UK dongle compatibilty required + Mac OS X

Community Playground General Discussions
1

I am trying to put together a UK/Mac OS X setup here so that I can turn my wall plug lamp on and off via my iPhone. For the iPhone software I found this [url=http://melloware.com/products/zwave/]Lightswitch - Melloware, but unfortunately I found that it relies on Windows for communication with the z-wave dongle.

I want to keep Windows out of the equation and was wondering if you had any Mac drivers planned for your USB dongle hardware?

Is is even possible to buy the dongle on its own?

Thanks.

2

There are drivers for MAC OSX for the Z-Stick: http://www.smarthome-products.com/p-1265-aeon-labs-z-stick-s2-eu-self-powered-z-wave-usb-adapter-european.aspx

3

The problem is that you will still need to setup the network using thinkessentials and that’s not available for osx. You also need to run the zwave commander server on the host computer and that also requires windows. MCV is working on a native iPhone app that will probably work with all of the MCV devices not just lights and thermostats.

I’d wait for there app.

4

In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve run across these Mac-based solutions:

From Wayne-Dalton…
http://www.cepro.com/article/first_z_wave_automation_system_for_the_mac_debuts/

And the ever-popular Indigo system for Mac…

5

Thanks for the replies, nice to see the forum active with interest. Since my last reply I had found a solution here from TrickleStar [url=http://www.tricklestar.com/html/s02_article/article_view.asp?id=202&nav_cat_id=146&nav_top_id=56]http://www.tricklestar.com/html/s02_article/article_view.asp?id=202&nav_cat_id=146&nav_top_id=56[/url] which is both EU and Mac OS X compatible! But thanks also for the driver info for the Aeon, its nice to have options. But I can’t find the drivers for Mac and there nothing on the official website…

I have seen the Indigo software before but its a bit heavy for me, I’m looking to simply turn a wall plug lamp on and off via my iPhone via the z-wave commander server as you say, but its Windows only eugh! I can’t believe every bugger latches onto the iPhone as a controller yet neglects the OS, anyway, what’s this you say about MCV… isn’t that Linux, I’m not against Linux at all but I just can’t use the UI, all the commands. Also, I couldn’t find anything on that.

The Indigo guy seems the way to go for me then, the Lite version perhaps. But is it z-wave compatible, I’m reading X10.

I am not looking to get this all setup until Christmas time, maybe Jan, I’m just researching at the moment. But its been years I’ve wanted to do this, I should think like other technologies that have caught up (auto GPS photo tagging, reverse geocoding, single TB HDDs, 3D films, integrated chat online (GMail)…) with my imagination I’ll get used to it and more onto the next thing. But not just yet :slight_smile:

6

In case the term ‘MCV’ wasn’t clarified… it’s just an abbreviation for Mi Casa Verde, makers of the Vera product. (And, yes, Vera does run on Linux.)

7

Oh, I see, thanks.

I’m no against Linux but I want to get an OS X setup going.

8

Here is the link for the MAC OSX drivers for the Aeon Labs Z-Stick:

https://www.silabs.com/Support%20Documents/Software/Mac_OSX_VCP_Driver.zip

https://www.silabs.com/Support%20Documents/Software/Mac_OSX_VCP_Driver_Release_Notes.txt

Modified

9

I’m still not clear on how you would use the Triklestar stick. Control think will require that you setup the network using windows since there is no mac version of the software and after you have the network setup you still need to have the zwave commander server running on your mac in order to control the lights in the house using zwave commander and I don’t think he has a mac version of zwave commander either.

10

Thanks kaldoon but the links were not complete…

joserpaq: You’re right, there is not Mac server side software, but the important thing is that the hardware is there. The iPhone app is obviously going to push the developer to release a Mac version of the server, on the other hand something so obvious can be missed.

Right now Its a software issue that’s the hurdle, I’m glad for that at least.

11

I was talking to this [url=http://qhorus.com/products/]http://qhorus.com/products/[/url] guy form the US whom I informed about the TrickleStar here in the EU and he says me hopes to add it to his compatibility list, this will then make his server compatible in the EU. Which means I could use my iPhone from that