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[bkenobi]

My understanding of apcupsd was that the service monitored the UPS for power level and at the preconfigured power level it would shut just the system down.  If the UPS continued to drain to zero, when power returned it would immediately power on the RPi since power had been removed and then restored.  The problem with this is that a power blip on return could corrupt the SD.  I don't have high drain devices on that UPS, so it would have to be down for another few days beyond the level I selected for shut down (IIRC the level I have it at).

[Convastor]

I believe most APC UPS' will not turn on the load until the batteries are charged to a certain minimum level. This is independent of the existence of apcupsd.  I believe you can override that with the power button, but I am not certain.

[bkenobi]

Huh, wasn't aware.  I just replaced the battery in one of my APC units that could keep my TV on for around 0.5 seconds where it should work for 30-60 minutes.  When I installed the battery and powered it on it just turned on like normal.  This unit isn't a Smart-UPS, just a Back-UPS IIRC so perhaps it's not a feature of the low end models.

[Convastor]

IME new UPS batteries arrive mostly fully-charged.  I just replaced the batteries in the UPS for our main server and the UPS showed a full charge on them right away.

BTW: If you want your UPS batteries to live a little longer, pull the plug and run until the UPS is near shut-down.  Helps prevent the plates in lead-acid batteries from plating, thus reducing capacity.

[bkenobi]

How often?  That's how they used to prevent "memory" in old rechargeables, correct?

[Convastor]

How often?  That's how they used to prevent "memory" in old rechargeables, correct?

I try to do it once per quarter.  That also makes me aware of batteries that are approaching EOL, rather than finding out when it's too late.
In answer to your question: Yes, but I think the chemical issues are different.  Not certain.

[Tuicemen]

The PiX10Hub image was built using the Pi zero W board as the platform. This allowed for some customization to HG and other possible programs. However many are finding the ZeroW to limited in a number of ways for their setup or have other Pi boards which this doesn't work on.
For that reason I started to create a universal PiX10Hub PI image  this currently only adds HG and has no HG customization.

If you find you require this image, PM me and I'll get you setup to test the current working image. I can only currently test with the Zero W. Once it is confirmed to work with other Pi boards I'll post the link with the current one for Zero Ws.
 

[racerfern]

I got HG working by just downloading the file from
https://genielabs.github.io/HomeGenie/#/get_started
Very simple on a Noobs complete installation.
Obviously it will take more effort to get Alexa or Google Home working, but the HG part worked just fine.
This was on a 3B+.

[Tuicemen]

Yes, the instructions are fairly easy to follow  there even the step by step I posted here:  http://forums.x10.com/index.php?topic=30427.0 is a simple cut and paste. However some for what ever reason struggle.
No GUI I believe turns most off as the install is done from command line.
The PXH 2.0 image is not a desktop image which is may be what many struggle with. A desktop install adds many things which slow down a PI thus rendering older PIs to slow to perform.
The PXH loads the Pi config (a simple user interface) which requires using the up down arrows on your keyboard.
once done and rebooted one command needs to be typed or pasted in and your done.
The PXH 2.0 only installs needed files. Luckily setting up HG isn't a big deal once installed.
Even setting up Alexa is fairly straight forward, once you install the interface all devices in HG are discovered automatically. Google Home is another story but even that isn't impossible just more work.

[racerfern]

No GUI I believe turns most off as the install is done from command line.
The PXH 2.0 image is not a desktop image which is may be what many struggle with. A desktop install adds many things which slow down a PI thus rendering older PIs to slow to perform

A couple of things to consider:
How many people that installed via command line knew what they were typing? How many people actually know what "sudo" stands for?

IIRC, you can have the desktop installed making it easier for a ton of people then still boot to the command line. Now you can type 192.168.1.xxx from a PC, tablet, whatever and not take a performance hit. If the desktop isn't being utilized I don't see where the performance hit is going to be. It does take more space on the SD card but that's not significant.

I personally feel that you will get a lot more users if you take the GUI root, especially if on a 3B+ which is just a few dollars more. Who cares if it doesn't fit inside a CM15A. You have ETH,wifi,BT, 4 USB ports, more everything. This is why as bloated as Win10 is, or the latest Mac version, they're still the desirable OS systems. Why is there even a NOOBS? Because of the pushback from all the users that didn't want to deal with command lines. If that were the case I would still be on DOS, DRDOS or CP/M.

Of course, you can still boot and run command line and hopefully slowly learn the commands. In general, this isn't a young bunch of people you're dealing with on this forum, hence the hesitation. Serve it as eye candy and they will be eating from your hand.

[Tuicemen]

The GUI on a Pi isn't really what gives the PI a performance hit it is all the added things that are distributed with it that gets loaded on boot even if you boot to the terminal window.

The Zero W was not chosen for this project due to it being able to fit in a CM15, it was due to its cost which at the time was $5 US. Actually Noobs just helps find the different distributions and installs the one you wish. You can still download and install the desktop or lite version without any command line input.

If an end user wishes the Pi Desktop they can go that route but it isn't any simpler to setup HG from.
The PXH 2.0 requires only two commands to be typed or copied into the command line sh /boot/HG and after rebooting from the Pi setup screen sh setupHG no long commands names to worry about. Once done open any browser to the pi ip on another device and your faced with the HomeGenie web UI
I suppose I can (and may) publish the script separate and users can download and install what ever Pi Linux OS distribution they wish

[James G]

Forgive me but I have been running the same extensive X-10 system for decades with only a few minor changes from time to time. Despite reading the posts, I still do not know exactly what this is.

How does it compare with the Plato HouseLink described in detail here:

https://www.hometoys.com/article/1997/10/plato-houselinc/217/

[bkenobi]

That link doesn't work for me.  HomeGenie is a HA software written in Mono so it can be run on Windows, RPi, etc.  It can use X10 and many other systems in a combined setup.

EDIT: The link works on my Windows machine but wasn't working earlier on my Android.

[Tuicemen]

The PiX10Hub is a Image created for a Raspberry Pi specifically designed for the $5-$10 Zero W board and CM15A.
However Others have used it with other Pi Boards and other X10 controllers.
It includes HomeGenie which bkenobi mentioned.
This gets your HA control off your PC and allows you to connect to it from anywhere.
The image also is totally free and designed to get a X10 setup running in a short amount of time.

[jfcl]

Wow!  I've been running my CP-290 on a Raspberry Pi for years.  It has been great to have always-on internet access to my X-10 modules.

PiX10Hub looks like it finally might replace this.   Thanks!
           --jfcl