Snevl_bb LED Sign Control package Discussion

[danielbo]

Daniel (and anyone else who may be interested):

I saw three BetaBrite classics on EBay this a.m. One you can find by searching for "BetaBrite" and the other two by looking for "Adaptive Micro LED" (I think).

Steve

I have been asking them if it is a classic or prism but have not gotten an answer. I am not sure if they know or not, is there something else I could be asking to make sure it will work with your program?
Thanks,

[stevea]

I have been asking them if it is a classic or prism but have not gotten an answer. I am not sure if they know or not, is there something else I could be asking to make sure it will work with your program?

Daniel,

The three I looked at were all classic, but there are some Prisms on EBay too. If you want, you can email me with the link to which one you are looking at, and I think I will be able to tell if it is Prism or not. Unfortunately, I am blocked from EBay here at work, so it may be a bit before I can answer.

Basically, the Classic is only 3 colors of LED (with some blends between them). The Prism has lots more colors, and a USB interface instead of the serial interface.

Almost all of the other LED signs from "Adaptive Micro Systems" will have the serial interface and conform to the "Alpha Protocol" which is how my stuff talks to the sign.

Hopefully that helps.

Steve

[danielbo]

Daniel,

The three I looked at were all classic, but there are some Prisms on EBay too. If you want, you can email me with the link to which one you are looking at, and I think I will be able to tell if it is Prism or not. Unfortunately, I am blocked from EBay here at work, so it may be a bit before I can answer.

Basically, the Classic is only 3 colors of LED (with some blends between them). The Prism has lots more colors, and a USB interface instead of the serial interface.

Almost all of the other LED signs from "Adaptive Micro Systems" will have the serial interface and conform to the "Alpha Protocol" which is how my stuff talks to the sign.

Hopefully that helps.

Steve

I have bid on two of them, I hope they both are classics. I wrote and asked them and they said it was.

[stevea]

Upcoming changes

There are a number of changes that will be in a v1.1. There's only been a few downloads of v1.0, and I'm not sure anyone has tried it yet. I figure eventually people will report some problems, so I'm holding off posting v1.1 until then.

Some things I've done so far with what will become v1.1:

1. Added the "queue_msg" command, which will greatly simplify scripts wanting to temporarily display some info on the sign. In v1.0 a temporary display would require three calls to Snevl_bb, but now you can do it with one queue_msg call. The script actually keeps a queue now, so you also don't have to worry about two events trashing each other. I've updated the "Extras" samples to make use of queue_msg where possible.
2. Added querying the sign for some generic data at startup, to make sure the comms are working.
3. Added a simple ASP web page to the "Extras" which demonstrates sending something to the sign for an amount of time.
4. Fixed up the documentation in a number of places. Although I state in the docs that my examples will be in VBScript, I had most in VB.NET. That and other things have been corrected.
5. Added two levels of debug via a setting in the INI file, and added lots of debug information.

Steve

[gelessor]

I've had problems with the old plugin working intermittently. I will download a give a good testing this weekend.

[GreenAcres]

I've had problems with the old plugin working intermittently. I will download a give a good testing this weekend.

Same here. So I begged Steve to write us this one and I have to say it is rock solid. He has exceeded all my expectations with this one.

Steve just want to say thanks again.

Thom

[stevea]

Thanks Thom!

v1.1 is coming. I need to work some on the documentation, but it I think it is easier to use than v1.0. I've got it running two signs here (BetaBrite and 4120C), and Thom has it working 3 (all BetaBrite) and soon a 4th (4200C). So, I think most of the kinks should be worked out by now.

Steve

[stevea]

v1.1 Posted

I just posted version 1.1 over in the library thread (http://board.homeseer.com/showpost.p...41&postcount=3). The changes are described in that post, and the ZIP file is attached to the top message of that thread.

Let me know if anyone has some suggestions, bugs, or questions. Thanks.

Steve

[stevea]

For anyone who may be interested: There is currently a Adaptive Micro 4120C on EBay here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ADAPTIVE-MICRO-S...item4a9eaf06f5

This is the exact sign that I bought a month or so ago, from the exact same seller. It works great with Snevl_BB (and I suspect it would work well with LEDAM). Because it is two-line, you can also do lots of creative things (since I put in the formatting to control which line you want text on). It's also a heck of a price: The bid is currently $19.99, and he charges $28 to ship in the 48 states.

Unless this one is different, it won't come with a serial cable. It uses the same one as the BetaBrite, and periodically there is one on EBay, or you can make one. Oh, and also: There's a jumper you'll probably have to change to make it work with an RS232 cable.

The 4120C is 40" long, which is a fair amount larger than the BetaBrite. The characters are the same size as the BetaBrite, but there are two lines.

Steve

[danielbo]

I asked them about the shipping, sounded pretty high.

[stevea]

I asked them about the shipping, sounded pretty high.

Actually, on that particular one thay are saying a flat $28 to ship anywhere in the continental US. That's actually not bad, given how big this thing is.

Steve

[fungun]

Can't seem to get the CID info to my BetaBrite.
Here is the log..
2/27/2010 3:20:53 PM ~!~Snevl_bb~!~Snevl BetaBrite package, version 1.1 (18-Feb-2010), by Steve Anderson.
2/27/2010 3:20:53 PM ~!~Snevl_bb~!~Sign 'Main', COM4: COM Port Opened.
2/27/2010 3:20:53 PM ~!~Snevl_bb~!~For sign #1 (Main), 8 message buffers and 8 strings were allocated (4846 bytes total)
2/27/2010 3:20:54 PM ~!~Snevl_bb~!~Querying status of sign #1 (Main) ...
2/27/2010 3:20:55 PM ~!~Snevl_bb~!~ --- Firmware 10404402, rev e (10/98)
2/27/2010 3:20:55 PM ~!~Snevl_bb~!~ --- Sign clock: 15:20, Sign Speaker is DISABLED
2/27/2010 3:20:55 PM ~!~Snevl_bb~!~ --- Total Memory: 5480 bytes, Available Memory: 450 bytes, Memory Used: 5030 bytes
2/27/2010 3:20:56 PM ~!~Snevl_bb~!~Snevl_bb Initialized.
2/27/2010 3:20:56 PM ~!~Info~!~Finished initializing scripting
2/27/2010 3:20:56 PM ~!~Startup~!~Starting scheduler
2/27/2010 3:20:57 PM ~!~Startup~!~Start up complete.
2/27/2010 3:20:57 PM ~!~Message Server Info~!~Ready to receive connection.
2/27/2010 3:20:58 PM ~!~Info~!~Event Trigger "StartBB (delayed event)"
2/27/2010 3:20:58 PM ~!~Info~!~Event Trigger "StartBB"
2/27/2010 3:20:58 PM ~!~Info~!~Running script in background: Idle_msg.vb
2/27/2010 3:20:58 PM ~!~Info~!~Deleting event after run: "Delayed Actions StartBB (delayed event)"
2/27/2010 3:21:13 PM ~!~Info~!~Event Trigger "Process Monitor"
2/27/2010 3:21:13 PM ~!~Info~!~Running script in background: Jon00ProcessMon.vben
2/27/2010 3:21:39 PM ~!~Error~!~Initializing script run: File 'C:\Program Files\HomeSeer HS2\scripts\bb_funcs.vb' not found.
2/27/2010 3:21:39 PM ~!~Error~!~In DelayTrigger. Event: Clear BetaBrite does not exist
2/27/2010 3:21:39 PM ~!~Info~!~Event Trigger "New CID"
2/27/2010 3:21:39 PM ~!~Info~!~Running script in background: SnevlCID_to_10_Devices.vb
2/27/2010 3:21:39 PM ~!~Info~!~Speak (*:*):There is an incoming call from Cassi
2/27/2010 3:21:39 PM ~!~Info~!~Running script in background: post_call_ID_to_bb.vb
2/27/2010 3:21:40 PM ~!~Error~!~Snevl_bb - set_msg() requires exactly 3 args: <sign #>|<msg buffer>|<text>
2/27/2010 3:22:14 PM ~!~Info~!~Command sent to Motion Stairway: I6 Off Dimval: 0 Data: 0

Thanks,
Tim

[danielbo]

On the look out

If anyone hears of unit for sale at a good price, could you please let me know. Been watching Ebay, money like others is tight. Mother had passed away a few months ago and she had no insurance. The other half of mine would kill me if I spent to much on a new toy for me and Christmas it to far away for me to wait.
I think you have a great program and really want to get it working in the family room. Seems like the computer always speak when something is one that they want the hear, then I get dirty looks.

[stevea]

Can't seem to get the CID info to my BetaBrite.
Here is the log..
- snip -
Thanks,
Tim

Tim,

There's a couple of things here. The first one is a dumb fumble on my part. In moving from v1.0 to v1.1, one of the cool things I added was queue_msg, which simplifies lots of things, like the posting of calls from SnevlCID. I tried to retrofit all the "Extras" with queue_msg where I should, and managed to fowl up the one for the SnevlCID interface. I will post a replacement for the Extras later on, but for now if you want all you should need to do is edit the "post_call_ID_to_bb.vb" script. In the call to Snevl_bb, replace "set_msg" with "queue_msg" and it should be Ok.

The second one is kinda funny. I didn't count on you being so clever, but I guess I should have! In SnevlCID I've had for a while a "hidden" feature to access my original BetaBrite script, bb_funcs.vb. It was activated by setting "use_snevls_betabrite" to yes in the NCID.ini file. Since I've provided a web editor for that INI file for a long time now, I just left it in there and figured people wouldn't notice. But detectives like Fungun DID notice!

Anyway, the "Clear BetaBrite" is one of my own events, and bb_funcs.vb is an old script I used. They have nothing to do with Snevl_bb. So you can fix this by either of two ways:
1) remove the "use_snevls_betabrite" line from NCID.ini, or set it to NO, or
2) upgrade to SnevlCID 1.31, which doesn't include that stuff any longer (now that I use Snevl_bb).

Sorry about the error I introduced though. I'll get it fixed.

Steve

[fungun]

That fixed it
Thanks,
Tim