Re: A mentor / Advisor ?

["Dean Roddey" <droddey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"Chris Hackett" <chackett@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:50v3h.4722$U76.873@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> This is a software product correct?  I guess the primary expense of a
> professional installation is the configuration of the software to controll
> or work with whatever devices and or panels I have?  I guess since I'm
> starting from scratch and have nothing to control, downloading a timed
> trial at this point would not be my best bet right now?  Would it be
> beneficial to download or read the manual to see what devices I can
> control and learn more about exactly what this stuff can do?
>

Yes, it is a software based product. It's useful to download and play around
with. There is a device simulator program that comes with it, and which is
used in the tutorial, that you can use to play until you have some real
devices to hook up. The tutorial is under the Learn tab, Quick Tutorial
section.

The big gotcha is that 2.0 is so close to release. So you'll be learning 1.6
just in time to then move to 2.0. But most of what you'll learn in the
existing tutorial is still relevant.


> So does the CharmedQuark run on top of a media server (like the ones at
> 2partsfusion?)  Or does it run on a standard PC that in turn controls the
> media server?
>

It can work either way. If you aren't hurting for budget, it's usually a
more stable scenario to have a separate backend machine in the rack for CQC,
since it's usually doing lots more than running the media repository. You
don't need a super-manly machine for CQC if you are going that route. But,
as long as the machine has sufficient oomph that you aren't going to have
CQC and the media streaming stuff fighing for CPU or I/O it's fine to have
them on one machine. I'd argue against having the backend of CQC on a
machine that's interacted with directly by users though. Stability is a big
issue and day to day use machines are more subject to problems, whereas a
dedicated server machine in the closet can remain stable for a long time.

If the CQC server and the media server are on the same machine and that
machine is in the closet, hidden away, then that's usually fine, again as
long as it has sufficient oomph to do what you want to do.

> Interesting.  This is such a learning experience for me.  So what is the
> hardware interface between CQC and all these panels and devices?  I'm sure
> it varies, but for example, what is the physical connection between
> whatever device is running the CQC software and the ELK M1 Gold panel?  I
> would use the CQC software to control the lights and programming, etc of
> all the lights that are connected to the elk m1?
>

The Elk and Omni ProII both have ethernet connections to the PC. The lower
end Omnis have serial (too slow to be of use) and the Elk has a serial which
is fast (actually the ethernet connection works by way of the serial port
anyway.) There are various scenarios as to what devices get controlled
where. But generally most folks hook up what can be hooked up through the
panels through the panels, and CQC controls those things indirectly via the
panels. But there will be other things that the panels don't understand and
CQC would control those.

> I would agree completly.  Lights are cool, but some of the screen shots
> I've seen in the CQC forums are definitely much cooler.  I would
> definitely like to learn more about the hardware that's behind some of
> those screens, and maybe figure out if this stuff is something I can
> realistically implement.
>

There are various alternatives for getting touch screens around the home,
some being:

1. UMPC wireless tablets. Pricier but nicer, they are their own network
nodes, and have full graphical capabilities.
2. RDP clients. Cheaper, not quite as nice. They just do remote desktop
sessions, and the graphics are more limited usually, such as in bit depth.
They push the processing to the back end machine, which can add up if you
have many of them, so you have to be able to handle the load.
3. The Rad-IO and UMTC products from www.touchtronix.com . This provides
centralized maintenance if these products are ok for your needs. The UMTC
are a variation of the RDP scheme, but even lighter on the client side.
4. Very small PCs in the closet driving standard wall mounted touch screens
via a Cat5 KVM extender. You can get a 15" touch screen, a teeny bare bones
mini-itx machine, and a KVM extender for probably $1200, or with a 7"
Lillput screen for more like $800'ish. If you buy used you can obviously get
that down considerably. CQC is network distributed, so it's no problem
having a main server and a few of these little guys driving standard touch
screens. It centralized maintenance which is nice.

There are also some multi-user software products that allow a single machine
to drive 3 or 4 touch screens that could be used as well. They would work
with standard touch screens. Something like this:

http://www.thinsoftinc.com/product_pc_sharing_betwin.aspx

We've not yet tried it out, and there are some restrictions on video
hardware and such. But, it could be a quite reasonable solution. It's better
than RDP, but still lets you drive multiple touch screens from one machine,
for centralized maintenance. A back end server machine plus another smaller
one pushing 4 15" touch screens could be had for a reasonable price.

We need to get brave and try this thing out.

>>
>> Anyway, the combination of something like CQC layered over an Elk or Omni
>> ProII is a quite nice solution that is very commonly used by our
>> customers. It can be quite an investment in time and learning curve to
>> get both those bits well understood and do all the physical installation
>> though. If you aren't getting into this for the love of the game, you
>> might want to consider professional installation, or at least
>> professional consultation.
>
> Can you recommend any professionals in the Greater Atlanta area?
>

We have a new integration partner in Atlanta. He just signed up so we've not
gotten him on our page yet. E-mail me or PM me via the forum and I'll get
you two together.

------------------
Dean Roddey
Chairman/CTO, Charmed Quark Systems, Ltd
www.charmedquark.com