mustangcoupe
Senior Member
I agree elkaholic.... Spanky we NEED something. Even a little teaser
Any word on new ELK products??
- Thread starter signal15
- Start date
linuxha
Active Member
Have you seen this from HomeSeer:
http://www.slashgear.com/homeseer-home-troller-mini-home-automation-controller-debuts-07124608/
And an FAQ on the Home-Troller-Mini:
http://board.homeseer.com/showthread.php?t=146279
Basically it's the Sheeva Plug with Z-Wave.
I'll be working with the Sheeva or Guru Plug with my setup in the next few months. I think that it makes a nice replacement for the ELKM1EP. And, let face it, a whole lot more flexible.
linuxha
Active Member
Dang, I didn't see that on the main page (just below my main screen). I've been busy looking at the daily updates (I need to start looking at the RSS).And also posted here, but this isn't ELK related
You are correct that the Troller (love that name) isn't Elk related but my plug will be (does that help get us back on topic :blush: )
I agree with signal15 (I think that's who) that a Plug front ending the Elk would be very useful and I hope to prove it.
BraveSirRobbin
Moderator
Hopefully Elk will be showcasing their new products during the ISC West show here in Las Vegas on April 6th - 8th!!
linuxha
Active Member
I agree that they probably won't do it but I honestly think that a more intelligent Ethernet interface is worth it's value. Either way they've given us the information to connect directly to the Elk and really that's all that we (the DIY community) really need. We can add the functionality we need. The rest has been built in and it reliabilty is excellent. Can't say that about a lot of technologies.
Now isn't that quite the tease for this message thread..!!!!
I agree, just about as disappointing as getting a Snuggie for Christmas. I have been waiting to pull the trigger on the next gen ha panel, but my money is getting dusty.
I think a sheeva would be awesome. I have one as my home network server already. It is a very capable device (although I wish it had a floating point unit for audio transcoding) and would make a very nice EP for the M1.
linuxha
Active Member
You can do soft floating point but this is processor intensive. So as long as it's not something that needs to be done immediately it should be okay. Of course it would be best to program around this (say put the CPU intensive section into it's own thread and let the rest of the program continue on). I'm already planning for that but we'll see how the programming goes. There is also integer math which works well in many (but not all) situations.
It's interesting that HomeTroller is just a version of Homeseer ported to linux using the mono libs. Sweet.
I'm very excited about this product.
Right but soft floating point is like .6 of realtime for audio transcoding
I've successfully done C# with Mono on the sheeva and Python. Not to get too off-topic, but I'm looking at it for a Christmas Lights controller as well .Bingo.
I'd like to see more ways to support more 2 wire fire easily and integrate with the panel easier. I'd also like to see a larger "smart" power supply that is larger than the current 2A unit. I've been installing M1's since they basically came out, with HAI also thrown in the mix, and frankly, with what is asked in most installs doesn't justify the expense of an integrated web platform or tons of serial ports. If anything, I've found it easier to integrate by having serial ports that can be added anywhere along the 485 bus, that way I can tie into other units where it's convenient to me or where it's physically possible with existing customer hardware.
I doubt keypad programming will go away, because it's nice for an initial setup, enrolling devices or simply putting account and dialer info in after the configuration without dragging out the laptop always. It's also a huge pro to be able to use the system to help diagnose issues from the troubleshooting menus.
Sure there are little things I would like, such as a slight improvement to the boolean rules or easier ways to accomplish things, such as a built in LED "program" for status so I don't have to write 4-5 rules to accomplish what is connect 2 pigtails and choose 2 output types (red/green LED) on the Honeywell product line. But just like what was said, the hardware is robust and I'd rather have dependable hardware compared to a PC setup that is succeptable to the maladies that exist out there.
I say this because I support integrated fire alarm systems for a world wide manufacturer, using UL 9th listed PC's and software to network to fire panels via ethernet, internet, intranet and eschelon networks, and when the PC isn't set to known values (we have a huge book) unpredictable things happen...such as there's a difference between a true admin and a user with admin privelages...try arguing that with an IT guy. Honestly, I've seen more problems happen when an IT guy thinks they know more than the manufacturer and engineers involved, such as installing screen savers and other software on a UL listed device and causing the havoc that happens then. I'm not bashing, but I've had more people lose their site databases because IT doesn't want a PC with admin only on it, then have to force a fresh install and config because of the simple user and sharing violations caused by not understanding the consequences of modifying hardware/software to run the way they want it to and not in the UL inspected and tested fashon, where it's been tried and proven not to fail or act in the ways I've seen it happen otherwise, and by people that are literally rocket scientists or very high profile sites out there.
There's a security and life safety aspect to these devices, and without a fail safe response, you're asking for trouble. As I've always said to the people on the phone and as it's been told to me, it's not IF you'll kill someone, it's WHEN because of all the variables that people throw at these panels
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