You will find our latest and past newsletters below.
Last changed Oct 07, 2010 13:25 by Marc Fleury
Labels: openremote, boss, howto, knx, switch, online, designer, 2_0, user, tutorial, installer
OpenRemote Boss 2.0 is being prepared for public consumption and the final step is adding single sign-on to the online designer so we can start making your designs and accounts more or less permanent.
In the meanwhile, a couple of how-to guides seem to be in order to let you know how to use the software. We'll start with simple KNX switches.
What's in This How To
You'll find the following steps in this how to:
- For Installers:
- How to model KNX Gateway Device
- Creating KNX Commands
- Creating Sensors for KNX Read Commands
- Modeling Switch Components
- For UI Designers
- How to Use Switch Components
- Binding UI Components to Sensors
- Using Images for Visual Effects
- Using Labels in UI Design
Related Documentation
The steps in this how to video are mostly documented in our user reference as well. If you prefer reading instead of watching video, you can find related pages here:
Will be adding other how to sections soon.
Last changed Jul 14, 2010 02:31 by Juha Lindfors
Labels: boss, 2_0, designer, remote, map, infrared, room, picture, background, image
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Highlighting some new features in OpenRemote Boss 2.0, it is now easy to create control screens using photos from around your house. You can place buttons or switches in "hotspots" over your images and configure them with transparent content or overlay images that shows whether your light or TV is currently on or off – latter works especially well with switches that can update the image to match the device status polled from sensors.
When using buttons, it is possible to map the button to a command that is executed or the button can be mapped as a navigation control to go to another screen on your phone's interface (or execute a command and switch to another screen both!).
You could use a button on the screen above and map it to switch to another screen that gives you a photo of the TV's remote. Now map all the buttons on your remote to infrared commands that you can fetch from Beehive. If you know you're using a popular model, you can share your remote image with mapped buttons to other users as a template. And then collect all your remotes into a single interface!
And there's a lot more fun stuff that can be done with the new OpenRemote Designer. More on that later. |
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One of the things we talk about and have written about before is the reluctance of home automation industry to adopt off-the-shelf hardware as part of their offering.
Some argue that dedicated hardware, dedicated home automation controllers, dedicated home automation touch panels, and in some cases, dedicated home automation network cables are necessary to create a stable, high-quality installation. While on the surface this argument holds true, it does ring a bit hollow. It rings hollow because we tend to be very good at defending a point of view where our income depends on it.
The truth is that these dedicated home automation instruments are extremely expensive to the end-user and the business model of many a home automation company depends on the fat hardware margins. So it makes one wonder if the established automation vendors have a true interest to see alternatives from mass-volume consumer electronics industry to work in the field of home automation?
Enter Apple
Now there are exceptions to the statements above. Some consumer devices corner such a huge following that installers have little to no choice but to accommodate them. Apple iPod as storage for one's personal music collection has become a central device in many people's lives. It's only logical for the user to resist having to replicate his music collection somewhere else. So integrate we must the iPod into the system. Then came the iPhone/iTouch with their beautiful touch screen interfaces and now the latest gadget, the mighty iPad.
Our digital life-styles are being pushed more and more into mobile consumer electronic devices. At the same time these devices are increasing their capabilities by leaps and bounds. It is only natural for users to want devices that are central to their lives to be part of their home automation as well, and on top of that, use these same devices to control the automation in their homes.
We regularly see touch panel components sell on the market with price tags of 6000 to 7000 dollars or euros. It is difficult to justify prices like these for devices that have the same functionality as a $700 device acquired elsewhere. Certainly, they are dedicated home automation devices but does that really justify a ten-fold price tag? We think not.
It's a luxury business
If you allow a localized analogy, Switzerland is a country with a thriving watch-making industry. They produce the most beautiful, most intricately designed, most perfect hand-made watches to the very high-end luxury market, and they sell for several thousand to tens of thousands of dollars/euros/francs. It is the very best of what the industry can offer, the perfect device to tell you what time of the day it is by glancing at your wrist (and at the same time impressing your peers), and at least for some watch-makers, a sustainable business. And while there is a consumer demand for this market to keep it breathing, the truth is that the real revenues and real profits the industry makes come from the mass market, from watches that regular people can afford, from few hundred to couple of thousand in USD/EUR/CHF.
And the same is true for home automation. It is and has been a luxury market. There is room for a small number of specialists who cater for the very high-end luxury market. But at the peak of this pyramid, there is very little space to breathe. It is also this focus, and consequently the business models that have been built around it, that prevents the industry from growing. There's a need for larger audience in order to grow the revenues and profits, and that means catering more to the masses with higher volumes but lower mean prices. And that means taking benefit of the off-the-shelf products where possible.
Going generic
Off-the-shelf hardware is produced in huge mass volumes by the Apples, Intels, Asuses, Acers, Dells and AMDs of the world. The competition drives the prices down quickly and into margins that are fraction of what the luxury home automation vendors might make on similar devices. Apart from the very high-end luxury market, it seems necessary for automation vendors who want to expand their audiences to co-opt rather than compete with this trend.
Now, generic off-the-shelf hardware comes with its own set of trade-offs. It is not dedicated for the automation domain so needs to be adapted accordingly. This means new challenges in testing, quality assurance and certifying working components and integration. Nevertheless, these challenges can be addressed and have been done previously in other industries.
Another analogy we can use is the modern PC industry. While home computers started as dedicated devices in 1980's with each vendor designing their hardware and software from scratch – whether it was Atari, Commodore, Amstrad or any other of the number of vendors designing their home computers – the real break-through came when IBM PC was cloned and brought to mass market with a flood of companies offering software and hardware components to this generic computing platform. A whole ecosystem emerged and the industry took off. Since then, various hardware and software certification processes have emerged to ensure a smooth end-user experience. While niche markets still exist for dedicated hardware, majority of today's home computers and all they way up to business datacenters are built on this same generic PC computing device or some of its offspring. IT professionals have learned how to build systems that we trust with most critical business transactions despite of the sometimes "imperfect" foundation of the technology. In home automation, we must do the same.
And then there was the Internet
Finally, the most fundamental technological change in the last 15 years has been the Internet. There's hardly any industry not affected by it, and home automation is no exception. Internet at home is now as central to media consumption as what TV was before it, and radio before that. Music, video, photos, books and magazines are distributed through it.
And because of that, the core of what makes the Internet work – the IP network – is becoming as common a communication infrastructure in people's houses as the TV cable or the phone line was before. Hardly any new buildings go up these days without Internet cables and connectors installed into the walls.
This means homes are equipped with a communications infrastructure that is usable for control and automation. And as with off-the-shelf hardware, vendors who are looking to expand their markets towards a wider audience, must take advantage of it.
Now, when talking about IP networks and home automation, people often confuse this with an idea that every electric device must have an IP address bound to it and must be connected to the IP network directly. This is not the case. There are areas at home where IP network won't reach for some time to come (lighting for example), and in some areas wireless sensor networks are a better alternative (although we may eventually see Internet protocol on top of WSN).
What the prevalence of Internet and IP network means, however, is that the backbone infrastructure of an automation network consumed by masses is likely to be based on Internet protocol.
This in turn means dedicated gateways or translators that integrate the home's IP network with the necessary protocols to automate all electric devices, be it serial connections, infrared, Zigbee or Z-Wave, and so on. This is what we call the "last-meter" connection between the IP network and the end-device.
It also means expanded know-how towards IP network setups and switches, such as understanding virtual LAN setups to improve the end-user control experience. This is part and parcel of IT professionals and network administrators today who use IP networks for critical tasks in corporate environments and is a needed transition for installers creating IP-based home automation setups as well.
The changes future will bring
Taken all the points together, what does this mean to home automation industry?
(1) First of all, the dedicated home automation hardware will still have its place.
But the kind of dedicated home automation hardware that we are going to see are the components usually hidden from the view of the home owner. Dedicated gateway products that specialize on translating automation protocols to and from the home IP network are still needed. The mass consumer electronics industry will have little interest to target this area, at least not yet.
Expect to see less and less dedicated touch screens or dedicated home automation controllers that are easily replaced with off-the-shelf products. Their pricing, and therefore their utility, can only exist at the very peak of the luxury market, targeting high-net-worth-individual homes, not the mass market. There's not much space at the peak of the consumer pyramid, few vendors will survive in this segment but most will need to adjust their business models to cater to a different kind of home owner.
(2) Secondly, IP networks will have an increasing role.
As with the off-the-shelf hardware, IP networks are already in the homes, already installed around the house in new buildings, and they are being used to transfer media for user consumption. Undoubtedly, whether it is music, video, photos etc. the distribution happens on an IP network. Media centers are enabled for IP based controls. Web's HTTP protocol and Universal Plug'n'Play protocols are being used over IP to control things.
This means the backbone communication and control infrastructure is often in place already and it is IP-based. A fact that cannot be ignored by any vendor that wishes to reach a wider market that demands lower initial investment to experiment with the automation technology. What needs to be supported by automation vendors is the "last-meter" of network integration between IP to Infrared, IP to serial, IP to Z-Wave and so on.
(3) Third, increasing need for interoperability, testing and certification.
Both off-the-shelf hardware and IP networks are generic technical solutions that must be adapted to automation purposes accordingly.
IT industry today uses these same components to support critical functions in the business enterprise. Same can be done for automation. But it requires establishing new processes that tackles the challenges of quality assurance in testing components, ensuring they work together and ultimately, certifying them as a supported solution for an automation installation. Training programs will need to be created and updated to include technical and configuration details of third party components.
(4) Re-adjust business models.
Home automation today is stuck in a deadlock that prevents growth. This is due to several factors, including lack of standardization, proprietary systems, high cost of integration and business models that target the very high-end of luxury market.
What we need to create is a virtuous cycle that fosters growth. This means expanding the target market and enabling vendor ecosystem and partner network growth. We can achieve this by using technologies that are open, adopting existing de-facto standards and creating technical solutions that are available to all participants.
Integration is a key here. Any solution looking for mass adoption must take into account several market realities: existing investment in already installed systems, the need to integrate with devices from mass consumer electronics market, the dynamic nature of automation as more consumer devices become control-capable at ever increasing pace and finally, the ability to provide the home owner with a complete solution that adapts to their needs over time without a prohibitive cost structure.
Needless to say, we at OpenRemote believe Open Source plays a key part in this picture as a growth catalyst. How this happens is a worthy a full article. What we can achieve is to lower the cost of integration and enable integrators and installers to expand to a larger market segment. We can enable integrators and installers to deliver a complete solution to the home owner and we can help installers to manage higher volume mass market (see the final point of this conclusion). This in turn will mean higher revenues, and hopefully in the end, higher profit.
Register on our RSS feeds or Twitter and stay tuned. More to come on this topic.
(5) New kind of installer.
As with any change of status quo, the need for adjustment rises. None of the above conclusions means installers will disappear or become obsolete. In fact, quite the opposite. But change does mean some new knowledge must be acquired and some existing knowledge may have less use in the future.
Ability to manage IP networks is a given. Not just installing a wireless hub in the corner of a room but skills more akin to network administrators. Provisioning the network bandwidth may be necessary. Understanding the required hardware, switches and their configuration is very likely necessary.
At the same time, in order to facilitate higher volume customer relationship management, tools need to exist to easily monitor, change and configure installations. Minor changes and tweaks should be possibly to implement remotely. Basic issue diagnostic should be possible remotely. The installer tools should drive towards minimizing the cost of change for the installer. This simply due to the fact that the installation environments are becoming ever more dynamic in the future.
We at OpenRemote want to bring such tools to integrators and installers. We are preparing the next 2.0 version of our online tools which you can test drive here: http://composer.openremote.org/demo (you will need to create a new temporary account even if you have registered with us before).
The main aspect we've added for installers is the ability to dynamically change the user interfaces and controller configuration online, using a shared account with the customer. These changes can be automatically downloaded to OpenRemote controller without additional on-site work (Internet connection assumed, of course). You can read some more about features we've added here.
CONCLUSION
The five points made above follow from key trends occuring today. Every one of them warrants further discussion with counter-points and solutions to those. To keep this brief, we'll talk about each of the points in greater depth in future articles.
First trend is the ever increasing pace of new consumer electronic devices capable of acting as sophisticated automation controls being added to homes. In the last couple of years we've seen the introduction of iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. A huge amount of Android devices is about to hit the market. The pace at which these control devices need to be integrated will increase in the future.
Second, IP networks will be de-facto communication infrastructure at homes. Whether it is voice over IP, video over IP or control over IP, the importance of managing IP networks at home will increase in the future. Media is already distributed in homes using IP network and is used to control media centers. The most important integration of home automation protocols is to this IP backbone.
These two trends add up to a more dynamic nature of a home automation installation. This requires a new take on tools, on monitoring and diagnostics, on quality assurance and certification. At the same time, the industry needs to find a better growth model and expand to wider markets which will inevitably add additional requirements to both integrators and installers in terms of customer management.
The key to manage these changes is through open systems which will lower cost of integration, to create ecosystems of hardware and software vendors, of integrators and installers. Proprietary and closed technology stumps growth and brings with it high cost of integration which limits us to small segment of luxury market. It is possible to bring a complete home automation solution to a larger audience.
Juha Lindfors
OpenRemote, Inc. |
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Last changed Jul 06, 2010 12:37 by Juha Lindfors
Labels: boss, 2_0, android, iphone, ipad
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Several development updates from the last 6 months. Codebases are beginning to stabilize so expect developer / beta release binaries in the coming weeks as I integrate features to mainlines.
OpenRemote Online
The new version of OpenRemote Online tools is available here: http://composer.openremote.org/demo.
The list of changes is long - here are the highlights:
Split Designer.
The online tools are split between User Interface Designer and Building Modeler. The latter is intended for installers to input protocol level details and add devices / create macros / define sensors, and so on. Low level technical details. Once devices have been added and protocols configured, only those are exposed as available options on the User Interface Designer.
This split helps isolate those who are interested in creating UI designs from understanding the low level details of protocols, addressing, etc. In case you are working in multiple roles as installer and UI designer, you should take note of the split designer paradigm to help you navigate the application.
Online Accounts
You will be able to store all your user interface design and protocol configurations on an online account. You can assign multiple users to your account, so you can share your configuration with your installer, for example. Each user can also be restricted to specific roles, such as UI design only, or protocol configuration only. Both installers and UI designers will be able to work changes into the model online and remotely, and the final configuration can be downloaded directly to an owner's ORB at home.
New Consoles
We've added new console categories and many new features. Many new user interface elements are now available, such as buttons, images, labels, sliders, switches and gestures. Active user interface components (such as slider, switch, or an image) can be updated with a bidirectional communication between the console and ORB – an update to device state is reflected on consoles UI component.
We've added new console categories on top of iPhone. Now a fully implemented Android, iPad and web consoles (for PC and mobile browsers) will be available.
iPhone and iPad consoles are available for developers. You will need a Mac and XCode to use them. Will look at the App Store distributed versions as soon as few other pieces fall in place (since the App Store process is somewhat inflexible with regards to dealing with updates and beta versions).
OpenRemote iPhone Console 2.0 for developers is available here: http://openremote.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/openremote/branches/feature/iPhone_profile_service
For iPad owners an universal port with the latest SDK/OS requirements is available here: http://openremote.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/openremote/branches/feature/iPad_iPhone_universal_app_profile_service
Since Android distribution comes with less obstacles, you can expect a binary sooner. In the meanwhile, you can try the OpenRemote Console 2.0 for Android here: http://openremote.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/openremote/branches/feature/Android_profile_service
Finally, we've started a pure web based console implementation that many have asked, developers can follow the progress here: http://openremote.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/openremote/branches/feature/WebConsole_branch/
More binaries and betas to arrive as I sort things out.
Controller
I am currently integrating all the new controller features to support console bidirectional communication, gestures, etc on this branch: http://openremote.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/openremote/branches/project/Controller_2_0_0_Alphas/
The API is getting stable so if you're looking to add your own protocols, use that as a base (until the actual Beta branch emerges) – even if changes come about they will be minor and can be updated as part of the regular maintenance/update process.
More later... |
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Last changed Nov 22, 2009 21:48 by Administrator
Labels: asus, home, automation, controller, business, model, hardware, sales, margin, price, b202, eee, box, openremote, boss, buy, orb, trend, future
Catching up on some hardware news from the last couple of months. With the release of Windows 7 there's been a bunch of updates to low-cost Atom-based hardware units, all of which look attractive as an entry-point to host OpenRemote Boss at your home, among other things.
The hardware at E300 price level is now coming with a dual-core Atom and NVIDIA ION graphics processors. With the entry of NVIDIA to low-end market, the units can now reportedly handle 1080 resolution high-definition content with ease (something that was too much to ask from the previous generation a year ago) and HDMI connectivity comes as a standard. DVD drives are becoming part of the hardware configuration as well, see for example the latest Eee Box model at Engadget.
Of course for people like us who like to hack things together, the interesting bit is these are generic PC's and you can easily install additional software as you please on them. They can be used for multiple purposes at home, so generic does have an added value here, although the out-of-the-factory experience requires some extra skills to set things up.
I was also browsing through the Taiwan retail store and noticed that the previous Eee Box model (B202) now retails at around $155 (USD). In about one year, the price has halved. Will be interesting to see if the same evolution occurs on the current models by the time we get to end of 2010.
The other relevant observation here is that the Eee B202 had plenty enough of resources to run home automation controller, Java or even low-end middleware server. That hardware is now selling at around $150. The price is less than for many peripheral "dumb" units that you need in a HA deployment that handle your IP to infrared or serial or other protocol translations. It now costs more to buy a mere IP gateway to KNX than it costs to buy the hardware to run full HA controller with web user interfaces, rule engines, and all.
Funny, isn't it?
To me the trend here is clear. It is going to be increasingly difficult to argue for the development cost of "specialized" home automation controller units. Don't get me wrong, I still see value in a pre-installed, out-of-the-box, plug-it-in-the-wall controller unit but the price of these units must be comparable to the hardware prices which are being driven down by the fiercely competing PC industry, with Intel pushing towards the low-end with their Atom product-line and ARM pushing up towards the smart Internet device market with their low-cost, low-energy architecture.
HA business models based on pure hardware sales margins are getting squeezed and harder to defend.
So good and interesting news all around. By the way, if a pre-built pre-installed OpenRemote Box (ORB) is something that you'd be interested in, we'd like to hear from you. If we can get enough interest, we might put some boxes together to save you from the installation exercise. So let us know if you're interested.
– Juha
A very quick update on the OpenRemote KNX Lite application. It has been updated on the Apple App Store to version 1.2.1 and can be downloaded via iTunes. The KNX lite application has moved to a new OpenRemote account – we are still migrating the full version of the app which you can get from Jorg's personal account.
The OpenRemote KNX Lite allows you to test the iPhone user interface for free before buying the full version. It is useful for people who already have an existing KNX installation with an IP gateway or router installed. It does not require additional hardware or software installation from OpenRemote.
For more information, see the OpenRemote KNX home space.
Last changed Aug 01, 2009 18:18 by Marc Fleury
As I am building my house I find it very hard to mix and match HA devices in the US. For example, I want to use European KNX panels (See here), why? because they look good, with hardware I can find in the US (e.g. Lutron). Here is the kicker, the installers I talk to immediately reply "But you have to go to Crestron". Mind you all I am trying to do is lights/shades/AC, I point out that I don't want to spend 100k in integration just for these 3 functions of integrated luxury. The choice of wall panels is poor at best and I don't want to spend a fortune to get a non-programmable wall-panel black box solution. In fact that is OR's primary raison d'etre, to develop wall panel technology that is open, free and doesn't suck.
In Europe there is this standard called KNX and by standardizing the bus they open up the panel field to independent panel vendors, they create a market. Very much like Java EE did in IT. That means there are people competing on panels looks alone and the result is a lot more eye pleasing than the Crestron equivalent for example. Competition makes this market better. Of course mind-set right now is "closed is good", they want to own the whole platform. What a cro-magnon approach to markets. I was thinking I could bring a KNX sensor network, map it to a US hardware layer like Lutron, through OR. I will investigate but I suspect it won't be practical to hire European electricians to build in the US.
I am already using OR as the integration layer and panel generation layer. The idea is that I want a native hardware layer of switches as a redundant physical layer of control. If OR goes down, the wall switch is always available. I am gravitating towards Lutron HomeWorks, because it has a good rep, does shades and lights, OR will get software to talk to it and it is a high-end offering that has a reputation for reliability. Any thoughts or recommendation on hardware are welcomed, btw.
But it also became very clear to me that the well worn IT development approach to implementation could be a logical next step for the industry. The problem I just described, that it is hard for me to get the custom *switch* panel in my future home, can be recast in Model View Controller terms. Very simply there is no portability of View. Most HA professionals will be readily familiar with the controller layer. It is the Crestron/OR CPU at runtime. What is missing is pluggable views. Views that are easy to program, deploy and have rich information. For that the controller layer needs to expose state in a readily consummable way. Consider that the predominant HA protocol, IR and X10 are stateless and one way and you will understand why state of the art panels in the field advertise "stateful screen". Of course rendering panels for control in HTML, iPhone, Android would be the "view" layer. The controller would just listen for view commands. This is the way OR 1.0 works today btw. We use REST interfaces on the controller that we call from the view. We specify a XML screen format (just like android does) and each view command sends a HTTP request with the command encoded.
But for now, I suspect I will have to settle for separate control wall switches and a OR integration layer on iPhone or perhaps android in the future. My wall switches will look like wall-warts but there doesn't seem to be a choice for me, is there?
Last changed May 06, 2009 20:51 by Administrator
Labels: newsletter, april, iknx, infrared, milestone, release, amsterdam, meetup, professional, opensource
Hello Everyone,
It has been another very busy month at OpenRemote. Here's our update to keep you abreast of recent developments.
iKNX joins OpenRemote
We are pleased to announce that OpenRemote has acquired exclusive rights to iKNX, the iPhone product from Jörg Falkenberg. Jörg will be joining our community as iKNX lead.
iKNX offers an iPhone stack that talks to a KNX install over IP network. We will open source the KNX/IP stack for Apple (for those in the know – like Calimero, but in Objective-C instead of Java) and work to integrate its UI elements with ours. We will invest in its future.
For those that don't know KNX, it is European hardware found in industrial and commercial settings as well as high-end homes. The Chinese also licensed KNX for the Olympics. With iKNX we offer software as well as services to deploy iPhone UIs in the field with existing KNX installations.
The product is currently available at the app-store.
OpenRemote Amsterdam Meetup on Wednesday June 3rd, 2009
Don't miss your chance to meet the team, share experiences and be part of the community! Come to Amsterdam on Wednesday June 3rd 2009 for our first event of 2009.
We will start at 10.00am with opening statements from Marc Fleury.
After that Juha Lindfors will give an overview of the OpenRemote software stack and discuss the roadmap.
After lunch we'll have a presentation about our plans for the "Openremote / KNX roadmap" with Jörg Falkenberg.
Marcus Redeker is scheduled to come and make a presentation on how he integrated his custom hardware into OpenRemote.
Location details to come.
Professional Open Source for Automation
We believe the OSS approach changes certain dynamics of the automation industry. First and foremost, this is an industry made of legacy business models based on closed approaches. With such barriers to entry, the communities remain traditionally small and expensive to expand through distribution, one-to-one partnerships and traditional marketing to distributors. This is one of the reasons standards are so slow to appear.
With an OSS base, we are turning the model on its head. We aim to gain mass traction and become an integration point for vendors small and large by making our run-time cheap, easy to assemble and ubiquitous. We lower barriers to entry for partners by providing a modular base with OSS integration points.
We offer innovative web-based UI assembly tools that are easy to use and powerful. By acquiring iKNX we prove our commitment to growing the professional offering of OpenRemote. By investing in the product, we prove we are committed to delivering powerful online software. Our community, with recent days at 1000 unique visits, is growing healthily and rapidly, proving there is a need for an open source integrated solution in the various automation markets.
Our potential is to build a standard for a modern automation operating system.
OpenRemote M1 Developer Release Available
We've completed and released the source code for OpenRemote Milestone 1 (M1) to developers. This milestone includes all the necessary code to deploy an OpenRemote infrared control end-to-end - sending commands from your iPhone or iPod Touch through the OpenRemote Box (ORB) to the infrared controlled end-device such as your TV, stereo or set-top box. To see OpenRemote in action, check out this video.
Milestones are developer releases intended as stable checkpoints for community developers to test features in our releases, and to provide their own extensions. We've already started receiving contributions built on this milestone. Marcus Redeker has come up with integration to his IRTrans, MythTV and EZcontrol systems at his home. Today, he is controlling his entire A/V setup with OpenRemote.
We are extremely excited with the progress OpenRemote is making. New features are being implemented and community contributions have started.
Please come visit us in Amsterdam for more updates, and look forward to more release news next month!
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Last changed May 25, 2009 18:50 by Jean-Luc Vanhulst
Labels: openremote, amsterdam, meeting
Don't miss your chance to meet the team, share experiences and be part of the community!
Come to Amsterdam on Wednesday June 3rd 2009 for our first event of 2009.
The location is
Mirror Centre Ter Gouwstraat 3 (Oosterspoorplein), 1093 JX Amsterdam
This is right next to the train station "Amsterdam Muiderpoort".
We will start at 10.00 with opening statements from Marc Fleury.
After that Juha Lindfors will give an overview of the Openremote software stack and discuss the roadmap.
After lunch we'll have a presentation about our plans with KNX and the Openremote / KNX roadmap.
Furthermore we plan to have a B&BYOORB: Bring & Build Your Own Open Remote Box (based on the Alix box, our reference implementation)
There will be plenty of time to mingle and ask questions and have fun.
So mark your calendar, book the tickets. And while in Amsterdam, consider staying in the CitizenM hotel, not because we have a special deal with them or are in anyway connected to them, but just because it's a cool place with a lot of high tech, especially in the rooms.
I have a bet outstanding with Marc: I'm sure that more than 25 people will join us in Amsterdam for the first official Open Remote get together of 2009. So drop me an email at jlvh AT openremote.org for questions or to sign up!
Jean-Luc
Last changed Apr 02, 2009 21:05 by Juha Lindfors
Labels: openremote, newsletter, first, quarter, 2009
After a bit of a hiatus it's time to get back to our normal routine of updating you on our progress. While it took a longer than usual for this update to arrive, you can expect to hear more frequently from us from now on.
Website Update
Main reason for our prolonged silence was a complete revamp of our website. We've restructured a lot of information, thrown out some, wrote a bunch of new content. We hope the new website will serve our user community well. We've added more ways to interact and collaborate and will keep adding more soon.
While things are quickly taking shape on the website, a lot remains to be done. Should you find something odd, an unfinished page, a broken link or anything else amiss, just let us know. You can ping us on the chat or leave a message on the forums. First End-to-End Prototype.
We didn't spend all our time just tweaking a website. In the meantime we also put together a first end-to-end prototype of the OpenRemote system. The first milestone is targeting infrared with X10 and KNX following soon. Jean-Luc wrote about it here with some photos. In short, the first prototype we have running comes with an iPhone native application communicating with OpenRemote Box (ALIX hardware) over a WiFi connection. The incoming commands are then translated to other media, in this case infared and sent out to the corresponding device.
This is a great milestone for us – it's a proof of concept that actually works (imagine that!) and it establishes the infrastucture we will build on for other automation system integration. It is also a foundation for other tools we are building, for example a building modeler and user interface composer. Follow Us
To make it easier for you to follow what we are doing, we've set up an account on Twitter where we regularly give quick updates on what is happening. We also have a channel up on YouTube which you can subscribe to for updates on demos and tutorials. The usual RSS and Atom feeds are as well available and you can always drop by on the chat and ask what we are currently working on.
Reactivating Your Account
As part of the website update we migrated all user accounts from the old website software to the new one. However, in the process all user passwords were reset to new values.
If you want to keep using your existing user name, follow these steps – go to the login form on the website. On the login screen, you can ask a temporary password to be sent to your email address. Once you've received an email with a temporary password, login and change your password.
If you've forgotten your username, you can also have that emailed to you. Simply enter the email address you used to register with our website and a reminder will be sent with your username and temporary password to login to the site.
That's all for now. Look for the first milestone of OpenRemote to appear soon.
Last changed Feb 02, 2009 05:08 by Administrator
Labels: website
Welcome to the new OpenRemote look and feel!
First, apologies for the lack of activity on the old website. As you can see, we've been pretty busy working on a new website look in the last couple of weeks.
The new website has been built from the ground up with new software. We hope you will like it. We already do! The new site has more social features for our users, more ways for us to interact and collaborate together as a community and adds some ease-of-use in the user interface.
Things are very much in flux as I am writing this, frankly in a state of mess. But bear with us. The underlying infrastructure is starting to take shape, things are working behind the scenes and we will be organizing and improving the site performance and features in the coming weeks. There are a lot of interesting features we haven't tried yet and will gradually introduce to the website. Things will be looking better and better!
And in case you were wondering, no we haven't just spent all our time and resources on the website. We do have some interesting things happening on the software side as we speak and will update you all on that soon.
Welcome to 2009!
– Juha
Last changed Feb 02, 2009 04:50 by Administrator
Labels: coex, touchpanel, korea
I did a short stop in Seoul two days ago, and visited the famous COEX shopping complex on the way.
On the ground floor there was a touch screen panel that might be just the right thing for your home. Your very, very big home that is 
Instead of having a boring old floor plan on the wall, they had installed large touchscreens (about 1m x 1.5m in size) that allowed people to interactively navigate the floor plan of the complex. You could do your usual touch and drag to move around on the map and tap to select targets for more information.
 
(click for larger images)
Maybe not quite the thing for your living room but if you have a need for a control center then this might be a nice accessory I live in a smaller apartment so I will be trying out the Asus touch screen next week instead.
Last changed Feb 15, 2009 12:46 by Juha Lindfors
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
Last changed Feb 02, 2009 03:56 by Administrator
Labels: alix, b202, blog, controller, hardware, infrared
Time to once again summarize what we have been working on in the past month.
Our latest efforts have largely focused around hardware:
- We needed to update the hardware reference implementation.
- We've also been hard at work trying to find a good, reliable infrared transmitter to include with the RI.
- Playing with and liking B202 a lot.
- Learning about hardware distribution.
- Getting clubbed over-the-head by EU bureaucracy.
Read on...
Hardware Reference Implementation
We went over the existing bill of materials and found some of it little out of date. Some parts were not readily available anymore and had been superseded by newer, improved versions. Also, as discussed in last month's update, the idea behind the form factor of the box has changed a little, and we've changed the bill of materials to reflect this. Connectivity extensions like X10 and infrared are now separated from the main CPU unit rather than bundled all together into single box.
The new, improved bill of materials has all the parts listed and linked with details now. We've ordered parts for half a dozen units and we will have a box assembly fest in Amsterdam with our get-together. The hardware reference implementation is an ALIX box with CompactFlash card as storage, AMD Geode chip and 256MB of memory. It is nice and quiet -- having no fan or hard drive making noise -- and can be easily hidden and forgotten somewhere in the room.
We also went through a couple of Linux installations on this box. Ubuntu just out of curiousity -- this box obviously isn't designed to be your desktop. Unfortunately didn't have much luck with iMedia Linux distribution. The Voyage Linux distribution which is more geared towards the ALIX hardware and home automation use case we have in mind seems like a reasonable fit at this point. Installing the latest Sun JDK 1.6 on it was a breeze and it does get our Java runtime going. The box is no speed monster but for your regular home residence automation it doesn't need to be.
Which brings us to another idea we've been toying with and that's the product separation into Home and Pro versions. Home version could exist at low-cost do-it-yourself model based on our hardware RI, or any other spare hardware you may have available, featuring infrared support, X10 integration and so on. We plan on getting detailed installation instructions online for the software and some material on assembling the hardware if you prefer things from scratch rather than a pre-built box.
On the other side the Pro version caters to the professional installer community with features for KNX integration, monitoring, coordinated updates and other larger scale installation features. The hardware requirements may differ from the Home edition -- maybe a rack unit form, more memory and more CPU power. Nevertheless, the idea of designing things in the open remains the same and you'll be able to build anything between those two and create your own mix of features. Think of the two versions more like a guidance towards popular feature profiles.
Where Is My Infrared?
Another area of discovery has been the infrared hardware that is available for home automation enthusiasts. Frankly we've been a little surprised by how challenging it is to find a quality infrared hardware to work in combination with the popular LIRC database of consumer remote controls.
We have evaluated or are evaluating three products so far (documented some of our discoveries in the forums, see [Reviewing Infrared: Iguana|] and [Reviewing Infrared: TIRA|] threads). Each have their own set of little snags. Some LIRC remote codes may not play back correctly on the IR transmitter or the software controlling the hardware just locks up. Some are missing LIRC support for transmitting altogether. None of the IR products so far completely satisfy. Still working on couple of them trying to get issues fixed. However, the effort that has gone into it so far makes it obvious that this is an area where we can bring value to the HA community.
We will keep the forums updated as we make progress on infrared and sort the good from the bad.
Where We Discover Hardware Distribution Is Hard
Last month we were talking about how impressed we were with the Asus B202 box. We started to fancy the box so much we wanted to go and buy a few but couldn't find any in stock in Europe.
Being the impatient sort we are, we decided to talk to friends in Taiwan to help get us a few B202's straight from the source. Buy some and put them on an airplane to Europe. Sounds easy enough to do, what could possibly go wrong?
We had ten boxes bought and sent from Taiwan the next day. There was no shortage over there. Couple of days later the boxes land on an airport in Madrid. So far so good.
Then we hit the European bureaucracy. A big black hole. Where it took 2 days to deliver the boxes from across the world to Europe, it takes no less than ten days to deliver them on the last mile to the final address. And that's all before you start distributing them within EU where another week or two of snail mail is the only affordable way to move a product that originally cost some 250 euros. Sigh.
Multi-tiered distribution model you say? Yeah, now we know why.
What we learned from that episode (besides the obvious lessons of how infinitely frustrating bureaucracy can be) was:
- the B202 really is an excellent piece of hardware with a great price point
- maybe you can get yours by yourself from the local retail store
We will provide the software and instructions on how you can turn your Eee Box into the ultimate home automation controller. Or perhaps even an attractive home theater now that the [latest B204/B206 is coming out with an HDMI|], remote control and all. We will make sure you'll be up and running with OpenRemote home automation on your Eee Box in no time.
Come Join the Chat
Last month we announced the availability of a chat room to the OpenRemote community. A lot of the hardware discussion has been going on in the Skype chatroom. Please come join us. It doesn't matter who you are or what you want to talk about, just come in and say hello, introduce yourself, tell your HA plans or ask a question. Some of you already have and we appreciate it. Just drop by.
What's Coming Up in December
We will be in Amsterdam on December 17th and 18th for our get-together. Planning to do some, uh... brainstorming, assemble some boxes and discuss deep mysteries of the GWT toolkit. If you are in the neighbourhood, drop a note and come say hello.
Also we will keep documenting our progress on both ALIX and B202 boxes, infrared and how you can get your OpenRemote controller built, installed and running. We are ever more convinced that there's value in providing a verified and community-tested stack of hardware and software for HA. Watch this space and the knowledgebase.
Until next month,
-- Juha
As I noted in the forums a few days back, we have set up a public chat room for OpenRemote community. The idea is to let you participate in our discussions as they happen, real time, to check up on what we are doing on any given day or just say hello if you are a new member.
Our recent conversations have revolved around hardware and Linux distributions. We have been deep in investigating the Eee Box for various boot and BIOS options, installing Linux on it to replace the default Windows XP distribution and seeing how it could be used as hardware platform for a dedicated HA application.
I am the first to admit I am quite attracted to this box It has a great price point at around $300 for what it can do, it is a multi-purpose PC architecture that runs some popular Linux distributions quite nicely with the usual bells and whistles. You get good connectivity with LAN and WiFi, 4 USB ports, and an SD card slot. Plenty of power from the 1.6Ghz N270 Atom to run the latest Java stacks (which some affectionately call 'bloatware'). DVI out to play back movies at 720p resolution. Not the ultimate in home theathers yet but getting there.
It's a great little box – and apparently selling great too given the dearth of boxes at least over here in Europe.
What we've been doing the past week is trying to validate the hardware in the Eee box for our purposes. We now have it running with Ubuntu and lircd installed including the infrared transceiver from IguanaWorks (however I am debugging some issues with the IR at the moment). I am hunched over this little box next to the TV and manage to change channels from the terminal instead of the usual remote, excited like a little kid. Can't hide my geek genes. My girlfriend thinks I've lost my marbles and tries to give me the old remote back.
Just wait until the iPhone interface and the macros we get going there.
Back to the chat. If you want to follow all this live as it is happening, join the chat. It can be high volume at times so be prepared for it. We are using Skype at the moment. Yes we know some people take issue with that It is a compromise and something we will replace eventually with a Jabber server but for the moment it will do. Later we will support more chat clients, add web based chat and support more operating systems as well.
Time to dig back into the IR drivers...
– Juha
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