Machine to run Homeseer

[Mike]

I'm preparing to add HS to my setup. I'm in the process of setting up an MCE machine (2.6MHZ P4 w/1GB RAM) but also have an older 2000 server machine (PIII 384MB RAM or something like that) as a central server with music, photos, software, etc for machines on the network.

Was just curious as to the experiences here on the horsepower required. Sounds like I have three choices:

1. Put it on the MCE machine (assuming this would even work)
2. Put it on the existing server
3. Put it on a new dedicated machine

I could test it out once I get it, but somehow I suspect this has been encountered and there are some opinions on this from direct experience...

I don't have a problem running two, but I figured if the newer machine would cover it why have two machines running 24/7 (especially since the older one I have is just that: older).

 

[Rupp]

Mike,
The older HS 1.7 would run fine on an older machine if you didn't use Voice Rec. or Text To Speech. HS 2.0 being build on the .net frame work will need more horse power and more memory though. I would try in on the MCE machine it should be able to handle both. I personally always use a dedicated server to eliminate any outside sources from causing problems with my setup though.

 

[upstatemike]

Speaking of machines to run Homeseer, is anybody using the Homeseer Pro-100? I tried to follow the dealer links to see who is selling it but didn't get anywhere.

 

[electron]

I have run HS 1.6-1.7 on machines as slow as a P2 266 with 256 megs of ram. Works great, even with TTS. VR is out of the question tho, and I probably wouldn't recommend it, just saying it's possible to use slow machines. Next I ran it on a p3 800mhz for a few months, no problems there except for RAM, only had 256, and with the newer TTS voices, you really need 512. CPU was fine. I am now running HS on a AMD XP2600 machine, with 512 megs of memory (cheap hardware), and have no problems at all.

<IMO>I would recommend against running HS on the MCE machine if you are planning on watching any multi media content (including TV recordings) on a frequent basis, since this can require a lot of CPU time. Either MCE will slow down HS, or HS will slow down MCE to the point where things stutter. </IMO>

upstatemike: the PRO100 is not for sale yet, so I doubt anyone has one of these machines.

 

[Mike]

Thanks Electron. Sounds like I should just upgrade the RAM on my older server to 512MB and dedicate it (PIII 733MHZ). I was considering playing with the voice part at some point, but probably won't get around to that for some time.

 

[electron]

VR should work ok on the P3 (I had no problems), but the faster the machine, the better of course. The only thing I don't know about is HS 2.0, it looks like it will be using a serious chunk of resources, so not sure if a P3 will still do the job.

 

[DavidL]

Don't forget that you can run HS2 VR on each client. The server doesn't need to run it at all (if you don't want). HS2 also seems to take less CPU resources than HS1 did.

 

[jwilson56]

For me my HS machine started to purr along when I went to a 1.5GZ P4 with 512MB of ram (coming from a 850MHZ P3 with 256MB).

I run J River Media Center and HS 1.7 for my whole house audio system. I have a dozen X10 devices and do some TTS stuff. When I have 5 zones playing and a phone call comes and does the TTS announcement in it spikes to around 80% CPU usage.

John

 

[JohnBullard]

For HS 2.0 I bought a P4 3ghz 256mb 80 gig HD machine from Fry's Outpost for $379.00 a couple weeks ago. Added an addl 256 ram. Works great, the powersupply fan is kinda loud, compared to my other boxes, but it won't be in the occupied part of the house, so the fan is ok for me.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Hey John;

If you ever want to quiet that machine you could throw $60 (after MIR) at it and get THIS Antec Sonata case.

Regards,

BSR

 

[JohnBullard]

Thanks BSR,

It's not really that loud, just that I can hear it. Of course right now its sitting in the middle of my den floor with the side of the case off while I play with HS2.0.

Put the HS modem in yesterday, will be adding some serial ports over the weekend, etc.

Just keeping it easy to get to after reading the HS2.0 horror stories on the other board. So far every thing is stable, with no lock ups or crashes. (But also not working it very hard either!)

Maybe by the time I'm ready to move it to it's new home in the equipment closet, I won't be able to hear it at all!