Any Misterhouse on Windows users?

[piper_chuck]

Thanks, that clarifies things. I read through the software thread, and a bunch of others, already. Lack of Linux knowledge isn't a problem, I've actually done some programming on Linux for work.

The issue is I've only got one PC that would work well for this role and I need to keep Windows on it right now. I do have an old laptop that's not being used, but when I tried to install Linux on it a few years ago we hit driver problems. It also has a small hard drive and no serial ports, only USB. I downloaded the Pluto image and burned a CD, maybe I'll give it a try on that laptop. If it runs, I can deal with the serial port issue by adding a couple USB to serial adapters.

I'll look at Pluto and some others a bit more, along with Mr house.

 

[piper_chuck]

I've installed the thing twice and it's still not running right. I've posted the failure on the Pluto Home forums to see if anyone can tell me what's going wrong. Also trying a 3rd install to see if different options might work. It took less time to get mister house up and running on Windows.

 

[electron]

I had it up and running in a virtual machine in 10 minutes, am surprised you are having so much trouble. What kind of issues are you having?

 

[piper_chuck]

I'm installing it on a laptop that's got a slow processor, not much memory, and a small hard drive. The install takes a while. When it finally completes, it reboots and everything looks fine. However, I can't connect to the admin server. I try rebooting and when it comes back up I get a flashing red message DCERouter status: "not responding on socket. Probably dead". When I look at the log I see an error message saying "Cannot initialize plug-in for device: 13". I tried some searches, but I can't determine what is device 13, what's wrong with it, or if that's even the cause of the problem.

 

[electron]

Do you have a built in network card, or are you using a pcmcia card?

 

[piper_chuck]

This one's got a pcmcia card.

 

[electron]

I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't come with PCMCIA drivers, since it isn't meant to be run on laptops.

 

[piper_chuck]

You could be right. Oh well, it was worth a try. It took alot of clock time, but it's not like I was staring at the screen the whole time.

Meanwhile I did some shopping last night. It wouldn't cost much to build a small desktop system for Windows and then I could convert the system I'm using now to Linux. But that's going to have to wait for a while, maybe tax return. I still have to buy Christmas gifts and pay for the airplane tickets for my wife and daughter to go visit mother in law.

Back to the original subject, how many people are running Misterhouse on Windows? I've got it running, but haven't decided whether I want to start modifying it to interact with the security and HVAC systems. Does this thing have a future, is it kind of dead, or are most people running it on Linux?

 

[electron]

don't think it's dead, and it supports a lot of hardware, so if it works for you, I would give it a shot. I personally don't know of anyone who uses it, so if you want something that's popular, you might want to keep looking.

 

[markthomas]

I use it. So now you know one.

Though I'm running it on Linux, there are many people who run it on Windows.

Misterhouse is a project that is very much alive; in fact, it seems to gain new features every week. There are many contributors, and add-on modules to support just about every hardware device you can think of.

I highly recommend subscribing to the Misterhouse-users mailing list. It has quite a bit of traffic and many discussions are general HA integration discussions.

 

[piper_chuck]

Thanks Mark, I was beginning to wonder if anyone here was using Misterhouse. I'll get on the mailing list. I haven't completely decided whether I'll go with it or not, but I do have it running. Phase 2 of my project will be getting a serial connetion between my NX-8 and the computer. Once this is in place I'll need to find something that can actually talk to the security system. I know there's some code in Misterhouse to do this. Phase 3 will be to install the HAI thermostats, get them running standalone and then hook them up to the computer as well. Again, I know there's some code in Misterhouse for this. Somewhere along the way I'll probably add something that gives me more X-10 controls than I can get out of the card in the security system.

 

[piper_chuck]

Quick update on where things are. I've got MH setup to turn lights on and off. Next step will be to get it to react to events.

 

[rjsmith0]

Another user here. I have been using MH on windows for about 6 years now. I have been very happy with it. However, I am now transitioning everything over to an Elk M1 with CQC since I want a little more robust UI with media control. However, I am still using MH (on windows) as the back-end to this site http://www.holidayautomation.com (the site runs on linux and passed commands to MH running on windows). I second the recommendation to get on the mailing list. You can also search the archives by going to the MH site if you have problems getting up and running. Once you get used to configuring via the text files, it is actually very powerful application. I actually wrote a driver to control an Aprilaire communicating thermostat with it if you are interested (you mentioned HVAC control). Let me know if you want it.

Joey

 

[piper_chuck]

Thanks Joey. I've subscribed to the mailing list, and have used the search facility a couple times already. Thanks for the offer for the offer of the Aprilaire module. I ended up getting HAI stats. They seemed to be well liked and easy to program in stand alone mode. Installation was easy. I've already got the communication wires running to them but I haven't hooked them up yet. I wanted to let the stats run on their own for a few weeks before I introduced any changes.

I've already taken a look at the HAI module, and once I get one of the stats hooked up to my server, I'll start working on it. I've also got to do a bit of studying, the syntax of Perl is new to me. Joel Davidson, has already warned me that he only wrote it for one stat so I know I'll have to adjust it some to talk to both.

I also need to finish drawing up my wiring plan. I'm trying to determine the best approach for all the serial connections that I need to run between the wiring closet and my office room, which is where I have my system right now. I'm starting to think I need to build another computer to use as a desktop machine and move the current one to the wiring closet and turn it into a pure server. If I don't, I'm looking at having to route one ethernet, 3 serial (NX-8E, Ocelot, Stats), and one phone line across 2 cat 5 wires. I know I have enough wires, but it seems to be a bit of a kludge. I also have to decide the best solution for getting 4 serial connections into a system that's only got 2 now.