MiOS - a "free", better Vera?

Community Playground General Discussions
#1

I recently purchased a Vera for a simple home monitoring project. I later discovered squareconnect.com, which describes MiOS, a “full version of the Vera home control system” that is “totally free.” I have a 20W Atom D530 system which would be perfect for a simple server. I’d much prefer hardware that I can open up, troubleshoot, and replace on the fly, to a closed box like Vera. Unfortunately, MiOS seems MIA for now, so Vera is the only game in town.

Question: for $300, what does Vera gain me above and beyond that of MiOS on a re-purposed low wattage PC?

A second unrelated question: are there any inexpensive or similarly priced alternatives to the HM-TS001 or HSM100 modules for the singular purpose of monitoring temperature and generating alerts on max/mins? I don’t necessarily need a motion sensor or light sensor; what I do need is a robust (and preferably cheap) Vera-tested thermometer.

Thanks!

#2

If it helps:

Vera v1 = ASUS Hardware + AEON Labs ZWave USB Stick + MiOS Software
Vera v2 = Sercomm Hardware (ZWave built in) + MiOS Software

So MiOS is the Software layer that’s currently being used on the Vera line. It is, eventually, supposed to be made available to run on other platforms.

You’ll see references to the SheevaPlug, for example, by CJ who’s one of the Micasaverde developers:

http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php?topic=2976.msg13459#msg13459

Overall details are scant, and I suspect folks are focused on stabilizing UI4 [Beta]. I wouldn’t expect to hear much more until that’s out of the woods…

A second unrelated question: are there any inexpensive or similarly priced alternatives to the HM-TS001 or HSM100 modules for the singular purpose of monitoring temperature and generating alerts on max/mins?

I just replaced the Thermostats in my house with ZWave ones, depending upon the model used, and where you buy from you can get these down to US$10-20 more than the price of a simple HSM100’s, and that’s worth the gap.

If you’re looking to monitor house temp, then you might kill two birds with one stone by going with a full blown ZWave TStat instead. You’ll also kick the battery addiction, since you’d be wired directly to the 24v line from your heating system. My HSM (and HomePOS) burn through batteries, and annoyed me no end :wink:

I have mine alert me when the temp goes to 73F in the house (to test that functionality) and it’s working in UI4/Beta.

I have a HSM100 that I was also only using for Temp, now I have the TStats, I don’t use it anymore (was thinking of moving it to the attic to see how hot it gets up there)… not for any practical purpose though

#3

After reading your question I was sort of asking myself the same question. I did some looking around and found a very simple answer over at the SQ Connect site http://www.squareconnect.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=41

#4

So is MiOS built by MCV or is it something made by Square Connect?

#5

MCV

#6

That was me not too long ago asking the same question.
In the end, I think I would prefer the Vera as a stand alone rather than rely on a pc…

#7

I noticed the mios.com website is up and running but how does one download it to your PC to use?