Charmed Quark Software is proud to announce the 1.1.3 release of CQC (The Charmed Quark Controller), its Windows based, distributed control and automation software suite. CQC provides a secure, network distributed, highly integrated, control and automation software suite, including a powerful backend architecture, powerful user drawn interface system, user based security, object oriented macro and driver development language with graphical IDE, supporting X-10, IR, socket, serial, and USB devices.
What's New in 1.1.3
This is a 'minor' upgrade of the 1.1 version, but it does offer some very useful new features and includes a number of bug fixes. The most significant changes are:
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Arcam AV8 Driver. This release includes a new driver for the Arcam AV8 A/V Processor, which is a pretty powerful box for a good price, and the control protocol is fairly extensive also.
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SmartHome 1132U USB X-10 Controller This release includes a driver for the SmartHome USB X-10 controller. CQC already supported the widely used serial version of this controller (1132S), but that verion is no longer being sold, and this one is quite superior anyway. It requires no drivers on the Windows side, since it is an HID type USB device.
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User Drawn Interface Enhancements There are a number of nice enhancements to the user drawn interface system, including a new 'state' system, an auto-repeating inc/dec button, size to fit menu option, and a translation feature for dynamic text widgets.
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Marantz VP-12S2 Driver Eric Bariaux of www.tinsys.com has provided a driver for the Marantz VP-12S DLP projector. This is a 'first look' drop for people to check out and comment on, though it should be pretty stable.
What's Coming Up
The major feature in the next version, which will be 1.2, is going to be the extension of CQC's powerful device control model to GUI applications, a la Girder but better because it will be built into a powerful integrated front and back end. So you HTPC folks can have a single system that provides the two way active GUI, the powerful distributed back end architecture, great two way device control, security, powerful macro capabilities, and application control all in one highly integrated package.
There are some drivers that appear to be very likely at this point. They will be released as driver packs as they become available, and the formally included in the 1.2 release when it arrives.
- HD Leeza driver update, to get it up to the latest firmware version
- JPK DMX512 lighting controller
- Enerzone thermostat
- RCS keypads and thermostats
As always, if you do a good driver for CQC, and let us ship it with the product, we'll give you a free copy of CQC. ANd if you keep it updated in future releases (which mostly will just be a matter of verifying it's still happy), we'll give you the upgrades for free as well.
If you really want to use CQC, but need drivers for your devices and cannot do them yourself, please consider shipping us the device for a few days so that we can do the driver for you and return the device. We want to support as many devices as possible and want to do whatever we can to make CQC a useful tool for your automation needs.
Test Drive It
CQC comes with a 30 day trial period. So just download the Zip file (Download link on the left of the main web page), unzip it, read the release notes, look at the Get Started section of the web site which will give you an overview of how CQC works and want it can do for you, and then install it and use it unencumbered for 30 days. At any time during that period you can purchase a license and upgrade your trial version to a licensed version without any interruption.
CQC is a networked product, so the license is for your network, and only applies to the machine on which you run the CQC Master Server. You can run as many other clients or servers as you need and your network capacity allows. So give it a spin and see what it's like.
If you have any questions, you can e-mail us at
[email protected], or better yet sign up with our support forums (link is at that bottom of the main web page), and start a discussion of your issues and questions. This way, other users can benefit from the discussion, and other old timers can help you out if I'm not immediately available. We look forward to your feedback, whether happy or brutal, since it's the only way we can understand what works for you.