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The lighting server is its own beast. It simply runs Apache with PHP and the bottlerocket application. The app itself is a single PHP file and images for the floorplan and logo. Buttons can be set for any device and placed anywhere on the floorplan.

See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhJDLpinIZw

It’s connection to Myth comes via curl. Commands can be passed directly to the script with curl, and allows for direct control by other applications such as Myth.

Two commands in particular to this are MOVSTART and MOVEND. If you pass those commands with a unit code to the server, it will dim or brighten the unit by eight notches. I’ve found that this will usually bottom an x10 unit to it’s lowest setting. The frontend commands are a pair of one liner bash scripts that tells curl what to do. These are, of course, named movstart and movend.

Finally, under the player option in Myth’s DVD settings, I entered this:

movstart & xine –options,etc && movend

It’s extremely simple and very effective. Since the commands are just simple one liners, custom theater settings can be made per frontend. It can also be used on a standalone system, just toss the PHP file anywhere Apache can reach, install bottlerocket, chmod 777 /your/serialport and you’re in business as far as having Myth control the lights. The frontend will obviously need a bit more work for your house and layout.