Z-Wave Technology

[samsonlov]

While I agree that Z-Wave appears to be a protocol that will be here for some time, I'm a big fan of RS-232 (especially with readily available "RS-232 over IP" adapters). Z-wave has some major supporters: http://www.z-wavealliance.org/modules/iaCM-MCL/, and appears to be a protocol that will be here for some time (No doubt, that's why Wes and Steven are incorporating it into XL.) I also agree that more features/connectivity = more potential installer-sales.

However (IMO) the single most-important enhancement to XLobby, and simultaneously, the largest contributor to future sales, is a stable V3 installed on the existing machines in customers' and DIYer's homes, and at the trade-shows.

(soapbox)
If you're going to add Z-Wave, may I suggest that you don't add it - or any "screen" or "menu-item" for it until it is actually working. There will be no email or telephone complaints from installers, customers, or DIYers about features that don't work properly like HVAC, Irrigation, Lighting, Security, Traffic Cams, XM radio, and yes, Z-wave, if these features are not released until they actually work.

Neither Z-wave, "live" backgrounds, nor HVAC and XM pages that doesn't actually work, will make the default music player have "gapless playback", "cross fade", or "volume normalization/replay gain". And new features like Z-wave will also not fix the web-spiders, category cover-art display bugs, and won't make the connections between client machines and the server more reliable.

The way Wes and Steven prioritize our bug/feature/tweak requests (IMO, and by what they write in their posts) seems to be by the "volume" of requests from us, and/or by the "excitement" we display over a particular item. If we keep getting side-tracked by the fancy add-ons, Wes and Steven may get the impression that we think new features are the best way to make XLobby better.

With well-over $100,000.00 worth of XLobby hardware already installed and countless hours personally invested installing and configuring the platform for my clients, you will not find a more "committed" XLobby installer/supporter. I've even taken and demo'd XLobby to dealer trainings in Southern CA for FREE - just to express thanks for all the support I've received from Steven, Wes, Mike, and everyone on the Calrad/XLobby team over the past 2+ years. I even stayed late after the CES Show with Wes, Steven, and Mike and to help them tear-down the entire booth because I absolutely love, support, and believe in the long-term success of the platform and because they are a really great bunch of guys. (...but Wes did insist on paying for my dinner when we all went to the restaurant afterwards - thanks Wes). In the short 11 years that I have been active in this industry I have never seen anything even remotely close to XLobby's integration capabilities and installer-friendly skinning and set-up interfaces (Read: "You don't need a programming degree to install it, and your client can actually use it.")

However, EVERY single one of the clients who PURCHASED a "XLobby Multi-Media Home Control System" from me would IMMEDIATELY give-up all the extras - in exchange for reliability in playing music AND movies. And I don't imagine anyone using the "default" music/movie player would choose an "it's almost working" animated-background, or a "still in development" rotating-background screen over a V3 client that reliably stays connected to, and reliably plays music AND movies from its XLobby server.

Since Steven and Wes have limited time, and can't work-on everything at the same time, it seems (to me) that squishing bugs would get us much more "excited", than adding new stuff, so yes, add the Z-Wave support, but not until after fixing the issues/bugs that are already on the table/mantis.
(/soapbox)

lar282 and billberet seem to be able to get to the point more succinctly:

i agree, get everything working smoothly first.
then all the new additions will be in the 3.x versions

My two cents....

no more features until XL V3 is stabil and all features that are suppose to work does work... THEN add new features.

//Lasse

[BaddaBing]

[billberet]

[lpg]

+1

[S Pittaway]

and another, get the thing working as a proper media center before adding extras.

i still havent made the switch form v2 yet because it does not feel "finished"

[Bill_Sev]

I would definitely be interested in having Z-Wave support. I started from the lighting side and I am working on the touch screen interface now. I currently use vera from micasaverde. It's pretty simple to interface to. They use an Asus router running openWRT with their software on top of it. So you basically send it HTTP commands..

messagesend
URL Parameters: from=the originating device ID
to=the destination device id
type=the type of message
id=the message id
response=[r|o|c] for Return String, Output Parameters, and Confirmation of delivery. Default=don't wait for response
target=[c|t] meaning the 'to' id is not a device ID but rather a Category or Template of device. Default=to is a device id
[device data]=some other message parameter where device data is the number
output_format=[json_callback_xxx|html] is how you want the response to come back, where xxx is a function that you want called in java script

For example, to request a video frame from a camera with the device id #20 you send the message type 1 (command) id 84 (get video frame) and optionally the parameter 60 and 61 (width and height of desired image). The command returns output parameters 19 and 20 where 19 contains the video image and 20 the format. So we want to send message with response=o because we want the request to block until the message is process by device 20 and we want to get back the output parameters. Here is the URL:

http://192.168.80.1:3451/messagesend?fr ... 640&61=480

[porscheman]

any updates on when this will be incorporated?

[porscheman]

so i take it that this isnt going to happen?

[wesblack]

You can talk to any Z-Wave device you want using xLobby V3 with xController. xController is located in the Service folder of your xLobby root directory. The xController service allows you to create full 2 way communication between any RS232, IP udp devices in real time, providing users the ability to write their own driver on the fly. Basic instructions in a pdf file for using the new xController is included in the same directory.

Wes Black \ Calrad