CastleOS - new home automation software with Kinect voice control

[LarrylLix]

Oh... they have all the pale green and lime green anybody could want but when it comes to dark green or forest green my Hues won't do it and since they do not have it on their colour charts or on their demo boards in the stores I assume it can never happen on Hues. Christmas colours are not happening.
 
I can do those very nicely with MiLight RGBW strips and bulbs but then they have the problem of pastels (simultaneous W with RGB). The Hues have been very disappointing missing real green and real blue (not indigo). The indigos to oranges are spectacular, though.
 
BTW: Nice voice system!

 

[zenix]

Does CastleOS really need all of this - at the same time?!
 
.NET Framework 3.0 SP1
.NET Framework 4.0
.NET Framework 4.5
 
Couldn't you guys use just one version of .NET?

 

[pete_c]

Very nice video Chris!
 
I watched a few of the other CastleOS videos last night.
 
Your parents appear to be very patient (just what I see in the video) with your automation endeavors.
 
That said it does appear a bit like they do not enjoy being on a video demonstrating your wares.
 
Then again another unrelated statement...all if fair in love and war ..I guess...even relating to automation...
 
Note this is only my opinion from what I am seeing in the videos. 
 
Have you considered maybe hiring actors for your automation videos?
 
Relating to room colors; my only recollection is ancient relating to red covers over all the lamps in a room, red drapes, et al when I had the measles as a kid and my grandma insisting that the room be red 24/7 until the measles went away.
 
Unrelated related here for Homeseer 2 and over the years have just updated the dot net stuff on the Wintel 32 bit Server such that is is running every version of dot net since inception of same said stuff.  I did create a functional only for Homeseer version of Windows Server with only the meat required to run Homeseer over the years.  I wonder though sometimes if that is related to the left over dependencies of previous versions of dot net. (IE: ~ 15Gb Wintel Server OS ~ 256Mb Homeseer compressed).  The new play box running Windows 8.1 32 bit is at around ~15 or so Gb with lots of play space. (next console update). Current old embedded touch consoles are running around 4Gb with concurrent SAPI and dot net stuff.  A concurrently working Ubuntu 32bit 14.04 same hardware build console is at around 1Gb total; well starting with around 500Mb of an OS.
 
Curious if the Kinect stuff is all running in 64 bit mode or 32 bit mode or can you mix the pieces to use the Kinect device?

 

[wkearney99]

Does CastleOS really need all of this - at the same time?!
 
.NET Framework 3.0 SP1
.NET Framework 4.0
.NET Framework 4.5
 
Couldn't you guys use just one version of .NET?

 
.Net manages what's required pretty well.  That and no doubt various libraries (perhaps 3rd party) have had different requirements over time.

 

[zenix]

The install process is quite spooky. Got one weird error about .NET 3.0 (which is not listed in the Control Panel), but somehow install continuted without it. What gives?
 

 

[pete_c]

Do a quickie repair and cleansing of your OS's dot net stuff as that has always worked for me. 
 
Some older software would just include a forced installation of a version of dot net which can cause you personally to abend. 
 
A computer / OS is a tool and nothing more than that.
 
1 - Raymondccdotnetdetector
 
2 - ASoft .NET Version Detector
 
3 - .NET Version Checker
 
4 - Use Wintel currently installed applications to see or remove dot net installations.

 

[zenix]

Perhaps I spoke too soon - CasleOS does not seem to work. There is "Open CastleOS" icon, and all it does is opens some web page with login and password - which does not work.

 

[zenix]

Do a quickie repair and cleansing of you dot net stuff as that has always worked for me. 
 
Some older software would just include a forced installation of a version of dot net which can cause you personally to abend.

 
Thanks for the advice - but this is brand new windows install I made specifically for CastleOS. There are no other programs on this computer. And I wouldn't know where to start repairing .NET anyway!
 
PS: This is "Windows 7", CastleOS should work on that, right?

 

[pete_c]

PS: This is "Windows 7", CastleOS should work on that, right?

 
Yes and no.  (best answer I could write right now). 
 
Typically over the years  / Wintel dot net stuff has been optional and required when needed. 
 
Thinking after XP (Whistler) to Vista (stepchild OS - Longhorn) to Windows 7(Blackcomb, Vienna); you could just enable (point and click) rather that install whatever dot net you needed.
 
While installing much Wintel software you will see a popup adjuvant (note using the term out of context) installation or prompt of a dot net requirement. (IE its included to be installed or just downloads it from Microsoft).
 
Personally here just recently built a tiny Windows server VM inside of an Ubuntu 64 bit server box.  I did install all what I thought I would need for the base build.  (all of the basic service packs, dot nets and other do whats).  It is running some (hub and spoke style) Wintel proprietary automation stuff which I could get to run in wine throwing the kitchen sink to it.  Running the Wintel software in Wine if much faster for me (personal opinion).  I am in a mode lately of doing combo stuff taking what I want from whatever OS and mixing it all on one box lately; works for me.   I am though noticing over the last few years that each OS out there wants to be the center of your computer world and network...kind of a "me first and singular OS only thing". 

 

[ChrisCicc]

Hey Zenix! Sorry about this trouble you ran into. As wkearney mentioned, various 3rd party DLL's use different versions of .NET. Also on a Windows computer, there really is no reason not to have all of the .NET revisions installed. That said, I have a hunch the issues you are having is because the fresh install didn't have a full run through Windows Update. It seems .NET 3.0 isn't actually installed, and there may be some other updates that need to be applied. The CastleOS installer isn't actually installing .NET, it's just checking to ensure it's installed, and if not, kicking off the respective Microsoft installer as needed.
 
-Chris

 

[zenix]

That said, I have a hunch the issues you are having is because the fresh install didn't have a full run through Windows Update. It seems .NET 3.0 isn't actually installed, and there may be some other updates that need to be applied. The CastleOS installer isn't actually installing .NET, it's just checking to ensure it's installed, and if not, kicking off the respective Microsoft installer as needed.

 
That might have been indeed the case - but somehow installer had finished its dirty work and I was hanging a while at the black login and password screen. It seems like it wouldn't take it - hard to say since it never gave a hint that something went wrong - it would just throw back at the same logic screen without any error or message or something.

 

[ChrisCicc]

I would suggest uninstalling CastleOS, running through Windows Update to clear out any updates (keep in mind some are years old at this point), and try installing CastleOS again. It seems like there is a conflict due to missing .NET related files. 

You got the login screen, but then it hung, which is telling me most likely the service is starting, and then as it progressively loads parts of itself, eventually tries to load a missing .NET file and crashes. But that's just a guess based on what you've described... 

 

[ChrisCicc]

Oh... they have all the pale green and lime green anybody could want but when it comes to dark green or forest green my Hues won't do it and since they do not have it on their colour charts or on their demo boards in the stores I assume it can never happen on Hues. Christmas colours are not happening.
 
I can do those very nicely with MiLight RGBW strips and bulbs but then they have the problem of pastels (simultaneous W with RGB). The Hues have been very disappointing missing real green and real blue (not indigo). The indigos to oranges are spectacular, though.
 
BTW: Nice voice system!

 
The Hue lights may not get every color, but they do the various temps of white, which is a really cool feature. Also our voice interface isn't just for Hue, we'll be adding support for other RGBW devices in future releases.

 

[zenix]

You got the login screen, but then it hung, which is telling me most likely the service is starting, and then as it progressively loads parts of itself, eventually tries to load a missing .NET file and crashes. But that's just a guess based on what you've described... 

 
Well, many hours later, my windows box is back to normal. I got past that dreaded login screen - as luck would have it, I managed to find on the internet that I should be using some "admin" login. That could have been easier, if only there was some sort of welcome or a ReadMeFirst thing?
 
Anyway, I thought I would try something easy at first. Connect my Hue lights to CastleOS. But I just can't do it. I tried pushing the button, enabling hue functionality, disabling hue functionality, pushing the button again, trying to search for new devices, waiting for several minutes as the page told me to - but it never finishes. Is there an easy way to add Hue to CastleOS? Don't know what I am doing wrong, I used a lot of different things with Hue and it always was so easy to get integration with Hue going.

 

[ChrisCicc]

Well, many hours later, my windows box is back to normal. I got past that dreaded login screen - as luck would have it, I managed to find on the internet that I should be using some "admin" login. That could have been easier, if only there was some sort of welcome or a ReadMeFirst thing?
 
Anyway, I thought I would try something easy at first. Connect my Hue lights to CastleOS. But I just can't do it. I tried pushing the button, enabling hue functionality, disabling hue functionality, pushing the button again, trying to search for new devices, waiting for several minutes as the page told me to - but it never finishes. Is there an easy way to add Hue to CastleOS? Don't know what I am doing wrong, I used a lot of different things with Hue and it always was so easy to get integration with Hue going.

 
All the how-to's are here: http://www.castleos.com/forum/forum1-howto-guides.aspx
 
For the Hue, ironically we had this issue with another customer this week - turned out he had a VPN installed, running, but not connected, and it was still doing things in the background that was affecting network I/O, so the Hue discovery wasn't working. Do you have a VPN installed or anything similar that affects the network? Including firewalls other than the Windows Firewall? Or is it still a clean Windows install other than getting all the Windows updates?