How Easy Is Girder to Use/Learn for a non computer Geek?

[John the Depot Dude]

My 1st post here so apologies if this question gets asked over and over..

I have a Pronto 2000 and was considering selling it to a friend..

I like the Pronto 7000 but it's more than I want to spend on a remote..

I really like the Crestron units but they are physically too big and I'd rather put that kind of money into better HT gear..

So the concept of using an inexpensive, after the lease is up, laptop with Girder is one I like and what brings me here..

I am not a programmer and do not want to become one either...

I'm willing to put some effort and time into this but how easy is this to learn for a newbie?

[Promixis]

It takes awhile to get the hang of Girder but once you do it very easy to do some very next things. Download the 30 day trial and give it a spin. Post any questions here.

[John the Depot Dude]

I haven't downloaded yet..been looking around

of all the apps shown I only use the StreamZap remote..

1st question..

Can I download my complete Pronto file into Girder and use this as a starting point?

[Promixis]

No, the pronto CCF is not what you want.

Girder will receive events from the StreamZap remote. You can then configuire Girder to send appropriate commands.

[John the Depot Dude]

okie dokie Mike..

I've been reading etc..

It's a bit more involved than I was hoping for..

How can I see or emulate someone's Finished product running specifically on a laptop?

[Liickdude]

The only problem with looking at someone else's gml file is that you need to ensure that you are in the same environment as the other user's system. This means that if I give you my gml file, and I have the USB-UIRT, and 6 girder plugins loaded, you pretty much need all the same hardware and plugins to be able to open my gml and see how it operates. The best starting point if you are new to girder is the help pages. If you can wrap your head around creating a girder command tree, creating multigroups, and the state settings, then you are half way there. Once you have these basics figured out, then post specific questions here and you will get lots of help. This forum is very helpful and once you get into girder, you will wonder how you did without it.
By the way, I had never written a line of code in my life until using girder. The LUA script is quite simple for most tasks, and for the complex stuff, there are many here who can help you. You do need specific questions though as girder can do anything, and can do it many ways in most cases.

[John the Depot Dude]

I have no doubt that there will be some very useful help here etc..

I'm still at the point where I'm not even sure it will do what I want..

so let me ask this way...

Can I replace my Pronto with a laptop and girder?

Can I touch the screen to navigate the same way I do now on the pronto?

If the answer is yes to both , I'll dive right in and go for it..

[Liickdude]

Well, the answer is a very hesitant yes!
To be honest, there is not much that girder can't do (I haven't run into anything yet I havent been able to figure some way to do) but the learning curve is going to be difficult and require you to get a number of different components. Girder will be the backbone that does all the work, but the graphical interface would be best handled by something like netremote (which you can load your current pronto ccf into by the way). Also, if you are going to use a laptop to control it, you will likely want to use a distributed system of girder on your main desktop (htpc) and then use the laptop as a client to send commands to it, using the girder internet event client/server can do this for you, but you are already talking about some fairly advanced girder usage. The short answer is yes, it can be done exactly as you are looking for, but it is best to start with small steps. Get girder installed, get it controlling a piece of your theater equipment, and then start to expand on that. You will need an input device, such as a tablet PC to get the touchscreen ability you are looking for, but all the remote functions of your pronto could easily be duplicated using one. You will also need a way to communicate with the equipment you are controlling, I recommend the USB-UIRT IR transceiver, it works great for controlling any IR equipped gear.

[John the Depot Dude]

Thanks..

Getting more complicated for me..

I already have an HTPC..and an IR receiver at the front controllong most of the equipment..

I don't know what a tablet PC is (can you give me a URL of what this looks like?)

but if I get this to do the touchscreen functions, why do I need a laptop?

[Liickdude]

Can I replace my Pronto with a laptop and girder?

Can I touch the screen to navigate the same way I do now on the pronto?
If you want to be able to use a touchscreen control scheme like the pronto, you need a device that has touchscreen capability. Your typical laptop does not, a tablet PC is much like a laptop, although it usually doesnt open up like a laptop, and the screen is touch sensitive, kind of like a larger PDA. Without a touchscreen, you will still be keyboard/mouse driven to actually input commands.
A couple more questions:
Does your current htpc have an IR transceiver, or just a reciever? The difference here is going to be whether you can simply control the PC, or use it to control other devices. If you have a reciever, you can control apps on the pc, like a software DVD player, or music player, etc. If you want to be able to have the htpc control your tv, standalone DVD player, etc, then you need to be able to send infrared commands from the PC as well as recieve them.

Maybe you could give an actual scenario of what you want it to do. An example in my own system is:
I want to turn on all the equipment in my theater from one button press. So I set a button on my pronto to send a 'system on' command, the PC recieves this ir code, then in turn sends out ir commands to turn on my projector, my DVD player, and my VCR. At the same time girder also sends a command over the serial plugin to the RS-232 port on my preamp to turn it on, and set it to satellite input, and it in turn powers up the amps. I can do the same thing in reverse to power off the system. Now I can take this macro I have created and learn any number of inputs to control it. So I can turn my theater system on with a button on my pronto, I can also use an X10 mini controller in my kitchen to turn it all on (or off) from upstairs before going down to put in a movie (handy for us projector owners that need to let it warm up for a few minutes), or I can do it from a button on the front panel of my HTPC (saves looking for a remote, or pressing 6 power buttons), and I can also run it from a desktop shortcut on another computer in a different room of my house, and soon I will be able to do it from my cellphone as well.

[miked]

I would suggest learning Girder as follows. Pick a simple task, and try to do it in Girder. Keep doing simple tasks. Then, move on to something harder. When you get stuck, do a search in this forum for the answer. Slowly you'll build your Girderk nowledge.

[John the Depot Dude]

Hi guys..

My HTpc does have a IR receiver and transmitter..

I use an external player via SDI into the Holo II card..

All my gear is plugged into a power conditioner so it's one button pressed to turn everything on..don't care if Girder did this or not..

I leave the HTPC always on

I have a front CRT and do not want it to auto come on because I may only want to listen to music..

I'm not after anything super fancy here - simply wanted a bigger screen than the pronto but with all the capabilties of the pronto..

In my pronto I have all my components including the CRT in it plus I have a 4 way Lutron box to control the lights..

The reason for wanting touchscreen is because my room is very dark and it's difficult to find keys on the keyboard..

If I now need say a PC tablet, well then I might as well stick with the pronto or upgrade to the colour one which is about the same cost as a used laptop..

I have no interest or desire to learn a new tool like Girder either - with the pronto I can't be bothered creating fancy buttons etc..I'm either too busy or lazy and downloading existing CCF files is fine with me..

So right now I'm thinking this would require a fair bit of time to get up on the Girder learning curve, and with very little benefit..

[miked]

I think you may want to look at Netremote.org.

[John the Depot Dude]

Yes thanks Mike..

Someone else suggested I just go with a Pocket PC..this will cost less than the Pronto 7000 and allow me to do more with it than just emulate a Pronto.

I found this site..

http://www.pdawin.com/

I like some of the samples at the Netremote.org site also