Topics

1

Integration Ideas / Controlling a model train.

« on: November 09, 2014, 01:37:05 PM »

During the inspection of all the useless stuff in my appartment, waiting to be thrown into the trash, I found an old PIKO model train, which is almost my age.



It turned out, it worked ok, but needed a couple of tweaks to satisfy my laziness. First I attached a Raspberry PI with relay to the circuit and created a page on Raspberry's web server to start/stop the locomotive from my phone.



But I still didn't feel like a real Lokomotivführer, so I decided to implement a voice control. Since I don't know what's the proper way to command a German train, I use Russian words - Yuri Gagarin's catchphrase "poehali" (let's go) to start the locomotive and army command similar to "as you were" to stop it.



Sure, my layout is pretty inferior, compared to those of train modelling enthusiasts. Maybe that's a good thing that I don't have too much free space at my home, because I've suddenly found another perfect way for me to waste a lot of money. 

PS: Here's a little POV-video from a GoPro camera, which I've attached to the wagon.
https://vimeo.com/111342281

2

Vera Home Automation Controller / Overall Z-Wave impressions and reliability

« on: March 19, 2014, 09:28:40 AM »

A question for James and other Z-Wave users out there. At the moment, I'm thinking about the ways to implement a home automation system for a new apartment. For now I'm looking at Z-Wave, but I've heard about some reliability issues with it, like lost signal and something like that, especially in places with a lot of "wireless noise". Anyone noticed something like that? I could go with some wired bus since the apartment is without any finish yet, but all the other system I checked, in my opinion, have some downsides - price, limited choice of software and hardware, ugly software and hardware etc.
So, are you happy with Z-Wave? Any advice would be welcome! 

3

Kodi (XBMC) Frodo / Gotham / Isengard / Jarvis / Problem with OSD

« on: June 23, 2013, 05:58:17 AM »

Hi!
Got some problem with displaying OSD (which shows recognized commands and text using OSD.ShowText) in XBMC Frodo 12.2. It shows ok when I switch to VoxCommando window but when I switch back to XBMC - it doesn't. Like it works only in background or something.
I'm using latest VoxCommando and Aeon Nox 4.0.9 but doubt it is skin related, cause I tried Aeon MQ3 and Confluence with the same result.
Any advice? Some settings, maybe? It definetely worked several months ago.
Thanks!