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[petera]

How many of today's technologies will integrate into products in 40 years time. Very few I doubt.

Careful!  Some people don't want their systems to work forever since things can change.

So lucky Apple didn't invent X10. I'd have a drawer full of useless plugs if that had been the case 

[radioguy1007]

I have using X10 since the early BSR (unpolarized brown module) days.  Still have about 6 of them still working.  It has served me well, and has been reliable.  I have a box of 20 or so light modules that get used every holiday for Christmas lights.  All set to the same code, one button push and the whole house lights up!  Always impresses the guests.  Repairs typically are the electrolytic caps or zener diodes, every now and then a triac.  Early appliance modules were typically trashed as the relays were of a poor design.  Bought newer modules as time went on, and when I moved into my current home all light switches got replaced with decora style X10 ones with soft start.  When a new TV with a signal sucking switching supply came into the house, so did a plug in filter.  It just works.

[Tuicemen]

I still run X10 for 90% of my setup at the city and at my off grid place. Like Jeff my x10 parts are almost 100 reliable. Wish the rest worked as well.

[petera]

I have using X10 since the early BSR (unpolarized brown module) days.  Still have about 6 of them still working.  It has served me well, and has been reliable.  I have a box of 20 or so light modules that get used every holiday for Christmas lights.  All set to the same code, one button push and the whole house lights up!  Always impresses the guests.  Repairs typically are the electrolytic caps or zener diodes, every now and then a triac.  Early appliance modules were typically trashed as the relays were of a poor design.  Bought newer modules as time went on, and when I moved into my current home all light switches got replaced with decora style X10 ones with soft start.  When a new TV with a signal sucking switching supply came into the house, so did a plug in filter.  It just works.

That's great to see. A true X10 disciple 

[petera]

I still run X10 for 90% of my setup at the city and at my off grid place. Like Jeff my x10 parts are almost 100 reliable. Wish the rest worked as well.

Just finished removing a ZWave setup on a Vera Edge controller for a friend and replacing it with an X10 setup. The Vera Edge of course has a built in Z Wave radio chip but the problems he was experiencing with ZWave nearly turned him off the unit. He now has a fully functional Vera Edge X10 based controller with all the usual home automation trimmings. Glad to get another home automation controller working comfortably with X10 

[dave w]

Homeseer says I have 141 devices, but about 32 are virtual devices and flags which use X10 HCUCs but are not actual hardware.
X10 is like an old Studebaker, it may burn a little oil but it just keeps on going and going. (How many got lost at the Studebaker part?    )

Addendum: I have three "Banker Boxes" in basement overflowing with X10 protocol devices. One box's contents are new, in box, from when old X10 Wireless went bust and unloaded cheap. I don't see myself moving on to Z-Wave and definitely not WiFi.

[petera]

Homeseer says I have 141 devices, but about 32 are virtual devices and flags which use X10 HCUCs but are not actual hardware.
X10 is like an old Studebaker, it may burn a little oil but it just keeps on going and going. (How many got lost at the Studebaker part?    )

Absolutely.

You have it working on a commercial product like Homeseer which is now 20+ years old and still in development and it's fully functioning. It works perfectly on an open source product like Home Assistant equally well which is a couple of years old and the list is endless.

It's difficult to see why people feel the need to abandon it in favour of technologies that are clearly not fully tried and tested and have little or no track record.

[HA Dave]

I originally bought X10 to control lights in my Home Theater (nearly 20 years ago).

I quickly expanded the automation into my home office (now a man-cave)... then security, and outdoor cameras. I adopted Voice Control using BVC back in 2006-07.... and continued building and growing my X10 setup.

But when the better Hard drive camera recording setups became available I jumped on that... with no regrets. And have been putting off an upgrade of my current system... waiting for it to breakdown.

My X10 Security alarm became too outdated.... with so many options available with the newer systems. So I switched the X10 out there too. My garage door lifter also failed (after nearly 40 years)... and I replaced it with a new unit with the MyQ wifi control.

I have been adding wifi automation since Apple added it to their iphone. Which is also when I bought a Echo device. I was gifted a Homeseer unit, bought an Echo PLUS and.... eventually switched from a BVC (Bill's Voice Control) running on a windows PC controlling everything via a CM15A.... to a WM-100, the Homeseer hub, 5 Echo devices (one is the PLUS hub), a Wink hub, and the MyQ hub. Of course I've also added a wifi [Nest] thermostat... and more.

Although all of my original (basement) X10 is still intact I think I only have 2-3 lights upstairs controlled by X10 modules now. The wifi bulbs are just so easy and convenient.

There are several "types" of automation users. Most people just have a problem they want to solve. Some people enjoy the "control" home automation can provide for the user. I am a "builder" automation user. I enjoy the projects that build the system (bigger and better). Automation is my winter project (every winter). It would be silly for me to do anything that might limit my automation's growth... and my own enjoyment.

[soxfan1966]

I still have mostly x10 stuff for my lights, with few other things mixed in.  I did replace my x10 cameras, as they were not cutting it anymore.  The Pi Hub with HomeGenie has enabled the x10 stuff I do have to be more useful and reliable and the Alexa integration makes it more user friendly too.  I am happy with my current set up.

It's good to hear members are using X10 for more than Halloween and Christmas lights. As I mentioned before it stands it's own ground with any of the other more modern lighting and switching technologies.

Have you updated your HomeGenie installation from Raspbian Stretch to Raspbian Buster. Much more stable and responsive all round and for those just using X10 and IP webcams it's running very smoothly on a Raspberry Pi Zero W. No need for constant restarting that some seem to need to do.

Are you referring to the version of the OS on my PI?  If so, then no I have not updated. What I currently have is running smoothly at this time.

[petera]

Yea I assume your Raspberry Pi is running the OS Raspbian Stretch. Development has now finished on that version so all you will be receiving is security updates for a limited time.You really need to upgrade to Raspbian Buster to benefit from any further developmental updates to the OS.

[soxfan1966]

I am using the image provided by Tuicemen so not 100 percent sure - maybe he can chime in on if that is advised (probably need a separate thread for that)

[petera]

I am using the image provided by Tuicemen so not 100 percent sure - maybe he can chime in on if that is advised (probably need a separate thread for that)

Yes in that case you are using Raspbian Stretch.

I've posted very clear and simple instructions on how to install Homegenie on Raspbian Buster http://forums.x10.com/index.php?topic=31064.0

Read through the whole post and you'll see one user who would be a novice managed it no problem.

[bkenobi]

Raspbian Stretch is a stable platform and I've been using it for a few years.  I would not recommend staying on it if you have your system connected and exposed to the internet cloud since there are potential security implications.  My RPi1 is going to be replaced by the RPi3 I've been playing with for the last year or so.  It will have Buster with HG installed very soon using petera's guide.  I had intended on a switch to Hass, but that hasn't happened due to issues setting up RF modules, so I'm still using HG as my HA system.  It just works well!  In fact, I haven't even thought about the installed setup in months due to it's rock solid stability.  I switched my internet setup around recently so the HG RPi isn't even connected to the network right now and everything keeps plugging along as normal.

[petera]

Raspbian Stretch is a stable platform and I've been using it for a few years.  I would not recommend staying on it if you have your system connected and exposed to the internet cloud since there are potential security implications.  My RPi1 is going to be replaced by the RPi3 I've been playing with for the last year or so.  It will have Buster with HG installed very soon using petera's guide.  I had intended on a switch to Hass, but that hasn't happened due to issues setting up RF modules, so I'm still using HG as my HA system.  It just works well!  In fact, I haven't even thought about the installed setup in months due to it's rock solid stability.  I switched my internet setup around recently so the HG RPi isn't even connected to the network right now and everything keeps plugging along as normal.

Yes it's tempting to leave your Raspberry Pi to its own devices when it's working away nicely. Unlike Windoze it doesn't force updates down your throat. It's only when you discover you do have a problem you then realise you are a version or two behind which may require a fresh install of a newer version to resolve your problem. Again not a major issue but more of an inconvenience really.

[bkenobi]

So long as you have a spare SD card to work with, updating the RPi is so easy that it's silly to worry about it...especially when you have a scripted set of install steps available!  I learned the hard way that not recording your steps will lead to frustrations in isolating small differences in installations.  With such a script, updating to the newest version can be as simple as copy/paste and hit enter (once you have a RPi image installed of course).