Re: Mini-ITX PC's a the future of HA

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Dean Roddey" <droddey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:oZMjg.147686$F_3.12023@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Well, I'm not going to get into a post-length contest with you, but I'll
> just make a few points.

No contest here, so I'll be even terser! :-)

> 1. Running a dedicated automation appliance type machine is a necessity,
no
> matter what type of OS you use. Anyone who is going to take the time and
> money to implement a reasonable home automation system isn't going to
choke
> on spending a $K to set up a good dedicated machine to provide that
service.

As for it being a necessity, isn't that a little like the cart pulling the
dog?  Isn't that an admission that Windows can't really multitask well and
that to get it to behave you have to treat it like a mental category 5
(dolt) recruit in the Army:  "Go here, do this, come back and sit quietly."
If you tell them to do more than that at one time, something's going to go
wrong.

> 2. Windows machines are running multi-million dollar installations out
> there, and stay up for a very long time if they are set up correctly and
> left alone.

I'm sorry but I see this as an admission of MS's failure.  To me it says:
"Windows is pretty damn touchy when it comes to multitasking." This is what
I was alluding to earlier when I talked about it crashing often, and no one
caring enough to complain to MS or to stop buying the product.  People have
come to accept this dismal level of multitasking as the best that's out
there.  My mainframe jockey friends assure me it's not. It's just the best
that MS can do and still maintain its legacy support of lots of existing
applications.

> 3. Embedded XP is a good alternative for a dedicated machine, because you
> can strip out the bits you don't need, and it costs less and is perfectly
> fine for running off a flash card and boots quite quickly.

I'm sorry that I haven't kept up with recent Windows releases.  I own, but
don't use, XP because an OS that will stop working without "phoning home"
just because you replace a NIC can't possibly be considered "robust" in any
sense of the word.  I've been reading through their site at:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/embedded/windowsxpembedded/default.aspx

but can't find any specific information about the product activation
requirements.  It does look to be a very interesting platform.  I just can't
help but wonder is MS will bring to embedded systems the same horrible mess
it's made out of the Internet by providing 100's of attack vectors into the
OS?  I have no inclination to want to support MS's way of doing things.

> 4. One thing you are missing in your zeal for the VIA mini-ITX scenario is
> media. Media and automaiton are tightly connected these days. A VIA
mini-ITX
> system cannot really act as a media server for any reasonably sized
> scenario.

Holy Double Moses!  You want to use your combination HA/security system to
watch movies?

Really?  (-;

Then we're very disconnected on same basic level, Dean.  To me that's just
asking for trouble.  The HA and security need very little user interaction
once they're up.  Why mix them in with media players, given the way they're
now absolutely clotted up with Digital Rights Management (DRM) hoopla? I see
platforms like the Via helping to merge similar functions like security and
home automation but I've always seen the CATV/CCTV systems as separate
entities.  Maybe when all media is digital it will work more seamlessly than
it does now.

> BTW, here is a picture of my old theater controller system, CQC based of
> course. It's a VIA mini-ITX based system in a HushPC enclosure.

Looks very cool.   Clearly, you were ahead of your time! :-)

> It was very nice and I liked it a lot, but adding media to the picture
required moving
> up the food chain to one of our new systems, which does RAID1 (don't want
> to re-rip all that stuff) and does require fans, and a lot of PCI slots
for
> the various bits and pieces needed for automation without having to go to
> external hardware.

You've given me another reason to separate the two.  While I'd never want to
power down the security and automation, I'm now powering down the home
theater components routinely to lower the electric bill.  I have no doubt
VIA will be able to produce a fanless server that can serve media
satisfactorily by the time that's important to me.  My Sony 400 DVD jukebox
works out pretty well for now.  As for RAID, the media collection's static
enough that an external USB drive will do nicely for backups - and be more
useful in the long run than a RAID'ed drive.

What kind of PCI cards are you using for your newest server?

(So much for "terser!")

--
Bobby G.