CM15A... does it work in LinuxMCE?

[dkdias]

  I am a very newbie to LinuxMCE.  I have Linux Mint installed as a dual boot system on one of my computers. I am totally new to LinuxMCE.  I borrowed an X10 system from a friend who was unable to get this system to work for him in an older house with older wiring.  I want to try this out, but i do not have the AHP PC Interface software.  Does the Active Home Pro 2  way pc interface work with LinuxMCE?

If it does work, please answer my next questions....... I have a windows xp sp3 and Linux Mint installed in a dual boot enviroment. I don't want to mess with the myth tv. I  read that I will need two ethernet cards, but I think that was for myth TV.  Is this so, or do I need two ethernet cards to use LinuxMCE to control the x10 devices?

Will LinuxMCE continue to control the lights after I turn off the computer that controls the lighting devices. I read about one other software program that only controls the various devices when the computer is on........

thanks for the help!!

[tschak909]

Welcome. I will get right to the point...

You need two ethernet cards in your LinuxMCE core, because LinuxMCE runs a DHCP server on the second ethernet card. This essentially turns your LinuxMCE machine into the router and gateway for the entire home. This was done as the best way to be able to handle plug and play of network devices.

Yes, we have a driver for the CM15A, although I have never used it. It was written by a volunteer. I forget his name now... It should find the device the moment you plug it into the core or a media director, and ask to install it. You can then add devices in the web admin, under Wizard > Lighting, as X-10 is not automatic, it can't be dealt with by the Setup Wizard.

Because LinuxMCE is controlling the devices and logic, if the computer running LinuxMCE is turned off, or suffers a crash, then the automation will not work. Bus systems like KNX (which we also support) handle this type of autonomy much better.

I would like to conclude by saying, LinuxMCE is not a media center, it is a smart home platform. As such, it has a much larger scope of features than any media center, and this also means that the supported PC hardware is smaller, because we have to manage a large set of features amongst a small group of engineers.

-Thom

[dkdias]

Thank you for your help!!

[tmwillett]

I'll add that the CM-15A is completely plug and play.  I use it at home, and it is automatically detected by LMCE.  The interface performs some basic macro-type functions, timer-based functions, and the easy on/off stuff.  It's a bit harder to configure than the SmartHome software, but the convenience of integrating with the rest of the AV gear is very nice.  Plus, you can control all of your lights via any TV in the house.  I have two CM15A's to offset some of the configuration hassle with LMCE.  One is plugged into LMCE, the other is plugged into an XP system.  I use the XP system to do some of the more complex functions that I couldn't figure out how to do in LMCE for the X10 gear.  I'm sure there is a way to do it all in LMCE, but I couldn't find it easily.  It was worth buying another CM15A on EBay so I could get all of the functionality I needed.