Luke 37178 Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 Before we announce integration later this week, we figured we'd let the forum users play with it. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4ZX9h5IVCtnREk0TnZ2eldUWTQ CastleOS: http://www.castleos.com/ 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abobader 2952 Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 Well done! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisCicc 6 Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 Hey Folks! I'm Chris Cicchitelli, the founder of CastleOS. I'm here to answer questions and provide help as needed!The link Luke posted is to our private beta folder (as opposed to the public beta channel and the main release channel). We'd like to get some forum users to give a run through to make sure they don't have issues before wider release. In that folder you'll find two installers. One of them is for the CastleOS Core Service, this is the central controller, the "brains" of your smart home if you will. The second is the CastleOS Kinect Service, that is the app that allows the Kinect to operate as a voice interface to the smart home. Core Service Setup Guide Kinect Service Setup Guide Install the Core Service first, and after you've installed the Kinect Service you'll see an option for TV zone, where you can select Emby and then select the Emby player of your choice.This release does not currently support Emby control from the app or scenes/events (i.e. voice control only), but that is coming soon as well. Important note: the Kinect Service only supports Kinect v1. Kinect v2 support is coming soon in a separate app.Let us know what you think! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisCicc 6 Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 I should also make a special note about the upcoming CastleHUB, powered by CastleOS. The CastleHUB is a custom mini pc running CastleOS. Because it's Windows based, it can also run Emby server and client apps side by side with home automation. The big selling point for Emby users is that it uses just 7 watts at idle while providing a desktop class Haswell CPU/GPU. Despite being palm sized, there is an empty 2.5" drive slot, plenty of USB 3.0 ports, and gigabit ethernet, enabling its use as a media server. And of course, you can plug a Kinect into it to voice control everything! We're currently in a pre-order period, and as such the CastleHUB is $100 off for everyone who pre-orders.More information here: http://www.CastleOS.com/CastleHUB.aspx 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wraslor 70 Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 I would love to see some actual use videos of this in action! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisCicc 6 Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 I would love to see some actual use videos of this in action! I'll record one tonight when I get home... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chef 3749 Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 (edited) Does it control zwave devices? This sounds pretty awesome! Edited July 15, 2015 by chef Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisCicc 6 Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Does it control zwave devices? This sounds pretty awesome! Yessir! Just plug in the Z-Wave radio of your choice. It supports lots of protocols, include INSTEON, X10, UPB, LightwaveRF, WeMo, Sonos, Ecobee, and many more... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speechles 1921 Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 It borrows from the failed nexus-q. I had to do a double take when I first saw that photo. It indeed looks much more awesome though. Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisCicc 6 Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Similar for sure on the outside...but what's inside is very different Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gjviii 48 Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 I've download the app and will be attempting to set it up tomorrow at work. i'll let you know of any install issues. reading the instructions it looks fairly simple 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chef 3749 Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 (edited) I subscribe to a YouTube channel called FreezeHD. That channel does a sort of "Tech things you gotta have in your home". Mostly it is a line up of kick starter commercials of cool tech gadgets and what not. Did you guys do a kickstart campaign for this device? it just seems familiar to me somehow. After reading through your website this just looks epic! It makes me want to install microphone arrays through my home! Edited July 16, 2015 by chef Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebr 14948 Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Somewhat off-topic, but why a sphere? Is there some heat radiation advantage there or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raff 51 Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 It makes me want to install microphone arrays through my home! Unless something changed from when I was checking them out a few months ago - I believe they only support the PC Kinect for voice control. As a side note, CastleOS is on my list of contenders for my home automation project, assuming I keep delaying my personal HA back-end. One of my requirements is that my data (commands and status) cannot leave my LAN, which CastleOS seems to honor and many others don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke 37178 Posted July 16, 2015 Author Share Posted July 16, 2015 If you want your data kept internal, then Castle OS will be a great choice for you. "The Anti-Cloud" is how he's described it to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gjviii 48 Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Somewhat off-topic, but why a sphere? Is there some heat radiation advantage there or something? From an enduser perspective, its a very silent machine. It doesnt seem to be putting out any heat. One thing I noticed is the blue light around the case seems to stay on, but I haven't played with it to see if I can shut it off as it may become distracting. I bought the PC sometime ago in the hope of using it as a htpc, so I'm excited to see it being used for the castle server. With that being said, I installed the Castle OS with no issues, but I am having an issue with installing the CastleOS Kinect Service setup, but I believe it may be a teamviewer issue. I'm going to put it to a true monitor tonight and see what happens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisCicc 6 Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 I subscribe to a YouTube channel called FreezeHD. That channel does a sort of "Tech things you gotta have in your home". Mostly it is a line up of kick starter commercials of cool tech gadgets and what not. Did you guys do a kickstart campaign for this device? it just seems familiar to me somehow. After reading through your website this just looks epic! It makes me want to install microphone arrays through my home! Yup we were on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/506540480/castlehub-universal-smart-home-intelligence-by-cas It was successful but I don't recall us being featured on FreezeHD? We could have missed it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisCicc 6 Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Somewhat off-topic, but why a sphere? Is there some heat radiation advantage there or something? We partnered with Zotac to do the manufacturing. We could've gone completely custom in the design, but they also offered us a choice between a bunch of reference designs they had. Of them, we thought this was the coolest looking. It's fully customized in terms internal chipset choice, labeling/logos, custom BIOS (with our logo shown and custom settings), and a custom Windows image. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisCicc 6 Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Unless something changed from when I was checking them out a few months ago - I believe they only support the PC Kinect for voice control. As a side note, CastleOS is on my list of contenders for my home automation project, assuming I keep delaying my personal HA back-end. One of my requirements is that my data (commands and status) cannot leave my LAN, which CastleOS seems to honor and many others don't. If you want your data kept internal, then Castle OS will be a great choice for you. "The Anti-Cloud" is how he's described it to me. Correct, you have total control of your data. You can even install an SSL cert if you'd like. The log database is SQL Compact and accessible to anyone who can log into the system and all configuration settings are stored in XML. (Though on our list of dev tasks is to swap out the DB provider for something that works on Linux and Mac too.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisCicc 6 Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 (edited) From an enduser perspective, its a very silent machine. It doesnt seem to be putting out any heat. One thing I noticed is the blue light around the case seems to stay on, but I haven't played with it to see if I can shut it off as it may become distracting. I bought the PC sometime ago in the hope of using it as a htpc, so I'm excited to see it being used for the castle server. With that being said, I installed the Castle OS with no issues, but I am having an issue with installing the CastleOS Kinect Service setup, but I believe it may be a teamviewer issue. I'm going to put it to a true monitor tonight and see what happens We're using a lower power chipset than what you have (which is like i5?), so it's even quieter. Also, if you go into your BIOS, you can change the light settings from always on, off, and one or two versions of pulsing. What is the issue you experienced installing the Kinect Service? Edited July 16, 2015 by ChrisCicc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gjviii 48 Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 We're using a lower power chipset than what you have (which is like i5?), so it's even quieter. Also, if you go into your BIOS, you can change the light settings from always on, off, and one or two versions of pulsing. What is the issue you experienced installing the Kinect Service? I think the issues i'm seeing is due to teamviewer. the Kinect setup just sits there, but i'm thinking teamviewer isn't displaying correctly. I'm hoping it will be resolved when I hook it up to a monitor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisCicc 6 Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Yup, that's Teamviewer not rendering the WPF window correctly. Here's what it's supposed to look like. The buttons are still there, if you click where they are supposed to be it should work. (the checkbox too).Here's the windows:Screen 1: Screen 2 (click the checkbox first): screen 3 (last one): Let me know how you make out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wraslor 70 Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 How's the video coming? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarryAmerika 24 Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 Chris I was considering the CastleOS on its own already but a low power device to also run the emby server is on my list of things to sort out, will this come with International power adapters (Australia) and have you tested the transcoding capabilities at all? Can any other microphones be used for testing? I don't have an Xbox so would need to buy the device too. I will more than likely just get the software and run it on an i3 or better NUC but my needs are modest so low power is good power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raff 51 Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 I don't have an Xbox so would need to buy the device too. Unless it has changed (and hopefully Chris can chime in on this to confirm) the Kinect integration is the PC version, not the XB version. It is also optional, only required for voice control, but there are other options I assume. If they did have a way to integrate with the XB1 Kinect, I would be all over it. That would make it pretty much #1 for me since it would cover my main living area. All I would need would be some type of controller in the bedroom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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