Blog

Establish an SSH connection to Z-Command. You need to edit two files and update the host name. 1. Edit the hostname file sudo nano /etc/hostname You will see current hostname. Change this to whatever you want – one word without special characters or spaces. CTRL+X press Y then hit Enter 2. Next you need to change […]

Log into your GMail account and click My Account in the upper right hand corner of the screen Click Signing in to Google Click App passwords Select Other for App name and enter Z-Command and click GENERATE This will generate a unique password that you will enter into Z-Command, together with your full GMail email address […]

Earlier this week, I discovered an android app called Automate. It lets you create simple scripts that can tie events like voice commands to REST API calls. It only took 1 second for me to have a light bulb moment – combining this app with Z-Command’s API will let anyone control any z-wave appliance with […]

You may decide that you don’t want to use the wired ethernet port on your Z-Command and instead would prefer to have a wireless ethernet connection to your Z-Command – here’s how to achieve that goal. Since Z-Command’s hardware is the Raspberry Pi 2, this is technically a how-to for installing a USB wi-fi adapter on […]

Z-Command comes pre-installed with a self-signed certificate that makes secure communication possible with the web interface. However, because the installed certificate is a self-signed one, end users will get a security warning until they create and exception for the certificate by accepting that it is not trusted by a certification authority. This should work for […]

I got into home automation because I love gizmos. I love to automate everything. One thing I realized as I started to test Z-Command is that we started to save energy. Motion sensors around the house and office means that lights don’t stay on when no-one is around. This is significant because lights now stay […]

One of the most common forms of home automation is linking a motion sensor with a light bulb so that the light comes on when motion is detected and the light goes off when motion hasn’t been detected for a while. This can be achieved in one of two ways with Z-Command: through device association […]