misterhouse-users Mailing List for MisterHouse: Home Automation with Perl

> As a side topic, do you understand or have an example of how or why you
> would specify different resource names?

The different resource names allow you to log into the same server from
different clients/locations. If you specify a resource name you can make it
easier to differentiate between "instances" of yourself. I usually leave my
home pc logged in all the time as my user, with a resource name of "home".
When I'm at work, I log in with the same username/password, but use a
resource name of "work". Then if my family connects and see two "brent"
users, it is obvious that one login is at work and one at home. Easier than
"brent_266"...helps if I forget to set my home session to "away" and both
Brents show up as "online".

Not sure theres a need to set the MH jabber users manually. I can't see any
advantage.

>
> > Anyone interested in starting a MH documentation project? Or I
> should say,
> > if I started a documentation project, anyone interested in
> participating?
> > Great software but there is a definite learning curve that could
> > be greatly alleviated with some docs.
>
> Yes indeed, the docs could use some help.  I would gladly re-distribute or
> point to anything anyone would be willing to contribute.  If you would
> rather modify existing docs, let me know so I can get you the latest
> (http://misterhouse.net/mh/docs usually has the new latest
> unreleased stuff
> .pod files  ... the .txt and .html files may not have been
> re-generated from
> the .pod files yet).

Great! I'll get some ideas together this weekend and see what you think.

Brent

> The problem was that mh/code/mhsend_server.pl was closing the
> handle for the
> socket port.  To fix it, simply delete the 'close $handle' record at the
> very end of the file.

Yup, much happier now :)

>
> Odd that that didn't cause a problem on windows!

I assume you tested that fix on the Windows platform as well, with no ill
effects? I'm not Perl guru by any means, so I'm not much help here. Chalk it
up to the FM (freakin' magic) principle, I guess :)

Brent

Bruce,

In a message dated 11/25/00 7:15:15 PM Central Standard Time, 
br...@mi... writes:

> Not without some help.  I suspect there might be some software out there
>  that would act as a serial server, creating a bridge between a tcpip socket
>  and a serial port.  If you could find that, the mh side would be a piece of
>  cake.

Somewhere I have some early-beta code that was derived from Larry Wall's
YAPP'99 demo. It talked to CM11.pm and CM17.pm, and worked ok for outputs
(via a request queue attached to a socket). I added the necessary hooks to the
SerialPort modules.

>  A bare bones mh, with just a few lines of code, could act as a serial
>  server.  But bare bones mh still takes a fair amount of memory, so I can
>  understand your hesitation there.

When I ran out of time, I could set outputs on/off - but "dim" timing was 
wrong.
And input handling was "## add input code here". It would need a local I/O bit
map and some as_yet_undefined way to query the server. The person working
with me only needed the output part.

I may have to dig a bit for the code. It was one of the items in the original 
post
requesting the ControlX10:: namespace. I'll happily pass whatever I've got to 
a willing volunteer (including the "release" to CPANize it from one L. Wall).

-bill

Sorry about the that. "test_socket.pl' says it all.

- Wally

   I wish I had checked this list before installing Xcom021. After
experiencing the problem with IR commander setup not responding with a
steady LED, I searched here and found the problem reported and apparent
solution of getting version 17.  I called X-10 tech support and after
waiting 40 minutes on hold, was at first told that they've never heard of
this problem. Then after checking, they admitted that there might be a
problem and that version 17 would be better. They isn't mention that I was
already *&^% in having installed version 21.
   My question to the group is, yes there is a question, I just needed to
rant a little,  has anyone figured out how to recover from a premature
install of v21 without reloading windoze? After uninstalling v21 and
installing v17 the same problem exists. Does anyone know if this happens on
all systems and if so why is X-10 still providing this crap. There must be a
dll or a registry entry that remains from the v21 install that can removed
or fixed.
   Any help, or even some sympathy,  would be appreciated. I've learned my
lesson and will always check with accumulated knowledge of this group before
trying any more X-10 stuff.
Thanks,

David M. Hans

Since you all brought it up...

I am currently creating an up-to-date area code list.  It should be done 
this evening some time at which point I will forward it to Bruce.

I think updated documentation is a great idea. 

> > While we're on the Jabber subject, I couldn't get MH to pass my
> > server name
> > properly. It was always defaulting to jabber.com for some reason. I just
> > ended up changing the default server in the lib/handy_net_utils.pl file
> > and it seemed to work.
> 
> This was an error.  I was ignoring the net_jabber_server and
> net_jabber_resource parms altogether.  I fixed that (along with your
> subject addition) here:
> 
>  http://misterhouse.net/mh/lib/handy_net_utilities.pl
> 
> As a side topic, do you understand or have an example of how or why you
> would specify different resource names?
> 
> > Anyone interested in starting a MH documentation project? Or I should
> > say, if I started a documentation project, anyone interested in
> > participating? Great software but there is a definite learning curve
> > that could be greatly alleviated with some docs.
> 
> Yes indeed, the docs could use some help.  I would gladly re-distribute or
> point to anything anyone would be willing to contribute.  If you would
> rather modify existing docs, let me know so I can get you the latest
> (http://misterhouse.net/mh/docs usually has the new latest unreleased
> stuff .pod files  ... the .txt and .html files may not have been
> re-generated from the .pod files yet).
> 
> Bruce
> 
> ________________________________________________________
> To unsubscribe from this list, go to:
> http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=1365
> 
> 
> 




Ray Dzek 
--- <Insert Silly Signature Graphics Here> ---

Hi,
    I'm having a little trouble in understanding this. I've used the 'Socket_Item' to allow Mister House to be a server on a given TCP port.

Works great.  There is a 'start' method to allow MH to act as a client. Might this be a way for 2 MH's on a LAN to communicate with each
other?

- Wally

> I've found that if you try and use mhsend -run and give a command that is
> not defined (of if you mis-spell something), all subsequent mhsend -run
> commands fail. You get this:
>
> Sending 27 bytes of data to localhost port 8084, socket made, data sent
> Response:
>
> and the cursor hangs at the Response: prompt. Pressing CTRL-C gets back to
> the command prompt, but you have to restart MH to get mhsend
> working again.
>
> Server is linux, perl 5.6, MH 2.34

I didn't see this problem on my Windows box, but when I tried it on the
linux box, I saw the same problem!  I could not run even the same mhsend
command more than once.

The problem was that mh/code/mhsend_server.pl was closing the handle for the
socket port.  To fix it, simply delete the 'close $handle' record at the
very end of the file.

Odd that that didn't cause a problem on windows!

Bruce

> While we're on the Jabber subject, I couldn't get MH to pass my
> server name
> properly. It was always defaulting to jabber.com for some reason. I just
> ended up changing the default server in the
> lib/handy_net_utils.pl file and it seemed to work.

This was an error.  I was ignoring the net_jabber_server and
net_jabber_resource parms altogether.  I fixed that (along with your subject
addition) here:

 http://misterhouse.net/mh/lib/handy_net_utilities.pl

As a side topic, do you understand or have an example of how or why you
would specify different resource names?

> Anyone interested in starting a MH documentation project? Or I should say,
> if I started a documentation project, anyone interested in participating?
> Great software but there is a definite learning curve that could
> be greatly alleviated with some docs.

Yes indeed, the docs could use some help.  I would gladly re-distribute or
point to anything anyone would be willing to contribute.  If you would
rather modify existing docs, let me know so I can get you the latest
(http://misterhouse.net/mh/docs usually has the new latest unreleased stuff
.pod files  ... the .txt and .html files may not have been re-generated from
the .pod files yet).

Bruce

I've found that if you try and use mhsend -run and give a command that is
not defined (of if you mis-spell something), all subsequent mhsend -run
commands fail. You get this:

Sending 27 bytes of data to localhost port 8084, socket made, data sent
Response:

and the cursor hangs at the Response: prompt. Pressing CTRL-C gets back to
the command prompt, but you have to restart MH to get mhsend working again.

Server is linux, perl 5.6, MH 2.34

Client is either the same server box, or another linux box with perl 5.0xxx
and MH 2.34

Brent

>
> Yep, looks like a good addition.  We also need this:
>
>    $subject  = $parms{subject};

Yup, realized this after my first post.

>
> I added these changes, but the Jabber client I'm using does not display
> subject.
>
> Have you used net_jaber_send much?  I put it in a few months ago, but have
> not used it much.  Any good jabber clients you might recommend?

I use Winjab on windows, Gabber on Linux, and Jabbernaut on my wifes Mac.

Winjab is pretty resource-hungry (as in the two little 64K hunks of RAM
Win9x uses for icons, cursors, etc.) and several of my coworkers have had
problems with it. I run it on '95 and '98se and it hasn't caused me any
problems, but I tend to run lean-and-clean, when I have to run windows at
all.

While we're on the Jabber subject, I couldn't get MH to pass my server name
properly. It was always defaulting to jabber.com for some reason. I just
ended up changing the default server in the lib/handy_net_utils.pl file and
it seemed to work. I run a private jabber server for friends and family
only, and wanted to connect to it instead of a public server. Maybe this was
me ,I've only been using MH for a little less than a week, and still coming
up to speed. I may try again and let you know for sure.

Anyone interested in starting a MH documentation project? Or I should say,
if I started a documentation project, anyone interested in participating?
Great software but there is a definite learning curve that could be greatly
alleviated with some docs.

Brent

> a pretty reliable system. Anybody got any idea of how hard it would be to
> have a mh.ini option that would automatically be prefixed to all voice
> commands instead of me having to put it in in each command? It would also
> make it a lot easier to change as well, if I change my mind.

This should be easy to add.  We talked about it a little bit a few months
ago, when Brian R. came up with the idea of using a Family Radio.  All he
needed there, though, was an arbitrary noise to activate the VOX.  Your idea
of using a keyword help filter out false triggers seems like a good idea.

I'll add a global Voice_Cmd prefix option for this coming weekends release.

Bruce

> Is there any way to include a subject line in jabber messages? I've looked
> at the code a little in lib/handy_net_utilities.pl, and it looks like it
> would just be a matter of adding the appropriate parameter, such as:
>
> my ($from, $password, $to, $text, $file, $subject);
>
> and then calling the MessageSend method like:
>
> $jabber_connection -> MessageSend(to   => $to, body => $text, subject =>
> $subject);

Yep, looks like a good addition.  We also need this:

   $subject  = $parms{subject};

I added these changes, but the Jabber client I'm using does not display
subject.

Have you used net_jaber_send much?  I put it in a few months ago, but have
not used it much.  Any good jabber clients you might recommend?

Bruce

Okay, I didn't have the patience to discuss this, so I just dug in and did
it. Heres what I did:

lib/handy_net_utilities.pl, changed the first part of the net_jabber_send
function as follows:

sub main::net_jabber_send {
    my %parms = @_;

    my ($from, $password, $to, $text, $file, $subject);

    $from     = $parms{from};
    $password = $parms{password};
    $to       = $parms{to};
    $subject  = $parms{subject};

    $from     = $main::config_parms{net_jabber_name}      unless $from;
    $password = $main::config_parms{net_jabber_password}  unless $password;
    $to       = $main::config_parms{net_jabber_name_send} unless $to;
    $subject  = "Misterhouse" unless $subject;

and changed the actual send call to:

    $jabber_connection -> MessageSend(to   => $to, body => $text, subject =>
$subject => $subject);


Then, to use this functionality, just add a subject param to your call to
net_jabber_send, like this:

net_jabber_send(text => "A weather alert has been issued!", subject =>
"Weather Alert!");

Any chance this is useful enough to make it into the actual dist, Bruce?

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mis...@li...
> [mailto:mis...@li...]On Behalf Of Brent
> DeShazer
> Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2000 8:31 PM
> To: Misterhouse
> Subject: [misterhouse-users] Jabber
>
>
> Is there any way to include a subject line in jabber messages? I've looked
> at the code a little in lib/handy_net_utilities.pl, and it looks like it
> would just be a matter of adding the appropriate parameter, such as:
>
> my ($from, $password, $to, $text, $file, $subject);
>
> and then calling the MessageSend method like:
>
> $jabber_connection -> MessageSend(to   => $to, body => $text, subject =>
> $subject);
>
> is it this simple?
>
> Brent
>
> ________________________________________________________
> To unsubscribe from this list, go to:
> http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=1365
>

Is there any way to include a subject line in jabber messages? I've looked
at the code a little in lib/handy_net_utilities.pl, and it looks like it
would just be a matter of adding the appropriate parameter, such as:

my ($from, $password, $to, $text, $file, $subject);

and then calling the MessageSend method like:

$jabber_connection -> MessageSend(to   => $to, body => $text, subject =>
$subject);

is it this simple?

Brent

Just curious how those of you who have implemented whole-house voice
recognition are doing it, and any recommendations you'd make (equipment,
etc.)

I don't have the $$$ myself to put in mics in all my rooms right now. My
temporary solution it to purchase a wireless mic system from Radio Shack and
keep it with me as I traverse the house. The transmitter is the size of a
large pager, and I'm just using a tie-clip microphone plugged into it. The
receiver, of course, plugs into the mic jack on my servers sound card.
Actually works pretty good. The RS tx/rx pair is on sale for $80 right now,
reg. $100.

Regarding MH, I am currently prefixing all my voice commands with a name
("Hal" - yeah, I know, real original!) to reduce false-triggering. Combined
with the manual on/off switch on my transmitter mentioned above, this makes
a pretty reliable system. Anybody got any idea of how hard it would be to
have a mh.ini option that would automatically be prefixed to all voice
commands instead of me having to put it in in each command? It would also
make it a lot easier to change as well, if I change my mind.

Brent

> I have another question. This one involces the mhsend with the -run
> option.  Exactly what "commands" can I run? Are these external shell
> commands or a mr_house command?  I tried something like ./mhsend -run
> "run_voice_cmd'Blue Lava light on'" but was returned an error message.

mhsend -run xyz should run any valid xyz voice command.
mh/code/mhsend_server.pl is the code that processes it.  Try running this:

 ./mhsend -run 'what time is it'


> One problem I noticed is that there is a memory leak someplace in
> perl/mr_house.  I assume that this is a know problem as there is code to
> watch for a memory leak.  It actually crashes another perl scritp that I
> run djiab (DJ in a box www.djiab.org). So when I run mr_hous I loose my
> radio station.  Sigh Time to get another computer.

I have seen a memory leak on perl 5.6, but not on perl 5.005.  Which perl
and OS are you on?  If on linux or nt/2k, the mh/common/monitor_memory.pl
will print_log when memory is used.  I only see grow by 1-2 megs the first
day mh is up, then stay stable after that.  Displaying .jpg files will use
memory also.

Bruce

On Tue, Nov 28, 2000 at 09:16:46PM -0500, Bill Bass wrote:
> > We were having some issues before with denial of services attacks from
> some
> > script kiddie a couple of weeks ago, I think most of that has cleared up
> by
> > now though.  If you guys have any more problems, just give me a shout and
> I'll
> > see if I can figure out what the problem is.
> >
> > -Mandrake
> > (who is still mucking with home automation at home himself)
> >
> 
> As of 11/28/00 9:00pm EST I still get incredibly slow downloads from
> sourceforge.  If you could look into this it would be great!

apparently they are having problems and are looking into them currently.  I
expect the situation will be resolved within the next day or so.
sorry for the inconvenience.

-- 
Mandrake          | http://mandrake.net
VA Linux Systems  | http://valinux.com

I've had pretty good luck in speeding up downloads by using a freeware
download accelerator from http://www.speedbit.com.  It speeds up downloads
by going to several sites looking for the file to be downloaded and picking
the fastest site.  If the download stops for any reason, you have the option
of resuming the download at the point at which it was interrupted.  Hope
this helps.


----- Original Message -----
From: Bill Bass <bb...@ld...>
To: Misterhouse-Users <mis...@li...>
Sent: Monday, November 27, 2000 10:49 PM
Subject: [misterhouse-users] Sourceforge downloads


> I have been trying for weeks to download the latest version of the
compiled
> mh from sourceforge.  I have been totally unsuccessful.  The downloads
> always start slowly, give me transfer rates of less than 500 bytes/sec and
> always end after a few hours with only a small percentage of the file
> actually downloaded.  I have probably tried it 20 times or more.  I don't
> seem to have any problem downloading other files from other sites, so what
> gives?  Does anyone else have this problem or is it something particular
to
> me?  Is there anywhere that the mh files are mirrored that I could try to
> get them from besides sourceforge?
>
> Any help greatly appreciated!
>
> Bill Bass
> Greenville, SC
>
> ________________________________________________________
> To unsubscribe from this list, go to:
http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=1365
>
>

Ahh yes this makes a big difference.  Thanks for your help.  I feel so
behind everyone here........   

I have another question. This one involces the mhsend with the -run
option.  Exactly what "commands" can I run? Are these external shell
commands or a mr_house command?  I tried something like ./mhsend -run
"run_voice_cmd'Blue Lava light on'" but was returned an error message.
basically what I am trying to is turn a lava light on from a remote
machine.  Also can I define a command that acts upon a light state that is
not a Voice_Cmd? If so what does that look like?

One problem I noticed is that there is a memory leak someplace in
perl/mr_house.  I assume that this is a know problem as there is code to
watch for a memory leak.  It actually crashes another perl scritp that I
run djiab (DJ in a box www.djiab.org). So when I run mr_hous I loose my
radio station.  Sigh Time to get another computer.


-Tom


> You are both close, but not quite right.  The idea here is to assign $state
> to on/off using the Voice_Cmd said method, so we want this:
> 
>  set $basement_table $state if $state = said $v_basement_table;
> 
> Another way to do this is with the tie_item method:
> 
> $v_basement_table -> tie_items($basement_table);
> 
> or
> 
>  tie_items $v_basement_table $basement_table;
> 
> 
> Bruce
> 
> ________________________________________________________
> To unsubscribe from this list, go to: http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=1365
> 

-- 
----------------------------------------tp...@co...-----------------
Tom Printy				     http://home.columbus.rr.com/tprinty
My radio station: http://couch.dhs.org/~gs_radio 
64k stream http://couch.dhs.org:8000/icy_0
24k stream http://couch.dhs.org:8000/icy_1

I noticed you are an Ericsson employee.  Are you in Richardson by chance?

I just started with Ericsson here.

> > Should have been:
> > $v_basement_table = new Voice_Cmd 'Basement table  [on,off]';
> > $v_basement_table-> set_info('Basement table lamp');
> > $v_basement_table-> tie_event('speak "Ok, the basement table lamp was
> > turned $state"');
> > set $basement_table $state if $state = $v_basement_table;
>
> don't you mean:
> set $basement_table $state if($state == $v_basement_table);
>
> you're always going to get a true there if you're assigning
> $state, which I
> don't think is what you were meaning to do.  (I didn't bother
> really looking
> at your code, but that appeared slightly off to me)

You are both close, but not quite right.  The idea here is to assign $state
to on/off using the Voice_Cmd said method, so we want this:

 set $basement_table $state if $state = said $v_basement_table;

Another way to do this is with the tie_item method:

$v_basement_table -> tie_items($basement_table);

or

 tie_items $v_basement_table $basement_table;


Bruce

> Didn't Bruce say a day or two ago that variables declared using 'my' in
> column 1 only get defined once, at MH startup.
>
> Kevin 'really just guessing' Olalde
>
> Kip Gebhardt wrote:
> >
> > I am running mh2.3.2 and the time_less_than and time_greater_than
> > functions don't seem to be working. The code I am using is:
> >
> > my $dark_flag = ( (time_less_than($Time_Sunrise)) ||
> >                   (time_greater_than($Time_Sunset)) );
> > if ($dark_flag) {
> >         ...
> > }

Kevin be right.  I've debated if we should have a different mechanism to
declare global out-of-the-loop variable ... relying on column 1 my
declarations seems kind of dorky.  This is a good example that shows maybe
its a bad idea.

This will work:

----
my $dark_flag;
$dark_flag = time_less_than ....
if ($dark_flag) {....}
----

This will cause $dark_flag to be a global variable, so you can share it
between file members.  The $dark_flag assignment stays in the loop code.

As of mh 2.34, there is a $Dark global variable pre-defined, using exactly
the test you defined (almost exactly ... it useses the _Twilight variables).

Bruce

> We were having some issues before with denial of services attacks from
some
> script kiddie a couple of weeks ago, I think most of that has cleared up
by
> now though.  If you guys have any more problems, just give me a shout and
I'll
> see if I can figure out what the problem is.
>
> -Mandrake
> (who is still mucking with home automation at home himself)
>

As of 11/28/00 9:00pm EST I still get incredibly slow downloads from
sourceforge.  If you could look into this it would be great!

Thanks,
Bill

>
> I didn't realize there was an ftp server for those files!  I just poked
> around and the file here:
>
>
>
ftp://download.sourceforge.net/mounts/u3/sourceforge/misterhouse/misterhouse
> _win_234.zip
>
I also did not know there was an ftp server, so I just tried it...still no
joy


>
> Bill, for the record, this is the download you are having problems with
> right?
>
>  http://download.sourceforge.net/misterhouse/misterhouse_win_234.zip
>
>
> And it is still a problem today?
Yes, this is the one.  I actually got a successful download last night,
finally
although it took over three hours.  The download speed isn't what bothers
me, it's that most of the time it dies before it completes.

>
> If neither of the above work, you can try my site (slow, but should be
> faster than 3 hours for 11k!):
>
>  http://misterhouse.net/public/misterhouse_win_234.zip
>
>

As I write this, I am downloading from
http://misterhouse.net/public/misterhouse_src_234.zip
it is working MUCH better.  I am getting 4-5KB/sec instead of 4-5 hundred
BYTES/sec.

I have also tried to download it from sourceforge at work over a T3
connection and I still get abyssmal download speeds and frequent incomplete
downloads.

Thanks for letting me get it directly from your machine.
Bill Bass

P.S.  That download just finished in 9 minutes 32 secs...