Messages

31

Users / Re: Home automation system to use with LinuxMCE when building new house?

« on: February 24, 2011, 12:28:36 am »

I've run into the LED dimming situation with KNX earlier..

Most of the lighting in my house will be leds, and I'm really into the soft-light/soft-dim function that is possible by dimming them. When I thought I had decided to use a PLC-system I was going to solve it by 1-10V analog outputs that controlled pwm-inverters and digital inputs that the rocker-switches were connected to.

The analog outputs on a plc-system costs around 30 EURO each, so there I won't save a lot of money compared to knx. It's the digital inputs that are really cheap. 16 inputs for 80 EURO.

I do believe that a wired dedicated bus-system is the best over time, but I still haven't found one that fulfills my wish to dim everything in a good way.

rgds,
Christian

32

Users / Re: Ripping music and video from CD and DVD for future LinuxMCE system

« on: February 23, 2011, 03:27:25 pm »

Another thing, what Video format will be best to store all the video in?
I want a good lossless that still streams nicely

When it comes to audio I'm pretty sure of FLAC

rgds,
Christian

33

Users / Re: Home automation system to use with LinuxMCE when building new house?

« on: February 23, 2011, 12:20:21 pm »

Thank you for all the input!

One thing I want to achieve is dimming LED's (downlights, stripes, etc.) both with switches and programming situations. Is that possible with bticino, Johannes?

I will have another look at the knx system, but when I've looked earlier I've realised the inputs and outputs are very expensive..

Have anyone btw experinced the need to expand change their ha system over time?
Some people I've talked to say that after a year or two you usually don't use all the modules you think you will use when putting together the system in the beginning. Is this true for anyone of you?

//Christian

34

Users / Home automation system to use with LinuxMCE when building new house?

« on: February 23, 2011, 07:59:42 am »

Hi all!

I'm perplexed about which HA system to use with LinuxMCE when building new house
Until now I've just seen wired solutions as the only option. I thought Knx was too expensive so I wanted to go with industrial PLC.

A few days ago I watched this video:

http://www.google.se/url?sa=t&source=video&cd=1&ved=0CDMQtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.google.com%2Fvideoplay%3Fdocid%3D2176025602905109829&rct=j&q=linuxmce&ei=LbBkTbSLDsSfOsHkgNEF&usg=AFQjCNHBQjbuYW3p0taVNz3lEpC_blRAxQ&cad=rja

After that I started thinking maybe wireless isn't so bad. He uses Z-wave. Before I've been of the opinion that wireless won't do the trick as the "air-space" is limited and is being filled up with communication of more and more devices over time. I see the possibility of future interruptions, among other things. A wired solution with it's own bus is likely to be more reliable.. Or?

Please help me choose.
I want to keep it simple, but still reliable. My home will be VERY automated, so it's important it works as it should at all times. And I wouldn't want to shut any doors for the future.
In Sweden, when reading in home automation forums, people sometimes suggest wireless home automation, but when building new house, they still advice you to install empty cable tubes/hoses for a future installation of wired system..

Of course, cost is also an aspect. I can see that Knx is very expensive. X10 is very much cheaper, but as a wired solution it's not reliable enough in Sweden with having 3-phase system.

Maybe I should also add that we have 230V feeding in Sweden too.

X10 wireless? Z-wave? Zigbee? I'm very confused.. And when building new house one wouldn't want to do the mistake of not installing a wired system if that is what the future holds, and if a wireless isn't reliable enough..

Thanks!
Christian

35

Users / Re: Ripping music and video from CD and DVD for future LinuxMCE system

« on: February 23, 2011, 07:17:48 am »

tschak99: Thanks, just know so little about everything when it comes to linuxMCE yet

joshpond: Looks interesting. I will definately take a look at this - What are the major benefits of this compared to other NAS's?

rgds,
Christian

36

Users / Re: Ripping music and video from CD and DVD for future LinuxMCE system

« on: February 23, 2011, 12:05:50 am »

Ok. Thanks!

What filesystem format should I use for the NAS?

Is it better to have a NAS for the media storage than the internal drives in the core?
The drives I'm talking about was intended to be installed in the core once I have the system up an running.

rgds,
Christian

37

Users / Re: Ripping music and video from CD and DVD for future LinuxMCE system

« on: February 13, 2011, 07:06:27 pm »

Thanx!

In which filesystem should I format the disc?

Is it possible to copy files from my mac to ext3 and 4 in an easy way?

rgds,
Christian

38

Users / Ripping music and video from CD and DVD for future LinuxMCE system

« on: February 13, 2011, 11:56:34 am »

Hi all!

I will use a LinuxMCE system in my future house, but that is over a year in the future. However I would like to rip all my movie-dvd's and music cd's to an empty drive that I'm supposed to install in the core later on.

Is there anything in particular I should think about when doing this? Filesystem? Folder structure? Acually having LinuxMCE installed on the drive?

Anything that can help. I'm a newbie :S

As for now I haven't even been able to try LinuxMCE since I only have Mac's in my home.

I would like as high quality as possible, so for the music I'm thinking FLAC.

Thank you!

rgds,
Christian

39

Feature requests & roadmap / Re: Control PLC with LinuxMCE?

« on: January 31, 2011, 08:57:31 am »

Yes a GSD works just fine for bi-directional communication between LinuxMCE and a PLC. We
use an RS232 to PLC connection here for high speed imaging barcode scanners at over 3500 packages per hour with no data loss at all.

I can definitely post examples of some of my PLC program on this forum, but better yet tell me what PLC your planning on using and I'll provide examples tailored to that system.

That'd be even more great! Unfortunately I've chosen to go with an unknown Chinese plc-system - Kinco (Very cheap)

CPU's http://www.kinco.cn/en/prl.asp?aspid=4&c2id=18&c3id=53
Expansion I/O's http://www.kinco.cn/en/prl.asp?aspid=4&c2id=18&c3id=38
SW http://www.kinco.cn/en/download.asp?c1=1&c2=24

I don't know if it's compatible, maybe you do.. I've looked at their programming SW and they seem to use "ordinary" ladder logic (I haven't played much with plc, so I don't know what's actually ordinary or not

thanks!
//Christian

40

Feature requests & roadmap / Re: Control PLC with LinuxMCE?

« on: January 28, 2011, 08:16:20 pm »

Thank you very much!
Most interesting!

Do you think that communicating as a GSD would be sufficient to give and receive commands?
For one not up to date with C++ it would save a lot of time..

rgds,
Christian

PS. Could you by any chance send the ladder logic or an example of it showing how you sent text commands from the PLC-CPU?

41

Users / Re: Questions about LinuxMCE for my future automated home

« on: January 20, 2011, 10:02:53 am »

About the HMI's the only they have where they say it's possible to install own OS and other SW is from the 6000-series. Then WinCE is preinstalled, it has 10/100 baseT port, and they sell the Mt6300 http://www.kinco.cn/en/prl.asp?aspid=1&c2id=43&c3id=74&c4id=164 for a little more than 300 USD.. Is it still a good price?

rgds,
Christian

42

Users / Intel D945GSEJT as MD

« on: January 20, 2011, 09:28:13 am »

Thank you!

Do  you think an Intel D945GSEJT would be sufficient as a MD?

I plan to put it in a Mini-ITX Barebone Morex T-1610 so that I can mount it on the back of the TV

Thanks!

Christian

43

Feature requests & roadmap / Re: Control PLC with LinuxMCE?

« on: January 17, 2011, 11:27:16 pm »

Explained to someone who doesn't know much about LinuxMCE - what would the benefits be of making the plc a c++ dev instead of GSD?
I guess that c++ is more flexible, but others than that?

rgds,
Christian

44

Users / Re: Questions about LinuxMCE for my future automated home

« on: January 17, 2011, 04:53:46 pm »

One question I would ask you is this:
What do you have more, free time or money? Depending on your answer there are obviously different answers.

If you have more free time then invest that time to get some of gear you want to install in your house RIGHT NOW, and build one PC as LinuxMCE Hybrid.

If you don't gave year or so to learn everything you need to know about LinuxMCE then get somebody (pay them) of more experienced LinuxMCE people who is near you to help you build your system, or order pre build Dianemo systems (http://www.dianemo.co.uk/)

Hope this helps.

Well.. Money is always an issue - free time, however, is always possible to get. I will work 13 months in China soon, and it's a very "free" job - I will have lots of time to learn some of the things I want to know.

And since I am a control freak I really want to learn the system rather than buying a completed solution.. Yesterday I looked through the wiki searching for info on how to add the plc-system and found the "make a DCE device in 5 minutes". However, I wasn't able to view the commands, only got the message "The action you have requested is limited to users in the group user" :S

Does anyone know how I can get access to the pages under DCE?

hmm.

Get a panel with ethernet, or Wifi, and at the _VERY LEAST_ a compatible web browser.

-Thom

Would this then be preferable? http://www.kinco.cn/en/prl.asp?aspid=1&c2id=1&c3id=7&c4id=247
On the other hand, it say's support ethernet. Suspicious.. I've thrown them an email.
Anyway the price for that 7" MT4424TE is 263$ instead..

45

Users / Re: Questions about LinuxMCE for my future automated home

« on: January 16, 2011, 07:02:12 pm »

I had a quick look at the link and the device doesn't seem to have any way to communicate with MCE (No Ethernet, no USB), or am I missing something?

No, you don't miss anything - it only communicates through rs-232 and rs-485. Isn't that possible with MCE?

They do have HMI's with ethernet connection, but they are not as cheap