Best brand of lighting from DIY software control?

[nikron]

I am writing my own software lighting control, and wondered which type of light
switches is mostly easily controlled by custom software on linux. All I need is
a dumb controller that I can query and send commands over, but this only seems
available for X10 and X10 does not seem optimal.

 

[BLH]

Most X10 modules are not two way. So sending a module a status request will get no answer back.
Same for locally turning an X10 module on or off. It will not send a power line signal back to the controller. Signaling the local change.

 

[electron]

I am writing my own software lighting control, and wondered which type of light
switches is mostly easily controlled by custom software on linux. All I need is
a dumb controller that I can query and send commands over, but this only seems
available for X10 and X10 does not seem optimal.

Welcome to CocoonTech!

The Leviton VRC0P (make sure you get the newest model) is VERY easy to interface using simple ASCII strings (check the Premise forum for great examples), and allows you to control any Z-Wave hardware. UPB is also relatively easy to implement, but the hardware is more expensive.

 

[jhdale]

Here are some sources if you want to look at how it would be done with Insteon:

http://www.linuxha.com/athome/common/iplcd/index.html
http://sourceforge.net/projects/plmtools/

Personally I write in VB.Net so I know how the communication works but not about implementation in Linux.

 

[nikron]

Thanks for the welcome and input.

I probably am gonna with UPB, just because I like how clear their documentation is and would prefer a hardwired system. Does anyone know if the HAI PIM works the same as the one from Pulseworks?

Also, since my house does have cat5 to each of the switches, I was wondering if there were any cat5 solutions with a simple PIM.

 

[tmbrown97]

The PIM's for UPB should be interchangeable.

 

[AutomatedOutlet]

The PIM's for UPB should be interchangeable.

Technically true, but, I would only use the HAI PIM for connection to an HAI panel. Otherwise you'll have to make custom cables, etc.