Subject: From: Date:

Re: [ecs] oops Bill Walters Thu, 10 Mar 2005 09:11:32 -0600

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Mark,

Yes, I've been told that, and the ECSL doc's say that you --can-- do just 
that, however, I've never seen a specific example.  Even the one member here 
who did make nice graphical screens has moved on.  While he went into great 
pains to describe what/how, again, he included no example.

I can read specs, and can read directions, but without even a simple example 
in this case, I'm just lost..

Bill

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark Gilmore" <mark1@markgilmore.net>
To: <ecs@netbloc.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2005 6:40 AM
Subject: Re: [ecs] oops


> Bill,
> ECS (vs ECSL) allows you to easily create any desired type of web-page 
> interface.
> For example, you can define graphical buttons that do anything you want 
> when clicked
> (can't get any easier than that :-)).
>
> At 01:53 PM 3/9/2005 -0500, you wrote:
>
>>I quite understand.  My spouse also has balked at most interfaces.  I've 
>>managed to automate many things using sensors etc so that its seamless.
>>This has worked out well, but has been an integration pain as I have cats 
>>and needed to find very special sensors that they couldn't trigger.
>>While HS has a web interface which is easier to modify, it isn't easy, at 
>>least not by my stds.  It does have nice voice control by phone, so I 
>>outfitted the house with a full Engenius cordless system.  That way, my 
>>wife can just hit # and say what she wants.  But push come to shove, she'd 
>>rather just hit a button.
>>Unfortunately, my house design makes running touchscreen panels a real 
>>nightmare in terms of cabling and the cost of decent ones has put me off. 
>>I'm afraid that ECSL has somewhat spoiled me with its ability to write 
>>extremely complicated scripts with relative ease.  My thermostat logic is 
>>such that I've never been able to figure out how to move it to Homeseer as 
>>HS is event driven.  ECS holds many variables and states and I use 
>>comparisions of these with other data to make intelligent temperature 
>>decisions.  Haven't been able to figure out how an event-driven system can 
>>make the same decisions.
>>
>>Bill Walters wrote:
>>
>>>Bruce,
>>>
>>>Yes, I agree with you regarding ECS Legacy, I still love it and it does 
>>>everything I need flawlessly.   I just recently acquired a RS-232 
>>>interface to my Jandy Aqualink pool/spa controller and haven't yet had 
>>>time to integrate it to my system.  I've great confidence in being able 
>>>to make it work to meet my needs and just as sure that the newer ECS 
>>>would handle it fine, too...
>>>
>>>Actually, the --ONLY-- reason I have for changing to the newer version of 
>>>ECS is the ability (hopefully) to customize the web interface to 
>>>something more approaching the highly visual interfaces of Crestron 
>>>systems.... yes, the "back end" interfacing would still be 'techie' 
>>>compared to Crestron but I'm only concerned about the 
>>>displayabilit/usability for the end user.... My wife doesn't like, can't 
>>>understand and just plain won't use the ECSL web interface.  She 
>>>similarly won't use the R_Admin link to native ECSL screens, although 
>>>I've tried desperately to make them understandable/logical for her.... 
>>>Also, R_Admin at 5 screens/second seems to pump a lot of info thru my 
>>>network but perhaps I've just not designed my home network adequately... 
>>>Just hasn't been a factor as she has accepted/likes the old plain X-10 
>>>keypads, with announcements/responses over the home intercom!  She 
>>>doesn't like them sitting around the house however and would like one or 
>>>two touchscreens (wall mounted, of course) instead...
>>>
>>>The original web interface of ECSL is just so difficult to modify, it's 
>>>light-years above my paygrade.  I've read success stories of others and 
>>>tried to read/understand what they've done, but just can't seem for it to 
>>>penetrate my thick skull..
>>>
>>>I've started/stopped so many times with different user interfaces that 
>>>just didn't pan out or don't make sense in my current house.....  Of 
>>>course, moving twice in the last 5 years has really put a damper on all 
>>>of it, too...   And I no longer need ECS to manage my TV's/VCR's - I'm a 
>>>true TIVO convert and have 2 Directivo units on my home network - nothing 
>>>like doing a little video extraction over the network, deleting 
>>>commercials, and burning compilations to DVD!
>>>
>>>Ah well, musings and ramblings, sorry to take so much bandwidth and say 
>>>so little...
>>>
>>>Bill
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>>
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>
> Mark Gilmore
> http://OmnipotenceSoftware.com
>
> -- 
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> Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
> Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.6.4 - Release Date: 3/7/2005
>
> 

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