Revision as of 10:24, 9 September 2010

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About me

I am educated as a computer programmer, having done some C++ programming and doing Java (J2EE) programming as a living. This is the first open source project that I have involved myself in.

As I have a wife and a house besides my work, I don't have much time to do LinuxMCE related stuff (although I definitely would like to). So my contributions so far have been mostly things completed within a short time span.

My interest in LinuxMCE

I've been using Linux since 2002. My first Media system was Freevo, which looks somewhat like the standard media center systems, with a menu with the main TV, movies, music, and pictures options.

Even though Freevo was great for a one PC system, it soon became clear that it wouldn't fit well into a multi-PC setup. So I began researching and found Pluto, the predecessor of LinuxMCE, after a while. It had a server-based setup and seemed a perfect fit. Although the UI have got some flaws, I value functionality over flashy appearance (and if you know what's best for you, you would too ;) ).

I did this research because we were going to move to a new house. We were building a new house in 2005, and I needed to get a system that could handle multiple media zones. I put in plastic tubing("ducts") to every room, so I can reach every room with cables.

I've also added some Z-Wave devices (in 2010). This allowed me to experiment a bit, both with LMCE controlling lights and LMCE receiving events from the temperature sensor.

My current setup

Core/Cabling closet

• Intel Core2 CPU 4400,
• 2GB RAM
• 500GB + 3x320GB disk
• Chieftec 4U rack cabinet
• Gigabit NIC
• Grundig remote speaker

On the core I've also installed two squeezeslaves which currently plays music on the bathroom and via the remote speaker. I'm probably gonna buy a SqueezeBox of some kind to put in the bathroom later on. Anyone knows if they cope well with the moisture? ;) The Grundig remote speaker is actually quite nice. It's more or less water proof, so I'm using it outdoors also. I have a separate room for that speaker.

Main living room MD

• Celeron 1.7GHz
• 768 MB ram
• Nvidia AGP 6600

(full upgrade planned. Currently not powerful enough to play Norway's NRK channel h264 encoding)

Upstairs living room MD

• Old Fujitsu laptop
• ~1-2GHz Intel
• 512MB ram
• ATI graphics

A just for fun device. Used for audio playing once in a while. It should really be a device capable of playing TV.

Main desktop computer

I've also used my main desktop computer as a MD, but I rarely do so anymore, as the old laptop is in the same room.

Automation

Got my first ZWave gear feb. 2010. I started with:

• Seluxit Viasens USB controller
• EZMotion Motion sensor (with temp. sensor)
• Duewi remote
• Duewi plugin module
• RAone smartdimmer

Everything works fine. I'm using SIS mode - highly recommended.

I'm also controling my air-conditioning unit, Toshiba RAS-13 (via IR) as a climate device in LMCE. Using USB-UIRT and a rather long IR cable ;)

Future plans/ideas

• ASUS EeeTop for the kitchen
• ASRock or other ION platform for main living room

I'm going to set up the temperature sensor to trigger various commands to my air condition unit. Currently my ideas are:

• When Extended away, keep the heating off most of the time. Turn on only when temperature drop below 10C (or lower)
• When Away, turn off heating, but also incorporate a lower minimum value like above to avoid freezing if Away mode is set by mistake when actually extended away.
• Turn on heating a predetermined time before expected arrival
• Somehow enable me and my wife to trigger heating manually (preferably remotely, cell phone or similar)

Development

I've been involved more or less in the following items:

• JavaMO (that hari first started on, thanks). I already had Java knowledge, only needed the J2ME specifics. This was the easy entry point to contributing.
• Shoutcast Radio Plugin - A skeleton was already made by pluto, so I filled in the blanks ;) It could still use some work, though....
• Suspend/resume functionality. Thanks to colinjones for the scripts.
• Fixing some bugs to help make the 810 release.
• Improved multi instance support in the ZWave driver, so the EZMotion will work better.
• Datalogger improvements, fixed the package definition, installation and web admin. Thanks to apagg for additional web admin improvements :-)
• Device templates, Logitech MX Air gyroscopic mouse, MPlay remote and receiver, Toshiba RAS series air con IR control.