What can our community learn form vCrib and vice versa

[ouie]

Noticed this software while poking around on the web. It looks interesting

http://vcrib.wikidot.com/start

I was wondering what we as a community could learn form them and vice versa ? Any constructive thoughts on this project and comparing and contrasting it to LMCE?

[tschak909]

It looks like they're not quite as advanced as we are.

-Thom

[teedge77]

It looks like they're not quite as advanced as we are.

-Thom

i dont know if that means something couldnt be learned from them.....but its also apples and oranges though. theyre based on windows and seem to be solely home automation and not media in anyway other than controlling equipment. i do think they would have a lot they could learn from linuxmce.

[gazzzman]

I have to say the voice command is really cool
especially if you used a bluetooth headset!!
as my wife is blind an I have very poor eyesight.. my development priorities are a little out of sync with the majority of users!
I would much rather have voice command than all the HD in the world
and here in the UK there is virtually NO free HD content anyhow!
oh and Sky charge like a rhinoceros!!
and most of their programs suck like a Dyson lol

[golgoj4]

Noticed this software while poking around on the web. It looks interesting

http://vcrib.wikidot.com/start

I was wondering what we as a community could learn form them and vice versa ? Any constructive thoughts on this project and comparing and contrasting it to LMCE?

What exactly is the point exactly? Features added? Not to be disrespectful but it seems LMCE offers a lot more so I not sure what could be 'learned' from it. Can you be more specific?

[teedge77]

more specific? hes asking what people think could be learned from that project. people dont usually ask questions when they have all the answers. so i guess the point was that he was trying to see what people thought could be learned from them. features probably wouldnt be the only thing. voice has been brought up before but it was determined that it just wasnt feasible yet. the floor plan/diagram was different in there. did you look at the other one at all? i think what hes asking makes perfect sense. what can we see they have done, that may help us in some way or what could they take from us and use for theirs.

[golgoj4]

more specific? hes asking what people think could be learned from that project. people dont usually ask questions when they have all the answers. so i guess the point was that he was trying to see what people thought could be learned from them. features probably wouldnt be the only thing. voice has been brought up before but it was determined that it just wasnt feasible yet. the floor plan/diagram was different in there. did you look at the other one at all? i think what hes asking makes perfect sense. what can we see they have done, that may help us in some way or what could they take from us and use for theirs.

Actually i did look before i posted and really saw nothing of interest other than the voice function. And the wiki is a bit light on information...

i did notice some posts in the forums about environmental stuff, mainly sensors and whatnot. Still trying to find the floorplan bit. were you able too?

check out this page: http://vcrib.wikidot.com/system:list-all-pages - Is that all the information or am i missing something?

[teedge77]

i looked a little and watched a video or too. i think we can take some notes on what to avoid for videos.  they werent that bad i guess...like larry the cable guy doing a home automation demo. it was all a bit sparse though. linuxmce is ahead of them in most ways. the only thing that side has on linuxmce is the voice thing, rfid and the videos. i will probably look some more later. the floor plan thing looked like it may be a little more extensive than linuxmce. that isnt necessarily good or bad....just different. they did also have phidgets working with it. i believe someone on here had posted stuff about phidgets. like i said though...apples and oranges kind of. linux somewhat limits some of the functionality for now. maybe ill check out some of those videos and see what else there is later.

[golgoj4]

i looked a little and watched a video or too. i think we can take some notes on what to avoid for videos.  they werent that bad i guess...like larry the cable guy doing a home automation demo. it was all a bit sparse though. linuxmce is ahead of them in most ways. the only thing that side has on linuxmce is the voice thing, rfid and the videos. i will probably look some more later. the floor plan thing looked like it may be a little more extensive than linuxmce. that isnt necessarily good or bad....just different. they did also have phidgets working with it. i believe someone on here had posted stuff about phidgets. like i said though...apples and oranges kind of. linux somewhat limits some of the functionality for now. maybe ill check out some of those videos and see what else there is later.

ok maybe im just thick, but were the videos on their site?

[darrenmason]

I have a phidgets 8/8/8 interface kit working with linuxMCE. I am waiting for some more time to do another round of testing before I check the code in.

I imagine the Phidgets RFID stuff would be quite straightforward to implement as well.

[tschak909]

Dude, we've _HAD_ RFID support in the codebase. What do you think the Wavetrend driver is?

RFID tags can generate presence events, that can be latched onto.

-Thom

[teedge77]

have and use are two different things. maybe looking at how they use it in vcrib would give other people using linuxmce ideas on what they could do with it. even the most advanced civilizations can still learn something from the primitive little villages. though theyd obviously never admit it.

[tschak909]

true.

-Thom

[teedge77]

what are some devices that the wavetrend driver would support? do you know of any that would work with linuxmce now or maybe with a little work?


EDIT: Found some on wavetrend.net. Readers, tags and more. Also found some of the active rfid products on ebay for people that like to buy there.

[ouie]

Thanks to all,
Really I just wanted to provoke intelligent conversation. Maybe spawn some interesting ideas. In no way did I want to start a fight. We have some very talented and committed people on this project and it has inspired me to sharpen my development skills so that I can contribute in a meaningful way. We are more advanced then vCrib but it never hurts to look at what is out so that we can better the project as a whole.

The voice commmand stuff did initially catch my eye as well as the 3d wireframe floor plan and his implementation of RFID. I just wanted to see if the community knew of this project and what they thought of it because I am not "deep " enough in LMCE knowledge to judge how difficult implementing such things are or even if they are implemented.He is using a different development platform and sometimes that can overcome my internal bias as to what is possible and what is not. Like most of us here I "solve problems" for a living because I love it . Now I just need to find an interesting and compelling question and to take action.