annex⁴ - FREE Driver Development Ideas

[THEORY]

1 hour ago, msgreenf said:

And there is already a free Kodi driver - https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=128714 

That driver does next to nothing, and is very old.  We prefer to do feature rich, simple setup, and reliable. 

[VINCELdUB]

With the introduction of Control4's HC-800 and HC-250 series of controllers, the company changed the IR receiver module which disabled the ability to send IR commands to the Controllers from 3rd party remotes.
This is especially missed in outdoor systems where weather-proof remote controls can no longer be used to send Control4 commands. Global Cache has a great little device that solves this problem, but they never wrote a Control4 driver for it.  Called the GC-IRE IR Extender, this device accepts IR commands and converts them to a digital format.     https://www.globalcache.com/products/other/   
Please write a driver that takes advantage of this. I'm tired of buying used HC-200's that can accept IR commands.

Plus 1 !!!!!!




Happy Automating!!

[dcovach]

I was going to ask this question on dealer forums but I can't find annex4 on there...

Is it possible to get a licence key and manually input it into the properties of an annex4 driver?  After explaining to one of my customer's the purpose of the LINK driver, they did NOT want it in their system.  They do not want their data exposed or system's monitored via any method other than what they have agree'd to in writing.

Moving forward, I have to respect the wishes of my customer or consider other driver options if not possible.  I know the free drivers don't require the LINK driver, but some don't want the LINK driver for any reason.

Can manual licencing be an option, please?

[alanchow]

Just now, dcovach said:

I was going to ask this question on dealer forums but I can't find annex4 on there...

Is it possible to get a licence key and manually input it into the properties of an annex4 driver?  After explaining to one of my customer's the purpose of they driver, they did NOT want the LINK driver in their system.  They do not want their data exposed or system's monitored via any method other than what they have agree'd to in writing.

Can manual licencing be an option, please?

Both THEORY and TheWizard are in the offical dealer forums but their accounts are moderated by Control4 admins (they're the only ones moderated for some reason) so they probably can't reply in a timely manner anyway.

[dcovach]

Just now, alanchow said:

Both THEORY and TheWizard are in the offical dealer forums but their accounts are moderated by Control4 admins (they're the only ones moderated for some reason) so they probably can't reply in a timely manner anyway.

Yes, I see that thank you @alanchow I don't want to personalize requests or questions. I'd rather address the group publicly because transparency is a good way to gain some trust. I suppose I could ask this in dealer forums too.

[THEORY]

6 minutes ago, alanchow said:

Both THEORY and TheWizard are in the offical dealer forums but their accounts are moderated by Control4 admins (they're the only ones moderated for some reason) so they probably can't reply in a timely manner anyway.

Once again misinformation.  You know full well Lukas which is the Control4 DISTRIBUTOR in Czech Republic has his stuff moderated also.  Why because we have all spoken up about flaws in the Control4 system that have been long outstanding in our opinion and many other dealers.  I have also been openly critical of the Control4 BETA which is run by the same person that moderates the C4 dealer forums.

If you feel you need to post little tidbits of where you feel flaws in our company exist, please fact check before you do.

[Crestron]

I stumbled on this thread because I need a Wink driver. Instead, I found a pissing contest. Really?

[VINCELdUB]

Apparently.




Happy Automating!!

[alanchow]

Just now, THEORY said:

Once again misinformation.  You know full well Lukas which is the Control4 DISTRIBUTOR in Czech Republic has his stuff moderated also.  Why because we have all spoken up about flaws in the Control4 system that have been long outstanding in our opinion and many other dealers.  I have also been openly critical of the Control4 BETA which is run by the same person that moderates the C4 dealer forums.

If you feel you need to post little tidbits of where you feel flaws in our company exist, please fact check before you do.

Nope Lukas had his account moderated because of an auto ban due to inappropriate language (i'm good friends with Lukas so i know exactly what happened) which his account is now fixed so YOU get our facts straight.

https://forums.control4.com/fb.aspx?m=413081

Look i don't know whats up you arse and why you want to start a war on with all the other developers but you have pissed alot of people off and all this is going to do is cause the market to destroy itself.

[THEORY]

15 minutes ago, dcovach said:

I was going to ask this question on dealer forums but I can't find annex4 on there...

Is it possible to get a licence key and manually input it into the properties of an annex4 driver?  After explaining to one of my customer's the purpose of the driver, they did NOT want the LINK driver in their system.  They do not want their data exposed or system's monitored via any method other than what they have agree'd to in writing.

Moving forward, I have to respect the wishes of my customer or consider driver options if not possible.

Can manual licencing be an option, please?

Well then you do not fully understand how our products work and have misinformed your client, so he did not have correct facts in making his decision.  If you are a dealer of our products you would know how to contact us as we have a good number of methods to do so and get any clarification of the drivers we provide or how our stuff works.  It is quite funny as you have no reservations of putting a so called CLOUD driver in your system from Alan and company, on a platform that has been running for all of a few months, and you believe that is to be secure because you can provide a key to a driver?  If only you knew how many drivers talk out to the internet that many of these 3rd party drivers have that are not secure or tested connections.  Our LiNK driver can be removed one the keys are passed to the drivers anyways.  We are many times more secure, and a heck of a lot more tested then other solutions.

[dcovach]

1 minute ago, THEORY said:

Well then you do not fully understand how our products work

Unfortunately no one will fully understand how your products actually work. When my clients specifically ask for a driver that requires some form of cloud driver, I explain what I'm adding to their system.  Most of the time they trust the source or developer because of reputation. I don't push a driver on any of my clients. As a group, you're new. Reputations take time. 

8 minutes ago, THEORY said:

If only you knew how many drivers talk out to the internet that many of these 3rd party drivers have that are not secure or tested connections. 

I'm aware of that. You're new. Can you prove you're being responsible.

10 minutes ago, THEORY said:

Our LiNK driver can be removed one the keys are passed to the drivers anyways

I really appreciate this answer. You didn't have to get so defensive.

[THEORY]

1 minute ago, alanchow said:

Nope Lukas had his account moderated because of an auto ban due to inappropriate language (i'm good friends with Lukas so i know exactly what happened) which his account is now fixed so YOU get our facts straight.

https://forums.control4.com/fb.aspx?m=413081

Look i don't know whats up you arse and why you want to start a war on with all the other developers but you have pissed alot of people off and all this is going to do is cause the market to destroy itself.

I have spoke directly to Lukas, and your facts are not correct.  Many people you much worse language then what Lukas has every posted.  Him using the word crappy was the story for an auto ban.  You know full well the site blocks out words that are seen as bad.  ZERO other people have ever been AUTO BANNED.   We both know that is nonsense, half the dealers would be blocked if that were the case.

Alan yourself and your group of developer friends have taken everything personal, when someone comes along and disrupts your business model, I get it.  It's easier to bash others, I have no problem standing up for myself and my companies to the bullying tactics of others because you don't like that we are making products that are just as good our better at lesser prices. 

Alan you posted this on the dealer forums previously. "Competition drives innovation."

Anyways no need to get bitter or petty, I have nothing to hide about ruffling feathers, but the stories being spread are far from the truth.

Anyways lets let some industry competition be what drives some innovation, and gives the end-users and dealers various solutions.

[VINCELdUB]

To be clear, I can install LiNK driver, confirm all ANNEX4 drivers are loaded and licensed with the project and then delete the LiNK driver?




Happy Automating!!

[dman000000]

...and back on topic

 

I'm not sure I understand why RING would be on the list versus rolling that up under Wink. If you are talking just about doorbell notifications (not video or whatever additional features may be accessible someday via a RING driver) then Wink handles it just fine...along with other stuff like myQ.

[THEORY]

1 minute ago, VINCELdUB said:

To be clear, I can install LiNK driver, confirm all ANNEX4 drivers are loaded and licensed with the project and then delete the LiNK driver?




Happy Automating!!

You can, if you have any trials running the moment the controller reboot during the trial period the driver would stop functioning, you also have no ability to do the one press driver updates from the driver or our portal.  Any fully licensed drivers will keep their keys regardless of the LiNK being there.

All of our communication is done over SSL, driver updates, keys, any data passed back and forth, EVERYTHING.

[VINCELdUB]

Thank you for the information.
I use many of your drivers currently and am happy.

There is simply a due diligence needed when it comes to a clients home and security.




Happy Automating!!

[THEORY]

11 minutes ago, dcovach said:

Unfortunately no one will fully understand how your products actually work. When my clients specifically ask for a driver that requires some form of cloud driver, I explain what I'm adding to their system.  Most of the time they trust the source or developer because of reputation. I don't push a driver on any of my clients. As a group, you're new. Reputations take time. 

I'm aware of that. You're new. Can you prove you're being responsible.

I really appreciate this answer. You didn't have to get so defensive.

We may be new here, but have been developing drivers dealers have been using since 2010.  We have spawned off the business to it's own entity.  The quality of products have only gotten better over time, and we have an extremely good track record on all our drivers produced from day one.

[alanchow]

8 minutes ago, THEORY said:

I have spoke directly to Lukas, and your facts are not correct.  Many people you much worse language then what Lukas has every posted.  Him using the word crappy was the story for an auto ban.  You know full well the site blocks out words that are seen as bad.  ZERO other people have ever been AUTO BANNED.   We both know that is nonsense, half the dealers would be blocked if that were the case.

Alan yourself and your group of developer friends have taken everything personal, when someone comes along and disrupts your business model, I get it.  It's easier to bash others, I have no problem standing up for myself and my companies to the bullying tactics of others because you don't like that we are making products that are just as good our better at lesser prices. 

Alan you posted this on the dealer forums previously. "Competition drives innovation."

Anyways no need to get bitter or petty, I have nothing to hide about ruffling feathers, but the stories being spread are far from the truth.

Anyways lets let some industry competition be what drives some innovation, and gives the end-users and dealers various solutions.

 

We arn't bashing others.  We are just stating a fact that you guys are the only guys moderated on the forum.  Is that untrue?

You are correct competition drives innovation.  I've talked it over with other developers you have pissed off and we will create better versions of every product you develop past and future.  It may inhibit the organic growth of our roadmap of new drivers that have yet to be developed but if that's the game you want to play then we are all down.

 

Lastly

 

On 15/08/2017 6:50 PM, Lukáš Polívka | YATUN wrote:

Hi Alan,

seems like I got blocked again a couple of days ago. I guess I’m incorrigible.

At least now I have an idea what’s going on – seems like now they just automatically block you when you use a blacklisted word (crap/crappy in my case – on the second occasion it wasn’t even remotely used in connection with any Control4 product whatsoever :D). Previously the blacklisted words were just replaced with asterisks. Oh well

 

[THEORY]

1 minute ago, VINCELdUB said:

Thank you for the information.
I use many of your drivers currently and am happy.

There is simply a due diligence needed when it comes to a clients home and security.




Happy Automating!!

We totally agree, this is why we have gone to great lengths to provide a level of security and quality we our very proud of and willing to share.

[seth_j]

25 minutes ago, Crestron said:

I stumbled on this thread because I need a Wink driver. Instead, I found a pissing contest. Really?

This entire forum is a urine soaked wasteland. Welcome! 

But I think someone already has a wind driver. I have no idea how well it works but Google pointed me over here --> https://www.synapseha.com/product/wink-driver/

Says Free too.. 

[sonic30101]

Trial

[THEORY]

2 minutes ago, alanchow said:

 

We arn't bashing others.  We are just stating a fact that you guys are the only guys moderated on the forum.  Is that untrue?

You are correct competition drives innovation.  I've talked it over with other developers you have pissed off and we will create better versions of every product you develop past and future.  It may inhibit the organic growth of our roadmap of new drivers that have yet to be developed but if that's the game you want to play then we are all down.

 

We look forward to the competition your LG driver, and others will provide the industry, this is great news!  This is a win win for end users.  So many options coming.

[VINCELdUB]

Trial is free




Happy Automating!!

[Rexabyte]

Not sure where this concept of a driver war came from, we're only offering other solutions. Are we in the type of market where once you make a driver you have a monopoly on it for the end of time because it very well seems to be that way at the moment, judging by your responses that does in-fact seem to be the case.

I remember not long ago when information was shared freely and Alan himself posted about competition and innovation. People will buy the solution they want from the people they want. If you don't want to use our products we're not forcing you to.

We've been completely transparent with the data we pull back, there are no cloaks and daggers, everyone can put their pitch forks away. Drivercentral appears to be using the exact same scheme we came up with last year in August for authentication and no one is jumping on them about it. It also doesn't help when Drivercentral logs onto our portal only to download every single one of our drivers in less than a minute (yes, even the mini drivers of the LG).

I've been making drivers on the Control4 platform now for close to 7 years and just enjoying making drivers.

[alanchow]

Just now, THEORY said:

We look forward to the competition your LG driver, and others will provide the industry, this is great news!  This is a win win for end users.  So many options coming.

Not going to develop an LG driver.  We have been asked to by several dealers but we arn't going to for certain reasons.

Yes you are right.  It will drive innovation and drive pricing down so win win for users:)

Just now, TheWizard said:

Not sure where this concept of a driver war came from, we're only offering other solutions. Are we in the type of market where once you make a driver you have a monopoly on it for the end of time because it very well seems to be that way at the moment, judging by your responses that does in-fact seem to be the case.

I remember not long ago when information was shared freely and Alan himself posted about competition and innovation. People will buy the solution they want from the people they want. If you don't want to use our products we're not forcing you to.

We've been completely transparent with the data we pull back, there are no cloaks and daggers, everyone can put their pitch forks away. Drivercentral appears to be using the exact same scheme we came up with last year in August for authentication and no one is jumping on them about it. It also doesn't help when Drivercentral logs onto our portal only to download every single one of our drivers in less than a minute (yes, even the mini drivers of the LG).

I've been making drivers on the Control4 platform now for close to 7 years and just enjoying making drivers.

I'm not saying that.  I'm happy for you to write a kodi driver and other drivers we have created.  I even voted for it myself.

It is obvious from your posts that you guys are being malicious.  Even before i posted on this thread others have commented on what they are seeing.

Lastly I can't speak for driverCentral.  Thats AJ.  We don't have an account on your portal.  We don't want to reverse engineer or decrypt code (Seems like you guys have though).  

We try to refrain from bad mouthing others but in this case you guys have just pushed it too far.

Anyway there is no point in arguing on the internet.  Actions speak louder than words so i'm going to stop now.