OpenRemote Boss 2.0 is being prepared for public consumption and the final step is adding single sign-on to the online designer so we can start making your designs and accounts more or less permanent.
In the meanwhile, a couple of how-to guides seem to be in order to let you know how to use the software. We'll start with simple KNX switches.
Highlighting some new features in OpenRemote Boss 2.0, it is now easy to create control screens using photos from around your house. You can place buttons or switches in "hotspots" over your images and configure them with transparent content or overlay images that shows whether your light or TV is currently on or off – latter works especially well with switches that can update the image to match the device status polled from sensors.
A quick note to those who are working things out from the subversion repository.
I tagged an Alpha7 of the controller which brings KNX back to life again with proper XML parsing of the new controller 2.0 XML schema. So sending KNX commands is back in.
One of the things we talk about and have written about before is the reluctance of home automation industry to adopt off-the-shelf hardware as part of their offering.
Some argue that dedicated hardware, dedicated home automation controllers, dedicated home automation touch panels, and in some cases, dedicated home automation network cables are necessary to create a stable, high-quality installation. While on the surface this argument holds true, it does ring a bit hollow. It rings hollow because we tend to be very good at defending a point of view where our income depends on it.
The truth is that these dedicated home automation instruments are extremely expensive to the end-user and the business model of many a home automation company depends on the fat hardware margins. So it makes one wonder if the established automation vendors have a true interest to see alternatives from mass-volume consumer electronics industry to work in the field of home automation?
Several development updates from the last 6 months. Codebases are beginning to stabilize so expect developer / beta release binaries in the coming weeks as I integrate features to mainlines.
After finishing the first implementation of Russound support, I figured it is easier to demonstrate this with a little video then writing a long story
Currently the Russound commands are configured inside a property file so it is easy to extend.
We support 6 zones and 6 sources in the moment. Each zone can be turned on/off, the source selected and the volume changed.
When the server push is working, …
Catching up on some hardware news from the last couple of months. With the release of Windows 7 there's been a bunch of updates to low-cost Atom-based hardware units, all of which look attractive as an entry-point to host OpenRemote Boss at your home, among other things.
The hardware at E300 price level is now coming with a dual-core Atom and NVIDIA ION graphics processors. With the entry of NVIDIA to low-end market, the units can now reportedly handle 1080 resolution high-definition content with ease (something that was too much to ask from the previous generation a year ago) and HDMI connectivity comes as a standard. DVD drives are becoming part of the hardware configuration as well, see for example the latest Eee Box model at Engadget.
A very quick update on the OpenRemote KNX Lite application. It has been updated on the Apple App Store to version 1.2.1 and can be downloaded via iTunes. The KNX lite application has moved to a new OpenRemote account – we are still migrating the full version of the app which you can get from Jorg's personal account. …
It has been a few month since I have made a post about the UPnP integration for the OpenRemote Controller. I have in my previous post discussed about the possibilities of UPnP. Now, here is a quick video of this implementation in action.
