Filed under: Software, Odds and ends, Mac mini
Indigo Home Automation
We just told you about the Lithium server monitoring app but what if, like most Mac users, you're more likely to monitor and control your house (or at least your lamps) than your servers? Adam Goldstein has a nice introduction to the Indigo Home Automation and Control Server over at MacDevCenter. Indigo is a Mac application for home automation using INSTEON/X10 switches, dimmers, sprinkler controllers, etc. It does this via a USB interface device which communicates with the special switches, etc. through your existing power lines. Thus, your Mac can both monitor sensors of various sorts (e.g. motion sensors) and send commands to various appliances plugged into control modules (either external ones that go between the appliance and the wall socket, or internal ones that actually replace the wall sockets). There are a variety of sensor and control modules available.
Indigo can be controlled in many ways: pre-made schedules, Applescript, Salling Clicker (Bluetooth), a Dashboard widget, the phone, or even over the internet via the built-in web server. As of now, your Mac server must remain on at all times (though a future version will be able to upload commands to the USB module and then shut off).
Indigo is not cheap at $179.95 (introductory price, $199.95 regularly, demo available) and obviously requires a considerable investment in INSTEON modules ($10 to $200 each), but if you're the geeky type like me this is just begging for a mac mini home server. The main thing missing for me is some sort of thermostat interface and perhaps more sensors.
[Via MacDevCenter]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
planetaryGear said 6:44PM on 1-18-2007
there are a couple of good Mac home control apps, the other one is XTension at http://www.shed.com/ I have just heard that a universal build of the latest version is to be released shortly too. Exciting to have more than one specialty Mac app to choose from!
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Brady J. Frey said 7:24PM on 1-18-2007
I don't doubt the functionality of these applications, but they are very ugly applications for mac usage. I expect that design quality out of a windows machine, not a mac application. I know that doesn't make the app, but it is telling how much quality they're willing to put in.
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czvi said 9:20PM on 1-18-2007
I 've been using Indigo 2.0 since it started beta (which is now over -- the official 2.0 version has been released). I love it. It is in constant use in my home (24/7) and works like a gem. The customer service is unparalleled. Matt reads the online forum daily and answers anyone's question, from newbie to expert, within hours (usually minutes).
I used the x10 ActiveHome software for Windows, and there is just no comparison. This interface is so much better. Considering how many features and hardware support this thing has, I think the interface is quite good.
The best feature wasn't even mentioned: you can create a web page with as complicated graphics as you like (most just use the house floorplan and light icons) to control your lights, appliances, sprinklers, etc., from anywhere with internet access.
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subego said 9:37PM on 1-18-2007
I'm pretty sure Indigo can use any X10 gear, thermostats and sensors included.
You would just set it up as a "generic" device, and could then script it to do whatever you want.
Non-lighting X10 gear uses the same set of signals to do its magic.
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tom said 1:06AM on 1-19-2007
I'm a casual X10 user -- I've got a couple of light on timers, put the Christmas lights on it in December, nothing big. For me, the deal breaker for both Indigo and XTension is the lack of an ability to download the program to the controller. I'm not going to leave my Mac on (and not sleeping) 24/7 just to turn my lights on and off. If either of these programs added that ability, I'd be there.
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Indigo Support said 7:29AM on 1-19-2007
>...I'm not going to leave my Mac on (and not sleeping) 24/7 just to turn
>my lights on and off. If either of these programs added that ability, I'd be there.
Indigo can upload basic triggers and schedules to the PowerLinc model #1132CU:
http://www.funforgeeks.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=31
The above controller handles X10 commands only. We are working on upload support to the newer INSTEON/X10 PowerLinc (2414U). Unfortunately the 2414U is a totally different animal than the 1132CU, so we are having to rewrite our action/schedule compiler to support it.
Matt Bendiksen (from Perceptive Automation.com)
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Eddie Risenhoover said 11:14AM on 1-19-2007
I've been using Indigo for 6 months in my new house. I bought X-10 switches in place of conventional switches for many lights and installed a programmable thermostat. I appreciate the ability to operate lights we normally turn on and off every evening and morning automatically. Indigo is a great application, though it lacks some of the polish of Mac-only apps. It is especially easy with the PowerLinc 1132CU. My only difficulty with that device is finding the outlet that operates all devices on both legs of the system, even with a phase coupler hardwrired in. Despite that, Indigo works great!
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Andrew Turner said 12:36PM on 1-19-2007
This month's cover article for MacTech magazine reviews the various Mac home automation software and hardware options, and next month there will be an article on how to setup and use Indigo in particular.
There are lot of great solutions and options to put together an automation system that suits you. They're also all extensible via Applescript (and some via Perl, Python, HTML) to do specific things as well.
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Eric Carroll said 1:07PM on 1-19-2007
I've been using x10 for a while. Unfortunately, I recently moved from Brooklyn, NY to California and haven't had the time/money to re-set-up my "bedroom of the future TODAY".
Indigo and AppleScript allowed me to control everything in that one room (light, blinds, music, and so on) with little x10 control boxes, my Mac, or my voice. It was pretty slick. I am itching to get it all set-up in Cali here. It really wasn't all that expensive an investment, but I had a computer that ran all of this for me in Brooklyn, that I don't have in Cali, so the most expensive piece of the puzzle is missing.
As to Indigo being ugly, 2.0 is pretty slick in that you can use the Server Client model to create your OWN interfaces in the form of Webpages. You can customize this to your hearts delight, the demo at MacWorld was pretty cool I have to say...
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Jacques said 7:14PM on 1-21-2007
Brady, it would be great to learn what YOU have done that qualifies you as an expert re. application development.
Indigo is a GREAT application, with the right client server architecture. In the case of Home Automation, what one is looking for is, being able to control it from another mac or browser, to interface with Applescript or other application. Look is complitely secondary. I had been looking for this for quite some time. Matt is amazing, he fixes issues faster than we can report them! Maybe not Apple Evangelist UI but this is the killer app for HA.
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