Primary Devices

My system has about 30 devices in it and several of them seem to require a designated primary device to work well; namely, my 2016 LG OLED and my 2016 Marantz 8802a Pre.

I am trying to use a mac as the primary device. This a computer that's always on but, we do use user accounts; specifically, mine and one for my wife. I'm not 100% sure yet but it seems like if my wife is using the computer but roomie is running under my account, the Primary Device functionality doesn't work. It's not clear in the documentation if this should or shouldn't work and Support told me this is 'untested'. Is anyone else running in this configuration? Would running roomie as admin theoretically make any difference?

I remember way back before the simple control days, the was a Roomie Hub program. I know hubs are passe now in V6 but the idea of 100% dedicated IOS device seems like an expensive route to go.... I actually tried a iPhone5 that I had laying around but it didn't work well--and support confirmed that the device was likely too old to support a system of this size.

Using my ipad in guided access works ok but introduces another issue that's a little specific to my setup; I'm using the SimpleControl Polygot server to connect my ISY to Roomie and it won't connect to an ios device as a hub for reasons that are unclear... but that's a different issue over in the ISY world.

I'm just curious what people are doing for their primary devices (especially if using a mac) and how is it working?

I have an iPad in my media closet as my primary device. Static IP. I am in ISY 4.7.3 and use ISY to send commands to Roomie through the primary device. This is how my current "hard button" implementation works. Insteon 8 button remote talks to ISY. ISY talks to Roomie. Allows me to switch activities.

Ahh. You're using Network resources in the ISY then. Yeah that would solve that problem. Although if the if the nodeserver get a bit more stable, it will be great.

Do you leave the iPad fully awake? It's not clear to me from the setup guide if the Roomie App has to visible (meaning prevent screen sleep) .

Yes, you have to be in guided access mode with sleep / screen lock disabled. I want to go to ISY 5.x, but I am waiting till it is the final release version. Hopefully that will happen by about 2023 or so. :slight_smile:

For about a year, I ran this config:

Simple Control v4.5.x for iOS (on iPhone-5 with iOS-10.x)

Simple Service 20-Device Monthly Subscription

Simple Hub for Mac v4.5.11 (on MacMini with macOS-Sierra)

Simple Blaster (Ethernet)

Amazon Alexa Echos (various models, using Simple-Control Skills)

It ran fine.

I had no reason to run full-screen games on the MacMini-2012 (I ran those on Windows machines and Apple-TV-Gen4 ) . Everything else (including X-Code) ran and co-existed just fine. Only thing I could not do is reboot to my native Windows-10 BootCamp (obviously).

Running or switching to a different macOS User-Account sounds like a bad idea. However, I never had a reason to try it.

Not sure why you have to have a primary device always on to get to ISY devices. I have a similar setup but say if my primary device is not on, I can still controls ISY 4.x devices from any other device...as ISY hub is an active device in the list of my RR devices.