Hello!

RandyInLA

New Member
Hey everyone,
 
My name is Randy.  I've been into home automation on and off for over 16 years.  Started off with HomeSeer v1 and some X10 devices, now have Hue lighting, NEST thermostat, August door lock, and yes, HomeSeer v3 and some x10 devices.  Pretty much overkill for a small studio apartment, but hey, it's the thought that counts 
 
I typically describe myself as an ex-musician from Michigan living incognito in Los Angeles as a Sr. Software Engineer for a Multinational Conglomerate Corporation... who secretly still writes music on the side.  I'm into all sorts of geekery like electronics, software, writing music, making thingamabobs with my 14" mini metal lathe or Ultimaker2 3D printer.
 
I just finished a short phase of running HS3 on a Rpi3, complete with Homebridge integration for Siri voice control.  I am now in the process of transferring (create from scratch?) HS3 to a new Intel NUC 6i7KYK running Windows 10 Pro so I could make use of the voice recognition.  Once that is operational, I'll be adding an Ocelot IR box and a couple Gentner XAP800 audio matrices so HS can know which room I'm in when it receives a voice command.
 
Cheers to Pete_c for the suggestion to join this board and thanks for the help back on the HS forum!   I hope to be able to spread my knowledge around as well as gain some new insights.  
 
-=Randy
 
LarrylLix said:
Welcome Randy (again) and I am really sorry to hear about your OCD.
 
You can either take medication for that, or BUY MORE HA DEVICES!!!
 
  :)
 
So you're saying the cure for OCD is OCD: Other Controlled Devices?
 
Welcome to the forum Randy!
 
Recently purchased a plexiglass case for my Pine64 from a guitar maker in Spain who is similarly in to technology like you a bit.

The Pine64/2Gb ARM based computer today is running Ubuntu 16.04 64bit and does an OK job running Homeseer Lite.

German Perez Barranco writes...
 
This weekend I make acrylic case for my Pine 64 plus with my Laser cutter machine.

I make this small video...

 
[youtube]http://youtu.be/d55kHrOFS00[/youtube]
  Constructor de guitarras flamencas y clásicas de Granada.
 
Nice!  I used to have a co-worker who had a laser cutter.  He was always bringing in little signs or cases he made at home.  Looks like fun.
 
RandyInLA said:
I typically describe myself as an ex-musician from Michigan living incognito in Los Angeles as a Sr. Software Engineer for a Multinational Conglomerate Corporation... who secretly still writes music on the side.
Aha! I knew Apple was still messing with Music, Sir Paul will not be happy. ... wait, what? The multinational isn't the one writing the music ... never mind.
 
Welcome. The world is a crazy place, why be sane?
 
I just finished a short phase of running HS3 on a Rpi3, complete with Homebridge integration for Siri voice control.  I am now in the process of transferring (create from scratch?) HS3 to a new Intel NUC 6i7KYK running Windows 10 Pro so I could make use of the voice recognition.  Once that is operational, I'll be adding an Ocelot IR box and a couple Gentner XAP800 audio matrices so HS can know which room I'm in when it receives a voice command.
 
The more you make HS3 do the more CPU/RAM you need.  Speech / VR are resource intensive.  Shifting the processing to the cloud has been one solution with dependencies.  The other solution as mentioned previously is to utilize Microsoft SAPI which has evolved much over the years.

I have a couple of Ocelot boxes here from the late 1990's but have never used IR with Homeseer automation. I did to IR blasting over the old configured RG-6 cabling in the house many years ago. For audio here utilize Russound zoned amps and the old HCS AB8SS (which worked via X10, IR and serial). Control of the Russound hardware is via Russound keypads primarily, then my Omnitouch screens secondarily and Homeseer. I put a micro serial server on the Russound system such that it can be controlled from two sources.

Been tinkering with wireless tabletop touch tablets which just run speaker dot exe and it works fine. Tablets though are mostly connected via POE Gb to the main home network.
 
Here have tried to keep the TTS/VR local as much as I can.  Over the years have collected a variety of SAPI speech fonts; some better than others.  One methodology I have been playing with some is integration of the Microsoft Kinect device, touch screen monitor and VR entwined with the Amazon Alexa API using two Homeseer autonomous plugins.  
 
The above noted here shifted the event engine of HS3 over to Ubuntu Linux using it as the main automation engine and then side loading Homeseer Microsoft only plugins.  I do this either with a separate Wintel device or in house as a virtual box on the Ubuntu mothership.
 
The advantage of a remote autonomous device is hardware connectivity although these days the VB does talk fine to the hardware connected to the Ubuntu box.
 
A quickie synopsis of my tinkering has been.
 
1 - the use of a micro PC called the PipoX7 running Windows 10 connected to a multitouch LCD monitor and a Microsoft Kinect.  This computer runs two HS3 plugins which remotely connect to the Ubuntu 64 bit mothership.
 
2 - use of Oracle VB's on the main mothership running two instances of speaker dot exe for two HS3 boxes for speech
 
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