Topic: HomeRun will become the 'Command Central' of your home - written in JAVA 5

[Software Santa]

HomeRun will become the 'Command Central' of your home - written in JAVA 5

HomeRun - where home automation is just the beginning

HomeRun is revolutionary, category-creating software that is designed to make your life easier!! It will allow you to simplify the running of your home, allow you to finally fulfil the promise of intelligent appliances and even coordinate the activities of the people who live there. Homerun can perform the traditional functions of a home automation system - controlling devices, monitoring sensors, etc - with unrivalled power and flexibility, but it will also help you move to the next level of energy management and conservation strategies. It really will become the 'Command Central' of your home. And best of all, it's free! Explore the resources here, whether you want to explore automation, or become a developer in the HomeRun open source project.


Version 0.3.3 released on Feb 18, 2008

Another significant milestone towards beta, this release features a brand new method of automation - using a calendar. This complements the weekly schedule by allowing non-recurring, and special dates to be easily accommodated. In addition, a whole new system of distribution has been put in place. No longer will you need to wait for a major release to get new functionality: packages will appear to your HomeRun system as they become available (online).

Three new packages are also ready:

    * Nabaztag - lets you send text to your WiFi rabbit to speak
    * IRC - another way to be notified, joining email and IM
    * X10 Extended Code - support for some X10 sensors for temperature, light, humidity, and barometric pressure

Useful for environmental control!

Basic Requirements

HomeRun was designed to work in as many computer environments as possible. Since it is written in Java, it ought to operate on any operating system that supports a 1.5 Java runtime: and this includes Microsoft Windows 98 through Vista, Linux (most recent distributions), Apple Mac OS, and Sun Solaris 8 though 10. It should also be very modest in terms of compute resources: almost any computer made within the last five years will have ample CPU, memory, disk, etc

Supported Hardware

You can operate a very useful HomeRun system without using any conventional automation hardware, but many people will have or expect to acquire HA equipment for use with HomeRun. Currently HomeRun supports both the X10 and Insteon 'standards'. A 'standard' in this context means one or more communication protocols, and a set of products using these protocols. Software protocol support almost always requires some additional hardware that bridges between the software program and the physical communication channel(s). These devices go by various names, and use various standard computer interfaces. HomeRun supports:

    * X10 - CM11A computer interface: connects to the computer's RS-232 serial port.
    * Insteon - PowerLinc Serial Controller - connects to the computer's RS-232 serial port.

Note that USB-based bridges are not supported.

Learning HomeRun

At the moment, the best way to learn about the system is to download and use it. Most client applications have a fairly extensive set of help files, including general explanation, task-oriented instructions and the like. A user manual will be forthcoming.

Also, be sure to follow the packages link (also above), which includes comprehensive documentation for HomeRun packages, which are where most of its capabilities live.

Support for HomeRun

Like most open source projects, the primary means of support is the community that uses and develops it. If you find a defect in the software, log a bug report (look for the Submit New link), after making sure that it has not already been reported. If you need assistance in understanding how the software works, visit the forums, especially help.

http://homerun.sourceforge.net/