ZDNET Review of ActiveHome

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Featuring Home Control By ComputerLife Magazine (ZDNET) (3/98)The following are excepts form the article ...

"Ah, the joys of modern living. You pull into your driveway after a hellish commute, click the miniature remote control attached to your key chain, and the front porch light comes on, along with your living-room stereo and window lamp. Inside, the air conditioning unit has already been cooling the house for an hour.

A Jetsonian fantasy? Not at all. With today's home-automation programs, it's easy to tame and train the ever-growing assortment of electrical appliances and lights that populate your home, right down to creating a home-security system that automatically phones you when it senses a break-in. And while it's true that you can spend thousands of dollars on sophisticated projects that require professional installers, most do-it-yourself automation kits start at less than $100."

"The good news about home-automation systems is that they're not as complex as you may think. For starters, you don't need to run any additional wiring; X10, the current major communication protocol for home automation, uses your existing power lines to send one-way commands from your PC to remote modules that control lights, appliances, and other devices. And since many Windows-based automation systems work even when your computer is off (by downloading commands to a PC-connected module), you don't need to leave your computer on all the time."

"Before you buy a home-automation kit, write down your goals. Do you want to simplify everyday tasks, such as the tedious ritual of turning on your bedside lamp and kitchen coffeepot every morning, or do you need a home-security routine that turns on your living-room lamp and porch light every day at dusk? Next, take a look at the available options in your price range that will do the trick. For simpler tasks -- turning appliances on and off, setting timers, and so on -- PC-based home-automation programs like ActiveHome and Home Director, or the satellite receiver-based RCA DSS Home Control Kit from Thomson Consumer Electronics, are your best bets."

"Smart appliances and fancy wiring-based systems are still a way off, but here's a quick and easy, five-step automation routine that anyone with a PC and a few extra bucks can use to get up and running. X10's ActiveHome beat out IBM's Home Director by a pinch because of the included key chain remote control, handy for turning on lights and appliances in the evening before entering the house. Although this walk-through is specific to ActiveHome, you can substitute Home Director for any of the steps.

1.Plug the Transceiver Module, which receives radio frequency (RF) commands for lamps and appliances from the ActiveHome remote control, into an available AC outlet. Make sure the module's House Code dial is set to A and the Unit Code slide is set at 1. Then plug a lamp or appliance into the module.

2.Set the Lamp Module's House Code to A and its Unit Code to 2. (Each module needs a unique address for ActiveHome to recognize it.) Plug a lamp into the module and then connect the module to a convenient AC outlet. The Lamp Module can control an incandescent lamp rated up to 300 watts, but it doesn't work with fluorescent or energy-saving lamps.

3.Connect the brown end of the interface cable to an open serial port on your PC. Then connect the other end of the cable to the Computer Interface Module and plug the module into a nearby AC outlet. Finally, insert two AAA batteries into the Computer Interface Module's battery compartment. Also add batteries to the key chain remote, which you can later use to turn devices on and off.

4.Install the ActiveHome software. The first time you run the program, ActiveHome will load a file called MYHOUSE.X10, which will display a graphical representation of the Transceiver ("My appliance") and Lamp ("My lamp") modules. Select New Standard Macro from the Macro menu to create a new automation routine.

5.Use the Macro Generator to set start and stop times for your lights and appliances. Choose the device you wish to program, right-click on the mouse, and select Delay Time from the pop-up menu. You can also program lights to brighten and dim at selected times. ActiveHome comes with several sample macros to get you started."