X10 Community Forum
🖥️ActiveHome Pro => Plug-ins => MyHouse Online => Topic started by: crowntown on May 01, 2009, 09:43:13 PM
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I looked around and didn't find any solutions. I was surprised I didn't see many asking this question. How can I get Firefox to work with the MyHouse Online activeX? All I get is a solid black page.
Note to new topic readers: Discussion returns to original question on the 3rd page.
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Firefox has an add-on called "IE Tab" that's the only way I know of.
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Yeah that just embeds IE in Firefox. Might as well run IE.
As much market share Firefox has I'm surprised X10 hasn't got with the times.
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I use Firefox!!!!! I refuse to go back to IE. (unless it's to check myhouseonline, or my bank account, or my telephone messages)
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I occasionally use IE, mostly only when I have to. Firefox has proven to be much more reliable, easier to use and more up to date on features.
I must say I like the privacy browser mode that IE 8 has, however.
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...it is very unlikely Firefox will ever top 5%....
From http://marketshare.hitslink.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qprid=0 (http://marketshare.hitslink.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qprid=0)...
Microsoft Internet Explorer ---- 66.10%
Firefox ----------------------- 22.48%
Safari ------------------------- 8.21%
(See link for the breakdown of browsers with <2% use.)
Report generated Saturday, May 02, 2009 10:02:27 AM
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I use Firefox!!!!! I refuse to go back to IE. (unless it's to check myhouseonline, or my bank account, or my telephone messages)
Why can't you use Firefox for your bank account and telephone messages?
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...There is nothing that IE has that FF didn't already have in use.
It's been my experience also that IE is constantly playing catchup to Foxfire.
privacy browser mode that IE 8 has
As simple as adding the extension to FF....
Will you clarify this procedure? I haven't figured out yet an as easy a way to access privacy as the new IE8.
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I use Firefox!!!!! I refuse to go back to IE. (unless it's to check myhouseonline, or my bank account, or my telephone messages)
Why can't you use Firefox for your bank account and telephone messages?
AT&T Unified Messaging and My Bank Account use ActiveX controls
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it is very unlikely Firefox will ever top 5%. Not much of a deal changer... for anyone.
That's a keeper! :)%
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...There is nothing that IE has that FF didn't already have in use.
It's been my experience also that IE is constantly playing catchup to Foxfire.
privacy browser mode that IE 8 has
As simple as adding the extension to FF....
Will you clarify this procedure? I haven't figured out yet an as easy a way to access privacy as the new IE8.
IE "Privacy Browser Mode" is nothing really. I've surfed the net for years like this;
InPrivate Browsing will let users control whether IE 8 saves their browsing history, cookies, and other Internet data. InPrivate Blocking will inform users about sites that can track their browsing history, and will allow them to block such activity. InPrivate Subscriptions will let users choose which Web sites to subscribe to or block.
A fourth feature, Delete Browsing History, gives users control over their browsing history after visiting a Web site.
All those things have been available with FF for years. There's several options for this built right in. I have mine set to dump history, any cookies (most are blocked to begin with) and cache every time I close the browser. NoScript takes care of everything else mentioned and then some. IE8 is nothing really. It's still years behind Firefox and likely will never catch up.
How many themes are there for IE? There's thousands for Firefox. How many extensions? None that I know of. Firefox has thousands of them. As a bonus, it's more reliable, much faster, and much safer.
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Any application that does not work in Firefox is certainly behind the times. Most companies realized this several years ago.
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(http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/3654/clipboard02v.jpg)
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I beg to differ. Many people use Firefox. That's obvious in this thread if you read all the comments.
Many people would love to be able to use Myhouse Online in Firefox. This thread may not serve a useful purpose to you, but I didn't know this forum was here to serve you alone.
Like I said much earlier, if you have no useful solution to the question I asked, please kindly move along and stop trying to make this your misguided soapbox.
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I removed my posts. This thread serves no useful purpose.
"The previous content of this post violated the posted X10 General Forum User Etiquette policy and has been removed"
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It was a hard sell for me to switch over to Foxfire several years ago but once I did I'm very happy with it. While there maybe some disagreement as to the market shares of the various browsers, it is clear to me that the competition has actually forced IE to be a better browser. We could continue to "debate"* the individual merits of one versus the other forever. e.g. I love the built in "real time" spell checker that Foxfire has but you can get a spell checker for IE also. Etc.....
Bottom line: Both are free and everyone has the option to choose and use the one they want.
*Since this topic seems to of strayed from a debate to a evangelist attempt to convert others and has left the realm of a home automation topic, I think it's time to close this topic.
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well, I'd didn't start this thread for the purpose of swaying anyone towards Firefox. I could care less what browser or OS other people use. Heck, if you want to use a rotary phone or write checks at the grocery store, then go for it. If you want to surf the web through AOL and Exploder, by all means, do. Just don't give me grief for moving forward. I simply asked if anyone knows a way to use ActiveX within Firefox. I didn't expect someone to show up and start slamming it as some "less than 5%" browser. (I'm still laughing about that)
Since I use Firefox exclusively on all of my Windows and Linux machines, along with using Firefox on my Portable Apps memory stick, and I also use AHP, it's an important topic for me. I also use a few other web-enabled devices (handheld and car computer) that also don't use ActiveX so it'd be nice to figure out a workaround.
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Ok, lets get serious here. There is an activeX plug-in for firefox, but it was never fully tested and was designed for older versions. For all intents and purposes, the gateway for the myhouse online plug-in to AHP isn't all that good and most people have trouble getting logged on. It's a server issue on the X10 side.
The current/best work around to this is to scrap the myhouse thing and use logmein or real VNC. This is how I do it and logmein is great with FF.
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Ok returning to the original question...
...How can I get Firefox to work with the MyHouse Online activeX?...
I don't think I was ever able to get MyHouse Online to work with Firefox. Even with IE it's not reliable because it relies on the X10 servers being up and running. Discussed elsewhere in length, many of us use the free features of logmein.com (http://logmein.com) to access our x10 systems remotely.
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I've been using Logmein Hamachi (non web version standalone) and TightVNC for years now and that does give you some workaround, but it's still not as easy as just going to Myhouse Online, especially if you are using someone elses computer.
I see many complaints about logging into Myhouse but honestly I haven't had any problems. I get logged in within seconds and never get dropped. It actually works very well but unfortunately I have to use IE and ActiveX. I have several other web-enabled devices I'd love to be about to use Myhouse on but of course they don't support ActiveX. Very few applications depend on ActiveX nowadays and have gone to using javascript instead.
I'm using the latest 3.0.10 build of Firefox and don't want to revert to any older version.
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I, too, ALWAYS use the latest FF and use the web based logmein.
Googling ActiveX for FireFox turns up several options.
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Is there a reason it seems everyone is using Logmein web instead of Logmein Hamachi? I've used Hamachi for years and Logmein ended up buying them out. Now Logmein offers a really nice free version of Hamachi. It's a standalone program but if you also use VNC, you only need to run Hamachi on the server side and then you can just VNC through the VPN IP.
The advantage to using Myhouse Online over remoting in is you don't have any lag to deal with. If I'm away from home using a wireless hotspot that only had a 1.5mbps connection, it can get awfully slow remoting in. Sometimes because of the locale, dialup is my only option. It's near impossible to remote in with that but you could probably do Myhouse Online ok.
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I, too, ALWAYS use the latest FF and use the web based logmein.
Googling ActiveX for FireFox turns up several options.
Yup, looking at a few of those.
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...The advantage to using Myhouse Online over remoting in is you don't have any lag to deal with...
Good point! Real time video feeds via Myhouse Online are better than viewing with logmein.com. Unfortunately I don't have any realistic hope of Myhouse Online ever being reliable for regular use even if one does use IE. The X10 servers remain the weakest link in the equation. No amount of whistles and bells at my end are going to change that.
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Crowntown,
You come up with a good way to do this project, I'll crown you a hero in my book. Good luck with your quest!
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...The advantage to using Myhouse Online over remoting in is you don't have any lag to deal with...
Good point! Real time video feeds via Myhouse Online are better than viewing with logmein.com. Unfortunately I don't have any realistic hope of Myhouse Online ever being reliable for regular use even if one does use IE. The X10 servers remain the weakest link in the equation. No amount of whistles and bells at my end are going to change that.
Well, I'm going to keep hoping that x10 address these issues someday.
I don't use AHP for video though I'm thinking about it for a secondary video cam system. I'm currently using an 8 channel DVR card and proprietary software for my video cams. All of my cams are wireless with most of them being 2.4ghz and a few 1.2ghz and 900mhz. I get sound, motion detect, ptz, etc.
I also have an Ademco Vista alarm panel with the phone module installed that has X10 capability, and have the X10 transformer on the way to start sending commands through my alarm panel and phone. I'd love to be able tie my HA, Alarm and Video all together and run it through AHP.
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...I also have an Ademco Vista alarm panel with the phone module installed that has X10 capability, and have the X10 transformer on the way to start sending commands through my alarm panel and phone....
FYI and anyone else reading this:
Most, if not all, major alarm systems have an ability to trigger an external device that can be used to trigger a powerflash module for X10 interface. e.g. I have X10 flash my lights when an alarm is triggered.
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The Ademco Vista panels (and a few others) have an optional transformer (1361x10, old part#4300) that allows the panel to send X10 commands. Ademco also offers a phone module that in addition to adding voice to your panel, allows you to call home and arm/disarm/bypass, etc your panel. You can also execute x10 commands over the phone with this module. I haven't messed with it too much yet because I'm still waiting on my transformer to arrive.
I've worked at an alarm monitoring central station for 7 years where we have strived to stay on the cutting edge of monitoring technology. Hopefully some of that will come in handy trying to tie all this stuff together.
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Some more information I discovered regarding this issue;
ActiveX is the mechanism by which Internet Explorer (IE) loads other applications in the browser. Through ActiveX, IE loads Windows Media Player, Flash, Quicktime, and other applications that can read files embedded in web pages. ActiveX controls are activated when you click an item such as a .WMV file on a web page to download it for display in your Internet Explorer browser window.
* As a Microsoft product, ActiveX was specifically designed to work with Windows systems. ActiveX is not supported by Microsoft on other operating systems such as Mac or Linux.
Firefox and other browsers that work on multiple operating systems use the Netscape Plugin Application Programming Interface (NPAPI) system. NPAPI performs functions similar to those of ActiveX.
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Activex (http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Activex)