Consolidation Strategy For Automation PCs

[electron]

this is the commercial serial over ethernet software I was talking about:

http://www.eltima.com/products/serial-over-ethernet/

They have a trial. As for the USB over IP software, try google, it isn't hard to find, but can't give you much help since I don't use it myself (but has been reported to work in VM's as well).

 

[upstatemike]

The problem I ran into was three or four programs all trying to use TTS and/or VR. They don't all play nice and then you get contention that causes all sorts of issues, and eventually something dies, locks up, serious delays, etc.

This is what was behind my call for an ultimate "do all" system in another thread. Putting different pieces together intoduces enough issues that no single box system based on multiple different products coexisting is ever likely to work. And if you do get it working, it certainly isn't likely to scale very well.

That's not to say I wouldn't like to see a single box do it all. My ideal would be an HTPC type box running something similiar to CQC that looks like a stereo component. I would be able to drop it into somebody's entertainment room and they would instantly have a PVR, a CD ripping station and a music server. The monitor would be an Air Panel type wireless touchscreen for a MainLobby type interface without any additional wiring or installation. It would have built-in support for a SONOS-like wireless music system so I could just drop a few units around the house and have an instant "no install" whole house music system that also provides Home Automation announcements. The server box would also have built-in wireless support for Z-Wave so I coud plug in a few lamp modules for some "instant" lighting automation. It would have a a built-in W800RF32A so I could set a few Hawkeye motion sensors around the place and it would also have a built-in wireless camera receiver for instant CCTV integration through the attached TV or air panel touchscreen.

In short, I'd like a single box solution that lets me install an entire high-end, whole-house, Home Automation system in under 2 hours. I'd like to install at least 3 of these systems per day (maybe more if I have a helper with me) Of course I want it to be so rock solid that I never have a service call after the initial installation and I want it to be so feature rich that customer has no hesitation in handing me a huge check on my way out the door.

Based on current technology, how far would you say we are from this ideal system?

 

[damage]

The problem I ran into was three or four programs all trying to use TTS and/or VR. They don't all play nice and then you get contention that causes all sorts of issues, and eventually something dies, locks up, serious delays, etc.

This is what was behind my call for an ultimate "do all" system in another thread. Putting different pieces together intoduces enough issues that no single box system based on multiple different products coexisting is ever likely to work. And if you do get it working, it certainly isn't likely to scale very well.

you can instantiate multiple instances of xpl tts and tell different apps to direct tts to a different instance. i tried this last night w/ 2 instances and the tts came out sequentially without a hitch.

 

[upstatemike]

Soon as I figure out what "instantiate" means, I'm going to try that myself.

 

[damage]

Soon as I figure out what "instantiate" means, I'm going to try that myself.

install it a couple times in different directories. in each directory there's a file called source.cfg that contains the instance name. you give each a different name. ie tonyt-tts.1, tonyt-tts.2, etc.

 

[huggy59]

The real problem is different programs use the OS resources differently and expectations are not matched, so what works in one case doesn't in another because the programs expect different things.

e, I'll take a look at the serial-over-IP software, specifically I'd like to know if I can share expansion serial ports on one machine to another via that connection. If it works in VM, it'll help me a bit. I'm concerned that my serial port system may not support or be supported by that software. But there's still the audio issues.

Doesn't matter how you slice it, multiple "instances" - however defined - addressing single hardware components or drivers thereof still means contention - and contention needs to be addressed separately in each program that is using the hardware. So you're still at the mercy of the programmer and how they handle these issues, and whether all the programs you choose to use are handled in the same manner or not.

That's what xAP and xPL attempt to address - putting an interface in front of devices that don't share/scale well to multiple programs. It's a pretty good start, actually. I tried out a lot of that stuff a few years ago but it was still a bit shy of good, stable versions. When I decide to tackle the consolidation issue again here, I'll look at the landscape again. Might not be too long now if I decide to kick out the CyberGenie!

 

[damage]

Getting back to the question of hardware allocation, it looks like there are limits to consolidation beyond simple processing power. Obviously, if you are using a sound card for Home Automation announcements, you can't also use it as part of an HTPC setup unless you supress most announcements whenever somebody is watching TV, etc.

My current thinking is that you will always need at least 2 PCs. An HA controller, and a media controller/HTPC/CCTV controller. I just don't see any way to do it with just one box.

you can add multiple soundcards - (use usb sound devices if you don't have any slots)

i just added slimserver & medianet to my ha server. i'm going to see if there are any usability issues and how the cpu utilization is affected.

i've been up & running with medianet & slimserver running on my ha server for a month now. it has been very smooth so far. no stuttering of music caused my ha activities on the server and no noticeable performance problems for the ha related stuff either... cpu utilization has been a fairly constant 15-25% with everything that runs on the server.

 

[upstatemike]

How many players do you generally stream to at one time? My problem is I keep adding players. When I replace a SliMP3 with a Squeezebox I just move the SliMP3 someplace to act as a display only device. Of course the server doesn't know the unit is not hooked to an amp any more so it allcocates cpu and bandwidth to stream music out to it same as the units actually connected for sound. I'm at 13 and counting. If I sync them all and play them at the same time (which I often do with Slimserver) will Medianet have any issues?

Also, did Medianet 2006 ever get released?

 

[FrankMc]

>Also, did Medianet 2006 ever get released?


No word from Tony as yet on the release of Medianet 2006....

Frank

 

[damage]

How many players do you generally stream to at one time? My problem is I keep adding players. When I replace a SliMP3 with a Squeezebox I just move the SliMP3 someplace to act as a display only device. Of course the server doesn't know the unit is not hooked to an amp any more so it allcocates cpu and bandwidth to stream music out to it same as the units actually connected for sound. I'm at 13 and counting. If I sync them all and play them at the same time (which I often do with Slimserver) will Medianet have any issues?

Also, did Medianet 2006 ever get released?

there's usually only 2 slimp3s running at a time (or one slimp3 and a remote squeezebox running). and at most 3 out of the 5 rio receivers are running. obviously a much smaller setup than you have

i don't know how many players medianet can scale to. i don't know if any of the users have a setup as big as yours though.

medianet 2006 is still in development. it's a one man effort so he works on it in his spare time. tony does have a squeezebox now so he will be adding squeezebox support to medianet (previously slimp3 only)