Pytomation 1.0 Released

We are pleased to announce the 1.0 release of Pytomation.

Pytomation is an extensible open source automation system written in Python. It's uses include home automation and lighting control but is certainly not limited to those functions.

Pytomation features include:
        - Written in Python (Multiplatform)
        - REST API
        - Unique language to describe devices and actions.
        - Smart objects: Doors, Lights, Motion, Photocell etc.
        - Regular python programming in Mainloop for more complicated control.
        - Easy interface to web browsers and other technology.
        - Time of day on and off control.
        - Delays for time off.
        - Idle command, device will return to "idle" state.
        - Map one command to another with optional source and time.
        - Good hardware support with more coming.
        - Very easy to add new hardware drivers.
        - Local Telnet and Web access.
        - Good documentation complete with examples.
        - Much more.

Pytomation currently has support for the following hardware interfaces
with more planned in the future.

        - Insteon / X10 (2412N, 2412S)
        - UPB (Universal Powerline Bus) (Serial PIM)
        - JDS Stargate (RS232 / RS485)
        - Weeder Digital I/O board (Wtdio/RS232)
        - W800RF32 X10 RF receiver (W800/RS232)
        - Arduino Uno, digital and analog

Future:
        - Z-Wave (Aeon Labs) DSA02203-ZWUS
        - CM11 X10 control
        - Others as requested.


Download links and documentation are at the bottom of the web page.
Please use the mail list for help at  this time, information about
subscribing can also be found on the home page.


Downloads, docs and mail lists http://www.pytomation.com

Cheers and enjoy.

Lowes Smart Home Product - IRIS

Last Summer Lowe's introduced a new smart home product called IRIS.  I am an avid supporter of Home Automation projects and the price point for an ethernet device that does z-wave and zigbee for $99 was too compelling so I bought one.   

Looking to integrate this hardware into my existing Pytomation / Misterhouse home automation system, I decided to see how "open" they are about third party integrations.

What I have found is that they have a REST based API available from their own servers in the cloud, however, I could not find a way to access this device locally within my own network.

I spent an hour or so sharking the device to see what was available and here are my results:

• The device is created by AlertMe (has their MAC vendor address)
• It has TCP ports 80 and 111 open (neither one of them does standard HTTP on it though) Unknown protocol.
• It communicates with imgserver.irissmarthome.com for firmware updates on HTTPS
• It communicates with hubserver.irissmarthome.com for general communication on HTTPS
• It appears to run Linux 2.6 based on nmap -O
• It appears to have support for SafetyNet protocol (UDP port 4000) Dont know much about it other than is supports secure connections for embedded devices on ethernet.
• I have heard that it has a TTL serial port on the board, but login password is unknown.

Unfortunately for now, there does not appear to be a way to interface with the hardware component directly (and without their monthly fee).   This would leave my system to the mercy of internet connectivity to their cloud infrastructure and the lag associated with it, so I have decided to halt any further development with the devices.

New Opensourced Home Automation Offering - Pytomation

After more than a decade of using and contributing to Misterhouse, I have decided to startup a new open-sourced Home Automation platform - Pytomation.    There is a ton of legacy design with MH that needs to be refactored and unfortunately there isnt any unit testing to help with that.  To assist with reliability / maintainability in the future I started from scratch with a Test-Driven Development  (TDD) approach.

Hit the link up above to get the Python library code (should be multiplatform: Linux, Windows, Mac)  to drive basic ON/OFF functionality for Insteon, UPB, and X10 interfaces.   Most of the hardware with threading / communication / binary wrangling has been complete and am looking for feedback / any contributions at this point.  There should be enough there for even novices to Python to be able to help out and welcome any questions / requests for assistance / comments you may have (jasonatsharpeedotcom)

My goal is to replace my Misterhouse Installations by the end of the year, so you can expect some of the same functionality to be added over the next few months (LOMP, Tiggers, Web, Floorplan, Notifications, etc)

www.pytomation.com

Pytomation - Python Serial test went as planned

Im starting to test out the framework for my new home automation software this weekend and got Python-serial library working.   I was able to retrieve the registers from the UPB PIM interface in a proof-of-concept program.

I was toying around with using Mono (Opensourced .NET implementation) and tried a pilot program with that as well.  Sadly, the state of Mono's serial library is still broken from the years ago I first tried it.  The lack of seeming interest in testing that System.IO library is echoed in my interest in pursuit of this option.

Python-Serial Docs - http://pyserial.wiki.sourceforge.net/pySerial

Pytomation project page: http://pytomation.wiki.sourceforge.net/