HouseBot

There are many different ways to setup the Software Remote, but here are some of my personal tips:

• Running a PocketPC with a CompactFlash 802.11 card makes a great, long range remote.
• Allow the Software remote to manage the units power. Leave the PocketPC on at all times. After turning the unit back on, the wireless adapter must reestablish a connection with the access point, which is time consuming. Then the Software Remote must re-login to the HouseBot server. This reconnection process takes way too long if your trying to quickly turn the volume down, for example.
• In the “Power” management configuration of the unit, turn off the options to automatically turn of the device after x number minutes. I’ll explain why later.
• In the Configuration of the Software Remote, set the ‘Inactivity time before screen is blanked” at a reasonably short interval (like 20 seconds).
• Add a “Screen Blank Button” to every Panel that you use and like to leave open. I like to do this so I don’t have to wait for the Software Remote to hit the timeout. It’s especially handy when watching a movie, since the light from the display is somewhat distracting.
• Turn the display Brightness down as low as you can. Generally in a dark room, you can see it very clearly even at a low level. This will help to preserve battery life.
• When finished using the Software Remote, leave it in the charger.

The general idea here is to let the Software Remote automatically ‘blank’ the screen instead of having the unit go into a suspended state. The ‘blank’ feature that will be automatically called after the timeout specified in the configuration, or when the ‘blank’ button is pressed will turn the display of the unit completely off (Note, the device must support video power management. Most newer Pocket PC’s support this). Once the display is off, there is much less drain on the battery and the device can remain off of the charger for any reasonable amount of entertainment time.



To turn the display back on, press any button on the unit. With some units you can touch the display to turn it back on. Since the Software Remote never went to sleep, it can communicate immediately with the HouseBot server when needed.

Thanks Scott!

I seem to be having a few issues trying to get a windows mobile 6.1 smartphone to work like you discuss...

Basically I seem to having 2 problems:

First, even though the screen blanks OK when I click the 'blank screen' button... this doesn't actually last for long! The phone then starts to cycle through turning on, then after a while (probably the period I set on the housebot startup screen) it blanks, then a few minutes later turns on again, then off, then on etc... as I'm sure you can imagine this is a bit of a pain during a movie!

Second, if the phone has been left for a while (hours I guess) it looses connection with the access point. This has to be reset by coming out of the software remote and going into network connections etc.etc... sometimes you can only reconnect by rebooting the phone itself. I guess this is probably not a housebot issue, but it is making housebot impractical!

I wonder if I am using the correct client? Which should I use for an ARM windows mobile smart phone on version 6.1? I had assumed that if I ran the setup file it would appear in my progam list. It doesn't, I can only start the software remote using file explorer...

Basically I'm in my 30 day trial and trying to get housebot working for me. If I can get it good enough for my family to use it to control MCE then I'll purchase and bit by bit expand it to control more things in the house - multiroom audio, lighting, heating etc... MCE control is the big one for now as thats what my family want and it will pay for the licence!

If the screen is unblanking, it is because the remote has sensed some kind of activity (thinking it is from the user). Check to make sure you don't have any programs running (in the background) that may be causing it to wakeup. Also, make sure you are running the very latest version, since I did improve this behavior in the latest version. If you enable tracing on the SWRemote, it will trace out the message that caused it to unblank. Sometimes this can help understand what the issue is. You can send me the trace file if you would like.

The ARM version should work fine. There's really no functional difference between the versions. If you have one that works, then you're good.