Chris J. Karr, August 13th, 2010

While I spent the bulk of the space here writing about Shion, I figured that it might be useful to describe some of the client work that I currently have underway that is funding the work on your friendly neighborhood home automation app. I run Audacious Software as both a products and services company, and while it receives fewer mentions on this weblog, the services side of the company is much more mature than the products side. Fortunately, I’ve been able to find client projects that strongly compliment the product work I do as well, so there’s a nice virtuous circle at work here.

So, in terms of what’s keeping me busy this month, here are a few descriptions (provided with permission) of some of the other work underway.

Chris J. Karr, August 9th, 2010

Despite my requests for users to migrate to Shion 3 for their home automation needs, I still receive regular requests for Shion 2 licenses. I’ve been slow to respond to these requests, to expedite the process, I’ve uploaded a generic license to unlock Shion 2. Feel free to download this license (Right-click, “Save As”…) to unlock Shion 2 without e-mailing me.

Moving forward, I encourage all Shion 2 users to at least try Shion 3 for your home automation needs. Shion 3 is now the active development version of Shion and it is superior to Shion 2 in terms of reliability, device support, user interface, and mobile access. If you’re a Shion 3 user and interested in beta testing the companion iPhone client, send a note to shion@audacious-software.com and I’ll get you started with the iPhone app. (Recently updated for iOS4!)

Chris J. Karr, July 13th, 2010

Shion 3.0α6 is now available.

Please read the following release notes carefully.

This is an alpha release for Shion 3. This software is still very much under construction and has some very rough edges. In no particular order, some of the current major issues:

1. The RemoteBuddy interface remains unimplemented.

2. The DVR, Bluetooth, GPS, and camera devices have not yet been implemented.

3. The menu items leading to Shion web pages remain incomplete, pending the completion of the new Shion website.

4. Networked controller support (SmartLinc, EZServe) is not present in this release.

5. Sprinkler support is currently missing.

6. Changes in the device configuration from the preferences panel (modem & controllers) require an application restart to take effect.

7. (Shion 2 Users) You will need to reenter your devices, as the migration code is not yet complete.

This release introduces the following improvements:

1. Improved main pane UI. Snapshots and triggers are now visible in the history views. Furthermore, you can now click devices in the history view to navigate to the actual device.

2. The Events window has been fleshed out to allow filtering per device, trigger, and snapshot.

3. Bug fixes in the Shion framework to address broken thermostat functionality..

This alpha release is not intended for production use and is mainly intended to solicit feedback on the direction of the product. This release has been tested with the PowerLinc 2414U, PowerLinc 2412U/S, CM11A, and CM15A controllers.

Please submit any feedback in the comments below.

Chris J. Karr, July 4th, 2010

Shion 3.0α5 is now available.

Please read the following release notes carefully.

This is an early alpha release for Shion 3. This software is still very much under construction and has some very rough edges. In no particular order, some of the current major issues:

1. The RemoteBuddy interface remains unimplemented.

2. The DVR, Bluetooth, GPS, and camera devices have not yet been implemented.

3. The menu items leading to Shion web pages remain incomplete, pending the completion of the new Shion website.

4. Networked controller support (SmartLinc, EZServe) is not present in this release.

5. Sprinkler support is currently missing.

6. Changes in the device configuration from the preferences panel (modem & controllers) require an application restart to take effect.

7. (Shion 2 Users) You will need to reenter your devices, as the migration code is not yet complete.

This release introduces the following improvements:

1. Better support for CM11A & CM15A X10 controllers. In particular, Shion’s CM15A support should be much more robust. (There is an issue sending DIM commands from that controller – a fix is in the works.)

2. The Events window has been integrated into the main Console window. This section will become better fleshed out in the next couple of releases.

3. Support for triggers in Shion Touch.

Note to testers: A lot of effort has been spent improving the performance of the CM15A & CM11A controllers. Please post a comment or send feedback if you continue to experience problems with these devices.

This alpha release is not intended for production use and is mainly intended to solicit feedback on the direction of the product. This release has been tested with the PowerLinc 2414U, PowerLinc 2412U/S, CM11A, and CM15A controllers.

Please submit any feedback in the comments below.

Chris J. Karr, June 20th, 2010

Shion 3.0α4 is now available.

Please read the following release notes carefully.

This is an early alpha release for Shion 3. This software is still very much under construction and has some very rough edges. In no particular order, some of the current major issues:

1. The RemoteBuddy interface remain unimplemented.

2. The DVR, Bluetooth, GPS, and camera devices have not yet been implemented.

3. The menu items leading to Shion web pages remain incomplete, pending the completion of the new Shion website.

4. Networked controller support (SmartLinc, EZServe) is not present in this release.

5. Sprinkler support is currently missing.

6. Changes in the device configuration from the preferences panel (modem & controllers) require an application restart to take effect.

7. (Shion 2 Users) You will need to reenter your devices, as the migration code is not yet complete.

This release introduces the following improvements:

1. Better support for PowerLinc 2414U & CM15A controllers.

2. Improved Shion Framework for hardware device communication.

3. Temperature trigger support. (e.g. “Execute snapshot “All off” when temperature drops below 70 degrees.”)

4. Improved Shion XMPP dialog support. (Requires Shion Online account.)

Note to testers: A lot of effort has been spent improving the performance of the CM15A and PowerLinc 2414U controllers. Please post a comment or send feedback if you continue to experience problems with these devices.

This alpha release is not intended for production use and is mainly intended to solicit feedback on the direction of the product. This release has been tested with the PowerLinc 2414U, PowerLinc 2412U/S, CM11A, and CM15A controllers.

Please submit any feedback in the comments below.