our device, If that is my.isy.io then great, even add the links to apple and google stores for the UD Mobile part.

Andy

Edited September 10Sep 10 by awysocki

@awysocki while it's not "frustrating" it's certainly been interesting to see the changes as more enhancements have been added. Having only had the ISY exposure for the last 10 years or so it was simple with the old ISY994 that you only had the admin console to worry about. Then you had the local and remote (portal) connection options and did have to use different credentials to login. While not overly confusing at the time it was just a different way to have to connect. I think with a simple system (like mine) I don't spend a ton of time nit picking what to adjust/change so it never bothered me as I mostly just logged in when home.

Next they introduced Polyglot and then Polisy and eisy which as things progressed it certainly added a lot of "go here for this" "go there for that" option. I think it's come full circle at this point and see that eisy_ui will encompass everything under one login (ceratainly while local). You'll still need a different way to access the system when you're remote. I wouldn't want it any other way because if it was it would be too reliant on a cloud connection. I prefer the 100% local control. Since it's "Home Automation" it usually impacts things while I'm AT HOME (go figure). I don't need to turn lights on/off while I'm not at home so I don't need to "tinker" with my system while remote.

I think as eisy_ui continues to progress it will be the only login needed. It sure feels that is the way things are heading.

2 hours ago, awysocki said:

add the links to apple and google stores for the UD Mobile part.

What do you mean by this? Where would you want these links? I see them in the wiki.

https://wiki.universal-devices.com/Main_Page#UD_Mobile

There are also links on the UD main website. If you have a suggestion for other places please share.

This discussion comes at an odd time where we're literally straddling two different approaches to programming our controller. One is the old tried and true admin console that we're all familiar with (and with it's issues of being based on java), and with plugins being a distinct world. Then a new one which attempts to tie it all together and make it browser based, making it universally accessible. Making a browser based programming platform has it's challenges, and isn't "ideal" in that it requires lots of clicks, and the look and feel of a program just isn't what we're used to. Some changes would help. For example I'd prefer seeing program instructions in a fixed width font, and left justified select lists (the centered snaking list of variables is hard to scan visually). But I think that a big part of the problem is just that we'll have to relearn how to do something we were familiar with. Only time can fix that.

Another issue is that along with the new programming interface, the changes in integration (especially plugins) aren't well explained, and seems to be causing issues. That would need some clearing up.

@Guy Lavoie ,

eisy-ai will help with some of the programming issues; for instance, it'll create the whole program for you so that you don't have to do too many clicking. And then you can refine it. It's still AI and it will make mistakes, but vastly more user friendly than all the clicks in the Admin Console or eisy-ui.

Regarding fonts, that's precisely what this focus group is for. Once we get started, there will be an official channel (probably github) for you to request for enhancements.

With kind regards,
Michel

That brings up another few questions: what is the intended implementation of eisy-ai? Will it be an optional service, that users will be able to subscribe to (and pay for as a service, a bit like the portal)? Is it meant as an alternative to good ole manual programming (for us geeks), with the hope of attracting a wider user base? With home automation slowly becoming a consumer product with products such as Google Home, Apple Homekit, etc, is this UDI's attempt at getting more into that part of the market?

Or...is this more exploratory in nature: AI is here and let's see what it can do for us, then we'll see if/how we can fit it into our market?

No right or wrong answers, just trying to guage what the sense is, at this time.

2 minutes ago, Guy Lavoie said:

That brings up another few questions: what is the intended implementation of eisy-ai? Will it be an optional service, that users will be able to subscribe to (and pay for as a service, a bit like the portal)?

It's a plugin just like any other plugin. You can install/uninstall it. Currently, it's free but you need to bring your own API keys and choose the LLM/model you want to use.

3 minutes ago, Guy Lavoie said:

with the hope of attracting a wider user base? With home automation slowly becoming a consumer product with products such as Google Home, Apple Homekit, etc, is this UDI's attempt at getting more into that part of the market?

We always hope to attract a wider user base. That said, our next iteration is explicitly designed for developers so that you can create and test plugins while fully integrated with eisy-ui.

5 minutes ago, Guy Lavoie said:

Or...is this more exploratory in nature: AI is here and let's see what it can do for us, then we'll see if/how we can fit it into our market?

We did the above for the last 2 years, and came up with specific use cases that we believe are going to make AI useful in our context. So, no, it's not at all "AI is here and let's see what it can do for us". For instance, turning on/off devices with AI is meaningless. But having AI create all your scenes (for a new room) by automatically adding devices, creating scenes, and creating programs is useful. You can extend it to other specific tasks such as designing your irrigation based on x, y, z. We'll discuss more in our upcoming webinar.

With kind regards,
Michel

Thanks for the detailed responses. That sets the stage much more clearly.

That "next iteration is explicitly designed for developers" comment is great, no geek left behind! Plugins are the way of the future, if you want to support an ever growing product base without endlessly trying to build it into IoX. Plugins are currently iffy when updates are involved. Hopefully they are integrated in a more consistent way.

As for "turning on/off devices with AI is meaningless"...well there's Alexa for that. No point in reinventing the wheel.

1 hour ago, Michel Kohanim said:

Regarding fonts, that's precisely what this focus group is for. Once we get started, there will be an official channel (probably github) for you to request for enhancements.

@Michel Kohanim Hi Michel, so I understand, if i have suggestions to improve the current eisy-ui, I should wait until you have a github channel setup for this type of input? If not, I will start a new thread for that. 🙂

13 minutes ago, Guy Lavoie said:

As for "turning on/off devices with AI is meaningless"...well there's Alexa for that. No point in reinventing the wheel.

True, regardless eisy-ai does it and it does it every well. You can even say such things as:
is it paired -> it figures out you're talking about Bluetooth plugin, or
set cool [temp] to 78 -> it figures out you are talking about your thermostat and you want to set the cool set point, or
play classical on bluetooth -> it figures out you're talking about youtube plugin, sets output to bluetooth, and plays the classical playlist

And you can combine n number of commands.

So, yes it's cool, but still meaningless.

3 minutes ago, RRalston said:

Hi Michel, so I understand, if i have suggestions to improve the current eisy-ui, I should wait until you have a github channel setup for this type of input? If not, I will start a new thread for that.

You can definitely start a new topic while we are setting things up.

With kind regards,
Michel

With respect to the title, "Too many connection options" ...

I upgraded yesterday to 6.1.1 and for the first time tried to access the eisy-ui. Reading the Wiki, access via http://eisy.local or https://eisy.local which in my case both resolve to This site can’t be reached ... eisy.local’s server IP address could not be found. Reading down another line -- "Instead of using eisy.local, you can also use your eisy ip address." which works.
I'm not asking for assistance to fix the issue (I can do this via the general forum), but it made me think about geo-fencing installs (only accessible to via local LAN) and the requirement to authenticate using creds to my.isy.io or eisy.local or whatever the actual URL is ?

It is understood that as the transition moves forward, legacy connections will disappear ... but will the new access(s) accommodate users who want to isolate their EISY and support only local logins ?