Recommendations For An Old PC

I'm in the planning stage for new construction and am using Omnipro 2 and USB as a base. I've got an old but working 2.8 gHz Pentium 4 with 1024 DDR memory, small 120 gB hard drive and currently running Windows XP.

What are your recommendations as to how to use this PC for home automation purposes. I'd like to keep it out of the landfill, but don't want to handicap myself too much by using old technology. Homeseer?? Other uses??

HomeSeer running Linux will have no problem on that thing, the Pentium 4s were right when Intel was going 64 bit, but I don't think that matters for HomeSeer.
 
Also with Linux on there could be OpenHab.
 
I would replace that old hard drive with an SSD though.  That's the first thing that's going to fail.

For probably less than $50 today you can upgrade the memory to 4Gb and the CPU to a Core duo quad CPU.  I have done that with a few BCM old motherboards.  These are last generation workhorses. 
 
Here utilize one old core duo / 4Gb computer to run Windows 32 bit server / RDP for Upstart, PCA and Homeseer Touchscreen designer.  It'll also run Homeseer just fine. 
 
Here too been able to run Homeseer 3 on a first generation Hometroller which had an Epia single core CPU with 512Mb of memory using Linux.
 
What is the MFG and model number of the computer motherboard?
 
Here is my old MythTV / Squeezebox server running in Ubuntu 14.04 on a core duo in a small footprint type case using a notebook style core duo CPU.  It utilizes three NTSC and one Satellite tuner for stuff but I do not record much these days with it.
 
~# lshw | grep -i cpu
     *-cpu
          description: CPU
          product: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     P8600  @ 2.40GHz
          bus info: cpu@0
          version: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     P8600  @ 2.40GHz
 
In the middle of upgrading the PFSense hardware (going to an iSeries 5 and more memory).
 
That said this morning replaced Intel Core Duo CPU upping it a bit and it is really fast.  Purchased the CPU for around $10.00.
 
CPU Type Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Extreme CPU X9100 @ 3.06GHz
2 CPUs: 1 package(s) x 2 core(s)

sysctl -a | egrep -i 'hw.machine|hw.model|hw.ncpu'
hw.machine: amd64
hw.model: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Extreme CPU X9100  @ 3.06GHz
hw.ncpu: 2
hw.machine_arch: amd64
 

Thanks neillt and Pete! Good to know about Homeseer. I've just started reading about OpenHab - looks to be quite powerful ... and complicated.

Pete - I've got a Microstar model 6577 motherboard in a HP box - any suggestions would be most appreciated.

Any recommendations on primers for Linux? I have Ubuntu on a Raspberry Pi3 running Kodi and was able to configure a VPN, but I was mostly following others directions and feel like I need a boatload of education to set up a Linux server for the uses suggested above. Thanks!!

Looked here for the specs on your motherboard.
 
For the computer ram I would take it to 2 Gb with 2 X 1Gb sticks...if you already have one stick at 1Gb just purchase same stick for 2Gb.
 
184-pin DDR 333 DIMM PC2700 unbuffered non-ECC 1Gb stick X 2
 
Very cheap on Ebay.
 
 
BSR just purchased a Homeseer Zee2 which is Homeseer 3 lite on a RPi3.  He is a happy camper.
 
Check out the Rock64 4Gb using 16Gb eMMC for running Ubuntu 16.04 64 bit server.  It is the same size as an RPi3.
 
Today I am running Homeseer 3 lite on a Pine 64 2Gb computer using Ubuntu 16.04 64 bit.

Pete -

"RDP" - had to look it up and added it to the acronym list here. TeamViewer has some nice reviews and the price is right. Looks to be compatible with older and newer Windows as well as Linux. If I set up my older PC with upstart, PCA, Homeseer (? OpenHab down the line) with wired connectivity and appropriate PIMs and place it in my AV Closet I can control it in the comfort of my den? Downside? Significant lag? I also see where you can use your phone as a client... Any suggestions / cautions / concerns?

"BCM old motherboards" - I'm assuming that this is a manufacturer ... or you have an in with the "Business Council of Mongolia" and get access to their old computers (LOL).

XP will be the best and run the fastest on the PC.  RDP is just Windows remote desktop.  It is free and works fine locally and remotely.
You can do console mode to see the same desktop that you are running.  VNC is also free and works the same way.  I use Team viewer sometimes to remote in to Homeseer users running Windows. 
 
2Gb is a bit light on the RAM.
 
BCM is just a motherboard MFG company.  They make very good motherboards that last forever.  IE: if you purchase a used one cheap it'll last forever.  AND if it does abend you can send it to them for repair at a very reasonable cost.

Thanks Pete!

Just something to keep in mind... Computers have come a LONG way since that one was made.  How expensive is your power?  It's quite possible that the ROI on buying a newer low-powered computer may be VERY short.  For instance, I think nowadays you can get the Intel Compute Stick or one of many other computers that use a fraction of the power and are more powerful processor-wise and with more RAM.  Even a slightly newer atom super low powered computer can be had on the cheap.

Work2Play said:

Just something to keep in mind... Computers have come a LONG way since that one was made.  How expensive is your power?  It's quite possible that the ROI on buying a newer low-powered computer may be VERY short.  For instance, I think nowadays you can get the Intel Compute Stick or one of many other computers that use a fraction of the power and are more powerful processor-wise and with more RAM.  Even a slightly newer atom super low powered computer can be had on the cheap.

Click to expand...

Excellent points Work2Play! That was my initial thought as well, but I was trying to see if there was something useful to use the old PC for - wasn't really thinking about the power usage but that's important too ... BUT ... it has this great 3.5" disk drive in it ... AND ... I've got an original 5.25" Single Sided Floppy Drive in the basement just waiting for a new home . There must be something it's useful for..??..

Relating to Homeseer today relating to Windows the running application in the Windows desktop does not really offer any means of configurations these days.  Homeseer 1 and Homeseer 2 did utilize a running and viewable desktop management stuff. 
 
Today Homeseer 3 is completely managed by the web page which you can access from any computer that has a browser.  For a low powered PC it is faster to manage it remotely via the web interface. 
 
That said the only need to view a Windows desktop is for running Upstart (UPB) and PCA (HAI PC Access).  VNC is lighter than RDP.
 
The above written you can utilize your old PC with no hardware updates other than installation of XP just fine. 
 
I mentioned hardware updates of RAM because more RAM is better.  If you utilize hard drive caching for RAM it will be a tad slower.  (even using SSD).
 
My current (15) tabletop touchscreens run embedded XP, Homeseer Touch and Microsoft SAPI ("chatty kathy") on a first generation Atom (2009) with 512Mb of RAM (OS is 4Gb-16Gb SSD) just fine and can run Homeseer 3 (a tad slow).
 
IE: this stuff is from 2009 and today considered old technology.  A bit ahead of it's time as it has a Gb network interface, wireless and bluetooth built in, DECT chip and Zigbee chip and traces for a SIM card on the motherboard.  It did run the OS on a 1Gb eMMC memory card built in with the OS kernel running on a 1Mb ROM (writable) and the original OS was Linux based.
 
Based on Intel's Poulsbo/US15W mobile chipset.
CPU: 1.3GHz Intel Z520 Single-Core, Hyper-threaded, Atom CPU
Chipset: Intel US15W (400/533MHz FSB)
Graphics: Intel GMA500 (with hardware acceleration for H.264, MPEG2, MPEG4, VC1, WMV9)
 
The Intel Core duo you have on your old PC is a faster CPU than the Intel Z520.  It does utilize more energy than the Atom to run.

Thanks for the information regarding Homeseer 3. I have PCA and Upstart, but not Homeseer yet (a bit early in the project for that) so I wasn't aware of the web based protocol.

I may end up utilizing the old PC for Upstart and PCA and go with a more energy efficient set-up for running Homeseer 3 - perhaps the Zee2. That way the old PC will only be on when needed but the RP3/Zee2 will act as a server and be on 24/7 with a significantly lower power draw. That will also allow the Homeseer setup to be independent and not "disturbed" by my fiddling around in other programs on the same server.

Is the only downside to the Homeseer 3 "lite" the limitation to 5 plugins? At this point I don't see a need for more than 5 but who knows in the future.

For Upstart and PCA; once your OmniPanel and your UPB switches are configured you will rarely need to use it.
 
Is the only downside to the Homeseer 3 "lite" the limitation to 5 plugins?"
 
Yes Homeseer 3 "lite" is limited to 5 plugins and only runs on Linux.  The Zee2 is sold as a package that includes the Raspberry Pi.
 
That said you can configure as many scripts as you want on the Zee2. 
 
Virtual basic scripts, python, perl, bash, et al....
 
Note though that the Raspberry Pi is running with 1Gb of RAM and an ARM quad core CPU.  It doesn't have any moving parts and really runs on just a couple of watts of electricity.
 
You can purchase Homeseer Standard or Pro a la carte and it runs in Windows and Linux.
 
Here is my Homeseer "Lite" configuration:
 

 
Plugins running (really 6 these days)
 
1 - Homeseer Touch used to be a separate plugin and today it is integrated to HS3
2 - BLLAN - this is just a network devices monitoring utility.  It can be configured to text or email you should a device on your network have a hiccup. Free plugin
3 - Omni Plugin talks to the OmniPanel.  You can control all of  your lighting via the OmniPlug with whatever controllers you have connected to your panel (Here have UPB, X10, ZWave and Zigbee). Paid plugin
4 - weatherXML - a weather plugin that connects to internet weather services and your weather if you want.  There are chatty kathy pieces to it and Homeseer touch pieces.  It is very popular and free.
5 - ZWave - free plugin  - ZWave currently utilizes a remote POE ethernet connected RPi2 with a Z-Wave dot me GPIO card in the attic.
 
Amazon Echo and Google Voice is included with your main Homeseer 3 lite. (Zee2 HS3).
 
Also here running a few scripts that do stuff every minute.  I continue to utilize 1-Wire temperature/humidity sensors. 
1-wire sensors utilize two wires and each individual sensor has a sort of mac address and sites on this 1-wire network.  It reports temperature and humidity from each of the sensors.  The sensors are so cheap you can put one in every room of your home, hallways, bathrooms et al.  (even outside). 
 
Current application writes a delimited text file every minute and Homeseer runs a VB script that converts the text file to dynamically changing variables.    Another script now running here on my Z-Wave RPi which using an SDR radio to capture NOAA weather images.  The RPi2 is also running Apache2 and PHP and creates a web page which is linked to the Homeseer web pages for viewing of satellite weather images.

Wow, great information! It will take me a bit to digest all of it, but a few questions come to mind right off the bat.

Is it better to have ZWave control via Omnipro 2 panel (and PC Access), via Homeseer 3 and ZWave daughter card, via OP2 panel but controlled via Homeseer software? Both? (Same for UPB.)

I was going to ask about the 1-wire temperature and humidity sensors but I found a pretty in depth review on the Homeseer Forum. Although the sensors are small and inexpensive one needs 2 interfaces to gather and interpret the data that is fed to Homeseer, correct? That makes it moderately expensive - I'm guessing the break-even point is around 5 or 6 Leviton (or similar) temp/humidity sensors. What am I missing here?

The VRCOP Z-Wave for the OmniPro 2 panel only works with light / appliance modules, thermostats and locks. 
Leviton provides UL approved wireless alarm modules with batteries that last forever.
 
The Homeseer Z-Wave module is included with the Zee2.  That said you can replicate the Z-Wave network but cannot see the change in the status of a Z-Wave device if you change it with the OP2 or the other way around.
 
There is really no better of the two...there is only the Leviton OmniPro ZWave way or the Homeseer ZWave way.
 
The Z-Wave for Homeseer works with everything Z-Wave.
 
Relating to UPB and X10 I have multiple PIMs around the house and connected to the OP2 panel and Homeseer3 (X2).
 
The UPB switch status can be seen with sending out a OP2 UPB command on the HS3 connected UPB PIM.  So you can trigger events on Homeseer or OP2 panel this way. 
 
1-wire stuff started in the 1990's.  Temperature sensors are very cheap...thinking less than a dollar these days...they used to be pennies each.
 
Maxim technologies sells the tiny controllers for 1-wire...it is just a USB stick with two terminals for two wires on it.  Thinking you can purchase a USB 9097 controller on Ebay for less than $20.  It is the size of a memory stick.  You only need one controller for Homeseer.  My 9097 1-wire controller is configured on my ZNet like device and broadcasts the temperatures / humidity to two HS3 boxes.
 
You can also wire temperatures sensors directly to the RPi.  There is also a Midon Temp08 which connects serially to a computer.  The humidity sensors are a bit more money and similar in price to the Leviton OP2 humidity sensors.  These sensors directly connect to your OP2 panel and are read by the panel.  No more moving parts are needed.
 
I use both OP2 sensors (temperature/Humidity) and 1-wire sensors here.  You can also purchase other kinds of 1-wire sensors like counters, barometer, weather station, tiny solenoid switches...et al.
 
You already have the OP2 panel such that you might as well utilize HAI sensors.  You can see these sensors with the Homeseer Omni Plugin.
 

Overview of 1-Wire Technology and Its Use