I'd love to try HG or HA.... but I think it's too much like coding for myself..... and for most of us.
I don't know about HA yet
However trying HG is actually far from being like coding. True a point and click installer no longer works (at least it didn't for me) but it is only 4 lines to paste into a terminal window two of which are to update drivers and linux.
Dave you tend to over think things, HG is almost as simple as setting up AHP without any of the plugins.
Think of the HG coding add ons like the SDK for AHP you can use it or let others create the addons you use.
The addons others create are simpler to install then AHP addons others created and they are integrated directly into HG.
I don't like to have to type or cut and paste a bunch of code to get something working to test. If I'm going to do that I'll create my own software.
I'm sure I can get you running HG on your Pi in less then 20 mins. Obiously creating a whole HA setup would take much longer depending on devices, timers, macros. But setup for simple turning on/off x10 devices is very simple point and click.