The year is coming to an end and this will be the final update for OpenRemote in year 2008. Hope you all have had a good year despite all the economic worries going on.
Some OpenRemote highlights in December 2008:
- Infrared Resolved (Finally!)
- Amsterdam Meetup
- HOWTO: Build OpenRemote Reference Implementation
- KNX Update
Infrared Resolved
After a somewhat painful search, we have finally landed on an infrared product we like for OpenRemote RI. It comes from InnovationOne out of Canada. The product is known as CommandIR II. It was the first IR product that passed the muster for us in initial tests and we are looking forward to push it even further with more extensive tests.
A thank you goes to Matthew Bodkin who has been most helpful in resolving some initial issues and helped us feel confident in recommending his product. If you're looking for more details on CommandIR II, you can check [our comments in the forums|] or go directly to CommandIR website.
Amsterdam Meeting
The core EU team got together in Amsterdam this month for our first official get-together. We had a chance to meet face-to-face with people working in home automation field and got an update on what is happening in Netherlands.
Apart from the general fun in Amsterdam, we also managed to put together a few OpenRemote boxes. Last month we were updating our bill of materialsand our meeting was the perfect time to get into RI details. We managed to build boxes from parts and put them together so each of us left with a box of their own to take home. There were some interesting assembly variations for sure (it's funny how some things turn upside down in Amsterdam) but everybody managed to get a functional box together.
Special thank you to Jean-Luc van Hulst of Finalist IT in Netherlands who helped us to connect with the local scene.
How to: Build OpenRemote RI
Last month we updated our reference implementation bill of materials and this month we worked further to define the RI platform. In addition to actually assembling it physically, we've investigated a couple of different Linux distributions we might use as the basis of the software platform. At the moment we are focusing on Voyage Linux, a Debian derivative out of Hong Kong specifically tailored for PC Engines ALIX (what we use for HW RI), WRAP and Soekris hardware.
You can find hardware assembly instructions on our website. This should help you get the hardware together. Then follow the [software installation instructions|]to get Voyage Linux, Java and LIRC (configured for CommandIR II) installed on your box. On the software side we are still working to update the instructions further to include our own software (as we get it to a more ready state) and also plan on creating ISO images of the whole thing to make the process a bit easier.
The OpenRemote RI acts as a development kit for us to have a baseline of hardware to work with. We are also looking at alternative hardware platforms that can be used for deploying the OpenRemote software. If you have an extra Linux PC around your house, it's also a candidate for deploying the OpenRemote software.
If you'd rather avoid the process of ordering parts and assembling the development kit yourself, please leave a note here or email us directly and we can get a pre-assembled development kit to you.
Also, keep an eye on our hardware page for further updates on alternative hardware implementations and more updates on software installation instructions.
KNX progress
Our resident KNX technician, Mr. Fleury, has made some progress with his KNX development kit. There's now a working LED lights setup, programmable and controllable from a PC. There's still plenty of work there to be done to get KNX to the 21st century but it's a great start to get KNX supported in OpenRemote.
Marc has done some video editing of his experience in setting up the KNX lights so look forward to seeing that appear soon on the website for all the KNX enthusiasts.
What's Next?
With the first RI in place the next steps for us is to provide more software scaffolding around the hardware in terms of programming APIs. We will also be working towards creating ISO distributions for the software to make it easier to get a RI box ready to go.
On the HA integration side, we will be working on the Insteon and X10 support next, verifying some hardware to work with the RI and further defining programming APIs and tooling around it. KNX will also be very much in the picture as we get further into year 2009. Some client console definition work should start soon as well.
Have a great celebration going into 2009. Happy new year to all!
-- Juha
