I signed up for the Pine 64 Kickstarter which has now funded. I ordered the Pine 64 OpenHAB package so it will be interesting to see what this goes as an alternative to Vera.
Right now I have two VERA 3 units running and there are periods when the response time is simply unacceptable. Most of the time I see CPU utilization around 5-6 pct but about once a minute or so it bangs up to 60-80 pct and lights take forever to respond to sensors etc. I use PLEG extensively and it’s the only thing I can think of that would do this as it evaluates inputs, conditions, and schedules.
The new VERA Plus does not appear to offer any significant improvement in CPU and it requires UI7 which looks to me more like a NEVER ending development work in progress than a functional HA system so it looks like time to evaluate moving on to something else.
So when I get my Pine I’ll start looking at OpenHAB.
The Pine64 campaign page shows openHAB as an operating system. I thought openHAB was a Java home automation application. This caused me to think that the Pine64 guys were playing buzzword bingo without a clue, but the openHAB CEO is one of their advisers, so surely they didn’t get that wrong.
So, now I’m confused.
But, it also triggered another thought for me. A CEO for a grass roots open source project? This sounds like a company crowd sourcing the development of its flagship product. So far, every company that I have seen do this successfully has ransomed the product by leaving an under developed “community edition” as open source and offering the developed and developing closed source versions for a fine fee, subscriptions preferred.
[quote=“Z-Waver, post:2, topic:190756”]The Pine64 campaign page shows openHAB as an operating system. I thought openHAB was a Java home automation application. This caused me to think that the Pine64 guys were playing buzzword bingo without a clue, but the openHAB CEO is one of their advisers, so surely they didn’t get that wrong.
So, now I’m confused.
But, it also triggered another thought for me. A CEO for a grass roots open source project? This sounds like a company crowd sourcing the development of its flagship product. So far, every company that I have seen do this successfully has ransomed the product by leaving an under developed “community edition” as open source and offering the developed and developing closed source versions for a fine fee, subscriptions preferred.[/quote]
Yes, it is a bit confusing but for the money who knows. OpenHAB is a java “thingy” so it will work under Windows, Linux et ask. The Pine implementation is under their Linux porting as I recall but the Kickstarter included everything ready to boot on a SD card.with a ZWave adapter for USD 59 which seemed like a reasonable cost of entry.
I am reluctant to leave VERA but every product they introduce they seem to choose the absolute minimum system rather than blasting it with some power and put performance issues in the past.
OpenHAB and Domoticz look to be the frontrunners for open source products currently. The only big downside with it is that they do not support door locks or other ‘high security’ z-wave devices due to the fact they have not officially certified / licensed their software with z-wave and have just reverse-engineered the protocol (so don’t or can’t support the crypto protocol). OpenHAB have a statement about this on their site.
If I had to guess, this might be the thing you get in the vapor-ware paid version, but who knows. OpenHAB + Pi2 was a serious contender for my VeraLite replacement, but laziness won the day for me and the ability to port an entire z-wave network from a VeraLite to a VeraPlus without having to exclude and include everything, not to mention having to re-do my whole system and iPhone/android app configs won out.
Let us know how it goes, interested how the porting process and re-setup of custom events and phone apps works out.
The Pine with OpenHab is just a delivered set up product.
The same as if anyone took a Pi 2, loaded OpenHab, and included the wifi module and a Z-Wave stick. Come to think of it, maybe not a bad little business/hobby aimed at those (like me) that aren’t too computer savvy.
I think OpenHab is the way to go for the future, but right now it’s not plug-n-play. I’d pay a few extra dollars to make sure I got a correct working version delivered into my hands with the bells and whistles attached.
None of the open solutions will ever go far without secure device support. Period.
I think that people should take their discussion of competing products to those respective forums. MiCasaVerde is really tolerant of this, but it is an ahole thing to do (and disrespectful) to discuss competitors products on a commercial product forum.
[quote=“JasonJoel, post:6, topic:190756”]1. None of the open solutions will ever go far without secure device support. Period.
I think that people should take their discussion of competing products to those respective forums. MiCasaVerde is really tolerant of this, but it is an ahole thing to do (and disrespectful) to discuss competitors products on a commercial product forum.
Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk[/quote]
OR you can look at it this way… This is an indication of how Vera is not responding to the needs of its users and by reading these threads they can figure out how to better serve (and retain) their customer base.
[quote=“JasonJoel, post:6, topic:190756”]1. None of the open solutions will ever go far without secure device support. Period.
I think that people should take their discussion of competing products to those respective forums. MiCasaVerde is really tolerant of this, but it is an ahole thing to do (and disrespectful) to discuss competitors products on a commercial product forum.
Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk[/quote]
As I said, I REALLY don’t look forward to changing from Vera, assuming the Pine/OpenHaB thing actually goes anywhere and lack of the secured protocols for locks is a problem for me.
I like Vera as an appliance, which is what a home automation system SHOULD be. But every time they bring out a piece of hardware they go with the least possible hardware platform rather than give themselves some expansion room. At current hardware prices how hard or expensive would it be to bring out a Vera with a 2GHz processor and 500MB of memory AND PUT PERFORMANCE/GROWTH PROBLEMS BEHIND YOU FOR YEARS TO COME. These days you almost have to search hard to find a CPU less than a GHz or multi-core. I’d gladly pay an additional $50-$100 for a system that wasn’t breathing hard with 60 ZWave devices and some PLEGS running on it.
And lets face it, UI7 is now OVER A YEAR OLD and if you read some of the threads people are STILL losing their entire systems because they installed the lastest “update.”
Personally I think it is legitimate to discuss alternatives here because we’re discussing the REASONs for looking for alternatives. If Vera is paying attention this is a good thing …
I think it is great to discuss vera issues. I even think it is great to discuss pointing out how other systems do it in the spirit of improving vera.
I do not think it is appropriate to discuss how best to switch to another system. That should be discussed on the other systems’ forums.
I hope some of you become business owners and are just as open minded when customers sit in your shop talking about how to move business away from you to a competitor…
Why discuss this as Vera vs. Openhab? They are different things. The fact is, they can play well together. Let Vera handle the Z-Wave stuff and Openhab everything else and your locks are covered. There is no reason to be locked down to one vendor for hardware. Set yourself free!
I actually have the perfect system. Vera integrated via mios binding in openhab. Openhab is used for my nikobus lighting (and some other bindings) while vera is used to control my caddx alarm panel. This combo allows me to use veramate, imperihome, Homewave and openhab ui to control all devices. Works like a charm!
@JasonJoel - I agree that Vera Ltd. is extraordinarily tolerant of these discussions. Something I have pointed out as being to their credit several times before regarding openHAB and other stuff as well. I’m thankful for their tolerance and willingness to not censor the discussion.
I also find it rude, as apparently you do, to use Vera’s forum to discuss at length non-Vera matters such as switching from Vera to another platform or the opneHAB binding development thread that stayed on the front page of the General sub for many months, before being moved to the more appropriate Programming section.
@ChrisK - Saying that openHAB and Vera are different things is willfully fallacious. openHab may have a different design philosophy or goal than Vera, but right now, they are both burgeoning home automation systems. Certainly that is the context in which discussions here have been in and anyone discussing openHAB on the forums so far has been doing so with the stated or implied intent of replacing Vera with openHAB. This thread is no exception.
@Z-Waver, I could not disagree with you more. Vera is a system of hardware and firmware. Openhap is software. In the context of my post, openHAB sends and receives commands to and from Vera. No where did I say get rid of Vera, in fact it was just the opposite.
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