| ECS-L Home Automation and Security Archives |
| Subject: From: Date: | ECS 4.1 beta info Mark Gilmore Tue, 11 May 1999 18:36:45 -0700 |
Hello all,
ECS/Win 4.1 is ready for "preliminary" beta testing
(enhancement list is below). I will be charging $40
for this upgrade, due to the extensive hours that I
have put into it. While I will not be offering discounts
to beta testers, your feedback can have a significant
influence on the final product.
To upgrade to the beta:
1) Email me your ECS.CFG for fixup (unless you prefer
to do it yourself). Remember to remove any sensitive
or security-related Events.
2) Send payment to the address below, and email me
when you have done so (I will then send you the
new authorization code).
If you are upgrading from ECS/WIN, send $40.
If you are upgrading from ECS/DOS, send $85
(the original Win upgrade charge was $45).
Omnipotence
604 CR 181
Decatur, TN 37322
3) BACKUP: I recommend that you copy \ECS (inc all
subdirectories) to \ECS40, so you can easily
switch back to your original.
4) Download/install ECSB.ZIP (from the website).
NOTE: This file is not yet uploaded, but it
will be shortly.
Thanks much :-).
ECS 4.1 Development History
****************************************************************
4.1.001 (05/11/99)
* 1) The A/C-SETTING Type has been renamed to THERMOSTAT-MODE.
PLEASE MAKE ANY REQUIRED CHANGES TO ECS.CFG.
2) Added section to ECS.HTM which describes the RCS TX15 Thermostat
(X-10 controlled) and the method by which it may be controlled
with ECS.
* 3) ECS now supports a "sound-queing" methodology whereas all sound
output (WAVE and phone) is queued and played back asynchronously
(Event execution) continues during playback.
4) As SPEAK-MESSAGES and PHONE-BOX Items are now processed
concurrently with Events, the following new States are now
supported for these Item Types:
Cancel
Delete
New
Previous
Next
Rewind
Stop
Pause/Play
Fast-Forward
Busy
These States may be used to support interactive control of the
message playback process via ANY input device (such as X-10 keypads).
5) The SPEAK-MESSAGES Window now shows the message text
currently being played/spoken.
* 6) The State "DO NOT SPEAK" (for SPEAK-MESSAGES) has been changed
to
"IDLE". PLEASE MAKE ANY REQUIRED CHANGES TO ECS.CFG.
* 7) ALL "DO NOT PLAY" States (for all applicable Types) have been
changed to "IDLE". PLEASE MAKE ANY REQUIRED CHANGES TO ECS.CFG.
* 8) The order of the "Speech Engine" Parameters have been "switched"
(SWITCH LINES IN ECS.CFG), and are now described as follows:
File Engine: Denotes the speech engine to be used in
converting TTS to .WAV files (for playback
thru Voice-Interface-C or Phone-Interface-C).
WAVE Engine: Identifies the speech engine which will route
TTS DIRECTLY thru Voice-Interface-C (if any).
THE USE OF THIS ENGINE IS ONLY REQUIRED FOR
SLOWER PCS which take signiicant time to convert
TTS to .WAV files. To test for this delay, create
this Item WITHOUT a WAVE engine. Then click the
"TEST" button. If the delay is unnacceptable,
define a WAVE Engine.
NOTE: If this engine is defined, rewind/
fast-forward of TTS is not supported.
* 9) The States for PHONE-RECORDING-C are now as follows:
Idle
Play (no wait)
Play->Sp (no wait)
Play->Ln (no wait)
Play->HS (no wait)
Play->Ln/Sp (no wait)
Play->VC (no wait)
Play/W (wait)
Play/W->Sp (wait)
Play/W->Ln (wait)
Play/W->HS (wait)
Play/W->Ln/Sp (wait)
Play/W->VC (wait)
Playing
Record
Record/Aux
* 10) The States for VOICE-RECORDING-C are now as follows:
Idle
Play (no wait)
Play->Sp (no wait)
Play->PC (no wait)
Play->PC:Sp (no wait)
Play->PC:Ln (no wait)
Play->PC:Ln/Sp (no wait)
Play->PC:HS (no wait)
Play/W (wait)
Play/W->Sp (wait)
Play/W->PC (wait)
Play/W->PC:Sp (wait)
Play/W->PC:Ln (wait)
Play/W->PC:Ln/Sp(wait)
Play/W->PC:HS (wait)
Playing
Record
11) The "START" button has been eliminated from the recording
"child" window (recording now starts immediately when you
click "REC" or set an Item to RECORD).
12) Added new Item Type "EVENT-TRACE": While this Item is set to ON,
ECS will generate a detailed log of EVERY Event-Line after it
executes. The log file is EVN.TRC. Included in EVN.TRC are the
Event-Line's process status (e.g. "DONE", "Ignored", etc) and
the current States of any referenced Items. This information
can be helpful in diagnosing Event problems.
WARNING:Since this logging process greatly "bogs-down"
Event-processing, this Item should be set/cleared ONLY
by the Event(s) being tested, and cleared ASAP.
* 13) SF (using Sound-File Recordings in lieu of TTS) is no longer
supported, as MS TTS does the job quite well.
* 14) A new Parameter ("SIGNAL DELAY") has been added to the
IR-SIGNAL-J Type.
APPEND THE FOLLOWING LINE TO ANY IR-SIGNAL-J ITEMS:
| Signal Delay :0
* 15) States for the PHONE-ANSWER Type have been renamed as follows:
Old New
------------------- --------
ANSWER/NW (no wait) ANSWER
ANSWER (wait) ANSWER/W
MAKE ANY REQUIRED CHANGES TO ECS.CFG.
* 16) The Keyboard-Key States are now as follows:
ACTIVE
INACTIVE
* 17) The "RING LEVEL" Parameter of the RING-LEVEL Type has been
deleted, as it is no longer applicable.
REMOVE THIS LINE FROM ECS.CFG.
18) ECS now speaks text files as one long string, instead of one
string per line. USE WITH CAUTION, as speaking a long file
can cause a significant delay when converting it to a .WAV.
* 19) All DOS-specific Item Types have been eliminated from ECS and
all documentation:
Keypad-Screen
Color-Display
Print-Configuration
Clear-Screen
Screen-Color
Title-Color
Header-Color
Prompt-Color
Response-Color
Entry-Color
Message-Color
Entry-Screen-Text
TSR
Parallel-Byte
IR-Interface-1A
IR-Interface-1B
IR-Interface-1C
Speech-Interface-A
Voice-Interface-A
Voice-Recording-A
Voice-Interface-B
Voice-Recording-B
Phone-Interface-A
Phone-Recording-A
Digital-Input-E
Analog-Input-E
--
Mark Gilmore
Omnipotence (ECS Home Automation Software)
omnip@usit.net
http://www.usit.com/omnip