Orban 0.5.1 development started, 0.6.0 plans already clear.

We are extremely proud and happy to inform you that it appears Orban is complete. We have expanded the scope of the project beyond the promised 0.5.0 build, improving on things that weren't exactly a priority when we were trying to get the software out initially (which we are still trying to do).

The active trial status...

If you have been keeping tabs on the development of Orban, you may be aware of the fact that there is a system currently in use being tested rigorously for any issues. So far, the build has been enjoyable.

The user is currently running on Panel 0.4.8, Orban visual voice assistant 0.5.0 [final pretest 2.4.11 and IO server 0.4.8 . Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get in that house and mess with the maintenance panel to get Netman up and running. Netman has shown that it works before, graphing every single sensor output in a CSV file as well as doing everything else it was designed to do. There was only one period of time where Netman wouldn't work but that's because of an incorrect handshake command, during which net man would sit and beep eternally waiting for a "set:connected" command that would never come from the IO server, that is until now.

We will post about how Netman functions by the beginning of next week.

So what does 0.5.x bring?

Beyond The initial release, what we are planning right now are several important features. First of all, you will notice bug fixes. As stability issues are noted by the public for the first time after the program becomes available to the public and feedback starts rolling in, things will be fixed. This is our first priority above everything else.

Maverick runtime Will replace the existing kiosk runtime eventually. The difference is Maverick allows you to interact with the touch screen while using voice wake, as well as separating the voice assistant from the GUI a little bit more. Maverick will allow for multiple scenes and more features being added to Orban, and as Maverick makes its way to panel it will allow for completely arbitrary screens and scenes to be added for various project reasons.

One of the first changes you will notice in future versions of Orban will be advanced alarms. As of right now, all you can do with alarms is set one, have it go off and then it's gone. The alarms update will make it to where you can have multiple alarms eventually, but we plan to start out with the ability to specify what weekdays you want your alarm to go off on, as well as automatically saving the alarm so if the program is terminated, your alarms will continue to function as expected ensuring that you wake up when you need to.

Reminders is another thing. As you would expect, this is a very easy thing to bake in, essentially being alarms that tell you something.