From: Bruce Richardson Date: 20:31 on 04 Feb 2008 Subject: Logitech Harmony Remote Software "Do you want to connect to the Setup website and check for and install updates? * Yes, and do NOT ask for permission every time. * Yes, but ask for permission first. * No (the software will shut down.)" In other words, you can let the software check for updates (and install any it finds), or you can not run the software. When I first saw this, I knew that this was the kind of crime for which UI designers should be shot. I also knew that at some point there would be an update that broke the software. What a joyful day, now that this has happened.
From: Jonathan Katz Date: 20:45 on 04 Feb 2008 Subject: Re: Logitech Harmony Remote Software On Feb 4, 2008, at 3:31 PM, Bruce Richardson wrote: > "Do you want to connect to the Setup website and check for and install > updates? > > * Yes, and do NOT ask for permission every time. > * Yes, but ask for permission first. > * No (the software will shut down.)" There is quite a bit of hate there, but the real hate lies in that all your information is stored on the Logictech servers. It's good in that if your computer dies you re-install the software, provide it with your username and password and boom, you get all your configuration back. The bad is if that you add a new component or want to change a macro on your remote and your network is down you can't. The idea of keeping a local copy of the remote config, or using the current config on the remote as a source of config if the network is down would be a nice touch. -Jon
From: Peter da Silva Date: 21:48 on 04 Feb 2008 Subject: Re: Logitech Harmony Remote Software On 2008-02-04, at 14:45, Jonathan Katz wrote: > There is quite a bit of hate there, but the real hate lies in that > all your information is stored on the Logictech servers. What kind of product is this? Surely anyone on this list would immediately take it back and demand a full refund on the spot as soon as they found this out.
From: Roger Burton West Date: 21:57 on 04 Feb 2008 Subject: Re: Logitech Harmony Remote Software On Mon, Feb 04, 2008 at 03:48:21PM -0600, Peter da Silva wrote: >What kind of product is this? Home automation hardware/software. R
From: Peter da Silva Date: 22:29 on 04 Feb 2008 Subject: Re: Logitech Harmony Remote Software On 2008-02-04, at 15:57, Roger Burton West wrote: > On Mon, Feb 04, 2008 at 03:48:21PM -0600, Peter da Silva wrote: >> What kind of product is this? > > Home automation hardware/software. Looking on Logitech's website I only see remote control devices. They have some kind of X10-style modules to go along with them?
From: Martin Seidl Date: 22:55 on 04 Feb 2008 Subject: Re: Logitech Harmony Remote Software it's just a remote control. it's ease of use is simple: plug it in via USB. select the devices you have and create your macros. for example you can set a dvd button to turn on the tv, set it to dvd input, turn on home theater, blah blah blah. they actually work pretty well from my experience. Peter da Silva wrote: > On 2008-02-04, at 15:57, Roger Burton West wrote: >> On Mon, Feb 04, 2008 at 03:48:21PM -0600, Peter da Silva wrote: >>> What kind of product is this? >> > >> Home automation hardware/software. > > Looking on Logitech's website I only see remote control devices. They > have some kind of X10-style modules to go along with them? > >
From: Jonathan Katz Date: 23:09 on 04 Feb 2008 Subject: Re: Logitech Harmony Remote Software Indeed, and I love the way it works, just the software to manage it is kind of braindead in requiring a network connection. On Feb 4, 2008, at 5:55 PM, Martin Seidl wrote: > it's just a remote control. it's ease of use is simple: > > plug it in via USB. select the devices you have and create your > macros
From: Matt McLeod Date: 23:33 on 04 Feb 2008 Subject: Re: Logitech Harmony Remote Software Martin Seidl wrote: > they actually work pretty well from my experience. Unless you have a device that doesn't work quite the way they expect, in which case you're stuffed. We have a TV set which is pretty hateful, and that is I suspect largely down to software. When you turn it on it goes to the last channel the analogue tuner was on, when you press "AV" it goes to the last input it was on. Harmony expects either to go to the last input you were on or to go to a consistent channel/input. No amount of faffing about has been able to convince it to do otherwise, and *that* is down to their setup software. It's simply not a case they expect and you don't have sufficiently low-level access to be able to fix it. So we use ours more like a "normal" universal remote, completely ignoring all the stateful stuff.
From: Jonathan Katz Date: 23:48 on 04 Feb 2008 Subject: Re: Logitech Harmony Remote Software On Feb 4, 2008, at 6:33 PM, Matt McLeod wrote: > Martin Seidl wrote: >> they actually work pretty well from my experience. > > Unless you have a device that doesn't work quite the way they > expect, in which case you're stuffed. > > We have a TV set which is pretty hateful, and that is I suspect > largely down to software. When you turn it on it goes to the > last channel the analogue tuner was on, when you press "AV" it > goes to the last input it was on. You can fix this by programming the remote to change to a specific input or channel when an "activity" is selected. We have an activity specifically for playing our old Super Nintendo that changes the TV to the AUX tuner input and changes the channel to channel 3; you should be able to program similar behavior.
From: Matt McLeod Date: 00:13 on 05 Feb 2008 Subject: Re: Logitech Harmony Remote Software Jonathan Katz wrote: > You can fix this by programming the remote to change to a specific > input or channel when an "activity" is selected. We have an activity > specifically for playing our old Super Nintendo that changes the TV > to the AUX tuner input and changes the channel to channel 3; you > should be able to program similar behavior. This would only work if our TV had discrete codes for each input, which it doesn't. You just get a "next input" button.
From: Peter da Silva Date: 01:39 on 05 Feb 2008 Subject: Re: Logitech Harmony Remote Software On 2008-02-04, at 16:55, Martin Seidl wrote: > it's just a remote control. I'll stick with OmniRemote, then. It's software, so it's hateful, but at least it's not dependent on the interweb to actually work.
From: Phil Pennock Date: 19:51 on 05 Feb 2008 Subject: Re: Logitech Harmony Remote Software On 2008-02-04 at 19:39 -0600, Peter da Silva wrote: > On 2008-02-04, at 16:55, Martin Seidl wrote: >> it's just a remote control. > > I'll stick with OmniRemote, then. The Logitech Harmony gets the Wife-Friendly seal of approval. For the device itself. I try to avoid ever firing up the control software and am interested in knowing if anyone's found any bearable alternatives for programming the unit. Screw warranties, I want something which actually works sanely. -Phil
From: Peter da Silva Date: 22:06 on 05 Feb 2008 Subject: Re: Logitech Harmony Remote Software On 2008-02-05, at 13:51, Phil Pennock wrote: > Screw warranties, I want something which actually works sanely. Isn't that the motto (anthem, plea, ...) of this list? :)
From: Tony Finch Date: 11:52 on 06 Feb 2008 Subject: Re: Logitech Harmony Remote Software On Tue, 5 Feb 2008, Phil Pennock wrote: > > interested in knowing if anyone's found any bearable alternatives for > programming the unit. Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was a way of searching the web? http://www.linux.com/feature/121149 Tony.
From: Phil Pennock Date: 08:23 on 07 Feb 2008 Subject: Re: Logitech Harmony Remote Software On 2008-02-06 at 11:52 +0000, Tony Finch wrote: > On Tue, 5 Feb 2008, Phil Pennock wrote: > > > > interested in knowing if anyone's found any bearable alternatives for > > programming the unit. > > Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was a way of searching the web? > http://www.linux.com/feature/121149 You think that I trust the opinions of the general Linux community on much of anything? This is the community that brought us GNOME et al. Any search for opinions of usability will include the gamut covering the two extremes that now exist, "Those weirdos use a command-line, don't worry about them" to "What's a compiler?" And none of which tells you how often the sucker crashes, wiping out your data or bricking the external device. You'll get lots of "data points" of people saying "it didn't crash for me, therefore it's perfect and you're Wrong". I trust the bitter hard-won experiences of this list far more. -Phil
From: Tony Finch Date: 11:35 on 07 Feb 2008 Subject: Re: Logitech Harmony Remote Software On Thu, 7 Feb 2008, Phil Pennock wrote: > > You think that I trust the opinions of the general Linux community on > much of anything? This is the community that brought us GNOME et al. Oh well I suppose you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it read. The software has no GUI. Tony.
From: Phil Pennock Date: 18:56 on 07 Feb 2008 Subject: Re: Logitech Harmony Remote Software On 2008-02-07 at 11:35 +0000, Tony Finch wrote: > On Thu, 7 Feb 2008, Phil Pennock wrote: > > You think that I trust the opinions of the general Linux community on > > much of anything? This is the community that brought us GNOME et al. > > Oh well I suppose you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it > read. The software has no GUI. I did read that. You didn't read what I wrote, since I was talking about the general community giving opinions and trying to find real data amongst that. But hey, feel free to twist my words to make it appear that I'm claiming something I'm not, then attack me based upon that fantasy model. If we're going to start quoting things, then I'll quote Kipling back, and Brother Square-Toes, the four-verse poem, second verse. -Phil
From: Jarkko Hietaniemi Date: 03:18 on 08 Feb 2008 Subject: Re: Logitech Harmony Remote Software Phil Pennock wrote: > On 2008-02-06 at 11:52 +0000, Tony Finch wrote: >> On Tue, 5 Feb 2008, Phil Pennock wrote: >>> interested in knowing if anyone's found any bearable alternatives for >>> programming the unit. >> Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was a way of searching the web? >> http://www.linux.com/feature/121149 > > You think that I trust the opinions of the general Linux community on > much of anything? This is the community that brought us GNOME et al. > > Any search for opinions of usability will include the gamut covering the > two extremes that now exist, "Those weirdos use a command-line, don't > worry about them" to "What's a compiler?" You forgot the popular "Where do I get skins?", though. > And none of which tells you how often the sucker crashes, wiping out > your data or bricking the external device. You'll get lots of "data > points" of people saying "it didn't crash for me, therefore it's perfect > and you're Wrong". >
From: Jonathan Stowe Date: 07:22 on 08 Feb 2008 Subject: Re: Logitech Harmony Remote Software On Thu, 2008-02-07 at 22:18 -0500, Jarkko Hietaniemi wrote: > Phil Pennock wrote: > > On 2008-02-06 at 11:52 +0000, Tony Finch wrote: > >> On Tue, 5 Feb 2008, Phil Pennock wrote: > >>> interested in knowing if anyone's found any bearable alternatives for > >>> programming the unit. > >> Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was a way of searching the web? > >> http://www.linux.com/feature/121149 > > > > You think that I trust the opinions of the general Linux community on > > much of anything? This is the community that brought us GNOME et al. > > > > Any search for opinions of usability will include the gamut covering the > > two extremes that now exist, "Those weirdos use a command-line, don't > > worry about them" to "What's a compiler?" > > You forgot the popular "Where do I get skins?", though. Look on the bright side if they weren't playing at l33t hax0r with their Linux they'd be applying fake window tint and plastic "sports body kits" to their crappy little vauxhall corsas and annoying everyone in the neighbourhood with the noise from the straight through exhaust pipe and idiotically loud sound system ... /J\
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