Linux Home
Automation

(Last updated: Saturday November 13, 2021)
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Home automation and home control (HA) Software (source code and links mostly) for the home automation devices like Insteon PowerLinc V2, CM11A, CM17 (Firecracker), LynX10, WM918, HCS II, UPB and CPUXA. Links to other hardware/software packages can be found on these pages also. If you know of any additional links please contact me at: ncherry@linuxha.com

Note: These pages are being (slowly) moved to http://www.linuxha.com/. That will be the new home of the Linux Home Automation web pages.

Disclaimer: None of the opinions expressed on these pages are paid for . They are strictly my own and may not represent an endorsement of someone's project, product or service (unless otherwise stated so).

Index


External Links

Sponsored Links


Update:

2021

2021/11/13 - I'm experimenting with Wordpress. So don't be surprised if the front page of this web site changes. I'll leave the other pages where they are but I'll need to update them a bit to work with Wordpress. I'll make sure everything works before I switch over. I've also created a NJ Makerspaces page because I haven't been able to find one. I'll include a few NY and Philly Makerspaces because sometimes that's just the closest place.

2021/06/24 - Before anyone gets too crazy, no I haven't forgotten about my Linux HA pages. I have been busy with a lot of general day to day life that I've not had to deal with all at once. I'm still putting a lot of work into testing things and playing with technology. I've just been doing more of it for my employer. I'm now running my Makerspace (with others); CDL - Computer Deconstruction Lab What was called IXR - The Institute for eXploratory Research. Oh I'm also working another TCF HA presentation. This is a big one this time. I expect to be working on this while at CDL on Monday nights.

2018/03/01 - Corrected the Pytomation entry (sorry George).

2014/01/04 - Javier Pardo Blasco sent in his HA project. He's been working in a home automation project, coded in Python called Home Automation Python Project He says it's modular, it's web based, it publishes a REST API,

2013/11/12 - I've been a bit busy with work and learnign the wonderful world of TDD . I have a few books on C, Python and Javascript. At the moment they do a nice job of explaining but a lousy job of showing a few simple startup examples (but I'm not done reading).

Sergei Jeihala was kind enough to share his MajorDoMo project with us. It is:

I'm still working on the ECM-1240, I've run out of serial ports and I'm working on getting a terminal server working.

2013/09/19 - I've been quiet for a while but I'm hoping (keeping my fingers crossed on that) that is now behind me. I've just picked up a Brultech ECM-1240. I still have to install it. I'll be using Pi as the terminal/web (node.js) server to it. This will allow me to monitor my home's power usage. While searching for some more information I found this blog called Desert Home. I think it's cool so I'll add it to my HA blogs page (which really needs to be cleaned up). I've restarted writting software and I'll start adding it here and to my US Home Automation web site. I'm also working on an irrigation controller called Irrnode. I've got bits and pieces of it up. Hope to have more soon.

2013/02/21 - Pytomation - Pytomation is an extensible open source automation system written in Python. It's uses include home automation and lighting control but is certainly not limited to those functions.

2013/02/07 - Misterhouse - This is My effort to get Misterhouse back on the map. The Misterhouse project is not dead. The main Sourceforge page is back under the community's control (Yea!). The most useful code can be picked up from the git repository (explanation on the WIki pages)

The History page - where the old updates are moved to.


My interests:

Inline with the economy's present cost cutting measures (and my effort to reduce the size of this ;-) I'm moved the interests section of my HA page to it's own page oddly called my Interests page. In this location instead you will find a summary of my Interests page and of course a link to the longer page.

My interests, like any geek, are in gadgets. Almost anything having to do with home automation, control, computers (hardware & software) and electronics. Unlike most geeks I also love to ride my bicycle, not a short tootle 'round the block but prefer longer rides. Such as 30 mile lunch times rides, 20 mile commutes to work (each way) and a weekend ride of a 100 miles. Also, my bicycles are in no way hooked up to my computers other than a standard bike computer. I prefer it that way. It's my time away from computers.

My Interests page, in it's full glory. :-)


Home Automation definition

When I go looking for a Home Automation definition I don't find one. Even the one that used to be found on the Wiki page isn't very good anymore. So I've decided to post my home automation definition a little more prominently on the all-n-one page. One of the problems I see with many of the definitions is that they're either limited to one protocol or just devices or too narrowly focused to be a definition.

Definition: - Domotics, Domotica, Smart Home Technology or Home Automation (HA) is automation specific to the requirements of a private residence. It applies automatic techniques for the comfort, security, entertainment, communications, and information processing needs of it's residents. In simplest terms it is control and monitoring of devices and information.


Software list for Unix (from above)

I am going to also provide links to the authors home page so that you may get the most recent version of the software. But please remember that some of the software needs to be modified to run under Linux. I hope to identify these in some way in the future.

Warranty - There is none, please use these files at your own risk. Most of these files have been tested but unexpected side effects can occur. We (the authors and I) do not provide any warranty at all. We recommend that you thoroughly inspect the code to be sure that no one has tampered with the code. Such an event occured with tcpd (tcp wrappers) and the utils package used by Linux, though the community caught it rather quickly (a matter of hours after it occured).

Sometime people don't want to even read the list so I'm providing a link right to the directory with all the source files. A few files are really old (the authors links are usually included in this file instead).


Mr. House: (CM11A, Firecracker, Insteon, UPB, and lots of other protocol and interfaces, see Bruce's page for a further explanation) Bruce Winter's Perl app that runs on a number of OS's (MS & Unixes).

Pytomation Pytomation Written by Jason Sharpee and George Farris and (Jason wrote a few interesting Misterhouse modules).

Insteon Powerlinc: Insteon, from Smarthome, is a Power Line Carrier & RF based technology. It supports communication with X10 devices and the 2-way Insteon communication protocol.

X10D: (CM11A & LynX10); These are all software related to Dan Lanciani's X10d. Each depends on having X10d up and running.

Other X10: Software for some of the other X10 controllers such as the CM15A and the CM19A.

Heyu: (CM11A) This is all software related to Dan Suthers' Heyu code.

X10 Firecracker software - Dang these things are popular! We seem to get a new one every day. So I've made a separate section for the x10 Firecracker software. BTW Bruce Winter's Mr. House either has support for or will have support for the X10 Firecracker.

UPB - Universal Powerline:

ZWave:

Dallas Onewire/IButton: The section covers some of the available Onewire (1-Wire) software. For hardware, check in the Hardware section.

Weather related stuff: Software for weather stations, post weather infor and other general links and info about weather.

Velleman K8000 stuff: The Velleman K8000 is a computer interface card which can connect to the printer port, uses I2C and now USB.

Other: Misc, other, or untested. I've combined the sections together.

IR stuff: For those that are interested in IR (not IRDA).

DMX512 stuff: For those that are interested. I've yet to check these out but it is an alternative to X10.

To learn more about the USITT DMX512 (1990) standard see:

CAN stuff: For those that are interested. I've yet to check these out but here are some links to CAN for Linux. (I'm currently working on this one so it's a bit ugly but it's a start).

There seems to be a project at:

Parallel Port stuff: For those that are interested in doign automation via the parallel port.

GPIB stuff: For those that are interested in GPIB.

LonWorks stuff: still a little light on links but we seem to be making progress.

EIB/KNX stuff: For those that are interested in European Installation Bus (EIB). EIB has now changed it's name to KNX and coverged with the EHSA and BATIBUS standards.

Modbus stuff: For those that are interested in Modbus.

PLC's (Programmable Logic Controller):

Ocelot stuff:

HCS II stuff:

The HCS II is an expandable, network-based (RS485), intelligent-node, industrial-oriented supervisory control system intended for demanding home control applications. The HCS incorporates direct and remote digital inputs and outputs, direct and remote analog inputs and outputs, real-time or Boolean decision event triggering, X-10 transmission and reception, infrared remote control transmission and reception, remote LCD displays, and a master console.

Future stuff:

Other related projects: (this may get it's own section) In case you are wondering why I would advertise other projects that could compete with my own (LHA). It's because these pages are devoted towards Linux and not my own projects. Let the better software win. Competition is good for all.

Zigbee/802.15.4/Bluetooth: - The whole family of protocol suites of low powered wireless protocols for Linux. You'll also find some of my wireless toys here too.

Other:

Not ready for primetime: (Alpha code)


Documents


Other Software Links


Hardware Links

Micro Links

This probably deserves it's own section (probably under electronics) but for now anything related to microntrollers and DIY electronics projects should go here.


Projects

OpenRemote

OpenRemote: the digital home operating system. OpenRemote is an Open Source Community Smart Home, Automation and Domotics space. We develop panel and control software on off-the-shelf hardware and integrate with a variety of protocols in the field. Whether you are a hobbiest or professional installer, OpenRemote has something for you.


Other Links


Sendmail

I've had a few problems with my local mail provider so I've had to work out a few different ways to get sendmail working with my Linux system. My current setup is sendmail sending via my Google Mail account. I had a working setup with my 1 and 1 service but I'm missing something important and I can't get that working anymore. I also had a working Comcast setup but I'm finding that Cocmast is interfering with my mail so I switched to Google mail.


Commercial products available for Linux & HA hardware

Note: None of the following links are are being paid for and I'm not endorsing any of the products being sold at these links. They are simply supplied as reference and you should investigate each supplier before purchasing.

Articles I've written

Various articles I've written hopefully I'll be given a chance to write a lot more. :-)


Web sites I've authored


Web toys (geek mind candy)

Since the web first began we had various 'toys' on the net to watch or control. As a geek I can appreciate taking something that was meant to do one thing and adding electronics to it to automate it or make it do something else. The first 'toy' I can remember reading about was the networked soda machine and the networked elevator (I need references). Then the was the Internet Coffee machine (with a web camera to watch it) and the Internet refrigerator. Now a days everyone has web enabled weather stations and web cameras. This section isn't for those. It's for the toys that we built by the user.


Temporary links:

Links here may not last more than a few weeks. These are press announcements, news articles etc. General stuff of interest to the home automation group.


HA Forums

Various forums for the discussion of Home Automation and releated topics



If you have questions about Home Automation and/or Linux you may email me at ncherry@linuxha.com . This email address is not for unsolicated email (if I didn't opt-in then it's unsolicated).

Please come back and visit my page again (hopefully this is worth reading).

Last updated: Saturday November 13, 2021