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veropierre
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Joined: May 06 2009
Location: United States
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Posts: 47
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| Posted: May 06 2009 at 13:46 | IP Logged
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Hello, I'm new to PowerHome not to Home Automation.
Now we are using a Cortexa box which is being phased out and replaced by a more expensive one. In fact it was a mistake buying it in the first place (don't tell my wife, I said that) a lot of limitations such as macro editing etc...
I tried several software and I like what PH has to offer.
Before I purchase and plan the move, can you help identifying road blocks?
- Dedicated small form XP pro box (1.6Ghz, 1gb ram, 80Gb HD and 6+1 serial ports))
- Insteon about 35 units
- X10 about 10 units
- 3 HAI thermostat (serial access)
- Rain8 sprinkler system (2 modules 8 ports each)(serial access)
- Weather station (serial access) on a dedicated XP pro box.
- 2 TCP/IP touch screen
I wish to add to the system a VoIP and a video streaming server.
Thank you for your advice.
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kev21986
Senior Member
Joined: April 04 2007
Location: United States
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Posts: 199
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| Posted: May 06 2009 at 21:13 | IP Logged
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I am relatively new to both PH and Home Automation but I can tell you that I am running PH on a 1.2Ghz with 512 of ram without any problems. I have it setup with 1tb of disk and I use it as a web/file/svn server too. Its been running like that for 3 months now (about a month with PH) and I haven't had any real issues.
What kind of touch screens do you have? I have been meaning to look into getting one for a while now.
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Kevin Smith
@respectTheCode
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spou
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Joined: July 28 2007
Location: Canada
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Posts: 33
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| Posted: May 06 2009 at 21:25 | IP Logged
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The PC is good enough, mine is smaller and is basically just sitting there while dealing with more stuff. If there is no special need, you can move the weather stuff to your HA PC too.
The principal problem I see is the lack of serial port, I had to buy an extra 2 ports on PCI myself. (30$ CAD)
There are cards with 2, 4 and 8 ports. I stayed away from the rs-232 to USB converter, because I found out that the port changes from time to time when you reset the machine.
Besides that, I see no problem other than the time it will take to fine-fine-fine tune your setup (it gets addictive!)
VOIP can be done using Asterisk over linux, as well as video server which can run on either windows or linux ( I use SAGETV on winxp, but there are packages for linux too).
If you wish to have the video on windows, be ready to get an other box just for that. Recording is no big deal if the capture card compresses at the hardware level, but the software decoding requires more power. (my box is a P4 2.8Ghz) There are netpc made specially for video playback too.
80gig is enough for your regular stuff, but TV recording requires at least 2gig per hour for decent quality. Believe me, 30 hours of TV is not much, prepare for a 100-200 gig HD. A good and working DVR is a wonderful WAF enhancer.
You'll find that the people here is very helpful. Glad you've chosen Powerhome. I've not regrets after 3 years.
Spou
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veropierre
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Joined: May 06 2009
Location: United States
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Posts: 47
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| Posted: May 08 2009 at 07:48 | IP Logged
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I just love it - I took the day off just to finish setup, start adding my Rain8 and may be the thermostats. Plus buying the software.
My touch screens are recycled POS systems. I choose systems with the highest resolution, build a ventilated aluminum frame and install them in walls. They are tough to find but they are worth it. The total cost is about $500 plus $100 for wireless dongle, onscreen keyboard, VNC and other goodies.
I'm working on the 3rd one I just received from eBay :)
Edited by veropierre - May 08 2009 at 07:50
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Topic: New to PH
