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[nwboater]

Any plans for further Engen development? It's been quiet on this board for a few months.

Hi - I was going to post this in the Engen Z-Wave thread (where the quote is from) but thought it might be more appropriate here.

I am seriously considering doing some home automation using Z-Wave. I had been thinking of using Engen, but with the low activity in the Engen board and especially in the Z-Wave Thread I want to be sure I'm not going to be wasting time designing a system around software that will not be further developed.

Some clarification of JRiver's intentions would be very helpful to me and I imagine others.

Thanks very much.

Cheers,
Rod

[JimH]

I don't know.  We worked for more than a year on it, built a great system.  It's stable enough that my wife loves it.  It's a great product.  We've integrated it into the MC world.

We just couldn't sell it to our current customer base.  We only sold a handful in the last year.  I don't know why.  I'm completely stumped. 

So Gene is on sabbatical.  I guess we're in wait and see mode for now.

I'm really sorry about it. 

[fitbrit]

I hoped it would be here to stay, Jim. My house uses X10 automation, and for now there's little reason to spend a lot of money changing that. But I did intend to go to Z-Wave when I am earning some money again. For now iRule is doing a great job of controlling it all, and it does Z-Wave too, but I was planning to buy Engen when ready. I could do so very soon if it would help, but I know it would take hundreds like me, probably.

[kensn]

I must say I have not gave Engen the time I should of post Beta testing.

In part because I wrote a plugin for MC that would slowly dim my Hue lights in my living room when I started a movie, and bring them half way up if paused (someone could get up and see what they were doing) and then return them to their on state after the movie was over.

I don't use a lot of smart receptacles at the moment, but I can see putting my non hue lights on zwave switches.

I need to give Engen another look.

I too do not see any hype generated around Engen. Maybe a more prominent presence on the JRiver web page spouting the cool stuff it can do, listing possibilities to users.

Ken

[nwboater]

Hi Jim,

Thanks very much for the prompt and clarifying response. You must be extremely discouraged and frustrated at the low response!

I wonder if there might not be a lot more interest here than it seems. In just five hours since my first posting there have been 58 views of this thread. I tend to agree with kensn that Engen has not been given a lot of exposure here and certainly little hype. And my hunch is that there might be a lot more interest if people were truly educated about the magic this kind of system can do.

You mentioned that Gene is on Sabbatical. Do you have any idea how long that might be? And is he the only one that can support Engen if there are problems?

I think you have developed something really cool and useful with Engen. I do hope that there can be sufficient interest aroused in it so you can justify continuing with it.

Thanks,
Rod

[JimH]

Thanks, Rod.  We'll wait and see what happens now. 

We do support it.  If you buy a Z-Stick, you can also use it with other software if you decide you need to.

Nice to see your smilin' face here again.

[imugli]

I promise when my $$$ situation picks up I'll get into it. It's definitely something I'm keen to do :-)

[drmimosa]

Bummer! Thanks for the update, sorry to hear this product hasn't found the success it deserves.

Maybe a bigger web presence would be a good direction forward, test a few Google searches and you can see Engen is hard to find. To be honest, I had never heard of Z-wave until you all started development.

My own system cost less than $400 to install and includes four switches, five bulbs, and a color strip. A few hand controllers and web links make it really easy to use. It's rock solid and easy to get set up. Happy to provide more details, just let me know.

[drmimosa]

Also, just had another thought..isn't an Engen included with the Id? Maybe more people are using it via the ID platform, which means individual license sales aren't the primary use case?

[rec head]

I knew very little about it. I didn't even realize it had a separate license. I still don't know how much it is. I scroll right past in on the board here.

I like the idea of MC controlling lights depending if a movie is playing vs paused and didn't realize it was possible until this thread.

[JimH]

Also, just had another thought..isn't an Engen included with the Id? Maybe more people are using it via the ID platform, which means individual license sales aren't the primary use case?

At this time, Engen is included with the IdPi.

[Ekpen]

At this time, Engen is included with the IdPi.

I am a registered user, I am running Ubuntu 17.10.
Recently, I see Panel on my browser (Chrome) of course I plugged in the stick.
Why is it not fully supported on the main Linux platform?
With Panel loaded, it is working, but I notice a little glitch. It does not correctly display the contents of my library. Browsing video needs working on.
When I tried to watch a movie, it displays 4.3 aspect ratio, instead of 16.9

George

[CltrAltDel]

So what is Engen?
Where are the answers?
Is it only for nerds and geeks, and do I need a soldering iron?
How does it look like and how long should somebody search to get an impression?
How should people who do not live on interact know about it at all?

http://www.engen.com/ makes me feel like i want to turn off the display.
A website, on which something is to be sold, usually looks different...

According to the descriptions (if one stumbles over them) Engen could be interesting somehow.
But it urgently needs something that can be called promotion.

[Awesome Donkey]

This will explain what it is: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,105107.0.html

http://www.engen.com/

[CltrAltDel]

Not really.
But it "explains" why JRiver "just couldn't sell it to our current customer base".

Just found this post from greynolds:
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,105107.msg780528.html#msg780528
Better post than mine.

[JimH]

So what is Engen?

It's a software framework for controlling Z-Wave devices.  Lighting, plugs, switches, etc.  Internet of Things.

Where are the answers?

On the Engen board and on the engen.com page.

Is it only for nerds and geeks, and do I need a soldering iron?

Keep your iron in your holster.  It's not just for nerds, but it helps to be one.

How does it look like and how long should somebody search to get an impression?

It's the lightbulb button at the bottom of the Panel page:



If you click on it, this is the user interface for lighting:



There's a lot more to it than that, but maybe that will give you an idea.

[Mans]

Loving Engen !
Have Engen running onto my MC server to control several switches, shades and dimmers.
Using triggered actions in MC as manual control with a Wallmote.

Thanks JRiver.