Software Automation

PocketCRON is now FREE!

Saturday, May 01, 2010, by Sebastian Dwornik

That's right. FREE!

Robot gear clock Revitalize that old Windows Mobile device (WM 5.0 and above) and make it work for you as an automated program scheduler.

Use PocketCRON to schedule the running of other apps automatically and empower your Windows Mobile device as your personal robotic assistant.

From controlling Christmas lights to watering your lawn, by reusing your old WM device you renew your investment in it, as well as keep it out of our landfills.

You can download PocketCRON here, and if you end up using it in some cool and innovate way, tell us about it in the forum.

I'm always interested in how creative other people get with my software.

Enjoy!

Discuss on the forum | Permalink

Handlebar Mounted Phone

Monday, July 20, 2009, by Sebastian Dwornik

The whole point of mobility is to be anywhere, and I write my software for people who take their mobile devices outside.

Exploration, adventure, and travel. These are the things I look forward to, and thus enjoy field testing my own software.

Straight from the appliedpda.com labs, comes the latest on-going experiment of having mounted an HTC Touch Diamond phone to the handlebars of my mountain bike.

It’s not pretty, but very effective.

Model Magic bucket

The secret comes in the form of a brilliant product called Model Magic. Originally designed for young children to express their creative talents through modeling with it. The material is safe, clean, cheap, and air-dries within 24 hours to a firm and rubbery substance that holds the shape it was molded in.

It makes for an excellent shock absorber as well as a perfect fit for any device you sculpt it for. You can even paint it any colour afterwards, but I just left it stock white for simplicity.

LocateMe Goes Rugged

Having a fancy touch screen device on your bike brings the feeling of owning one of those extravagant new luxury vehicles.

Using the LocateMe app, I was able to transmit my location to people at home regarding where I was on the trail. The speaker phone was also very clear and useful to call others. Best of all, the touch screen proved to be a really nice interface that worked well even with gloves on.

While I mostly used it to display GPS location data, in due time, other sensors can be attached to perform logging of environmental conditions, health monitoring, even the physical bike characteristics like g-force measurements of the shock absorbers.

In the future, a simple bike ride in the woods will return with more than just muddy pedals and flat tires. It will carry experiential data too.

View discussion on the forum (archived) | Permalink

PDA Controlled Water Sprinkler

Wednesday, April 01, 2009, by Sebastian Dwornik

Spring is finally here.

This means that the outdoor garden and lawn will soon be vying for my attention. This time though, with the help of some DIY home automation, I intend to give it the best care I can.

You might remember this past winter how I managed to get my PDA controlled Christmas tree lights working. That same design will now be applied to my water sprinkler.
PDA controlled water sprinkler using PocketCRON and PocketDAQ Pro

There is a difference though.

Christmas tree lights are mainly for decorative reasons. Watering my lawn and garden carries a more important responsibility, for they are living things and I greatly enjoy the green scenery of a lush outdoor forest, versus a dry desert. It is, therefore imperative that the watering schedule be more adaptive to the season.

This is where PocketCRON comes in again. A new feature recently added supports sunrise and sunset timing. The plan is to have my yard automatically watered every morning at ten (10) minutes before sunrise.

PocketCRON screenshots

The sunrise/sunset feature depends on where you are located on the planet. Selecting the nearest city to your location informs PocketCRON of this. After which the task time settings can accurately display the sunrise and sunset times. It also takes into consideration Daylight Savings Time.

Time will tell, but I expect my lawn and garden to be nothing short of brilliant green and healthy during this summer season. Which is great for nature, but not so for my push lawn mower.

Here are the sample scripts I use with PocketDAQ Pro, in automation mode, that PocketCRON calls in its tasks.

View discussion on the forum (archived) | Permalink

New Software Gives Purpose to Old Hardware

Wednesday, November 26, 2008, by Sebastian Dwornik

With the focus on the environment and a suffering economy these days, the best way to adapt is by becoming more resourceful. Old PDA hardware, for example that would normally be viewed as obsolete, can gain a resurgence with the right new software. This is how PocketCRON was born.

PDA Controlled Christmas Tree Lights

I enjoy the glitter and sparkle of holiday lighting that decorates houses, banisters, and trees. What I do not particularly enjoy is the added maintenance of turning ON and OFF those lights when the house goes to sleep.

So in comes home automation.

A few years ago I purchased an Insteon PowerLinc serial controller with a single LampLinc plug-in module to control my Christmas tree lights. I also happen to have a spare Dell Axim X50 PDA that wasn't doing anything; until now.

By using PocketDAQ Pro to communicate over a serial connection with the PowerLinc controller, I was able to transmit the commands to turn the lights ON and OFF. The development of PocketCRON then enabled me to set the schedule of controlling those lights.

This is done by configuring tasks with the time and days that will automatically execute PocketDAQ Pro with a script parameter that transmits the appropriate commands to the PowerLinc controller. It also provides an intuitive GUI for manual control of the lighting as well.

I have always believed that such mobile devices are an excellent form factor for the purpose of being stand-alone controllers. They are essentially a full computer with a touch screen and built-in UPS. Their size and power efficiency compared to a full PC - or even a laptop doing the same thing - is unmatched and the price is far less than any industrial version.

The end result adds convenience to controlling my holiday lights and puts to good use an old PDA that was otherwise ignored. Saving me money for new hardware and opening more possibilities for other home automation projects.

With the lights done I think I'll move on to the sprinkler system . But that won't be until the summer season comes around.

View discussion on the forum (archived) | Permalink

Welcome to my microISV

My name is Sebastian Dwornik and I am a software developer near Toronto, Canada.

Here you will find my thoughts on all matters regarding software, my company, and sometimes life in general.

Have feedback? Don’t be shy and post your comments within the forum.