Hey, just wanted to post some snaps to show off new stuff coming up in our CQC 1.4 release. This release is important because it plugs the last two really substantial holes in our feature set, e.g. media control and support for small hand held devices.
The media control stuff is a big one. It's all driver based, so we should be able to support most types of media repositories and rendering devices. We won't at first have any repository format of our own, we'll just work in terms of others. Down the line, perhaps 1.5, we'll provide our own ripping capabilities and our own repository, cover art lookup and the like. But for now, we'll support things like the Escient Fireball, J.River, MS Media Connect, Barix Exstreamer, etc...
Here are some snaps from a customer project being working on in conjunction with the 1.4 work. These interfaces aren't completed yet, but enough to show the important stuff. Keep in mind that the look and feel, as always, is arbitrary. CQC's interfaces have no look, you can design them however you want.
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You can see here a lot of new stuff. The scrollable button bar at the bottom is new, and really helps with space constrained displays. You can put the most common stuff to the left and the less common to the right and scroll over to it when you need it. You can see the category browser, and under that the cover art browser. These interface widgets understand our new media driver architecture and can work with any media repository for which there's a driver. In this particular case, it's all working over an Escient Fireball.
The other big hole being plugged is the support for small, hand held devices. We are dealing with this with a new .Net based user interface viewer. It works just like the standard viewer (which is what is displaying the media interfaces in the previous examples), but it's written in CE.Net and therefore can run on things like PocketPCs, Smart Phones, and various CE.Net based tablets and touch panels.
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These have a similar look to the previous examples, but that's just by chance. Mark, who is doing the .Net viewer, chose that particular look for his demo interfaces.
We have a 1.3.13 release coming up early next week, and in conjunction with that, we'll be putting out the first beta of the .Net interface viewer for folks to play around with and comment on, so that we can incorporate that feedback into the 1.4 release.
------------------------------------- Dean Roddey Chairman/CTO, Charmed Quark Systems
A new CQC version 1.3.13 has been posted to the web site. This release is primarily designed to support the Alpha release of our new .Net Interface Viewer
The changes/fixes in this release are:
..Net Interface Viewer Alpha Support. This release contains the features required to support the Alpha release of the .Net Interface Viewer, which allows users to access CQC graphical interfaces on small handheld devices.
Sony Qualia 004 Projector Driver. A new driver is available for the high end Qualia 004 video projector. It uses the Qualia's Ethernet based control interface.
Runco VX-1000 Projector Driver. A new driver is available for the Runco VX-1000 DLP projector. This is a one way driver for now, i.e. no feedback, but it has all the necessary features for day to day control.
Sunset Scheduled Events. Sunset scheduled events could be rescheduled for the next day if the system is restarted near the scheduled time, so that today's sunset event would be skipped.
Z-Wave Driver Improvements. The initial Z-Wave driver became available in the previous CQC release. Based on feedback since then, some improvements have been made.[/LIST]
It is recommended that all users upgrade to this latest release, in order to get these bug fixes, so that you won't ever have to worry about being affected by them.
[url=
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is a link to a discussion thread on the new .Net Interface Viewer on the support forum. See this thread for the latest information and links to the installer files and release notes.
------------------------------------- Dean Roddey Chairman/CTO, Charmed Quark Systems
The information above just about begs me to ask: "Does this version support the .Net Interface Viewer?" :-) OK. Just kidding. We're *sure* that your new release supports it, but what is it? The .Net Interface Viewer, that is.
That's nice to know, but I suppose I'd rather know "how many devices are out there to drive?" and what percentage of that base you've got drivers for. When I go looking for operating manuals on sites like Sony and Panasonic, I'm astounded by the sheer number of different models they make of almost every consumer item imaginable. How can you or anyone else in the driver business hope to keep up?
I guess I don't wonder much why "Home Automation" seems to have stalled when you remind us that interfacing with most modern consumer electronics has to be done on a case-by-case basis. Theoretically "toy" makers should be building to a common control bus spec and provide some sort of universally accepted configuration firmware on board to provide setup and operational details.
Not sure *why* you would want to do that or what kind of events would cause a restart.
For instance?
[url=
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Your lengthy URL got mangled somewhere in the process. Why not post a TinyURL, too?
I did manage to reach the site and read through a lot of the engaging discussions but it made me realize more and more how non-standard the consumer electronics world is, even compared to the PC world.
I like the look of the new site:
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It's probably just personal bias, but when I see a well-designed, hierarchically-thought out website I feel that the product will be similarly designed. Good luck!
What do you have in the way of demos other than a trial version? I saw a lot of tutorials (very nice) on your site, but is there an MPG or a slideshow that really illustrates CQC?
That's good. For HA to be used, it's got to be simple and relatively foolproof.
I looked through it and found relatively few devices that I own that are supported. I know it sounds like a "knock" but it isn't. It's more a comment on the absolutely unending tidal wave of new equipment appearing each year. For example, I blew out my primary sound amp, a 5 year old Sony mid-line receiver. Since I wanted to put a larger amp in the family room, I thought I'd buy another Sony and use that in the living room and put the repaired Sony in the family room when it came back from the shop. Boy, was I surprised to find that none of my IR codes for the old Sony worked for the new. So it's obvious that manufacturers don't even care about being compatible with their own equipment.
That's good, but I seem to recall that was an issue you had with HomeSeer. IIRC, it was that their plug-ins may not be designed by the same person who wrote all the code. Now I am aware that a plug-in is not a driver, but I think the principles in creating either are fairly similar and the opportunities for trouble are there in both drivers and plug-ins.
What percent is that? I can't imagine that many companies like Sony or LG have much of an interest in control SW that they don't own.
No offense meant, but that's more a function of *them* getting the "standardization religion" than you, who already likely has it! I finally bought an Omni LT because I was impressed by the very modular (and self-compatible) path they've chosen. I'm sure your sort of work teaches the value of "universality" early on.
operational
Don't worry. I'm not. The DVD +- debacle along with the new HD DVD format wars tells me things haven't gotten any better. I'd say that they've actually gotten worse.
I had great hope for UPnP - and it may still flourish one day. But I sadly agree that such a schema is not likely to evolve from the current manufacturing environment. It's too bad, too. Imagine yourself freed from the drudgery of writing driver after driver. You could spend lots more time on the command and control functions, not the low-level wiring. I'm hoping that when Zigbee finally starts shipping in quantity it will become a defacto standard that manufacturers might be willing to adhere to in fear of being left in the dust if they didn't.
I agree. Worse, still, I don't see much on the horizon that would force an end to that sort of tunnel vision.
I see. I've never been a fan of PC-controlled home automation because of all the issues I had when trying HomeSeer with a CM11A. I've come to realize that the CM11A deserved most of the blame for quirky performance. Were I to return to PC controlled automation, it would be one of the very small, dedicated PC boxes that did nothing but HA and ran 24 by 7 with a UPS.
improvements
OK. Sounds fair, although a little reminiscent of MicroSoft's touting of XP - "this one works! Really!" I read through the support notes at your site about Z-wave and while it cleared up some questions about how Z-wave secures itself, I was disappointed by the case sensitivity issues as well as a lack of automatic replication of the primary controller.
It would be nice if the replication took place without having to aim IR receivers, i.e. you could specify a secondary domain controller and automatic replication. Again, this is not your fault, clearly, but the Z-wave folks' fault. And it's hard to blame them much for their approach because it seems to be an integral part of their security design.
Well, thanks for taking the time to respond and congratulations on the very professional looking website.
The interface viewer is the thing that loads and animates the graphical user interfaces that you design using the interface designer. These interfaces are the primary interaction mechanism for most automation systems, often on a locked dwon PC running on a touch screen in a kiosk sort of mode. The .Net version of the interface viewer is based on .Net and therefore should be able to run on most devices that support the CE.Net 4.2 or the 'mobility' version of the .Net framework. This lets you view CQC graphical interfaces on things like PocketPCs and various CE.Net web tablet type devices.
The current list of devices is here:
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It's difficult to keep up. What generally happens is that drivers get done on a 'demand' basis, i.e. when a potential customer needs them. They are often done by technical customers, so we don't do them all ourselves. In some cases they are done by the company that makes the device.
In some cases, there are 'protocol families' that cover a number of models. For instance, we have a 'universal' Denon DVD driver, that covers a whole family of Denon serially controllable players. Or the HAI Omni protocol that works for the whole Omni line, that kindof thing.
Don't hold your breath on that one. The thing is, you could put in a year creating this incredible layered generic protocol that would solve everyone's problems, and put it out with great fanfare and get completely ignored pretty much. And most of those who didn't ignore you would just sit on teh sideliesn and heckle you and pick it all apart and ridicule the whole thing. There are some attempts. UPnP and xAP are some examples.
I could certainly create a small set of protocols and easily adaptable implementations that would serve most devices and make them available for free, but few folks would use them. The level of NIH syndrome in place at big companies like Sony or Samsung or IBM or Microsoft and so forth is enormous.
Not all users keep their automation system on all the time, or they might bring it down to change hardware or some such thing. Whatever the reason, there was a wee bug that could cause CQC to think that today's event had already occured and it would reschedule for tomorrow, skipping today's sunset event.
Purely internal, based on improved understanding of the protocol. Nothing end user visible, but it will just make the driver more reliable.
------------------------------------- Dean Roddey Chairman/CTO, Charmed Quark Systems
The best way to do it is probably to just download and install the trial version and go through the tutorial. CQC doesn't change any system files or install any files outside of it's own install directory and can be completely removed without any danger to your system. It comes with a device simualtor and the tutorial is based on that simulator, so you don't have to actually connect any devices in order to go through the tutorial. It'll take you through the major product features in a hands on sort of way in probably a couple hours (including all the download and installation and such.) There's no substitute for actually getting your hands on it.
And look in the Galleries section for some real world customer installations also. Here are some caps of various graphical interfaces, that demonstrate some of it's capabilities:
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------------------------------------- Dean Roddey Chairman/CTO, Charmed Quark Systems
That's a plus. I'm not sure when I stopped downloading demos and trial versions, but I've become really reluctant to download anything I'm not certain I will use. I've got a minor investment in an old version of HomeSeer that does most of what I want HA to do. From what I can see, most of the early adopters/highly technically skilled are well ensconced in their custom solutions and don't feel the need to be on the leading edge of HA anymore.
I agree. But first you have to dislodge HomeSeer and C-Max as my automation programs of choice. That means I have to see some value in my disrupting the current patchwork of things I use. That's why I asked about tutorials and such, so I could ascertain the product's usefulness to me before risking, however slight, that a new SW installation disturbs something. No offense intended to your programming skills but it doesn't, apparently, take much to make many uninstall programs issue the message: "Some files could not be removed, etc., etc."
installations
These were very interesting. You've spent a lot of time on polishing the little details, and it shows. How difficult would it be to animate a floor plan in CQC? I'm talking about a tabbed floorplan, by story, that would show things like spinning attic fans, [OK] symbols above appliances and devices operating within defined parameters, temperatures within zones, status of doors and windows, room lights, outside lights and such and could alert me if a floodlight was on during the daytime.
There are overview documents in the Documentation section, that discuss CQC at a high level in terms of its architecture and what it does. The Overview and Using CQC documents are good documents to start with.
The product will not disrupt your system. It literally only installs files in its own installation directory. It create a couple menu items, which even in the worst case nuclear case you cold just delete with two clicks. It doesn't update any system files or install anything in any system directories. It uses a service to run the background programs, but you can start and stop that as you want, so you don't need to leave it running if you want to take a few days to play with it. You can just start it up when you want to play and then stop it. With the service stopped, it is doing absolutely nothing and will have no effect whatsoever on your system.
Sure, you can do that. It'll be even better in the upcoming 1.4 release since there's now an animated image widget for the user interface system. So you'll be able to show a spinning fan type of animation. You could already do things like show a window open if it's open or show status lights over a floor plan and that kind of thing. Here's a simple example of that from another demo I was working on for on the road demos (based on the device simulator.)
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That's part of the upcoming media management stuff that will be in 1.4. In that example it's talking to an Escient Fireball media server, but the media architecture is driver based so we'll be able to support a number of them. We'll be doing a UPnP based media driver since there are a number of UPnP based renderers and repositories out there.
------------------------------------- Dean Roddey Chairman/CTO, Charmed Quark Systems
tomorrow at 6pm PST (9pm EST). It's in conjunction with a giveaway of a CQC license with all options. So drop by if you want to ask any questions. You have to post in the giveaway thread (see the upper right side of the main page for a link) if you want to be eligable for the giveway.
------------------------------------- Dean Roddey Chairman/CTO, Charmed Quark Systems
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