Looking for other Misterhouse users

Joe W

Member
I am a long time HS 1.7 user who got the urge to try something new. I am bored with HS since it just runs and runs and runs (that's a good thing right?). I kind of lost interest in HA because there really wasn't anything to do. I downloaded trial versions of a few of the more popular systems but they don't seem to have the expandability or active support community.

I've been interested in Misterhouse for a few years, installing it a few times for a little while and then going back to HS - mostly because it has a steep (understatement) learning curve. Well, with all the talk about HS dropping support for the 1.7 product and I got the urge again, I thought I'd give it another, more serious shot.

This past Friday I shut down HS and fired up a clean copy of MH. With lots of reading and searching and reading and searching, I finally got it running at a minimum capacity where I think I have a good base to move forward. I have MH talking X10 to my Ocelot (actually a CPU-XA), W800rf32 talking with my Hawkeyes and DS10's, and phones through my 2 NetcallerID boxes. The only interface I haven't been able to get online is my Temp05. I am so pleased with how far I've gotten, I will probably not be going back to HS.

I am like a kid in a candy shop. There is so much to know, so much to do, and new people to meet. I remember feeling this way with my first version of Homeseer. I am excited again about HA - spending way too much time in front of my PC.

I write this because I would like to see who on this board is also running MH on a Windows platform to share information.

So, who's out there?
 
I'm currently running MH as well, but on a Linux platform. Since I just started with it a couple weeks ago (and home automation in general a few months ago), I too have a minimal setup. Since UPB support was recently added to MH, me and my dozen or so UPB modules are acting (sort of) as a guinea pig for the UPB interface.

I do have plans to hook up a W800RF32 so I can use motion detectors and window/door sensors and have MH do the translation to the appropriate UPB links.

I also want to hook it up with my telephones so I can talk to it over my phone lines, which it looks like you are doing. Where did you find the info on that?

-Adam
 
I too run MH but also on a Linux platform (Ubuntu Breezy). If you haven't already, make sure you sign up on the MH list as I am unsure of how many MH users visit here. Also be sure to check out the MH Wiki.

I don't have a Temp05 but if remember correctly, you send commands and receive updates as plain text through the serial port. If that's the case, then it should be a very simple matter to do so with Perl and MH. I'd be surprised if somebody hasn't already done it actually. If not then there are several other one-wire solutions that work very well. I use a DS9097 with OWFS which creates a 1-wire file system in Linux

Good luck and welcome to MisterHouse. I'd love to see more MH'ers here on CT.

Terry
 
I, too, have been interested in MH for a long time, and with the pain I'm having with HS2 and other replacements, I am pretty sure I'm going to go MH on Linux at some point soon. I intend to go with Asterisk as well and integrate everything.

I'm glad to see it is running for you on Windows. The biggest thing keeping me from going to MH today is all the wiring I need to do in my new home - can't afford it just yet.

I thought I read something about a TEMP08 interface for MH, perhaps that could be leveraged with a TEMP05 (TEMP05 is an earlier version). I also have a TEMP05, but it is not hooked up in my new home yet, so I'm interested in that end of things, too.

Do you have TTS and/or VR working?
 
Thanks for responding. I was away for a day or two so I didn't get back to you. Looks like I am the only Windows user so far.


DeLicious - for phones I only have a need for caller ID logging and announcements. I have two netcallerid boxes I bought a while ago. I was using them with a modified HS script (to handle two serial ports/two lines). MH has support built in for these so I didn't really have to touch anything. I just defined the com ports in my private.ini and that was it.

roussell - I wish I knew Perl. I am clueless when it comes to that. I also am not yet up to speed on the items.mht file. I seems like I can define the temp variables there and then modify a perl script to read the incomming serial data and post it to these variables.

huggy59 - Like I said, I am really new to MH so I don't know where to start. I too remember something about the TEMP08 but can't find it anywhere - that certainly would be the best place to start. I do have TTS running with the Neospeech voices - Kate and Paul. I can switch to the build in MS voices but there is no comparison. I haven't tried VR. I had it running with HS for a while but I had lots of false triggers even in a quiet house so I disabled it. I assume I will have similar difficulties using VR with MH also. Besides, I want to get a lot more basic functionality before I start playing with the "nice to haves".

I too wish there were more MH users but that's OK. Thanks for responding-nice to meet you.
 
Are you kidding? There are TONS of misterhouse-users (including myself). Not many hang out here, but the MH-users mailing list has pretty high traffic (of the good kind) and is full of HA expertise. I highly recommend joining it.
 
I haven't wandered over here for a while. Add me to the list of MH users. Mine is running on Windows, but eventually I wil migrate to Linux. Right now I have it setup to control lights via X-10. It also talks to my HAI Omnistats. I added a basic web interface to allow me to change some of the stat functions. It's definitely a good idea to subscribe to the mailing list.

Now that cold weather is back I'm ready for another cycle of upgrades. I've got a long list of things I'd like to do, just have to decide which has the highest priority.
 
markthomas - sorry, I was only referring to the CocoonTech members who use MH. I do subscribe to the MH mailing list and I know there are thousands of users. I do wish they had a support forum instead of just the list.
 
It would be nice to have an MH forum. The mailing list works, but it's kind of a pain when you need to look up an old reference to something, and don't even get me started on the yahoo or sourceforge archives... :rolleyes:

The problem seems to me though, is where would you draw the line? If MHers get a forum, then what about CQC, HomeSeer, Powerhouse, Mainlobby and so on? There are many more of them on CT and they don't have a forum. I suppose one could make the argument that the commercial packages have their own forum, also I have to admit that it's kinda nice not having to jump through several different areas to catch up on whats going on. Although, as long as the "View new posts" link would still work though I guess I would be fine. :) I would like to see more participation here out of MH users though.

Wow, I really started rambling there, guess that'll teach me to drink and type. :D

Terry
 
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