On Sat, Dec 19, 2015 at 3:54 PM, Gary <g.jeur...@charter.net> wrote: > Over all goals: turn lights, fans on/off (dim if possible) and addressable > music-movies with voice command. > > I would hate to give up my CURRENT system.
I completely agree with this. While every developer hates to let go of their creation, there's also a lot of pleasure in working with a familiar system, being able to alter it to do new stuff or improve what it does. Throwing out the old working system for the new shiny 'cloud' thingie is a fool's errand. That said, you also want to balance out the risks of your equipment going obsolete and becoming unreplaceable. http://www.zdnet.com/article/amazon-echo-ringmaster-of-the-home-automation-iot-circus/ seems to indicate there's a growing market for direct Alexa-to-home-automation equipment, but I'd be skeptical of just one brand equipment. Recently, I heard one of the light manufacturers sent out an 'update' to their equipment that locks their APIs from working with other manufacturers. That stinks. https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20151214/07452133070/lightbulb-drm-philips-locks-purchasers-out-third-party-bulbs-with-firmware-update.shtml > Each day I set my media truth table... what's on & off and current volume > level) then I run everything with apps (a lot of nice macros that can pull up > various music play lists and call specific channels and movies... hoping to > add additional 'movies stored as 'example.iso' and 'songs.mp3' stored on a > drobo5n (and used as a big networked media hard-drive). Man, you are way ahead of me. I have to use two different remotes just to watch TV at night. And the gf still throws them at me once a week, "Fix it!" when they get out of sync...' > After a request is made, the database turns on and off the needed devices > calls up the requested media (with occasional error as IR commands and X10 > commands are occasionally missed or ignored). Then there is an issue of being > in bed and making requests on my media server as reclining quads and > universal remotes are clumsy tasks. (I have been using cheap but nifty > icon-remotes with learning capability from x10.com but are no longer > available (their keys would break down after a year or so but were so cheap > I'd always keep a spare). > > Alexa is very responsive and since all I really need to do is send specific > commands to com ports to trigger lights, fans, and pc to ir linc commands. > I'd hate to trash all my smart macro's via fox-pro that make descisions based > on my truth table. I thought the IFTT stuff looked the most likely to DIY any > solutions for tasks and future add-ons. I agree, and I'd probably start with Alexa and IFTTT. Take a look at some of the recipes already there, and use them to send a message to yourself, maybe an email or a web post (if you have a working web server) and see (1) if you can get the message across and (2) how reliable it is about sending the messages. _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: ProFox@leafe.com Subscription Maintenance: http://mail.leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://mail.leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/CACW6n4vMZVfWSh1fL2VggnjD7p7ns=8cOnFX=mc1hpqswlp...@mail.gmail.com ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
