HomeSeer

by Rick LaBanca

Note, the author of HomeSeer isn't me, it's Rich Helmke! I use this software, hence this first reviews.I say this because some visitors have been thinking I'm him, not the case!

I own a cm11a controller, the one that comes with x10's ActiveHome kit, but found that software limiting. The controller itself will memorize times and simple macros, but there isn't any if-then login in it (ex. if a1 is pressed, turn on all outside lights if after sunset).

Even if you wanted to leave your computer on, the included software from x10 won't do it. So I began looking. Thankfully, many packages have downloadable demos on the the net. I stumbled upon HomeSeer via a mention in the newsgroups.

Note that with HomeSeer, you leave the computer on and the CM11A (or other controller) is just used for x10 communication, it won't program the interfaces.

I read the faq as I downloaded and I couldn't believe the features. It had much of what I wanted, and lots I didn't know I wanted until I read the feature list! Check this out:

• Control of cm11a, cpuxa, firecracker
• Conditional events via gui programming
• Speech recognition and synthesis (using microsoft speech interfaces, the microsoft agent included)
• E-mail interface, i.e. trigger events on e-mail reception, or send e-mail when events occur.
• A nice gui interface, but also a built in web server, which presents the entire interface on the web.
• Support for x10 modules, but also smartlinc, leviton etc.
• Support for infrared if you have a cpuxa
• If you want more control, events can run scripts written in vbscript, javascript or perlscript
• The application can be used as an activex server by other apps

And that's cutting the list short!

Setup was easy, a typical windows app install. The Microsoft Genie also installs at that time. Once done, the application will sniff out your controller for you.

Using it is simple for simple tasks. The main window shows three icons for selection of views: Devices, Events, or Log. The devices screen lists your x10 devices. Each device you add can have a location, name and various other settings such as switchlinc specifics, and if can dim etc. But these settings are done for you when you pick the device type from a drop down, such as "Lamp Module." You are also free to add your own types for quick entry.

Once your devices are in, check out the Event screen, where the fun is. New Event will present you with a ton of options, but they are presented clearly. There are five tabs of info:

Trigger

Here you give the event a name of your choosing, an optional voice command, and Type. Making the event happen is easy via voice, just type in plain text such as "bathroom light on" and that's it. The syntax allows for variations, so "bathroom [0+] light on" will make the word light optional, and "bathroom on" will work as well.

There are a bunch of conditions you can additionally set that I won't list here, too big! But you can make the event trigger based on x10 reception, sunrise/sunset time offsets, e-mail received, or constantly recurring events.

X10 Device Actions

As expected, this tab contains the x10 commands that will be sent when the event triggers.

App/Sound/E-mail

This screen lets you do a potpourri of things. First, you can specify any windows app and its parameters to run when the event triggers. You can enter in a wav filename to also play. Lastly, you can send e-mail to one recipient, enter in the message text, and a file to attach.

Scripting/Speech

The fun screen. There is a box to enter script(s) to run, or you can enter a leading & and do one line of vbscript/javascript without having to refer to a text file.

Here you can enter a string of text that the computer will speak when this triggers.

Events

Specify any number of other events to get manually triggered, in a specified order.

I/R

Infrared control lets you send any number of IR commands.

Why did I list all those? It's the only way to see the multitude of options, just in the gui.

If you're like me, what you look for in programs like this is what it can't do. With HomeSeer, it's not as much of a problem. You can write vbscripts to do whatever you like. HomeSeer includes some calls that do things for you at a high level, so in a script speaking something is as easy as: hs.speak "Hello there".

Also included are commands to fiddle with the e-mail, create events, get all the settings in the screens I described, and interface to the x10 modules. Limitless!

One command I particularly liked was a method to suck down a web page into a string. It allowed me to write some talking weather scripts, really cool and easy.

Perhaps the biggest selling point of the product is Rich Helmke, who wrote it. He's over there on the support bulletin board monitoring. If you have a problem (or a small feature request), it's not uncommon to see an update there in the next beta. I like his method of posting betas often for those who want to stay on the bleeding edge. Most of the betas are very stable anyway, I've never lost data.

I've done a few scripts, which you can find in the download area here. I've done weather conditions/forecast scripts, caller ID, and a script to monitor BlackIce, a personal firewall.

Rich is working on yet more... a tapi phone interface! That will just about give you all the control you could want (for now)!

Can't recommend it enough. After trying it I thought I couldn't afford it, but was surprised to see it priced at only $40 (as of 10/99). Incredible. Go download the demo and see for yourself.

If you decide to buy HomeSeer, clicking on the link will help support the site.