My Power Control Plug-in (1 Viewer)

[mcraenz]

I've completely re-written PowerControl it now allows you to control devices from any PC running MediaPortal. A system service is used at any MediaPortal PC that has devices physically connected to the parallel port.

MyPowerControl turns pins on and off on your parallel port (or on a parallel print server); combined with a simple circuit this can be used to turn AC devices on or off. I use it turn on my subwoofer since it can't be operated by remote. For this plug-in to work with an onboard parallel port you will need inpout32.dll in your windows system32 directory. For use with a print server inpout32.dll is not required. Plenty of info can be found on how to build this very simple circuit.

I don't distribute inpout32.dll with the plug-in install in case of licence issues, it can easily be downloaded.

For more info on using a network printer server see my blog article.

My Power Control allows you to control devices from any PC running MediaPortal. A systemservice is used at any MediaPortal PC that has devices physically connected to the parallel port/printserver


See the help/about section in the plug-in configuration. I used a .msi installer since .MPI doesn't support some features required for [un]installing services.

Download the latest version from the plug-ins/utilities download section.
MEDIAPORTAL - free media center - My Power Control


Source in the plug-ins SVN
http://mp-plugins.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/mp-plugins/trunk/plugins/MyPowerControl/


Version History
===================

0.2.5.0
---------
- Added support for parallel network print serves
- Added new optional system tray tool "PowerTray" which to allows management of devices from PCs on the network that don't run MediaPortal. (This is a separate .msi installer file and is optional and should not be installed on the same computer as MyPowerControl)
-Numerous bug fixes and polish-ups
---------


0.2.0.1
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Complete re-write of PowerControl. Now supports remotely controlling any device connected to a MediaPortal PC from any MediaPortal PC.
---------

Cheers,
mcraenz

 

[jblomb]

Hehe, Thanks!

I just downloaded and installed the plugin this morning. Hadn't even tested it yet, but now i will get the new version and try it out.

I am planning to use it to control the aspect ratio of my old 16/9 CRT TV. I will map a pin to switch between +5v and +12v with some external circuitry.

Hope it works..

Edit: OMG! Too funny!! I prepared everything for a test, and plugged everything in where it was supposed to be. Well... not everything. When i wanted to plug the connector to the LPT port.. I didn't have one!!

I just had to laugh.. Too stupid.

 

[3dcoder]

Hi!

Great work on this new release, it works flawlesly and the remote feature brings Do-It-yourself home automation to a new level! The configuration part is also better and easier to use.

I just noticed that I can't change the name of the plugin which visible in the main menu. If I set new name in finnish, it still appears as "My power control" in the menu. Could this be fixed with a new line in language file or such?

 

[mcraenz]

Glad it's working ok. Wish I could get some kind of gage of how many people are actively using it.

Edit: OMG! Too funny!! I prepared everything for a test, and plugged everything in where it was supposed to be. Well... not everything. When i wanted to plug the connector to the LPT port.. I didn't have one!!

Hahaha bummer ;-), Yeah I guess they are becoming less and less common. If someone can point out some kind of common USB/PIC Chip arrangement then I'd be happy to have a crack at that.

I just noticed that I can't change the name of the plugin which visible in the main menu.

oops. I'll fix that soon I'll just wait to see if there are any other bugs. You can change the Heading with-in the plug-in by changing the skin but not how it appears on the menu.

 

[wortelsoft]

Nice plugin, I don't have a use for it at the moment but I always liked these kind of things.
Please let the programmer of the mpi system now the limitations to install unistall so that it can maybe integrated in a next version.

 

[anandus]

This looks interesting.

Can somebody point me to a tutorial (or picture) of one of these simple circuits?

 

[skare]

Hehe, Thanks!

Edit: OMG! Too funny!! I prepared everything for a test, and plugged everything in where it was supposed to be. Well... not everything. When i wanted to plug the connector to the LPT port.. I didn't have one!!

I just had to laugh.. Too stupid.

Haha...been there, done that

Might just add that this could be a solution, though I have not tried it out myself

 

[mcraenz]

Can somebody point me to a tutorial (or picture) of one of these simple circuits?

http://computerchristmas.com/christmas/link-how_to/HowToId-2/A_simple_8_circuit_parallel_box
Specifically there is a link on the first page to the schematic.

Might just add that this could be a solution, though I have not tried it out myself

This adaptor is for a serial port not a parallel (Printer) port. This:
http://www.usbgear.com/computer_cable_details.cfm?sku=USBG-LPT25&cats=101&catid=596,597,101
Is what you'd want but again I've not tested. Jblomb maybe you could give it a go ;-)

 

[Kickin]

My Power Control

hello, Nice plugin

Just what I was looking for to complete my HTPC.

Discovered some strange thing, After I had used this plugin (havent used the output of the LPT yet)
I went to basichome screen and there all name changed to the first name that was added to control the output of this plugin. --> radio changed to sub, then TV changed to sub. Sub was my first test output.

I am running 0.2.3.0_RC3 with svn--10-19-2007--19-26-Rev 16290 this version is stable for me.

Keep up the god work.

Regards Kickin

 

[mcraenz]

Hey Kickin, Thanks for the feedback. I'll look into that and see if I can reproduce.

Cheers,
mcraenz