User:Sambuca

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Revision as of 22:01, 14 May 2010 by Sambuca (Talk | contribs)

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If you have any questions or comments, please use italic when adding anything.

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 successor 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 apperance (and if you know whats 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 reach every room with cables.

I've also added some Z-Wave devices (in 2010). I started with:

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

This allowed me to experiment a bit, both with LMCE controlling lights and LMCE receiving events from the temperature sensor. 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)

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. Seluxit interface, duewi remote control and switch. EZMotion motion sensor and RAOne smartdimmer. Everything works fine. I'm using SIS mode - highly recommended.

Future plans

  • ASUS EeeTop for the kitchen
  • Control my air-conditioning unit (via IR?) as a climate device in LMCE - in the process, almost completed. Need to set up hardware (USB UIRT and IR diode + cable).

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 controll.