While we're moving towards a wireless, more mobile, networked world, we all know this
still relies on a wired foundation! However, lately I've been playing with my
Casio E-125 PocketPC, and I've got a 802.11b Wi-Fi wireless
ethernet adapter for it. Using this and it's built-in web browser, I can now control
my Phantom.Home system!!! From anywhere I get a wireless signal (house, garage, pool)!
I think this is truly the next step in networking and wired homes. If you're interested
in this, then check out the wireless stuff.. it's AWESOME!
Hey all! Been a long while, I know. I've released Phantom.Home.CGI Beta0.1. This is basically
a hack of Phantom.Home.VRML which instead of refreshing to a VRML .wrl, it refreshes to a
standard .HTML file. This way, you can create a very simple HTML file for QUICK and EASY access
to your lights, HVAC, jacuzzi, etc... :). This version works good but only refreshes to
/Phantom_Home.html. A later version will having dynamic refreshing, so you can tell it what
file to refresh to.
I know, I know. "What happened to the 'next generation Phantom product???" Well, I got
real busy at work and haven't really slowed down since! Sorry all! In any case, hope you like
the new addition.
Here on my monitor I have XMMS taking up roughly 3/4 of the screen, and Netscape in the other 1/4
displaying the very simple Phantom.Home control HTML file!
I'm going to be on Vacation from Saturday, 7/8 until Sunday, 7/16. I don't know if I'll be
able to access my e-mail or anything so if I don't get back to you right away don't loose hope!
Yep. Finally here. Check it out now! HTML & PDF versions of the manual available ON-LINE!
First off, I'm working on cleaning up the docs for Phantom.Home (no really, I'm actually doing
it!) VERSION 1.00! The CPU resource hog issue seems to be nipped in the bud. I worked on it
last night, and I'm going to do some more tonight. If I'm lucky I'll get 1.00 out before Friday!
As if that wasn't enough, I've finally managed to get some specs down for the next generation
Phantom product. It's going to be really cool, but unfortunately I can't release the specs on
the site...YET. If you like the GNU Phantom and would like to know what I'm working on, and would
like to help, let me know!!!
I just LOVE the new USB scanner and video camera I bought :).
In any case, I took some pictures over the weekend of the Phantom.Home.Controller and the modules. Obviously they may differ widely depending on how you build them, but this is what I came up with using some Radio Shack project boxes. You can find them on the Phantom.Home page under the PICS link...
EXXTRA SPECIAL THANKS TO: George Cragg for hooking me up with a relly cool circuit diagram.
I think he said he used Visio Technical... looks great! Thanks George!
The NEW diagram can be reached at the same link the old one was. It's on the Phantom.Home page.
The new diagram will be included when I manage to release Phantom.Home v1.00!!!
It's certainly been a while! Phantom.Home Beta0.70 is no longer the CPU resource hog it once was. Used to having your system run at 1.00??? Now it should run at like 0.12 or something. Perfect for playing MP3s at the same time :). Also changed is the Phantom.Home.Controller.jpg... the pin number and bit number SHOULD be correct now!!!! ENJOY!
I've been checking out the new 'Wiresless Web' stuff by Sprint PCS stuff and it looks pretty schweet!!! Now Phantom.Home works with HDML & cell phones! Want to use your Internet/HDML-enabled cell phone to turn on your hottub? Then go ahead!!! Check it out... on the Phantom.Home page under Phantom.Home.HDML!!!
Also, I've released a new version of Phantom.Home.VRML. Check it out!
OK. I've now got RPMS for both Phantom.Home and Phantom.Security for Red Hat Linux 5.2 AND Red Hat Linux 6.0! I'm going to try and get the DOS ports up for the current versions, but this may take me a while. Enjoy!
Quite a few of you have asked for the Phantom.Controller2 diagram in .jpg format. It's now up. Sorry it took me soooo long!!!
UPDATE: I noticed I forgot to put up RH6.0 binaries for Phantom.Home. But when compiling, it didn't work. It was due to .deps directories in the Console and Home directories. I've fixed this in the tarball and re-named it to Beta0.62a. Sorry for any of you that have had problems with this!!!
I've placed binaries for Phantom.Home Beta0.62 for RH6.0 on the site. I hope to get the RPMs working too.
I've taken Phantom.Security of of Beta due to it's stability!!!
I've also made HTML & PostScript versions of the documentation avaliable on-line and in downloadable formats. This is definately a landmark for Phantom!
Check it out here.
Phantom.Home Beta0.62 released! Beta0.62 now supports autolighting! Check it out.
Looking at doing some really cool things with Phantom here in the future. I think the merge is going to be definate. But it will wait until GNU Phantom.Home 1.0 & GNU Phantom.Security 1.0 are out.
In the works for Phantom.Home is an option to hook up an input for a door magnet (even though Phantom.Home has traditionally been an output program) for semi-automatic lighting control!
Well, I've gotten a couple of e-mails from Phantom users, and they've been really positive! One user even gave me a fix for the 'ioperm' warning compiler error message. Thanks again! Another user sent in a suggestion for using the iButton ICs from Dallas Semiconductors in a possible Phantom setting. Really cool stuff, if I can get time to look at it (play with it)!!!
I haven't figured out how to make Phantom.Security work on newer machines yet, but I'm working on it. However, now that I know what it works on (my work machine) and what it doesn't (my home machine), I'm going to try and start implementing some neat input routines in Phantom.Home (i.e. for door magnets & stuff). In an earlier, BASH-based, version of Phantom.Home, I had a simple program for when the door opened, the lights came on. However, this stopped running after a while, and I don't know why. Now I know that it really shouldn't have run in the first place :). Now I'm going to try and re-incorporate these things into Phantom.Home. A possible merge is in the making, but I don't think it will happen soon!
Phantom.Security Beta0.95 is so stable that I didn't need to create a new release just to do a DOS port. So, the DOS-PORT is up in the Beta0.95 section. The date hasn't changed, but it's up there!
However, I did find a problem with Phantom.Security last night. I was testing it on my AST 200MHZ laptop, and it wasn't working right. It would run, but it wouldn't sense anything. And it was running so fast that the screen writes couldn't keep up with it. This happened in both DOS and Win98. I played with the values for the parallel port in the laptops CMOS. I tried OUTPUT-ONLY, BI-DIRECTIONAL, ECP, and EPP... but none of them worked. I've had this problem on other newer machines (i.e. > 90MHZ). It works OK on older machines with basic parallel ports. I've got it running on an older Pentium 90 (with an older parallel port card) and it works OK. However, the new machines with on-board parallel ports just won't do it. I don't know if they changed something or what. So in the meantime, my suggestion is to go out and get an old ISA parallel port adapter card or multi I/O card, and disable everything but the parallel port. These cards aren't hard to find at a used computer store or a computer show. Give that a try if you have a problem!
Phantom.Home doesn't have this problem, I've run it in all manner of machines, and it works OK.
I made some modular code changes to Phantom.Home.Console to make it easier to create the DOS-PORT. The DOS-PORT version is a single-user version (as opposed to the client/server version for Linux). The DOS-PORT includes a compiled binary as well as the source. It's documented, and includes sample files. The DOS-PORT works on DOS/Win3x/Win9x! Check it out.
Well, I figured out how to use the parallel ports using DJGPP in DOS. So now Im going to port my software to DOS (i.e. DOS (Win31/Win95/Win98)! I made some changes to Phantom.Home to make it easier to port. I will release Phantom.Home Beta0.61 pretty soon here, with a DOS port as well! All source & binaries will be avaliable, of course!
The DOS port will be a single-user version w/ just one executable file (no daemon). However, it will run! Next I'll get Phantom.Security with a DOS port. That shouldn't be too hard. But I don't think it will e-mail or anything...
OK. The GNU home page for GNU Phantom.Home is now up! You can reach it at:
http://www.gnu.org/software/phantom_home
You can also reach the FTP dir on gnu.org at:
ftp://www.gnu.org/gnu/phantom/home
ALSO, you can now get Phantom.Security from ftp.gnu.org at:
ftp://www.gnu.org/gnu/phantom/security
Also, RPMS for Phantom.Home Beta0.60 are up!
I got the heads up from rms this morning via e-mail! Phantom.Home is now GNU Phantom.Home! I will try and get a release out soon with the necessary changes (just facial changes, really)! Check it out here!
UPDATE: GNU Phantom.Home Beta0.60 has been posted! Get it now!
I sent Phantom.Home Beta0.55 to the evaluator from the GNU. He later sent me an e-mail saying that he was able to compile & run it and it worked great. So he's going to send the eval to rms. So hopefully I'm really close to making Phantom.Home a GNU program!!! That'd be great.
Made some ANSI C++ fixes to the programs. 'make install' now works!!! Got rid of /etc/Phantom.conf file. Source, binaries, and now RPMS are ready!!!
Added an ANSI C++ fix to Phantom.Security.cpp. Source, binaries, & RPMs are avaliable!!!
Had a problem with the .tar.gz file for Phantom.Home Beta0.52 I've re-posted the file (didn't change the version number since no real program change was made), so try this one!
In Phantom.Security Beta0.94 I've updated it so that 'make install' now works. In addition to this, I've added an additional download option -- an RPM! So now you can use the Red Hat Package Manager to do a simple, EASY installation. Of course, the standard .tar.gz & Linux binary packages are both avaliable!
Yep. It's there! Go check it out @ www.gnu.org/software
As again promised, the source & binaries (Linux) for Phantom.Home.VRML are on-line. They're at the bottom of the Phantom.Home page, so check them out!
As promised, the binaries for Linux are now avaliable on-line. I'll see if it will compile OK under SCO OpenServer 5 & maybe get them too. I'm still working on Phantom.Home.VRML, I have to make it into it's own package, and that's kinda hard... :) It'll get here though!
Well, if I can find some time to sit down and work on it, the GNU may grant Phantom.Home with their blessing! :)
I'm still working on getting Phantom.Home.VRML & binaries for all packages on the site.
I've released Phantom.Home Beta 0.52! I've added the options 'turn on all' and 'turn off all', which turn on and off all devices (respectively).
As you can see the new site is up and running!
I'm in the process of getting my own domain name & web site so I can move my work off this web server & get placed on my own. That should take a week or so.
I've taken some of the old Betas for Phantom.Home & Phantom.Security off of the site, as well as all of the tars (I'm keeping the gzips, of course). I've taken all of the Phantom.Home.VRML stuff off since it's been merged with Phantom.Home. I've gotten with the people over at GNU.org & Phantom.Security should be up there soon!
UPDATE: I've released Phantom.Home Beta0.51!!! I had to take out the VRML stuff for GNU conformance. I've also added my features to it for more GNU conformance. It now supports configure & make. Phantom.Home.VRML can still be downloaded as a separate module.
I haven't released the GNU version of Phantom.Security yet because I still have to get a grip on the makefile & configure script. I've been real busy, but hope to get it out soon!
UPDATE: I've released GNU Phantom.Security Beta0.93! After sweating over the 'autoconf' & 'automake' manuals, I've got a configure & Makefile. (Actually, configure generates Makefile...). Enjoy!
On the same level, I'm working at making Phantom.Home a GNU program also, if they accept it!!!.
I've received another e-mail from Richard Stallman I got an e-mail from Richard Stallman UPDATE: I've posted Phantom.Security Beta 0.92. It has some of the GNU modifications, but not all. It's an in-between release. As promised, Phantom.Home Beta0.50 is here! I've merged Phantom.Home and Phantom.Home.VRML into a client/server based system capable of using several different interfaces at the same time! Both Phantom.Home.VRML & Phantom.Home.Console now use the Phantom.Homed daemon. The docs have been updated, and READMEs included for each and every program, as well as the package itself!!! I'm planning on updating some of the features in Phantom.Security next week now that I have a better grasp of C/C++ file I/O. One key update will be with the logging so that if the program stops abruptly, the log will still be there, not gone. I've put up phantom_home-beta0.50a.tar.gz on the site. It's an alpha release of Phantom.Home Beta 0.50! I've got pretty far in merging the two packages. I've got a daemon up and running (complete with verbose output as well as file logging), and the VRML package working with the daemon. I still have to get Phantom.Home.Console (the software formerly known as Phantom.Home) working with the Phantom.Homed daemon. I'm hoping to get the Beta out by Friday afternoon! In addition to the stuff I mentioned before, I'm planning on adding native dual parallel port support, more groups, and daemon request logging. The file-based API is real simple (I've got most of it worked out). Logging will be optional, of course. I'm also looking at adding native dual parallel port support in Phantom.Security. If I can get down to work I should be able to get a good Beta out late next week. Welcome to the new news section for the Phantom software suite. All news and announcements about Phantom can now be located here! I'm in the process of re-organizing the Phantom.Home structure. I had so much fun working on Phantom.Home.VRML that I want to make it so any different number of interfaces can be made for Phantom.Home. So, what I'm going to do is create a daemon for Phantom.Home (not unlike Phantom.Home.VRMLd) and use some type of file-driven (until I can get figure out TCP/IP!!!) API interface for it. That way, even though several sources may be controlling the Phantom.Home devices, there will be a central daemon handeling it all!!! The current Phantom.Home program will be aptly re-named Phantom.Home.Console. Phantom.Home.VRML will be included, also. Of course, the entire package will be GPL'd! That way, anyone who wants to write a custom interface for Phantom.Home can go right ahead!!! I'm also going to write a Phantom.Home.Alarm program that can be used as an Alarm clock (I had one with my Bourne shell version back in the day... I miss it!), as well as an option for Phantom.Security to talk to Phantom.Home. So if a Phantom.Security device is tripped, it can trigger a Phantom.Home device (or series of devices...). This will be the first step towards integrating the Phantom software packages. Stay tuned!
08/19/1999 - Phantom.Security a GNU program?
08/11/1999 - Phantom.Home Beta0.50 is here!
08/11/1999 - Phantom.Home Beta0.50 close!
08/06/1999 - More changes in Phantom.Home
08/05/1999 - New news section for Phantom!