| Posted: Saturday Dec 17th, 2016 08:10 pm |
|
101st Post |
DavidJ
Member
back to top
|
HI Matt, Fairly basic one if I wish to run a Piston through Core that for example says "when Comfort Alarm is SET".
Do I: If - Capability - Select Alarm - Alarm List - Comfort Alarm - Comparison - IS - Both (being Strobe and siren)? Will that lot apply the logic that "if the alarm is in SET mode"?
I cant find anything that simply says is "SET". Hope you understand question...
Cheers
DavidLast edited on Saturday Dec 17th, 2016 08:12 pm by DavidJ
|
| Posted: Tuesday Dec 20th, 2016 01:09 pm |
|
102nd Post |
mattbrain
UCM Pi Users
| Joined: | Tuesday Jun 12th, 2007 |
| Location: | United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 185 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
back to top
|
Hi David
Good question, I think I need to take a look into this further - there isn't a native capability for alarm mode, so I think I need to create a new one which will be compatible with CoRE. Leave it with me and i'll see what I can do.
Thanks,
Matt
|
| Posted: Wednesday Dec 21st, 2016 06:37 pm |
|
103rd Post |
Ian
Member
| Joined: | Saturday Aug 19th, 2006 |
| Location: | United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 249 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
back to top
|
All this looks fantastic but made me wonder (and I speak with no knowledge!), could a skill be written for echo so that it can interact directly with Comfort?
|
| Posted: Wednesday Dec 21st, 2016 07:39 pm |
|
104th Post |
mattbrain
UCM Pi Users
| Joined: | Tuesday Jun 12th, 2007 |
| Location: | United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 185 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
back to top
|
Hi Ian
A skill could be developed for the Echo, but it would need to be executed in the cloud - and the Comfort system currently doesn't have any elements which could communicate with it.
I am planning on getting the ST functionality working and then adding on Echo support starting natively with simple functions via WeMo emulation and following with enhanced support via a Skill.
I'm currently stuffing turkeys, hanging baubles, wrapping presents and controlling very excited children - i'm planning on spending a couple of days on this between Christmas and the New Year and there should be a new release before 1st Jan with more functionality.
Thanks,
Matt
|
mattbrain
UCM Pi Users
| Joined: | Tuesday Jun 12th, 2007 |
| Location: | United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 185 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
back to top
|
Hi All
Just to provide an update - the turkey took more stuffing than expected and the children have been running rings around me so I haven't had time to do much on this yet.
I'm spending some time on this later this week and will be releasing an update on or around the weekend. In the meantime, I would be interested in any feedback you have - and in particular if there are any improvements you would like to see added to go onto the rather informal roadmap.
I'm also looking to get hold of some more end user devices - Google Home is next on the list, and there is a possibility I could add basic functionality to apple homekit via a third party library - let me know if this is of interest.
Thanks,
Matt
|
Pgordon
Member
back to top
|
mattbrain wrote:
Hi All
Just to provide an update - the turkey took more stuffing than expected and the children have been running rings around me so I haven't had time to do much on this yet.
I'm spending some time on this later this week and will be releasing an update on or around the weekend. In the meantime, I would be interested in any feedback you have - and in particular if there are any improvements you would like to see added to go onto the rather informal roadmap.
I'm also looking to get hold of some more end user devices - Google Home is next on the list, and there is a possibility I could add basic functionality to apple homekit via a third party library - let me know if this is of interest.
Thanks,
Matt
Good to hear... I've got 2 Echo dots, a smarthings hub, and an R-PI waiting for me in Blighty, which I hope to be able to get over & collect in the next week or two, so I'm getting quite excited to start playing with all of this... I'm also picking up an Apple Watch series 2 when I'm there, so that's double excitement value... 
In the meantime, is there anything I should start to bone up on?.... Do I need to get a particular build for the R-PI for instance? Is there anything I would benefit from reading up about that?
I do already have Apple TV, so HomeKit integration might also be something I'd be interested in having a play with, although I have absolutely no other HomeKit devices...
Cheers.
Paul G
|
| Posted: Saturday Jan 7th, 2017 12:14 am |
|
107th Post |
mattbrain
UCM Pi Users
| Joined: | Tuesday Jun 12th, 2007 |
| Location: | United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 185 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
back to top
|
Hey Paul
The instructions for installation are on the GitHub site, but they aren't particularly user friendly. I'm doing some work on an easier installation process (albeit still requiring code pasting on SmartThings) which will simply require you to download a disk image and write it to an SD Card.
I also need to think about an easy upgrade process, so you don't have to write a whole new SD Card for a simple update - but that might have to wait a while.
I'll be posting the update shortly (hopefully Monday) which will include some of the requests from the forum (doorbell, link to CoRE from alarm mode and state) and a way to easily get log files from the RPi.
Thanks,
Matt
|
| Posted: Tuesday Jan 10th, 2017 05:34 pm |
|
108th Post |
mattbrain
UCM Pi Users
| Joined: | Tuesday Jun 12th, 2007 |
| Location: | United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 185 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
back to top
|
Hi All
Just a quick update; I have abstracted out the Alarm Mode (Day, Night, Away, Vacation of Off) into separate linked switches which will now allow for better control - for example, setting the SmartThings mode using a SmartThings Response in the App or on your watch will correctly set the right mode, and Alarm mode can be used in CoRE logic.
I have also added a doorbell device, so you can make things happen when the Doorbell is pushed (for me I'm having Sonos announce when I'm home, and ST take a photo of the porch and send a notification when I'm out)
I have a little more testing to do and will upload it later this week - apologies for the delay in getting this out.
I shall also release a disk image within the next week which should make installation a whole lot easier, no more funky business with using the command line to install a bunch of stuff onto the RPi - just write an SD Card, plug it in and upload your configuration via a webpage.
Thanks,
Matt
|
lwillerton
Member
| Joined: | Sunday Oct 2nd, 2011 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 221 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
back to top
|
Hi Matt, All
That sounds great and thank you for the update. Look forward to the image as I have only got so far with the instruction on your page... mainly because I have been distracted on other things :-)
I have managed to get my IRIO to work today, which uses counter to send IR commands. Therefore, if you set counter x to 0 it turns the TV on, if you set counter x to 1 it changes the channel to BBC1 etc. This seems to match your development well.
Sorry if I am repeating myself, but what I would like to be able to do is run a response that sets a scene rather that using the scene controllers as this gives me so many more options, something like "echo turn on Lounge movie" which dims lights (controlled by comfort counters or flags in my installation) puts on the surround sound (might be done by the universal UCM not played with this yet) turns TV on (using comfort counters again) :-)
Hope to get some more time on the PI this week, but diary looking full so not sure,
Best Wishes Matt, All
Lee
|
mattbrain
UCM Pi Users
| Joined: | Tuesday Jun 12th, 2007 |
| Location: | United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 185 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
back to top
|
Hi Lee et al;
Again, apologies for the delay in the next release - it's really close, just putting the final touches in place.
To keep you in the picture, we have done an awful lot in the background, some of which will be evident in this release - and lots of other stuff which will be announced over the next few weeks.
I anticipate the release will take place early this week, and will be in the form of a Raspberry Pi Disk Image - full instructions for writing this to an SD Card will be provided - you will need an SD Card of at least 4Gb but 8Gb is recommended (as not all 4Gb card are actually 4Gb and those few bytes they shave off may mean the image doesn't fit).
The image also provides full web management of the interface - no more command line jiggery pokery - a demo of the interface (just to prove how close we are) can be seen here: http://www.alphawerk.co.uk/cytech/demo/index You will notice that this includes the ability to update the configuration, start and stop the service, send diagnostics to us for review and even update the software to future versions just by clicking a button.
You may notice the use of alphaWerk. Without giving too much away, this is a signpost to the future of this project and I can't wait to reveal more as things pick up.
Thanks again for your interest and as ever any and all feedback is immensely welcome,
MattLast edited on Sunday Jan 15th, 2017 11:10 pm by mattbrain
|
lwillerton
Member
| Joined: | Sunday Oct 2nd, 2011 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 221 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
back to top
|
I really appreciate your hard work Matt as I am sure everyone else will do.I have wanted to video the art of the possible with the comfort system and publish this on youtube, or at least what I have achieved. However, I spend more time playing with the system rather than sharing the possibilities with other customers / potential customers. I will do my best to get a video done before the June and include what you have done here along with the new kit I have purchased.
I think Chiu has suggested that you try and do a commercial offer, I am not sure what that would look like, but if I can get this to work I would consider paying a sensible price for the solution.
I was considering control 4 but I feel this community could easily be a control 4 beater. We just need to share our achievements.
Best Wishes
Lee
|
| Posted: Wednesday Jan 18th, 2017 01:38 pm |
|
112th Post |
Pgordon
Member
back to top
|
mattbrain wrote: Hi Lee et al;
Again, apologies for the delay in the next release - it's really close, just putting the final touches in place.
To keep you in the picture, we have done an awful lot in the background, some of which will be evident in this release - and lots of other stuff which will be announced over the next few weeks.
I anticipate the release will take place early this week, and will be in the form of a Raspberry Pi Disk Image - full instructions for writing this to an SD Card will be provided - you will need an SD Card of at least 4Gb but 8Gb is recommended (as not all 4Gb card are actually 4Gb and those few bytes they shave off may mean the image doesn't fit).
The image also provides full web management of the interface - no more command line jiggery pokery - a demo of the interface (just to prove how close we are) can be seen here: http://www.alphawerk.co.uk/cytech/demo/index You will notice that this includes the ability to update the configuration, start and stop the service, send diagnostics to us for review and even update the software to future versions just by clicking a button.
Absolutely *fabulous* - can't wait. I hope this project goes from strength to strength. With such a versatile & flexible interface I can't even begin to imagine the possibilities for all the various things Comfort could start to interface with. All my lights (well, pretty much all of them) are on CBUS, and with the Comfort-UCM-CBUS I have good integration & control from Comfort, but really no other way to hook CBUS into the overall HA (or alternatively you could say no way other than through comfort to hook the rest of the HA system into CBUS). Since Comfort is at the epicentre of my HA system, this hasn't been a problem thus far, but as more & more new & exiting HA devices come out I have been looking on enviously from the sidelines, because they don't/won't/can't easily integrate. (This is a personal ideology that I have adopted for a fair few years now... if it doesn't play nice with what I already have, then it's not coming into my HA system - hence I have no smart locks, no smart bulbs etc.) I'm just not interested in some or other device which claims to be smart just because it has it's own smartphone app which can control it, but won't talk to devices outside of its own ecosystem...
I'm especially intrigued by your mention of using SONOS to announce doorbell events.. - something I have wanted to implement for several years now, - can you elaborate with any details on just how you are achieving that? Does it work "elegantly" - by which I mean deal gracefully with whatever the target SONOS speakers may already be playing? (pause current playback, announce event, resume playback from same source... etc.)
I've got all my "bits" back from the UK now, - just need to nip out & buy an 8GB microSD card for the Pi in the next couple of days, so hoping to start setting this up in earnest this coming weekend...
Cheers Matt, and keep the good stuff coming!
|
| Posted: Saturday Jan 21st, 2017 05:28 pm |
|
113th Post |
Pgordon
Member
back to top
|
Hey Matt.
I have all the various bits & pieces in place now. the Echo dots are in & running well. the ST hub is sat on the network ready & waiting, and as I write this, I'm installing the latest Rasbian build on the Rasberry Pi.
No doubt when I get to the end of the Pi install, I will then have a big "what now" moment, and I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.
But I've been thinking ahead a little bit... you see in my house, all my lights are on CBUS, and with the CBUS UCM in Comfort, I have full 2-way control & status of all my lights. Comfort controls various lights in response to PIR activations and mode state changes etc. however, most human interaction with CBUS is via wall switches, many of which are set to trigger CBUS scenes. What I really want to do is enable voice control of lighting scenes via Alexa. I figure I can likely boil down the number of required scenes I need Alexa to command to maybe half a dozen or so... so I figure that I will probably need to code each of those scenes as responses in Comfort, then using your sterling efforts I hope I can trigger those responses by voice... but will I be able to do that in a "friendly" way? i.e. I don't really want to have to say things like "Alexa, turn on Comfort Response 142" - I'd far rather be able to say something like "Alexa, turn on lounge scene watch TV" or something similar...
I'm hoping that between the UPnP drivers on the R-Pi, and the Smartthings system, I can abstract out specific Comfort responses to meaningful command names that can be spoken to Alexa.
Is this kind of scenario possible / easy?
TIA
Paul G.
|
| Posted: Saturday Jan 21st, 2017 07:54 pm |
|
114th Post |
mattbrain
UCM Pi Users
| Joined: | Tuesday Jun 12th, 2007 |
| Location: | United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 185 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
back to top
|
Hi Paul
Thanks for your note - and absolutely it can be abstracted out - this is one of the key features.
When you install the SmartThings elements you will find an option on the Comfort Bridge device called 'Add Response Device' - this will allow you to create a virtual switch which will allow you to assign responses to an On and Off function which can be named however you choose. Running discover devices on the Amazon echo (once connected to SmartThings and properly permissioned) will then find those devices as 'native' devices - which means they don't need an specific echo skill to initiate - allowing you to say 'Alex, turn on the cinema' (if the device was called cinema) or 'Alex set the lounge cinema mode on' (if the device was called lounge cinema mode). Alexa is pretty clever so the sentence structure if fairly flexible.
In terms of installing Raspbian - I would suggest you hold fire, the new release is undergoing final testing and I want to get it out the door this weekend - you don't need to do all the command line jiggery pokery, just create an SD Card from the image i'll publish, plug in and open your web browser to it - I'm just in the process of writing the installation and usage instructions...
Thanks,
Matt
|
mattbrain
UCM Pi Users
| Joined: | Tuesday Jun 12th, 2007 |
| Location: | United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 185 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
back to top
|
Hi All
So after much procrastination (for which I apologise), please find a link to the new version below:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4178750/Cytech/1.0.0.img.zip
Unzip the file and follow the generic instructions to write your SD Card here: https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/installation/installing-images/README.md
One the SD Card is written, pop it into your Raspberry Pi, plug it into the network, give it a few moments then open a browser to http://alpha-uhai.local/ or http://alpha-uhai/ which will take you to the management interface. From there, click on the instructions tabs to complete your setup.
Capabilities
This release is focused on improving the usability and installation of the software. It has support for Zones, Outputs, Flags, Counters, Alarm Mode and Status, triggering Responses and a Doorbell virtual device.
When first installed and configured it will provide me (alphaWerk) with anonymous usage data - this is very high level and does not include any information regarding your comfort system, but rather just whether the interface is operational.
You can register the installation from the web UI which will allow you to share more detailed information, as you can do when uploading configuration - this is entirely optional but if you choose to do so, will help us identify issues.
Registration will also allow us to communicate directly with you, which we promise to limit to only information about the solution (such as updates, known issues etc). Updates can be made, with user consent, directly from the Web UI. To be absolutely clear, whilst we do receive a limited amount of anonymous telemetry data, we have no mechanism for disabling or updating an installation remotely without user input.
Note to installers:
You are free to offer this to your customers but may not charge for the software; you may charge for your time, the cost of configuration, supply of a Raspberry Pi and any other peripherals. This software is licensed to end users for them to use freely in their own environment. It goes without saying that we (alphaWerk) offer no warranty for the suitability of this software (which in part explains why it is free) which is all explained in the instructions. If you wish to make a small gift to us which will encourage further development, you may do so from the Web UI.
Finally, Mr Chiu and I are in discussions to make a commercial version of this product which will be very feature rich and meets the technical and reliability standards of the cytech system. This will likely be in the form of a dedicated UCM and will directly support a wider range of IoT devices. More information on this will be made available as development progresses.
Thanks again,
MattLast edited on Tuesday Jan 24th, 2017 03:02 am by mattbrain
|
wexfordman
UCM Pi Users
| Joined: | Monday Jan 1st, 2007 |
| Location: | Cork, Ireland |
| Posts: | 546 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
back to top
|
Hi Matt, Slychiu
Thanks for the update. With respect to the planned commercial version of it, there are a couple of questions maybe you could help with, mainly to help me determine if I go with the current solution or hold off for the later product.
1) As it stands, to get this working, I need an RPI and a smart things hub. I am also thinking of going the route of philips hue, so I will also need a hue hub to at least get hue devices configured before controlling them via smartthings/comfort
2) So, I am now looking at getting the RPI, ST hub and Hue HUB (all on the wishlist once I get over the christmas overspend :-( )
3) The commercial version, you mention will more feature rich and a more relaible product. With respect to new added features on the commercial version, will these features be supported on the current platform going forward also ?
4) I have a spare UCM, so is it possible the new module would be a matter of adding the RPI onto the UCM board
5) Any rough estimate of availablity of the commercial version and/or beta versions of it ?
I know this sounds like a "I want it, and I want it now" type response (which it actually is, but not in a demanding way ;-) )
Regards,EamonLast edited on Monday Jan 23rd, 2017 05:55 pm by wexfordman
|
mattbrain
UCM Pi Users
| Joined: | Tuesday Jun 12th, 2007 |
| Location: | United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 185 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
back to top
|
Hi Eamon, Paul
Thanks for your comments; in answer to Eamon's questions:
1. True - the current solution is dependent on a SmartThings hub which acts as an abstraction layer.
2. Yup - I feel your pain, i'm in the same boat to add support for Philips Hue. I need to get my hands on some test devices.
3. The commercial version has to be a device which can be installed, configured and relied upon by any installer. Given the rapid pace of development of IoT and the incremental nature in which people add things to their house, it also needs to be end user customisable (for example when they buy a new Hue bulb). The current solution has a number if inherent weak links in the chain which we plan to address in hardware and software. As a result of this, the community version which have a subset of the commercial version from a functionality perspective - and if we are to keep pace with the continual innovation in this space we need to find a commercial model which will allow us to fund the ongoing development.
4. The community version can use any UCM which has an ethernet port (UCM/Ethx) - this does therefore mean it is only as reliable as the household network, RPi PSU (and in the case of SmartThings integration) broadband connection and SmartThings cloud services. The commercial version will use a custom UCM as well as the industrial version of the RPi (Compute module). This will allow us to directly connect the RPi to the alarm, power it directly from Comfort (and therefore have redundancy) and introduce a variety of measures to ensure it is robust and self recovering.
5. It's a little early to be committing to timelines, but it is fair to say both Cytech and alphaWerks recognise this is an import piece of development for the Comfort ecosystem and has the possibility of opening Comfort to new markets.
A couple of final comments from me - we are currently identifying which device families should be high priority. Whilst SmartThings has demonstrated the value this integration can bring, it is only generally available in limited markets (UK & US) and is still very much a hobbyist solution. I see Philips Hue as an ideal candidate for native support; it is widely adopted, low cost and available in many markets. If there are other obvious device families, please let me know and we can consider adding them to the roadmap.
I also need to explain why some devices may only be available in the commercial version. The cost of development and continued support for some device families make it impossible to support gratis - for example, proper IFTTT integration (rather than via 'maker') requires both dedicated cloud server(s) and annual fee to integrate - and we need to find a way to fund it. It would be unfair to provide those services for free to users of the community version when it is being paid for by users of the commercial version. Having said all that, I am committed to continue to develop the community version wherever possible and from a purely development perspective, it is easier if they both operate from the same source tree.
Anyway, I hope all that makes sense - and look forward to your feedback,
Thanks,
Matt
|
Pgordon
Member
back to top
|
mattbrain wrote: One the SD Card is written, pop it into your Raspberry Pi, plug it into the network, give it a few moments then open a browser to http://alpha-uhai/ which will take you to the management interface. From there, click on the instructions tabs to complete your setup.
Hey Matt.
Problem straight away. Having booted up the image on the Pi, I have no DNS resolution for that URL - I guess I could delve into the routers dhcp logs & try to figure out what IP address my Pi has (almost certainly will be the most recent lease issued)...
However, I figured that I should just be able check it out on the pi itself... - since it's on my desk with KVM all hooked up...
I see that although its a raspbian build, it does not have the default raspbian username & password of "pi" and "raspberry" - so I can't logon to it... - I'd very much like t be able to logon to the pi, and run a desktop GUI so I learn more about the Pi and Linux in general - since this is my only one...
I'd also potentially like to maybe run other tasks on it too... - I'm guessing the upnp stuff won't exactly be taxing the little thing... :-)
Is there an account available to logon with in this build?
Cheers.
Paul G.
|
mattbrain
UCM Pi Users
| Joined: | Tuesday Jun 12th, 2007 |
| Location: | United Kingdom |
| Posts: | 185 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
back to top
|
Hi Paul
It sounds like it hasn't managed to properly get connected to the home network - DNS resolution should happen automagically if your router manages DHCP assignments. Can you confirm it is connected via Ethernet and the link light is active?
In terms of logging in, i'm not it would give you much - its a trimmed down version of Rasbian in order to conserve system resources in order to allow it to run an any variant of a RPi (so long as they have an ethernet port). If i'm honest, I wouldn't advise users to run anything else on the Pi as it may have an impact on the Comfort software and when it comes to troubleshooting - it's a case of the simpler the better.
I have locked out login via the terminal and ssh as a simple security precaution (given these are talking to the alarm and will have your pin code and comfiguration file stored on disk). However, if you do want to login, you need to modify the installation to run in single user mode; to do this insert the SD Card into a PC and add a space and a 1 at the end of the line in the text file 'cmdline.txt'. If you then reboot the Pi with a keyboard and monitor attached you will be automatically logged in - you can then change the password to something you are happy with, and then revert the change and restart the Pi once again.
Hope this helps,
Thanks,
Matt
|
|
