RE: Question re X10 module (a bit long!)

["Dan Hoehnen" <dhoehnen@xxxxxxx>]

[snip]

> the sole reason I went with seperate PC's for them. I'd be
> greatfull for any
> info regarding implementing 2 cards, like:
> - Does it work best with 2 identical soundcards?   or,
> - Does it work best with 2 different soundcards?
> - How does one ensure that only Winamp will use a given card?
> - How does one ensure that only the HA software will use a given card?

I wish I could help here, but I can't since I do;t have 2 sounds cards in 1
pc either.  But, I think I heard that PCI sound cards are either easier or
are required to do this.  I'm sure someone will chime in with the answer.
And if not, I'll ask on the ACE list since I think a few people there are
doing it.

Winamp can be configured to use a specific sound card in your pc.  So, that
part is easy.  ACE-TTS (text to speech) can also select which sound card to
use (just added that today, actually before I read this).  I think HS uses
the same TTS engine (MS SAPI 4.0a) so it should also be able to select a
sound card to speak out of.  ACE-32 also has volume and mute commands that
can be directed at any sound card in your system,  And, some of the ACE
functions can help in sharing the sound card.  For example, ACE-TTS can
share the sound card with Winamp.  So, when ACE-TTS needs to speak, ACE-TTS
stops Winamp, speaks, then restarts Winamp at the same position in the same
song as it was when ACE-TTS stopped it.

Some of the new sounds cards (sound balster live for example) come with
drivers that allow multiple programs to play WAVs to the same sound card at
the same time.  Using this approach, it's possible to use the left and
right
channels to separate sounds.  Not great for music since it would be only 1
channel, but fine for some uses.

[snip]

> I can already do the toggle shuffle command with my existing serial
port
> control. I use this for now as a stopgap in lieu of getting a proper
> randomise command working. I don't want to stick with shuffle as
> a permanent
> solution, because some plugins dont work properly with it, and it
> makes it
> impossible to know what track is next, before it actually starts.
Also,
> because it's a toggle, I don't have discrete on/off control of it, and
I
> also can't get status feedback form it, so I have no way of
> making sure that
> Homeseer knows its current setting. All that means that it's only
really
> practical to turn it on in the player, and leave it on
> permanently - which
> is fine for my preset playlists, but not necessarily what I want at
other
> times. For these reasons, what I _really_ want is the
"proper" randomise
> playlist feature, so that I can load one of my 4 preset
> playlists, each of
> which comprise 100+ tracks, randomise it each time I load it, and
leave
> shuffle off, so that I always get a different selecvtion of music
> each time,
> but I can also look at the TV screen and see the upcoming track order.
> (also, all the plugins will work properly as well.)

OK, I understand your needs for the randomize feature.  I'm working on it.
I had my partner in crime add the shuffle logic earlier today, so that's
done.

Dan

> >No, ACE does not support the CM12 now.  But, it is planned to be
added.
> >ACE
> >we designed to provide remote control and monitoring of any HA
> system, so
> >it
> >started out only supporting the main ha controllers - homevision,
ecs,
> >stargate, omni, etc.  Each of those sytems has their own x-10,
> ir, i/o, and
> >so ACE just sends commands to each system, and the system takes
> care of how
> >to perform the command and what device to use.  However, since ACE
has
> >grown, the need to support more devices has become greater.
>
> That makes sense - why reinvent the wheel? As you say, there is a
> great deal
> of overlap between the two, (and many other HA software I'll wager?)
> I think you're right about supporting Homeseer rather than the
> CM12 directly
> - then the products would be complimentary and cooperative, sharing
the
> control functions, and each performing the tasks it is best suited to.
I
> would far rather integrate ACE into my HA system if it "slotted
> in" nice and
> tightly with what's already there, and for me this means tight
> integration
> with Homeseer, rather than displacing Homeseer as the controller
> "in charge"
> of X10.
>
> Also, now that ACE supports Comfort, that may be the "killer
app"
> for me. -
> I have never found programming Comfort to be easy or intuitive, and
> therefore have rather neglected to do so. Now, I am in the
> bizzarre position
> of considering buying another controller (possibly an Ocelot) to
> add IR and
> I/O to Homeseer. - Comfort can do both of those! - If only I could get
at
> it, I could save myself some of the expense. (only some of it
> though - the
> new RS232 module I require for InterfACE is about half the cost of an
> Ocelot!) If ACE could be the "Glue" between Comfort and
Homeseer, I'd be
> very happy! (currently the only communication between them is via
> X10 codes,
> - I dedicate a housecode to comfort, and use various codes to
> signal Comfort
> events to Homeseer)
>
> >
> >I have looked at HomeSeer and like it a lot.  The developer seems
very
> >dedicated and HS has quite the following these days.  If I was not
a
> >developer of my own software, I would probably use it.
>
> High praise indeed! - I'd have to agree though, the developer support
is
> excellent. - that seems to be a reasonably common thing among HA
software
> vendors - how refreshing!   :-))
> >
>
> Thanks again for the comprehensive info!
>
> Paul G.
>
>
>
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