Messages

91

Users / Re: Need some dedicated testers.

« on: August 24, 2013, 02:49:13 am »

The reason being, if I am tunneling in through an outside device into the router, I map some high non-root port number to access the box.   Mapping port 80 is a little tricky, since you need to have permissions.

You can use port redirection on a router, or iptables to redirect from your high port to port 80, but that would be a security risk with no authentication.  A VPN would be more secure; that's how I use RoamingOrb on iDevices.

HTH!

/Mike

92

Users / Re: Install Hyper-V drivers on mce

« on: August 11, 2013, 05:34:45 am »

not to start a fruitless argument...but our hyper-v works great..looking forward to get server2012 r2
but I'd be interested to hear, what makes the others soo much easier...perhaps send me a pm?

Maverick,

No worries... I don't get into flame wars over stuff.  I'll keep it in the thread, since the virtualization question comes up fairly often.  Hyper-V has it's uses and place, and I'm glad it works for you.  It'll get your teams used to all the pros and cons of virtualization, and will help develop skills and knowledge for when you grow into a real hypervisor  . just joshing with ya!

I'll speak from my own experiences and point of view, for what it's worth.  There's a place and purpose for all the virtualization solutions, and it's up to the consumers of those solutions to decide what works best for their particular needs.

On the provisioning front, the fact that the KVM VirtIO drivers and VMware's vmxnet3 and pvscsi drivers are included in the Kernel and the init RAM disk (initrd), means that using standard distribution media, you can pxe boot Linux instances and build/provision using a variety of orchestration tools on those hypervisors.  With Hyper-V, you either have to build a template that includes the Hyper-V para-virtualized drivers, or spin your own initrd for pxe booting.

Linux's block I/O generally outperforms Windows.  We've seen many cases of Windows performing better virtualized on Linux vs Windows on bare metal, because the virtualized instance is taking advantage of the para-virtualized hooks into the host's block I/O and disk cache.  So, in the case of Hyper-V, it's going to be limited by Window's I/O subsystems.

On the management side, the management suit for VMware is considerably more full featured than Hyper-V (and most KVM based ones as well, with the exception of the z/Enterprise suite for the z/BX blades).  Complex multi-tier applications in data centers often need a lot of policy-based rules for managing requirements and services.  Hyper-V can't handle the full gambit...

• Host affinity rules to keep instances running on licensed hosts and processors
• Host anti-affinity rules to keep cluster or tier members off the same hosts
• Workload QoS
• other OS support (Solaris x86, WinNT)
• Stuff like Site Recovery Manager
• scalability, like hundreds of hosts and thousands of VM's

That's just part of what we see where I am, and I deal with 5 hypervisors and 4 hardware architectures as my day gig.  My personal opinion is that Hyper-V is good for Windows on Windows virtualization, and small business/small data centre environments.  It could work for home use for those who are familiar with it, and can get the licensing at a decent price.

That's my nickel's worth...  HTH!

/Mike

93

Users / Re: Install Hyper-V drivers on mce

« on: August 11, 2013, 04:40:44 am »

,I have a Prolaint DL385 G2 fully loaded and  I trying to save POWER cost by running my virtual systems and shutting down several of my machines i have  ruining, combing them into one

Presuming this is a multi-proc Xeon based system, with 64GB of RAM or more, you can virtualize a fair number of systems.  G2's are older systems, and fairly power hungry, so depending on how many systems (and what types), you may or may not save power...

Disk I/O may be the limiting factor to how many systems you're able to virtualize.

HTH!

/Mike

94

Users / Re: Dimming LED and CFL light bulbs?

« on: August 08, 2013, 06:02:08 am »

I'm using the CREE bulbs from Home Depot with Insteon Dimmers, and they work quite well.

Note: the 40W equivalents are perfect for bedrooms and multiple-bulb fixtures as they are quite bright.  The 60W equivalents are very bright, and are suitable for single bulb fixtures and task lighting.  I find that multiple 60W equivalent bulbs are actually too bright, and don't give me enough dynamic range on the dimmers.

Overall, very satisfied with both the CREE bulbs and the Insteon dimmers.

/Mike

95

Users / Re: Install Hyper-V drivers on mce

« on: August 06, 2013, 05:48:02 am »

Another option would be to install Ubuntu 12.04 LTS on the bare metal, and use the included KVM hypervisor and virtual-manager to manage the OS's.

I run a Debian 7 (Wheezy) based KVM virtual host at home, which runs 5 VM's on a regular basis (I only have 8GB RAM in this system, so that's the limiting factor).  Works well, and I use the VirtIO drivers on everything, including LMCE and a WHS 2011 instance (which is based on Server 2008 R2).

I've had the misfortune of dealing with Hyper-V at work, and it's just a royal pain in the a$$.  Especially the drivers and their version of para-virtualization.  KVM and VMware are soooo much easier to deal with for Linux guests, and so are PowerVM and z/VM (believe it or not).

So, I'd recommend ditching Hyper-V, and laying down Ubuntu Server LTS or something like Proxmox.  You'll have a much easier time virtualization Windows on KVM than you ever will doing Linux on Hyper-V.  Especially older versions like Ubuntu 10.04.

HTH!

/Mike
(Who does virtualization as his day gig).

96

Users / Re: At Home with LinuxMCE: Photos

« on: August 01, 2013, 03:42:05 am »

Yeah, my photos and videos these days are trying to highlight a clean aesthetic, as much as I can. Now that I have a decent house for the first time in a _very_ long time, I am trying to make the most of it.

Thom,

Just wait... 6 months from now, that clean aesthetic will have disappeared under toys, stuffies, activity centers, and other kid stuff.  And then the arts and crafts phases will come in a few years...   

/Mike (father of 2 active and creative kids)

97

Developers / Re: Developing a Weather Plugin, videos

« on: July 30, 2013, 04:35:37 am »

Looks good Thom!

I've got a question for you: is there a global installation option anywhere that specifies the user's desired unit of measurement?  You're showing all your temps in Fahrenheit, and some of the thermostat GSD's are hardcoded for Celcius... There is a template parameter for Temperature measurement units, but that's device specific, not installation wide.

Thanks!

/Mike

98

Users / Re: Motion_Wrapper fails to acquire images (produces grey images)

« on: July 25, 2013, 04:40:43 am »

For some weird reason screen always shows up as SCREEN in the process list. This is not LinuxMCE specific.

Might be a Debian/Ubuntu thing... on my core, I get this

Code: [Select]

ps -ef |grep SCREEN | wc -l
22
On my Debian KVM host, I have the same SCREEN process, with a PPID of 1, for the screen session I have running their for admin purposes.  I'll have to check it out on some SLES and CentOS boxes at work... Got me curious...

Edit:  It's a screen thing... does the same thing on CentOS. 

Code: [Select]

# ps -ef | grep -i screen
root      5850  2146  0 17:57 pts/0    00:00:00 screen
root      5851  5850  0 17:57 ?        00:00:00 SCREEN
root      5863  5852  0 17:57 pts/1    00:00:00 grep -i screen

/Mike

99

Developers / Re: Developing a Weather Plugin, videos

« on: July 25, 2013, 04:31:12 am »

It's an apt and honest question.

-Thom

Thom,

You've put your finger right on the problem...

Code: [Select]

sudo apt-get install thom
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Couldn't find package thom

So, until then, I think I can safely say we all appreciate your videos (even if we don't get to them right away), because they walk us through the complexities of the internals of LMCE.  Now that you're a new dad (congrats BTW, she's adorable!), you'll start to learn that a lot of what you do now won't always be immediately visible or rewarding, but often lays the foundations for others to grow in their own way, at their own pace.  Us newbies playing at being devs need a mentor, one who will be patient with us, let us make our mistakes or try to figure things out for ourselves; that's how we'll really learn it.

Cheers!

/Mike

100

Developers / Re: Developing a Weather Plugin, videos

« on: July 24, 2013, 04:48:48 pm »

Yes, and YES.
Excellent video. Darn, if only I'd watched this before I mucked about with sqlCVS the first time.

+1 

101

Developers / Re: Developing a Weather Plugin, videos

« on: July 24, 2013, 04:37:56 am »

I watched your first one on the weather plugin, which triggered the followon discussion.  Got the GSD Set Device Data stuff working; still plugging away on other template features.

Thanks!

/Mike

102

Marketplace / Re: controllable thermostat less than 5" wide?

« on: July 22, 2013, 07:50:40 pm »

As for looks, the Honeywell WiFi Smart Thermostat RTH9580WF looks perfect from a size and form factor, but I don't see API info on their WiFi protocol to see if it would have the same issues as the nest.

From what I've seen around the net, the Honeywell has a proprietary protocol, and may require you to create an account for the more advanced features on the Tstat.  At least, you have to create an account to use the mobile apps.  http://wifithermostat.com/Products/WiFiSmartThermostat/

I recently bought the Radio Thermostat CT-80, which is less pretty than the Honeywell, but more capable with an open API (IMHO).  It's bigger than the 5" you were looking for.

HTH!

/Mike

103

Developers / Re: GSD command question

« on: July 22, 2013, 07:40:17 pm »

Thom,

In my case, I don't know that much about C++ programming, but I know enough about shell scripting, and have played with enough other high-level languages like Perl, Visual Basic, and Python that learning Ruby has a lower barrier to playing with LMCE than my trying to learn C++ AND how LMCE internals work.  So, the GSD drivers give me the ability to get my hardware into the LMCE ecosystem, and then I can learn C++ at my leisure for Arduino and LMCE stuff.

Thanks again for the assistance!

/Mike

104

Developers / Re: GSD command question

« on: July 22, 2013, 03:15:00 pm »

Thom,

Thanks for pointing that out.  I'd been looking at pretty much every other GSD template I could find, but missed that one.  DOH!  I'd been sending to -1000 as that's what most of the code templates do, including some others that do work for me.  Now that you've pointed out that code sample, specifically this bit:

Code: [Select]

def setdeviceconfig(insteonid, configurestring)
@deviceid = $children[insteonid]
@cmdfrom = device_.devid_
@cmdto = 4 #general info plugin
@priority = 1
@type=1 #command
@cmdid = 246

Now that I get the messaging aspect a bit better, I'll be reworking that code snippit to look like this (when I get home).

Code: [Select]

def get_model()
  log("get_model called")
  @data = ""
  @data = get_data("/tstat/model").to_s
  @data = @data.split(":")
  #@model = (@data[1]).to_s.gsub("}","").gsub! /"/, ''
  @model = (@data[1]).to_s.gsub("}","")
  log(@model)
  cmd = Command.new(device_.devid_, 4, 1, 1, 246)
      cmd.params_[2] = (device_.devid_).to_s
      cmd.params_[52] = '233'
      cmd.params_[5] = @model.to_s
      SendCommand(cmd)
  rescue => e
    log("Error in get_model: " + e.message)
    log(e.backtrace)
    @model
end

Once I get it all working, I'll write up some more re-usable functions like ddamron did in his drivers.  I've been studying his EZServe and PLM drivers, and using them as the basis for my ISY driver; I'm taking a break from the ISY driver to work on something simpler (like the thermostat) to figure out some of these more complicated LMCE details like modifying other LMCE controlled data, and the whole sqlcvs thing.  

Thanks for getting me back on the right track!  Much appreciated!

/Mike

105

Developers / GSD command question

« on: July 21, 2013, 02:58:38 pm »

Morning folks!

I have a question about a particular command:  #246 Set Device Data.  I'm trying to use it in a couple of drivers to obtain information and update LMCE.  In this case, I'm grabbing the model information from a thermostat to update Device Data 233 (Model), so that could be used in conditional logic in the driver to use or disable enhanced features, depending on model.

The model info retrieved looks like this "CT80 Rev B2 V1.03" (including the quotes).  The commented out line in the code below strips the quotes, the line below it leaves them intact. 

Code: [Select]

def get_model()
  log("get_model called")
  @data = ""
  @data = get_data("/tstat/model").to_s
  @data = @data.split(":")
  #@model = (@data[1]).to_s.gsub("}","").gsub! /"/, ''
  @model = (@data[1]).to_s.gsub("}","")
  log(@model)
  cmd = Command.new(device_.devid_, -1001, 1, 2, 246)
      cmd.params_[2] = (device_.devid_).to_s
      cmd.params_[52] = '233'
      cmd.params_[5] = @model.to_s
      SendCommand(cmd)
  rescue => e
    log("Error in get_model: " + e.message)
    log(e.backtrace)
    @model
end

The problem is, it's not working for me.  I've worked out any errors, so the routine runs error free.  But it doesn't do anything... Can anyone help me figure out what I'm doing wrong?

Should the cmd.params_[52] = '233' use a constant with a to_s instead? 
Should  cmd.params_[5] = @model.to_s have quoted or non-quoted information in the variable?

Thanks!
/Mike