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46
Users / Re: LinuxMCE Compare to Control4
« on: April 15, 2008, 07:30:05 am »
Short answer:
1) Control4 needs an integrator to set up. LMCE can be done by you.
2) Control4 moves the video over analog connections. LMCE integrates it into the network.
3) Control4 controls legacy video devices. LMCE eliminates them for the most part.

Control4 is really the newest of the last generation solutions. It is a rebirth of FAST but isn't new and is technically pretty obsolete. It doesn't do video internally except for its own UI. The lighting stuff is all Zigbee and amazingly "open standard proprietary" since there really isn't an open Zigbee market.

I hope this helps.

47
Developers / Re: ZWave API
« on: April 13, 2008, 09:45:42 pm »
There are three revisions of the ZWave chip and 5 or 6 major revisions to the firmware. If the controller libraries are installed in the chip at manufacturing (this changes depending on whether the chip is in a light switch, door lock, controller etc.) then the chip will support the controller functions. A handheld controller has different functions that a "static" controller. This has to do with the routing tables. A handheld cannot count on routing since its moving. A static controller can support a routing table fully. All of the recent controller libraries have those functions. All of the computer interface controllers seem to give full access to the basic library, except the Leviton serial controller.

Hari is doing great work on fixing the ZWave stuff.

48
The Harmony remotes will work fine, just load the MCE codes (add a Windows MCE to your system in the harmony setup). But they offer no real utility when you have LMCE installed over the standard IR remote since LMCE does all of the Harmony smart things, many much better since it has state feedback.

49
Users / Re: Non standard resolution and Orbiter Skin
« on: April 13, 2008, 09:32:09 pm »
There are two villains in this story and neither are the developers. The core problem is the display manufacturers not reporting accurate EDID data and promoting suboptimal ones even if they do report correctly. (Its common to see 1080p displays report 1024X768 resolution. That reduces the number of customer calls.)
Second, is the video drivers from the card vendors. Linux is the ugly stepchild that get the leftovers after the Windows child get the good stuff. Not to mention the short market life of the hardware. Most computer hardware has less market life than a Hollywood B picture. But people don't change their media hardware as fast as they do their computers. This leaves a lot of perfectly fine old hardware to support. But for a video card manufacturer that just a problem. Better to obsolete it and get those customers to buy new stuff.
And 710 is still beta. Some of these issues will be sorted by release (very soon now. . .)

50
You can manually edit xorg.conf. Here is some insight http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/books/handbook/x-config.html but its not to be done casually (think editing a Windows Registry).
The best way I have found is to open a putty session into the system and cut and paste the modeline desired from the myth modeline database. So Google, Putty, Myth Modeline and look at the article above to get started. I also use Winscp a lot. I'm not that attached to Linux only.

51
The AMD/ATI graphics support won't do UI2 overlay or blended. Its a driver problem with the ATI drivers. Only Nvidia has support for the functionality to get that working.

52
Installation issues / Re: DHCP - combine with other DHCP - HOWTO?
« on: April 13, 2008, 08:39:52 am »
In a few short messages the extremes of LinuxMCE's concepts have been touched. At one end its a very customizable platform for doing many complex things. At the other end it was designed to be a consumer appliance with all of the complex gears hidden and hopefully as user friendly as an iPhone. It was designed to support distributed control and it some of the future power will come specifically from that. It's conceivable that, for example, a security panel vendor would build a DCE engine into his box that can discover another DCE engine in the network and automagically integrate. Another future goal would be to have redundant systems for higher reliability. Important for larger installations.

All of the code for the core engines are C++ so they will go on to Arm or Mips or whatever. Some stuff really won't, like the Asterisk app, for now. But its modular and you use what you need.

However networking has been one of the most challenging aspects of supporting the system. Consumers barely know what a network is let alone what DHCP is. So for an appliance it was necessary to hatch the 2 nic solution. There were some discussions about having the box automatically reconfigure a router but thats way too difficult for a practical product. Too many different routers. There was a draft spec for having DHCP servers communicate with each other in a network but that was dropped for lack of interest. Here is where it would really help.

Its entirely possible to to the advanced configuration defined at the beginning of this thread, but it requires a firewall/router that can be configured. The generic Netgear/d-link/2wire router doesn't support 10% of that configurability. The big issues surface with the PXE booting. The next level with the PNP discovery. The process that is supposed to update the firmware in the Cisco phone steps into all of the stages of the process. And the HDHomeRun tuner is another example of exploiting the network smarts. In the future there will be more devices like these. And then there is the VOIP and NAT transversal, another thing that works best at the edge of the network.

The security of having all the functions in one box is an issue but it may be resolvable to some level of confidence. And having one box running should be more "green" than two. However I would not suggest pitching a lot of work configuring a complext system if it can be massaged to work as described.

53
Installation issues / Re: How to install Linuxmce in andlinux
« on: April 12, 2008, 11:06:50 pm »
That may be a very tall order to pull off. LMCE uses a lot of low level services in specific ways that running on Windows may break. Its not just an application, its much more. However using andLinux for hosting a media director is a very interesting idea.

54
Users / Re: Cannot change volume with external sound card
« on: April 12, 2008, 10:44:51 pm »
What settings are you using for the sound card in the Media Director page? If you chose the SPDIF output the controls won't work locally. Its designed to control an external AV receiver in that mode. Also if the control is redirected to a TV the local control is "disconnected".

55
Users / Re: [Guide]Resolutions
« on: April 12, 2008, 10:35:49 pm »
The resolutions.conf was not in 704. Its part of 710. Which version are you trying?

56
First- you need to rerun the video wizard to change the settings properly. There are instructions on the WiKi. The 1080i should be available when you get the component video up.
Second, The FLAC issue has been resolved but won't be in the wild until 710 (very soon now). It has required some changes in the media management to get it working right.

57
Via's Linux drivers are a trail of tears. . . They have been buggy and unreliable for video and not a lot better for audio. This may be the acknowledgement that they can't write drivers and are ready to dume the project on the open source ("free" to them) community. I don't think there is a lot that would have really needed protection in their drivers anyway. Their IP is old.

58
Developers / Re: GSD/Ruby Developers Conferences
« on: April 07, 2008, 03:09:25 am »
Quote
The other idea is to write a 'DCE Command Prompt', accessible via an RS232 port connected with a null modem cable to another computer.
With a serial interface that would allow the hopelessly defensive Crestron and AMX programmers to interface to DCE they could apply their UI's and hardware to an LMCE system. Just make enough commands available that they can do a little. This is training wheels for the Luddites.

59
Developers / Re: ZWave API
« on: April 07, 2008, 03:02:56 am »
You have a Homepro Primary controller. I have used it myself and its OK. It uses a pretty early version of the ZWave library and may not support some of the newer devices correctly. I also found it was not real good with setting up routing. But it should not be a roadblock to success. Tyhe controllers do not show up on the LMCE side for some reason. They should be identified as controllers if they do come across.
You can download a trial of ZTool here http://www.homeseer.com/products/software/Z-Tool.htm and it will tell you what is in the USB stick. It will work with the EU stuff. And it should support all of the latest stuff.

60
Developers / Re: ZWave API
« on: April 06, 2008, 05:12:38 pm »
Can you provide more details about your ZWave stuff? USB controller, primary controller and whose devices? If you get the ZTool software it will read back what your usb controller reports. I have only 17 lights but more than 28 slots taken. The ZWave protocol does not reuse device ID's (without some specific efforts) so when you delete a device the number is still taken. Also controllers don't show up on the LMCE side.

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