Have HG users moved on to other alternatives

Hi there!

I run HG on Windows since a long time ago and I find it very useful and stable. I don’t have many devices (just 5 zwave devices , 1 Ip camera) but they all work fine.

I have a .NET programmer background so what I like the most from HG is to write scripts and Virtual Devices which I can code directly in C#. Other HG alternatives force me to use some custom script Language which I don’t like. With HG I code scripts and MIG extensions libraries to access my devices leveraging existing C# code. For example I used some Kinect SDK sample C# code to integrate this device in HG instead of waiting forever for an official plugin.

The HG web UI is what I find usually problematic, it hangs often. However since I use another App as frontend to access HG (The Home Remote) this is irrelevant, I only use the HG UI when I want to add/update some C# code.
That combo (HG as backend + Home Remote as frontend) is what I’m using sucesfully a few time ago.

As for the future, it looks like to me that Gene will focus future HG updates to the UI which is uninteresting, I’d like to have some more backend features rather than a new UI.

Regards

Yes having the .NET and C# skills makes all the difference. You are less dependent on the author as you can customise HG in any way you see fit.

It’s interesting to see that you do not use the HG front end either. I’ve not used HG in MS Windows, I’m currently using it on the Raspberry Pi/Raspbian platform and don’t see as many freeze ups maybe.

What I do miss is all the exchange of ideas and contributions like we had on the old forum. It was a great community.

I do understand users have more important matters to attend to and HG would not be top of their priority list but the ending of the old forum had a major negative effect on the HG user base.

Did you write your own HG plugin for Home Remote or did you just use the UPnP option in Home Remote. It’s such a simple front end to configure.

It’s not possible to create custom plugins in home remote, I think. I used a generic Virtual Device which makes simple http calls to the HG web API

I find The Home Remote App very useful as it’s very configurable and includes a Xaml designer so I can draw the screen to my likes. I think I would recommend this app over most home automation system official app because they’re usually a sequence of the widgets you’ve configured on the server.
With home remote you can customize the UI with very fine detail, also you can integrate different Home automation systems in the same app. Also the support from both the author and the community are very good.

I too am still here. As a non programmer" I run HG in Win10. Other than sometimes having to start the program a few times to get it running once it is up and running it is great. I have 67 devices connected and it is easy for me to use the wizard to program them. Newer devices are a different story. It is difficult for me to figure some of them out.
Alan

Yes the Wizard Script makes life very easy when creating automations. No great need to be a programmer as a result but it does help for the more complex automations.

Interesting to hear from Windows users as many have migrated to some form of the Linux variants, the Raspberry Pi in particular.

A lot of work is needed to get the newer technologies/hardware working in HG.