Comments on: My Attempt At Home Automation Using .NET and Flash

By: Derek Rosien

Derek Rosien — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 02:43:24 +0000

Hey has anyone that posted a response here, or is currently just reading this thread, have you completed any more testing on this kind of software?
I am really interested a Flash and PHP solution or even a .NET solution, any of which would be launched off of a Windows Mobile or Pocket PC platform.
I would love to discuss some thoughts and ideas with you, even some working examples or even more information on the hardware you used and how to get it to receive the communications from Flash.
Any help or information would be greatly apreciated!
Derek

By: Dennis

Dennis — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 22:17:11 +0000

Hey Guys,
I was looking for whitepapers and other stuff about Pluto.. Just installed this on a P4 here. It’s working great, Debian Linux based and has a nice GUI. I wondering if the topic starter already finished his project? Could anyone tell me… Because a love some .net + flash framework source for my project.
Regards,
Dennis

By: Maxwell

Maxwell — Sat, 12 Feb 2005 08:12:44 +0000

You are even more than a nerd than I am, Danny. When you’re done McGuiverizing your house, wanna hook up my place in D.C.? I wanted to let you know that I’m reading your site from an internet cafe in Singapore.
Word to yo’ mother.

By: Tuig

Tuig — Fri, 21 Jan 2005 10:08:24 +0000

I understand your craving – mine’s the same. The reality is though that current devices (mine at least) are controlled by IR/X10/RS-232, Application API’s for software and sometimes TCP/IP. The remote part of home control as you describe (and as Netremote also tries to serve) is one part of the solution, but the ’server’ part is another – and that’s where a lot of the complexity lies, stuff that can’t easily be done, will not be seamless for a few more years, even in .Net.
So seamless is our common wish, but will not be reality with so many diffent approaches to home automation and entertainment. The interests of, say, PC-centric companies are too different from, say, CE companies. They simply don’t (yet) see the need for seamless control outside of their own turf. And if you only target future specs and devices or have to limit yourself to a platform delivered by a narrowly focused industry, you can’t make your daily live today much easier, can you?

By: Danny Mavromatis

Danny Mavromatis — Thu, 20 Jan 2005 17:09:56 +0000

I looked into Girder and Netremote. It’s good stuff, but I wanted more. I think in order for home automation to be successful, it needs to be seamless. I have yet to find a package that does this. I guess, the reason is because it’s not that simple of a task. There are a lot of pieces that are needed to make my vision a reality at a price that is affordable to the standard home owner. We are still in the infancy stages with video servers and HD. I played around with the uPnP SDK, it’s an amazing protocol. Once of there examples is a uPnP enabled light switch. With this technology if will be easy to retrofit a home with a complete lighting solution. The problem is getting companies to adopt and release products that use it. I ended going with the Lightolier Compose lighting system with great success so far.

By: Tuig

Tuig — Thu, 20 Jan 2005 16:10:42 +0000

Your thinking is mine. I choose Netremote for bi-directional remote control a long time a go, tied to Girder and some other software. As Girder and Netermote merged and are now Promixis (http://www.promixis.com/), they provide a very powerful and flexilbe solution. It’s still a geek’s challenge to really get the most out of it, but you wouldn’t mind looking that deep I guess. The interface on the Pocket PC’s and touchscreens are made as CCF’s – Tonto is great sofware for this.
Coupled to Girder, I can now control any device in any room, be it by IR, TCP/IP, RS-232 or X10 – and if it’s a protocol that talks back, check the status on any of my remotes (e.g. my Denon amp provides volume info back over RS-232, so you can put it in a closet and see on the in-wall tablet what volume it’s at).