LinuxMCE Forums

General => Users => Topic started by: Murdock on July 28, 2009, 04:35:58 am

Title: Supported wall panel orbiters?
Post by: Murdock on July 28, 2009, 04:35:58 am
Hello -

  For security and/or lighting, I was wondering if there are any LMCE supported wall panel orbiters?


Thank you,

Ryan
Title: Re: Supported wall panel orbiters?
Post by: pigdog on July 28, 2009, 04:39:36 am
Hi,

Do you mean something like the Webdt 366?
Title: Re: Supported wall panel orbiters?
Post by: Murdock on July 28, 2009, 04:42:06 am
Perhaps, but maybe even something smaller, low powered, something you could use as you walk in the door to control lighting or just disable the security system.
Title: Re: Supported wall panel orbiters?
Post by: pigdog on July 28, 2009, 04:48:22 am
Well, you could always use one of the Nokia phones.
Title: Re: Supported wall panel orbiters?
Post by: Murdock on July 28, 2009, 04:58:54 am
True, though that's a phone. I'll take a look around and see what devices are out there.
Title: Re: Supported wall panel orbiters?
Post by: qball4 on July 28, 2009, 05:04:29 am
Thom's framebuffer orbiter could probably be compiled for ARM processors and used on pretty much any ARM embedded wifi-enabled touchscreen computer. Put a nice bezel on it and mount it in the wall.

:Matt
Title: Re: Supported wall panel orbiters?
Post by: Techstyle on July 28, 2009, 05:23:40 am
I have a old XDAIIi (PDA) which you can buy on ebay for about 35GBP.  Most of them are perfectly fine but have dings on the metal case from being dropped.  Head down to the Framing shop and have them build a frame around it.  It needs to be a wide enough that the power adapter is inside the frame and drill a small hole for the reset button just incase.  Then mount them wherever you need them and you are all set.

They run the Win CE orbiter
Title: Re: Supported wall panel orbiters?
Post by: geekyhawkes on July 28, 2009, 01:53:59 pm
Really interesting idea.  I would be very interested to see the pictures of the solution you end up with.
Title: Re: Supported wall panel orbiters?
Post by: rperre on July 28, 2009, 04:39:52 pm
There has been talk on the forum before about the mini2440 boards, which would be perfect for this, I'm looking for the same.

There is already a wiki started on these ARM boards

http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Mini2440_Orbiter_setup_and_FAQ

For some general info and sales in europe and asia look at the friendlyARM.net site. In the USA they are for sale at mini-box.com

Whenever I get to buying the rest of my orbiter stuff I will get one of these and try it, than mount it in place of all my current intercom stations and the alarm panels in the house for all "fixed" orbiter needs around the house.

Richard
Title: Re: Supported wall panel orbiters?
Post by: wackychimp on July 28, 2009, 06:10:19 pm
I'd love to see support for a POE panel (power over ethernet) as I'm just getting ready to wire our house.

Something like this:
http://www.smarthome.com/12007/INSTEON-and-ISY-99-Compatible-Power-over-Ethernet-PoE-In-Wall-Touch-Screen-EASYTOUCH-P/p.aspx

There isn't already support for poe devices is there?
Title: Re: Supported wall panel orbiters?
Post by: wierdbeard65 on July 28, 2009, 06:33:00 pm
POE is a feature provided by the network hardware, so isn't something that MCE supports or doesn't support.

Typically, you either use injectors to insert the power into the line at some point between the device and the network switch (messy) or you get a switch that provides POE directly.

Be careful though, some cheaper POE switches have a limit on the total current drain and so can't support all their ports being used for POE at the same time. Make sure if you buy one that it's up to the job ;-)

I've got a D-Link 48-port gigabit POE switch and would very much like to power devices like wall panels, WAPs etc this way - makes for much less cabling!

Now, whether there are any devices that are supported by MCE that can be powered by POE is a different matter. You can, however, often get a little adapter that plugs inline near to the device that takes the power and passes it to the device (the opposite of an injector). Even if one isn't available, you could probably make one fairly easily.

HTH
Title: Re: Supported wall panel orbiters?
Post by: dlewis on July 28, 2009, 06:46:59 pm
PoE is the way to go... I power all of my phones via PoE...
Title: Re: Supported wall panel orbiters?
Post by: wackychimp on July 28, 2009, 07:10:21 pm
Yeah, I love the idea of POE too.  8)

I guess what I'm wondering is whether or not MCE will "see" this device (or another poe panel) as an orbiter or not.  Doesn't it need some sort of storage (RAM, HDD, Compact Flash, etc.) to be able to load the orbiter software?
Title: Re: Supported wall panel orbiters?
Post by: wierdbeard65 on July 28, 2009, 07:20:52 pm
Please don't confuse POE with the rest of your question ;)

Any network device (within reason) can by powered via POE. IEEE 802.3af defines the standard which basically utilizes unused pairs in the Cat5e cable to run power to the device. Some devices (for example IP camers, phones, WAPs) are able to extract the power from their RJ45 port directly and power themselves. If your device can't do this, you can still use POE. What you need is a bit of kit (de-injector?) which plugs inline within the network cable that passes the network pairs on to the device's network port, but extracts the power from the other pairs and provides that as a DC power feed to the device. As you have correctly spotted, there are wall panels available that can do this for themselves.

The Orbiter, however, will be the same as any MCE device, regardless of power. If it's CE-based I'm guessing Thom's magic will provide the software to it. I don't know if any of the dedicated orbiters run PXE, or if they all have the software flashed into them (like the WebDTs etc).

Even if there are no panels currently supported by MCE that are capable of native POE, don't overlook the option of extracting the power from the cable and providing it that way to an otherwise perfectly good panel.

'tis what I intend to do!
Title: Re: Supported wall panel orbiters?
Post by: wackychimp on July 28, 2009, 07:44:06 pm
Ok a bit of Googling rendered "poe extractors" (de-injector was close  ;) ) which I'd never heard of before so thanks for letting me know this was a possibility.  Here's one in case someone's doing searches on this forum in the future: http://www.shireeninc.com/osc/product_info.php?products_id=90

However, my panel will still need some kind of processor & storage (some kind of mini computer) in it right?  I can't just have a panel with an ethernet plug (if there even is such a thing).  The interface can't be fed directly to an orbiter (panel) from the core... correct?
Title: Re: Supported wall panel orbiters?
Post by: Thingie on July 28, 2009, 07:56:37 pm
Why don't use a pocketpc for this function?
Title: Re: Supported wall panel orbiters?
Post by: wackychimp on July 28, 2009, 08:02:21 pm
Why don't use a pocketpc for this function?

I guess you could with the poe extractor.  I would prefer something larger and more substantial as I plan for this unit to be the main home automation hub for the house.
Title: Re: Supported wall panel orbiters?
Post by: wierdbeard65 on July 28, 2009, 08:08:06 pm
However, my panel will still need some kind of processor & storage (some kind of mini computer) in it right?  I can't just have a panel with an ethernet plug (if there even is such a thing).  The interface can't be fed directly to an orbiter (panel) from the core... correct?

The insteon device you pointed to isn't just a screen, it has processor etc. (According to the page you linked to, it has
Quote
Processor:   400MHZ/ 800MMACs High Performance Processor
Memory:   16 Mb RAM, up to 16 Mb Flash
My point was that even if this particular device isn't MCE compatible, there are other, similar devices that are. rperre, for example, referred you to the Mini2440. AFAIK, that doesn't inherantly use POE, but you could use an extractor with it and achieve what you (I think) want.
Title: Re: Supported wall panel orbiters?
Post by: Dale_K on July 28, 2009, 10:12:27 pm
The Dianemo site has an in-wall orbiter displayed, what are they using?
Title: Re: Supported wall panel orbiters?
Post by: Thingie on July 28, 2009, 11:00:37 pm
Also found this on the web.
http://technabob.com/blog/2009/06/29/shuttle-x50-flat-screen-pc-barebones/

Looks nice and powerfull and has a 15.6" touch screen. It's only 36mm thick.
Title: Re: Supported wall panel orbiters?
Post by: totallymaxed on July 28, 2009, 11:15:50 pm
Thom's framebuffer orbiter could probably be compiled for ARM processors and used on pretty much any ARM embedded wifi-enabled touchscreen computer. Put a nice bezel on it and mount it in the wall.

:Matt

One of the main reasons for Thom's work in this area is to enable us to have a usable ARM based Orbiter - one of the initial targets is the mini-2440 ARM based board.

All the best

Andrew
Title: Re: Supported wall panel orbiters?
Post by: wackychimp on July 29, 2009, 10:06:59 pm
Did some more digging and the Mini2440 looks nice! :D

I'd love to find the version with the 7" screeen available somewhere. That might be just about perfect for what I hope to do.

Where do we find details/updates on the framebuffer orbiter?  Not seeing it in the wiki.

Thanks!
Title: Re: Supported wall panel orbiters?
Post by: tschak909 on July 29, 2009, 10:59:00 pm
It is part of the Orbiter source code, and can be built with Makefile_DirectFB. There is still some anicillary methods missing (progress window, choice dialogs, basic message dialog) which need to be implemented, but it does work for existing orbiters that are set up in the web admin.

-Thom
Title: Re: Supported wall panel orbiters?
Post by: rperre on July 29, 2009, 11:13:59 pm
Did some more digging and the Mini2440 looks nice! :D

I'd love to find the version with the 7" screeen available somewhere. That might be just about perfect for what I hope to do.

Where do we find details/updates on the framebuffer orbiter?  Not seeing it in the wiki.

Thanks!

Look on ebay for the 7" version about $149 + shipping, not too bad I think, since the 3.5" is about $109
It ships from hong kong, I normally don't like that, but it does seem to work.

Search for "S3C2440" (sorry ebay links not allowed I think)

Richard