ELK M1G with LinuxMCE???

[tpz507]

Have any of you heard of LinuxMCE, it is a very flexible HA/Multimedia + free. I've been working with it and works very well but I believe that interfacing. I will like to give it a try but I don't think I can do it on my own. Anyone else wants to join this quest? Any ideas?
LMCE is based on many applications and uses RUBY for interfacing. Apparently there is a module to create "serial" ports (real serial or ethernet) for interfacing.

Cheers,

T

 

[tpz507]

Hi To all,

I've been reading a bit more about it, I joined the LMCE forum for feedback and support. There is good DIY support and are willing to help out. Apparently OMNIPRO family is supported, so it is possible. I was wonderig what would be the best aproach. Trying to understand M1G communication. I have some question and forgive me if this is not the right place, maybe HA would have been a better place to add this post.
Anyways, here are my questions and I hope someone could give me some guidance.

1. I only found ASCII protocol for RS232 using direct serial connection, how about using the M1XEP? Is it possible to do all the communication with m1g using ethernet?
2. Im not sure how via ASCII protocol, devices installed on the serial bus, can be controlled outside m1g rules. Eg. UPB, HVAC or ZWAVE devices controlled via ethernet?

Maybe some gurus from here would like to talk to some gurus from LMCE.

My concern is that HAI omni fammily is an excellent product but is known to lack of DIY support and LMCE is all about DIY, ELK M1G is known to have good out of the box support, so it looks like a good partnership

Im hoping to hear some comments, check it out www.linuxmce.com.

cheers,

T

 

[tmbrown97]

I do know that the Elk can be fully worked with via TCP/IP - many home automation apps support that method. With that you can control any of the supported devices, like upb, hvac, etc - through normal commands still via tcp/ip.

Unfortunately that's as far as I can help - I haven't tried talking to the elk - but a few people here on the boards have (the writers of eKeypad and ElkDroid and Elve frequent these boards) - as well as some hobbyists who've played with this stuff.

 

[signal15]

I do know that the Elk can be fully worked with via TCP/IP - many home automation apps support that method. With that you can control any of the supported devices, like upb, hvac, etc - through normal commands still via tcp/ip.

Unfortunately that's as far as I can help - I haven't tried talking to the elk - but a few people here on the boards have (the writers of eKeypad and ElkDroid and Elve frequent these boards) - as well as some hobbyists who've played with this stuff.

The serial commands are the same ones that are used over ethernet. There's just an additional authentication layer. Elk has a document that lists every command and the structure.

 

[electron]

HAI's DIY support has improved a lot, but the ELK protocol is EXTREMELY well documented and easy to implement. I have written drives in PHP, Flash, VBScript and more. I still have the VBScript copy online, not the best coding job, but it did work very well:

http://mydotsoft.com/products/my.Elk/my.elk.txt

Controlling lights is very easy, check the documentation, every command is explained, and even comes with an example. my.Elk.txt also has some comments which might make it easier to understand.

As for Serial vs TCP/IP, it's identical (assuming you are talking about the non-secure TCP/IP port), no authentication involved at all. Don't hesitate to post if you have more questions.