Software Needs

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Ok, now that we’ve layed out our hardware needs - let’s focus on software.

As I said, I want maximum flexibility in the implementation, so I’ve decided to focus on a system that provides control screens via HTML. That way, the myriad of devices out there that have a browser built in to them can serve as a controller.

The system must be extensible with plugins to allow for the development and/or purchase of drivers for each hardware component. It should also be able to schedule events, handle triggers (a light going on, for example), and be scriptable either through a language, or via a GUI.

It would also be nice if the system were written in .Net (either VB or C#), so that I could contribute custom software.

I’ve tentatively identified MainLobby andMLServer from Cinemar. MLServer comes with a built in webserver so I can use any browser I want as a control (iPhone, Nokia, any Tablet PC, Internet Explorer, etc). They also have an impressive number of drivers out of the box (including all I need to control the hardware I’ve identified), and quite a few 3rd party plugins.

They also have a screen designer/control program called MainLobby which will allow me to design each control screen as I’d like it. AND they have an impressive amount of graphics and icons that I can purchase for use.