Reccomend me a good/cheap in wall PC please

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  • TimH
    Automated Home Legend
    • Feb 2004
    • 509

    #16
    I should also have mentioned Xlobby (www.xlobby.com). Originally free, it’s now a paid-for product, however the free version is still available (http://xlobbystuff.googlepages.com/).
    It’s a highly customisable “media centre” type application which also supports X10 and xAP (and others). Xlobby has web clients and it can also be controlled via remote desktop or other remote control software.

    HTH,

    Tim.
    My Flickr Photos

    Comment

    • jaffab
      Automated Home Sr Member
      • Dec 2008
      • 94

      #17
      Got my CUWIN 3500 - a quick review

      Ok, so my CUWIN3500 (I swapped from 3200 as the delivery time was too long – the 3500 has the case, the 3200 has no case, just the bare PCB at the back) arrived and is in place.

      On the whole, a very good device. The front is a lot like a picture frame – a black surround which some may consider too black, but we are positioning in a wall in the centre (a small wall by a door) and from a distance, it looks like a picture frame hung on the wall. Wife was not too upset about the look of it. In fact, she has suggested putting a wooden picture frame around it (dark bronze) so it would fit in with the real pictures in the lounge.

      Boot time for the device (Windows CE) is about 3 seconds – which is perfect as I want to power down the device when I am away (at work, etc). It has 64Mb flash drive built in (which keeps memory on power down) and 64mb ram (which is cleared on power down). However, a nice app loaded on the device saves all your settings to the flash, so as long as you install you app (and any drivers, such as CF, SQL Server client, etc) to the flash drive, change the system settings once (IP address, user ID, country etc) it will restore back to working setup on power up without any changes being lost.

      Dip settings on the side allow it to boot directly from flash. Load a program in the root of the flash, and when it starts up, it runs the program directly. This is where I put my home brew app, and it boots, loads the app and displays the screen in 5 seconds – excellent.

      Screen is first class, both in terms of display and touch screen. As part of my home brew home automation app, I display photos in the screen so it acts as a virtual photo frame, and the photos look very good on its 800 x 480 screen display. Runs VS2005, Vs2008 and CE/WM apps.

      The device has a built in speaker, which is OK when the unit is outside the wall, but when inside, is a little on the quiet side. However, it has a 3.5mm adapter port, so will connect a hidden small speaker to this inside the wall, and this will sound for alarms, events, doorbell rings etc.

      Fixing in the wall is very easy. The frame has a 9mm lip all the way around, and you get a template. This was the scary bit for me, but holding up the template to the wall and with a very sharp knife, I cut through the plaster board to leave a device sized hole. The device slid in very well, very firm – and whilst it comes with fixing clips, I don’t think I will need them as the fit is so snug. However, one thing I had to do is some minor extra cutouts around 2 of the edges to allow for the device to slide in and out with the power cable in and extra SD card- both of which extended outside the case by 1 or 2 mm.

      Speed, is average. Nothing wrong with it – but don’t expect HAL reactions here. It works fine on my app, but nothing to write home about.

      The only downside on the device that I can see is that it does not like being laid flat on its back (in a horizontal position) for more than an hour – then the heat builds up and the touch screen no longer registers touches. However, if its positioned upright, any heat escapes at the top (vents in the box in mine, which then rises between the plaster boards) and all is good. My device has been on continually for 3 days, and no problems at all.

      If anybody is interested, I can post a few pictures.
      __________________________________________________ _______________________
      My life is Home Automation, and my PS3 clan friends at http://www.ps3crowd.com

      Comment

      • toscal
        Moderator
        • Oct 2005
        • 2061

        #18
        Some photos would be nice.
        IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT WITH A HAMMER, YOU'VE GOT AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM.
        Renovation Spain Blog

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        • jaffab
          Automated Home Sr Member
          • Dec 2008
          • 94

          #19
          Some photos

          Ok, here is my set-up. Sorry for the quality of the photos, but it gives you a general idea of what I have done.


          So here we have the pack of the device - pictured with the wires in place and the hole in the wall. The wire that ends on the black thing is a room temperature sensor. You can see the available connections on the box.


          The hole I made in the wall for the device (via the template). It does not look very deep, but between the plaster and the block at the back, is 4cm (enough for the device).


          distance shot - how it looks installed. Note on mine, wife *forced* me to put a wooden surround around it (a fairly large one) of wooden brass picture frame, so it would match the pictures in the living room (sigh)


          The main screen of my home brew app on the device - nice sharp screen (photo a little fuzzy - sorry). Shows news, weather, current power use, and temperature in different rooms.


          Thre are more pictures with the dimensions of the box here... http://www.audon.co.uk/cw3500.html

          Jaffa
          __________________________________________________ _______________________
          My life is Home Automation, and my PS3 clan friends at http://www.ps3crowd.com

          Comment

          • jaffab
            Automated Home Sr Member
            • Dec 2008
            • 94

            #20
            and a couple more pictures....

            Just a couple more pictures I thought may be useful....



            Displaying films to be played. As you will see, graphics display well on the screen (the images are sharp on screen, but my photo is a little out of focus, next one is better....).


            Another example of the photos on the device. A 'screen saver' photo display on the unit from my home brew app.


            Final example of the screen display - this showing a graph example. Yeah, ok, maybe the colours are a little gareish, but thats my app, and I will tone them down.


            A side on view. As I say, wife forced me to put this (rather large) wooden surround in place to match pictures in the room, however, you can see the screen sit on top of the frame, so this is how much it originally stood out from the wall (about 5mm), now thats been extended to about 2.5cm thanks to the frame. Still, had to keep the wife happy.

            Jaffa
            __________________________________________________ _______________________
            My life is Home Automation, and my PS3 clan friends at http://www.ps3crowd.com

            Comment

            • toscal
              Moderator
              • Oct 2005
              • 2061

              #21
              Did you write the apps yourself. And are you willing to share.
              IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT WITH A HAMMER, YOU'VE GOT AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM.
              Renovation Spain Blog

              Comment

              • jaffab
                Automated Home Sr Member
                • Dec 2008
                • 94

                #22
                Originally posted by toscal View Post
                Did you write the apps yourself. And are you willing to share.
                App was written in VS2005. My back end is SQL Server - with tables for temp readings, movies etc, so it is fairly bespoke. Its also an ongoing development (and likley to be so for the next month or so as I tweak it here and there (putting in a better on-screen keyboard today for searching than the bog-standard Microsoft tosh)), but happy to post the database and source code if anybody wants to use any of it for their own projects (even if its just for the graphics, or any other parts).

                Most of the bits in it are a actually bolt-on found on this web site. I.e,

                Power readings is currentCost, with a VB service which picks up the current cost readings, and writes them to the SQL database. The VB app also picks up sky news headlines once an hour, and the weather from yahoo once every 6 hours.

                Temperature is similar - using a Quasar Electronics PCB (http://www.quasarelectronics.com/314...ata-logger.htm) again captured to SQL Server database.

                But as I say, happy to share the database and the source code. Give me a week to complete more of it (as I say, keyboard, a movie search function, slightly better graphs) and I will put it somewhere so anybody can access.
                __________________________________________________ _______________________
                My life is Home Automation, and my PS3 clan friends at http://www.ps3crowd.com

                Comment

                • toscal
                  Moderator
                  • Oct 2005
                  • 2061

                  #23
                  When you say keyboard do you mean an one screen one as I think windows CE comes with one already built in.
                  If its not there here are a few links to help you.
                  Powerful set of tools to build and use on screen keyboards. Type right away using the preset layouts or create your own from scratch using the Designer. Find out more!




                  Good luck with the project.
                  IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT WITH A HAMMER, YOU'VE GOT AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM.
                  Renovation Spain Blog

                  Comment

                  • jaffab
                    Automated Home Sr Member
                    • Dec 2008
                    • 94

                    #24
                    Windows CE does indeed come with a keyboard - and its the most awful thing that you can imagine - in fact, you can imagine it becuase its the same awful keyboard as in your Windows mobile phone. The links you suggest are for V-Keyboards, but they only run on XP and Vista - so I am quickly developing a pop-up one for CE.

                    Thanks anyway.
                    __________________________________________________ _______________________
                    My life is Home Automation, and my PS3 clan friends at http://www.ps3crowd.com

                    Comment

                    • TimH
                      Automated Home Legend
                      • Feb 2004
                      • 509

                      #25
                      Jaffab,

                      Nice photos
                      Your self-rolled app looks pretty good too!

                      Cheers,

                      Tim.
                      My Flickr Photos

                      Comment

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