CQC Version 1.3.5 Released

[Dean Roddey]

Charmed Quark Systems (http://www.charmedquark.com) is proud to announce the 1.3.5 release of CQC (the Charmed Quark Controller), its software based control and automation system. CQC is the brains that supplement the brawn of your PC network, to create a powerful, secure, network distributed, highly visual, and highly robust system for management of hardware devices and software applications. With the addition of the needed ports (IR, serial, contact, etc...) to a general purpose PC, CQC can provide you with control and automation services on par with far more expensive traditional automation systems. Combined with its strong home theater front end services, which make excellent use of the strengths of PC graphics, CQC is a one stop shopping system that often requires the manual integration of three or more packages in competing products. CQC supports the Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows Server family of operating systems, with others coming.

Version 1.3.5 is a very substantial upgrade of 1.3.4, despite being a 'dot dot' release, because many of the improvements are under the hood and in visual aspects of the system, not in fundamental changes to the way the system operates. So though much work was done, and the tools are better looking, slicker, and far more powerful than before, there won't be any major suprises in this release.

The primary visible improvements are in the user interface system, and its ability to manage images and to make the development of user interfaces simpler and easier.

In the remainder of this document some screen shots will be provided. These are of the interfaces created for current CQC demo systems. Please note that there is nothing, visually or functionality, about these images that is intrinsic to CQC. They were created using the CQC interface designer, using arbitrary images chosen for their asethetics and the functionality provided is purely a matter of design, so they are not 'skins' providing alternate looks for a fixed set of functionality, nor are you in any way limited to a particular visual style.

Also note that they are pretty significantly reduced in size and quality in order to avoid download overhead


What's New Overview
---------------------------------------
This section will briefly introduce the major new features in this version, some of which will be discussed in more detail later in this document.

Interface System. Huge improvements have been made in the user interface system. The interface designer has many more conveniences to help you create and edit user interfaces, such as multiple selection actions, selective attribute pasting, snap to grid, auto-alignment tools, and theme support.
Image Repository. The CQC image repository was massively reworked. The biggest change is that PNG files are now supported and that is the new repository format. This allows you to bring very slick alpha transparency based images into your user interfaces. And a nice new set of images are in this release, which you can use in your interfaces.
Network Addressing Scheme. CQC's underlying network model was changed so that it's Object Request Broker now publishes node names instead of addresses, which makes CQC much more flexible and simplified it considerably internally in many places.
Web Site/Documenation. The entire Charmed Quark web site was redesigned from the ground up, to make it easier to understand and navigate. The technical documentation was largely moved into separate downloadable documents.
Installer. The CQC installer was completely reworked to make it more attractive and a lot smarter. Some of this was preperatory to even bigger changes in the next release but you'll definitely notice now much nicer it is.
Device Drivers. New drivers are available for myHTPC, TheaterTek 2.0, Meridian 861, and SageTV. And updates were made to the Lexicon MC-12 and DirecTV set top box.


http://www.charmedquark.com/www2/Downloads/Demo_Main_Small.jpg
Click here for a full sized version (http://www.charmedquark.com/www2/Downloads/Demo_Main.jpg)


User Interface Improvements
---------------------------------------
Significant work was done on the user interface system in this release. This section will discuss some of these changes, and provide some more example interfaces, to help graphically demonstrate the new features.

Note that the example interfaces displayed here use a scheme commonly employed in CQC, which is to have a single main interface, and to have a set of buttons that load up various smaller interfaces into a central area. All the buttons in the Options section to the right load up 'overlays', which are just smaller interfaces, into the central area of the main image. This both saves time by allowing you to provide common functionality once, and allows for more flexibility in reuse of sets of overlays that provide access to common types of functionality

http://www.charmedquark.com/www2/Downloads/NewBlack_Intro_Small.jpg
Click here for a full sized version (http://www.charmedquark.com/www2/Downloads/NewBlack_Intro.jpg)

Image Management
Previously, CQC could only import bitmaps, and that was also it's repository format. In this version, it also supports PNG images and that is now the repository format. PNG is far more flexible and powerful than raw bitmaps, and importantly they support 'alpha transparency' which means that each individual pixel can blend into the background differently. You can use this to create very slick looking interfaces. A nice new set of alpha based images is included in this release as well, to help you get started. Another benefit is that they are compressed but lossless. So they reduce load times but can be re-edited without compounding compression artifacts as would happen with JPEGs.

The new image import dialog allows you to do high quality scaling of images you are importing, as well as flip them horizontally and vertically and adjust the image's gamma level. And, you can now go back and edit your images in the repository, not just import a new version of the image over the old one.

http://www.charmedquark.com/www2/Downloads/NewImgImp2.jpg

Interface Editor
The user interface editor is far more powerful in this version. It worked quite well before, but lacked a lot of 'conveniences' that make the difference between getting the job done and getting it done with some style and in a fraction of the time. You can now select multiple widgets (via shift-click or lasso style) and drag them, size them up or down, move them, delete them, apply attributes to them, align them horziontally or vertically (and optionally space them out in the process), and so forth. This feature alone can reduce the work required to create a slick looking interface by orders of magnitude.

http://www.charmedquark.com/www2/Downloads/IntfEdSnap.jpg

You can also now cut and paste widget attributes, and selectively paste only those you want. This allows you to create or modify one widget, and then selectively apply some of it's look to other widgets (and you can select them all at once and apply them.)

There is also now 'theme' support so that you can select a theme and it will automatically supply initial settings for the widgets you add to your interface, so that you end up with a nice, consistent look without having to make all those decisions yourself.

http://www.charmedquark.com/www2/Downloads/Theme_Sunset.jpg

Installer
The CQC installer was completely reworked and now is very professional looking and slick, and considerably smarter under the hood. This in and of itself is nice, but these changes are also preliminary to some very exciting new features that will arrive in the installer in the next release.

http://www.charmedquark.com/www2/Downloads/InstCap.jpg


Under the Hood
Many improvements were made under the hood in this release. You won't see them directly, but they are there and they make CQC more robust, faster, and more flexible. There is always a great pressure on companies to put out visible features to the detriment of the fundamental architecture, but we believe that automation systems must be stable and robust first and foremost, because no number of flakey features are acceptable in this type of product. So we put in a lot of time reworking important architectural features to create a better product. It won't jump out at you, but you will benefit from them as a user of CQC.

Some other under the hood work is in preperation for upcoming features in the next release. There will be some very exciting new features in our next release, which will bring CQC's powerful automation architecture into the media management world, and into the world of smaller hand held devices.

[Dean Roddey]

What's Available
---------------------------------------
CQC consists of a 'base package' and a number of optional packages. The base package provides all that most folks will need, though in some cases they might want to pick up one or two optional packages. If you need them all, there is a discount for buying a full system with all options.

The base package provides the following broad features:
Network distributed front and back end control architecture
User drawn interface development and deployment tools
IR control
X-10 control
Serial and socket device control
Macro development and deployment tools
Device driver development and deployment tools (what might be called 'plug ins' in some systems)
Security and user management

The optional packages available as of version 1.3.5 are:
Scheduled Events Server. Allows you to schedule events to occur at regular intervals, particular times of the day, particular days of the week, etc...
Application Control. If you want to control other applications as though they were devices, then you need to get the application control system. It allows applications to be managed via standard CQC device drivers, so that they integrate cleanly into the CQC system (within the natural limits imposed by the fact that applications are often not designed to be controlled.)
XLM Gateway Server. Provides a simple XML over Sockets interface into the CQC system, to support third party clients.

Other optional packages will be made available over time. The purpose of structuring the system in this way is to allow the core functionality cost to be kept reasonable, and to only ask you to pay for those less common features that you really need, and to keep system requirements down where that is an issue.

http://www.charmedquark.com/www2/Downloads/Demo_Security_Small.jpg
Click here for a full sized version (http://www.charmedquark.com/www2/Downloads/Demo_Security.jpg)

Give it a Try
---------------------------------------
CQC is available for use in trial mode for 30 days, without any encumberances. So you can fully evaluate it for a month without commitment. If you decide to buy at any time within the trial period, you can convert your existing trial system into a fully licensed system without any interruptions.

CQC is also safe to try. It does not install any system files, or modify your configuration in any way except to create some start menu items and to create a small registry entry. It also creates a service, but all of the files that service uses are within the CQC directory. So if you decide not to commit, just use the uninstaller and it can be completely removed without any danger of destabilization of your system.

So feel free to give it a try and see if suits your needs. CQC provides a lot of functionality, all under one roof, where it can be managed and configured as a whole, and where the pieces are designed from day one to work together seamlessly and will continue to do so into the future. You don't have to master multiple systems and tie them together yourself, and hope that they do not diverge at some point, leaving you in the lurch, nor do you have to worry about the security of multiple systems not designed to provide comprehensive built in, user based security.

http://www.charmedquark.com/www2/Downloads/Demo_DVD_Samll.jpg
Click here for a full sized version (http://www.charmedquark.com/www2/Downloads/Demo_DVD.jpg)

CQC can adapt to scenarios from a locked down, kiosk mode system, up to a "PC based and not ashamed of it" full home network in which every machine is a CQC node, so it is applicable to many sorts of control system topology and usage patterns, and can change easily over time because of the flexible nature of software based systems.

CQC is licensed on a network basis. So the price is basically for a license to run the 'master server' on one machine. You can then run the other client and server components on other machines in your network as desired. So the price compared to some other options is more competative than it might seem once you move off a single machine configuration.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us at support@charmedquark.com, or you can register on the CQC support forums and join the growing community of CQC users, many of whom can provide you with help and practical experience.

BTW, with this new release we are now our new corporate identity with new logo and slightly modified name. It actually was officially done a while back, but hasn't actually show up visually until the new web site design was deployed.

http://www.charmedquark.com/www2/Downloads/NewBlack_Misc_Small.jpg
Click here for a full sized version (http://www.charmedquark.com/www2/Downloads/NewBlack_Misc.jpg)

[Dean Roddey]

BTW, if you just want to evaluate CQC and see what it can do and how it does it, without having to first figure out how to connect it to your devices, then you can just download it and install it and go through the 'Quick Tutorial' which uses a device simulator to simulate a small set of devices. So don't have to have any devices actually connected in order to do the whole tutorial, though if you have an IRMan or USB-UIRT you can do one extra part of the tutorial about IR receiving. But using the device simulator the tutorial can take you through all of the major features of the system without your having to figure out how to hoook it up to any of your devices first. So it's pretty quick and simple to go through and get an understanding of what CQC does and how.

On the web site, go to the Try/But menu item, then the Try It section. The product download link is there, as well as the link to the Quick Tutorial document.

If you want more high level info before actually diving in physically, in the Documentation menu item, check the Oveview and Using CQC documents.

[Dean Roddey]

After the 1.3.5 release was out, it was discovered that a few people's systems, for reasons not totally understood, would return incorrect host names when doing reverse name resolution (converting from a numeric address to a host name.) This would prevent all the CQC apps from finding each other, because CQC was depending on reverse name resolution in a key place.

This dependence has been removed in a new 1.3.6 release, and that problem should not show up anymore. Since we had to do a new release, we also took the opportunity to fix a few small things that had been missed in the 1.3.5 release. And the device drivers that came out after 1.3.5, and were therefore separately downloadable, were moved officially into the new release.

If you are running 1.3.5, there is no immediate pressing need to upgrade to 1.3.6. But, it would be nice if you could do so at some point when it is convenient for you, since it does have some more fixes and will insure that if you should change your network configuration that, should you change your network configuration in some way, that this name resolution problem will not pop up for you.

[rhamer]

love the new Web Site, well done.

Still more improvements to CQC, once again well done.

Any news on a Clipsal C-Bus interface?

Cheers

Rohan

[Dean Roddey]

We talked with the Clipsal folks and figured out what it would cost us to get the protocol docs and test system to develop against, and what would be involved and how long it would probably take us, and then we discussed it amongst ourselves. In the end, we decided that, for the short term, we have to do a few other things to generate needed revenue for survival.

We do see Australia as a good market for us, as it is wealthy and English speaking (more or less :-), and we will get back to the C-Bus support. But for the next couple months, we are think we have to concentrate on getting a release out that includes our first media management functionality, since we have such a great serious automation platform, but we get beaten up so much by what we consider lesser rivals because they have media management.

So that's what the 1.4 release is going to be about, getting that initial cut of media management features into the product and to set the architectural stage for the subsequent improvements. After that, we'll be able to come back and look at C-Bus again.

So it's not that we don't care, it's more of a business requirement for survival to get more revenues and media management looks to be the best way to do that in the short haul.

Another option is that if some technically astute person wanted to do this driver themselves, they could do so. The tools for doing it are available in the product and well documented, and it's not necessary to wait for us to do it, if someone wants to take a whack at it themselves. We'll provide any assistance we can to help them get it done.

But, otherwise, it'll have to wait until the 1.5 release when we get over this initial media management hump. Sorry about that.

[rhamer]

Thanks for the reply Dean.

I understand the buisness reasons, it's easy for me to say put it in, but I don't have to pay your bills.

I am not currently a user and as such am not familiar with how the drivers are constructed, but I think I will download the documentation and have a read. I'm sure I could make it work given the time.

I have a brand new 15" touch screen wall mounted in my new house (due for completion in 8 weeks) and its just asking for CQC to be installed on it.

With regard to your discussions with Clipsal, how did they suggest you interface into the network? Socket connection via C-Gate or serial via PCI? If I wrote the driver, which way would you prefer?

Regards

Rohan

[Dean Roddey]

Thanks for the reply Dean.
With regard to your discussions with Clipsal, how did they suggest you interface into the network? Socket connection via C-Gate or serial via PCI? If I wrote the driver, which way would you prefer?
Rohan

For a third party to do it, it would have to be written in the CML language (CQC's built in object oriented macro language), which means serial or socket since those are the things currently available in CML.

The C-Gate thing won't work because CQC has to run whether anyone is logged on or not, so all its backend services run as services. I don't think that the C-Gate server thingie can run as a service, so even if I were to do it in C++ I don't think I could use C-Gate either.

They do have a low level C type DLL, but you wouldn't be able to use that via CML, that would require a C++ driver, which only we can do. So it will have to be directly to the serial/socket API. That's the way I'd have done it myself anyway if I could have done it, since it just doesn't introduce anything else between CQC and the product. So, if something goes wrong, the fickle finger of fate points in a specific direction and there is no ambiguity. But I'm very comfortable working at such on the wire protocol levels, and I'd definitely take the the extra effort to have the most control. I'm not sure if that's something you would feel comfortable with or not.

I understand that you can go serial to the controller box, or you can effectively use the same protocol over a socket. The socket type connection would provide higher speed and greater placement options, so I'd go for that as long as there is not some serious down side to using it, such as very few people have that IP connection type option or something. Given the object oriented nature of CQC, it would be possible to factor out the common stuff into a set of shared classes, and do both a serial and a socket based driver which share 90% of the code between them, if there was some big advantage to supporting both schemes.

Anyway, that's kind of what it would come down to. I'll be happy to give you all the help you need. One gotcha is that they charge for the low level API, which I consider silly and counter productive, but they do. So you may be caught between unacceptable options, where as a third party you can only go straight to the protocol via CML, but you can't justify paying for the protocol that you'd need to do it.

I could pay you in trade, by giving you a free CQC license (for all options, plus free upgrades for the next two major versions) in return for delivery of a quality working driver. That would come out in the end to be a little more than the cost of the protocol access.

If you are interested, e-mail me at droddey@charmedquark.com and let's talk about it.