3 ms·

There's been a couple of really promising privacy respecting Indiegogo or Kickstarter offerings, but neither got to a product. I find it really hard to believe

There's been a couple of really promising privacy respecting Indiegogo or Kickstarter offerings, but neither got to a product. I find it really hard to believe there isn't a viable way to a home assistant / hub that leaves control and privacy in the home. The whole IoT, app, with constant data harvesting and selling is not what I want in the home, just control and ability to buy without all the dystopian baggage. It all seemed so much more promising back in the days of X10 and keeping automation on the LAN. Edit: X10 was launched in 1978. No wonder it could do with a refresh! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/X10_(industry_standard) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/X10_(industry_standard)

kazen44 8y ago
Proper "home automation" systems do exists, but they are usually meant for automating public and large buildings, require a KNX network (which is very, very expensive on the device and programming side) and usually have hardware which is simple not affordable to the average consumer. KNX works fine, it is a broad standard with a ton of support, the issue is it's massive pricepoint and fact that almost every hardware device that has support for it comes in a DIN package. (which is fine for large scale buildings with utility closets which have DIN rails, but not for your average home).
- NeedMoreTea 8y ago
  Sounds like there's a niche I'd dearly love someone to find and exploit. X10 still exists, and modules are still sold (for about a tenth of the cost of KNX modules from a quick search), but it's an ancient standard and very limited compared to what we might now expect. On, off and dimming are about the extent of its abilities.
  - kazen44 8y ago
    KNX can do basically anything you want from a building (including HVAC, security systems etc), but is just very, very expensive. Also, most software server front ends for it are horrible. I am actually wondering if building a relatively cheap KNX hardware module for home assistant might just not be the best option in that regard.
  - slantyyz 8y ago
    There's always Z-wave, which is way more modern than X10. I started with Wemo because I thought I didn't want to deal with a hub, and in retrospect, that was a mistake. Z-wave is faster and easier to set up and maintain than wifi/IP based equipment like Wemo.

kazen44 8y ago

Proper "home automation" systems do exists, but they are usually meant for automating public and large buildings, require a KNX network (which is very, very expensive on the device and programming side) and usually have hardware which is simple not affordable to the average consumer. KNX works fine, it is a broad standard with a ton of support, the issue is it's massive pricepoint and fact that almost every hardware device that has support for it comes in a DIN package. (which is fine for large scale buildings with utility closets which have DIN rails, but not for your average home).

NeedMoreTea 8y ago
Sounds like there's a niche I'd dearly love someone to find and exploit. X10 still exists, and modules are still sold (for about a tenth of the cost of KNX modules from a quick search), but it's an ancient standard and very limited compared to what we might now expect. On, off and dimming are about the extent of its abilities.
- kazen44 8y ago
  KNX can do basically anything you want from a building (including HVAC, security systems etc), but is just very, very expensive. Also, most software server front ends for it are horrible. I am actually wondering if building a relatively cheap KNX hardware module for home assistant might just not be the best option in that regard.
- slantyyz 8y ago
  There's always Z-wave, which is way more modern than X10. I started with Wemo because I thought I didn't want to deal with a hub, and in retrospect, that was a mistake. Z-wave is faster and easier to set up and maintain than wifi/IP based equipment like Wemo.