BlueTracker Released

I'm releasing my BlueTracker application which tracks bluetooth devices and issues updates over xPL. It currently works with only the Microsoft BT stack, but you can hack your BT dongle to use the Microsoft stack. I don't have any Widcomm devices so it doesn't have any support for that driver - but it should be easy enough to add when the 32 Feet.NET SDK is released with Widcomm support (It's in Beta currently). You can read my previous posts on BlueTracker to get an idea how it works. Grab it.

Trying Out Gigabit Ethernet

Since I've been toying with the idea of SageTV as an HD DVR, I've been thinking about converting part of my LAN to run GigE. Our house was built in 1999, before Cat-5e was standardized, so we've always had a 100 Mbps network on plain old Cat-5. We also only put in 2 runs of Cat-5 per location, so I ended up splitting the Cat-5 runs for the LAN (2 pairs for the LAN and 2 pairs that I could use for other low voltage needs). However, GigE needs all 4 pairs. As a test, I freed up 2 pairs on one of the living room runs, allowing me to have all 4 pairs in one run. I was able to link up two D-Link GigE switches over that run at gigabit speed. I put a cheapo Airlink GigE NIC in the HA server but I don't have any other GigE devices to test the throughput I can get over my wiring. I guess I'll find out when I eventually build a Sage server with a GigE NIC.

Update: I put another Airlink GigE NIC in our kids' computer and was able to get around 250 Mbps file transfers - not bad running over 10 year old Cat-5 wiring, Cat-5 jacks and a Cat-5 patch panel.

Update 3/22/09: I'm now seeing about 400 Mbps to our new media server with the same Airlink card.

Blabber - an xPL Jabber Gateway

A couple months ago, I added Jabber functionality to my xPL sCU application. I've decided to make the Jabber portion available as a standalone xPL app called Blabber. This app will let you use IM to send it messages, which you can use in your automation scripts. It also allows your automation system to send instant messages back to you.

First, you'll need to set up a Jabber account which Blabber will use. Google probably has the most reliable Jabber server and it's what I use. Add your personal IM account to the Blabber account's roster. Once that's done, you can set up your config.txt file. It's just a single line file:

<user name>,<server>,<password>

For example, assuming your Blabber account is xplblabber@gmail.com then your config.txt file would be as follows:

xplblabber,gmail.com,your_password

After you've saved config.txt in the Blabber directory, you can start it up. You'll notice a debug window that prints information messages. Now you can interface to it.

When you IM with Blabber, it will generate sensor.basic messages:
source = doghouse-blabber.xyz
dest = *
type = xpl-trig

sensor.basic
{
   device=your_email@gmail.com/gmail.some_resource_numbers
   type=message
   current=the text of the message you sent
}

Blabber will also keep track of your status:

source = doghouse-blabber.xyz
dest = *
type = xpl-trig

sensor.basic
{
   device=your_email@gmail.com/gmail.some_resource_numbers
   type=status
   current=available
}

One thing you can use IM for is if you're not home, you can create a script that will forward the contents of osd.basic messages to you over IM. Just create a control.basic packet like this:

dest = doghouse-blabber.xyz
type = xpl-cmnd

control.basic
{
   device=your_email@gmail.com/gmail.some_resource_numbers
   current=somebody rang the doorbell
}

Download Blabber. I've only tested this on XP, but it should work on Win2k.

Updated EventGhost xPL Plugin

I updated the EventGhost xPL Plugin I wrote about here. It now supports EG version 0.3.6. Grab it.

Firewall Died

My circa 1999 SonicWall SOHO firewall bit the dust this week. Everything worked fine, but for whatever reason, the throughput through the device slowed to a crawl. I replaced it with a spare firewall I had lying around, but this was a great little device offering tons of control that home firewalls can't give you out of the box. (Nowadays, I'm running Tomato). I got the SOHO when I worked at CacheFlow, one of the darlings of Internet bubble. Those were the days...

Bluetracker Progress

I worked on my bluetooth tracking app a little more last night adding the capability to receive device updates from other BlueTrackers. I did this by adding xPL so that the app will generate xPL messages when it detects a phone or when that phone times out. Other BlueTrackers on the network, which may not be close enough to the phone to detect it, receive those xPL messages and can then update its list of present phones. My HA software can now key off phone detected messages from all BlueTrackers to establish that a phone is home. When a phone leaves the house, eventually all BlueTrackers will issue timed out messages, but only one BlueTracker will serve as a master - and only messages from that BlueTracker will be used to determine if a phone is no longer home. The app has been running on two machines overnight and is pretty much done.

New Bluetooth Project

I have been using xPL Bluetooth but it hasn't worked quite right for me so I've decided to write my own Bluetooth app to track our cellphones coming & going. I am using In The Hand's 32 Feet.NET PAN SDK. The example code had everything I needed to get a quick start writing my app. After a couple hours of playing around, I've got it up & running detecting some bluetooth devices. I've added code for tracking and timing out devices along with a debug window. Now, I need to decide if I'm going to add a configuration file and also how I will interface it back to my HA system. I originally wanted to add it to my xPL sCU application, which interfaces starCOMUltra, xPL, xAP, IM & UPB. Instead, I've decided on a standalone app as I'm not getting anywhere near the advertised bluetooth range - so I could end up with devices timing out if they get moved from the family room to the living room, etc. My plan is to put the app and bluetooth interfaces on all the servers around the house.

Official Google Calendar & Contacts Sync

Finally, you can sync your Gmail contacts and GCal to your mobile phone without having to use third party tools. Read about it here.

HDHomerun Update

I found from the HDHomerun forums that I should update the firmware. I downloaded the latest and updated, and now I'm seeing about 14 Mbps, which is perfect. If I decide on another HDHR, I'm figuring about 56-80 Mbps of bandwidth. Since our house was wired back in 1999 with Cat-5 (not 5e), 100 Mbps is as fast as the network can run. Also, each SageTV HD extender can use up to 20 Mbps so in worst case, the network will be overloaded - for 1 NIC. Furthermore, where I want the PC located there is no cable jack so I can't create a local GigE network with the HDHRs and the PC. I do, however, have a Cat-5 run from the HDHR location to the PC location, so I can create a small 100 Mbps network with 1 NIC and the HDHRs. I can then add a 2nd NIC connected to the main LAN to handle regular network access and streaming to the HD extenders. One thing is the HDHR is a DHCP only device, but will default to a 169.254.x.x address if no IP address is handed out to it. I just need to set the HDHR connected NIC to 169.254.y.y with a subnet mask of 255.255.0.0 and the PC should see the HDHRs.

Edit: Turns out, the reduced bandwidth I was seeing was due to using VLC to view the streams. Using Sage, the bandwidth was still 30 Mbps. I have since installed the SageTV 6.5.8 release candidate and the bandwidth is now down in the 10 Mbps range.

Looking into SageTV

I've taken a break from automation stuff and I'm looking at media now. I've downloaded a trial of SageTV and I got an HDHomerun. I have things set up on an old Sempron 2800+ machine, which is adequate for recording and serving video (not at all for watching live HD though). The dual tuners on the HDHomerun use up 80 Mbps when bother are tuned to HD channels. This is clearly not usable unless I upgrade some parts of my network from 100 Mbps to gigabit. I have a few other issues to work out as well, but the Sage software and the HDHomerun seem to work well.

HAL is a Piece of Crap

I just did a long needed Windows update of my HA server and the only app on my machine that craps out? HAL Deluxe. After someone calls and leaves a message, the HAL System Server fatals. I restored my old db files. I re-installed HAL. I did a clean re-install of HAL. No luck. I had a similar problem with 2.066 (I'm using 3.7.3 now). I'm just about ready to go back to an answering machine...again.

Finished up HAL Client-Server App

It's been a while since I wrote my app to link multiple HAL installations. I finally finished it up last night. I've linked the MacroPhrases from the master to the client so all voice commands are accessible from the client. It only does this at startup, so it will not update if the server phrases get updated.