What is going on recently with the Quirky Wink hub (rooting, API, home automation, home-assistant)

Many have purchased the Wink hub, which is sold at Home Depot as a controller  for home automation devices.  The nice part about the Wink hub is the low cost and number of radios (supported protocols).  Those two items combined makes a very appealing device to use when getting started with home automation.

But there are some drawbacks.  Firstly, the Wink hub operates through a cloud based service.  This means you can access Wink at home, or away from home, which is nice.  But for those of us who want to take full advantage of the hub, the locking down of the API and cloud requirement are really handicapping the device.

If the hub you purchase is running older firmware, it can be rooted.  Once rooted, the doors are open for getting creative with the hub, adding functionality, integrating into customized HA software, etc.  But this too can be a challenge.  First, the hub has to have a certain version of firmware or earlier else the sql injection vulnerability (allowing one to get root) is patched.  In addition, even if you do gain root, updating the firmware requires much effort to maintain root through the update.

Quirky is only giving API access to those who submit requests via email and so far it is known that they may take a long time to respond with the required information, or they may not respond at all.  This difficulty is preventing those developing HA software from being able to incorporate the Wink hub.  Which means, there are less cool things you can do with the hub due to the software limitations.

I wish that Quirky would change direction with regards to the Wink hub.  Instead of trying to prevent root access, embrace it.  With its low cost, and easy availability (Home Depot), and wide range of support devices, the Wink hub is in a position to be a big seller.  There is already a community developing for the rooted hub and new and exciting features are being added.  If Quirky opened up the hub for root, I think it could turn into a hugely popular device, with a large community of talented people developing for it.  It could be become the most popular hub on the market.

If you are like me and want to find some software that will let you create more advanced scenarios for controlling home automation, fortunately, there is at least one offering for non-rooted Wink hubs.

Home Assistant:

https://home-assistant.io/getting-started/
https://github.com/balloob/home-assistant

This is still being developed, but it is far enough along to allow one to integrate their Wink hub and many different HA devices are already supported.  In addition, it lends itself to adding custom components, and end user expansion/development.  Home Assistant is open source and free.  I recently set it up and one of the really cool things is you do not have to hope that Quirky will send you the required access tokens to use the API as Home Assistant has a page that lets you put in your Wink user and pass and will generate a token for you.  So you can get started right away.  Setup is pretty simple, especially if you are familiar with Linux and Python.  Even if not, there are clear instructions and a helpful forum to help you get started.

As of this moment. this is the only non-Wink software I am aware of that will let one use the Wink hub (without having to root).

Speaking of software, there is a commercial product called CastleOS that looks promising.  There is still much to be done with CastleOS's development, but one of the really cool features is builtin support for voice recognition using Kinect for PCs.  I have found that the xbox 360 Kinects (with A/C adapters) can be purchased very affordably from places like GameStop ($25) and are easy to setup with CastleOS and work very nicely.

Unfortunately, at this point in time, CastleOS does not provide much documentation, and only supports a limited range of products.  The Wink hub is not supported.  The do offer a 30 day free demo of the software and the purchase price is $199.  Although I am finding the free software Home Assistant to be more valuable to me ATM, CastleOS may be something for you to check out if you want at more turn-key product that is Windows based, and supports Kinects for voice.

Here are some links on rooting the Wink hub and some links to items that can be used with a rooted Wink hub:

Rooting

https://winkhubroot.wordpress.com/2014/08/16/rooting-the-quirky-wink-hub/
http://arahuman.blogspot.com/2014/11/how-to-root-your-wink-hub-step-by-step.html
http://www.dinnovative.com/?p=348

Discussion and links to other software like Blink

http://forum.xda-developers.com/general/off-topic/wink-hub-root-t2969205
https://github.com/nashira/blink
http://www.rootwink.com

Finally, I recommend having a look at Home Assistant if you would like to use or become involved with a burgeoning application that offers Wink hub support, customization, and growing support for HA devices through an open model, plus existing cool features with more to come.

TurboXS UTEC manual (for Subaru WRX), files, and additional information

Introduction

Although some of us still have and use this hardware, information for it is becoming harder and harder to locate.  So to help insure these resources are available I am posting them here.

I first had to find the information and I want to give credit where it is due.  Most of these files came from this site http://honest-bob.com/utec/ .  It is not my intent to take from Honest Bob, again, I am just creating another location where these files can be found.  Please visit Honest Bob's site and maybe send him a thank you.

Official Manuals

WRX-STI User Guide.pdf - this should be the guide for the original UTEC, although the document is dated 2006 and I believe I purchased and installed my UTEC before that date.  I searched the web and could not find a manual that was any different, so I am going with this as the resource for original UTEC devices.

Delta Installation Supplement.pdf - this appears to be for the TurboXS 2006 new Delta model of the UTEC.  The Delta is designed to be used in a number of different platforms, the installation instructions vary slightly from the standard UTEC installation. This supplement is meant to address those differences.

Unofficial Manuals

These two documents are very helpful and a good read for tuning with the UTEC. Both are written by The Ginge.

UTEC Quick Guide 2004

UTEC Quick Guide (Part Deux) 2007

Maps and Parameters

Please use caution and double check everything if you plan to use these maps.  I do not want to be responsible for damage to your car.  I did not create these files. 

02-05 WRX UTEC
02-05 WRX Delta
04-05 STI UTEC
06-Up Delta

Firmware

UTEC Firmware version 5.8 (Original UTEC)
* I have not installed this firmware on my UTEC yet.  Before I do, I am going to try and make sure this is definitely for the UTEC I have.  Improper firmware or a bad flash can destroy the UTEC.  So please be careful. I do hope it is for my UTEC as it brings some nice new features.

UTEC Delta V23B Firmware

Drivers

Delta USB Drivers

TurboXS Tuner (for Delta v23)

Tuner v23

HyperTerminal for Windows 7

Download HyperTerminal for Windows 7

HyperTerminal is necessary for connecting to the UTEC from a computer via the serial cable.

How to install

Installing this requires extracting the zip and then placing certain files in certain locations.

If you are using Windows 7 32-bit Operating System do the following:

Step 1) Right click and extract the zip you downloaded.  The zip extracts two folders.  Program Files and Windows.  Open the Program Files folder, open the Windows NT folder, right click on hypertrm.exe and choose Copy.  Now browse to C:\Program Files\Windows NT and paste the file into the Windows NT folder (Ctrl + V or right click in the white space and choose Paste). 

Step 2) Open the Windows folder from the extracted zip.  Inside will be System32, open that folder.  Inside will be hypertrm.dll.  Right click this file and choose Copy. Browse to C:\Windows, scroll down to System32, right click the System32 folder and choose Paste. 

If you are using Windows 7 64-bit Operating System do the following:

Step 1) Right click and extract the zip you downloaded.  The zip extracts two folders.  Program Files and Windows.  Open the Program Files folder, open the Windows NT folder, right click on hypertrm.exe and choose Copy.  Now browse to C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows NT and paste the file into the Windows NT folder (Ctrl + V or right click in the white space and choose Paste). 

Step 2) Open the Windows folder from the extracted zip.  Inside will be System32, open that folder.  Inside will be hypertrm.dll.  Right click this file and choose Copy. Browse to C:\Windows, scroll down to SysWOW64, right click the SysWOW64 folder and choose Paste. 

In both cases, the help folder in the extracted System32 folder is really not necessary.  It can be ignored.

To run HyperTerminal you will want to either browse to the location of the hypertrm.exe and double click it. 
Win7 32-bit: C:\Program Files\Windows NT\hypertrm.exe
Win7 64-bit: C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows NT\hypertrm.exe

Or - you can create a desktop shortcut.  Browse to the hypertrm.exe using the appropriate paths specified above, right click on the exe and choose 'Sent To'>Desktop (create shortcut).  Now there will be a shortcut on the desktop to launch HyperTerminal.

Using HyperTerminal
Open HyperTerminal by double clicking the exe or shortcut if you created one.  The instructions for how to configure HyperTerminal are in the manual.  The settings must be set correctly for it to work with your UTEC.  When I say settings I mean things like this:
Select COM Port
Port settings:
Bits per second: 19200
Data bits: 8
Parity: None
Stop bits: 1
Flow Control: None

Again, please refer to the manual (instructions for HyperTerminal begin on page 12 of the WRX-STI UTEC User guide.

Helpful Links

I've linked to Bob's site which offers the files above, and two sites that have interesting software that can be used with the UTEC.

Honest Bob UTEC
Jeffsoftware
MPS_UTECLogger 3.0

Also, Googling will turn up more information.  There are a number of threads on the NASIOC forum pertaining to the UTEC.

Flashed your phone to a Lollipop Rom and lost root?

In my case with a Galaxy Note 2, already rooted and with ClockWorkMod recovery installed, after flashing to CM12 and install Gapps 5 (and selecting the option while in recovery to restore root) I still lost root. 

To re-enable root, go to Setting>About Phone>and tap Build Number 7 times.  That will unlock Developer Options.  Then open Developer Options and the option is there to enable root access.  Once that is done you can then reinstall apps like SuperSU.

Also, if you were backing up data to your external SD card (ex: I was using Titanium Backup) the path changes under Lollipop.  So if it says it cannot find your data, you need to update the path.  For example my path changed from extSDCard to SDCard1.

Get rid of WSE_Vosteran or Vosteran (I got it by updating FreeFileSync)

Initially I tried to just uninstall using control panel Programs and Features.  I removed WSE_Vosteran but it was not removed.  There may also be a Vosteran entry in Programs and Features.  Remove that too.

The .exe gets placed into your profile:
(Windows 7)
C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Vosteran\Application\vosteran.exe

In my case, this was loaded with Chrome.  So to delete it you will need Chrome closed.  You can also use Process Monitor from Sysinternals:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx

To look for the process and kill it.

Then go to Start>Run and type in %appdata%  and hit enter.

If the Run box is not visible for you, just type %appdata% in your programs search box.
That should open up your appdata location.  It will default to Roaming.  You want Local.  So at the top where you see the path in the address bar, click one folder up 'AppData' and then click 'Local'.

Unless you have already removed it, you should have a Vosteran folder.  Right click that folder and choose delete.  If it will not delete, then you might want to reboot into safemode and try it again.

Next, they are nice enough to alter your registery also.  In HKCU\Software\ you should have a Vosteran and Vosteran Browser keys.  You will want to delete these also
Right click each root key and delete.

I went into Chrome and removed Vosteran as an extension.  But, if you need to you can open regedit and have a look at HKLM\Software\Google\Chrome\Extensions and see if it is there.  If so, delete.

I do not now what would have happened if I was using a different browser at the time.  So you may need to check things like Manage Add-ons in IE.  Or equivalent in Firefox.

This 'infection' came from me updating FreeFileSync.  Sad.  I posted on their forum about this.  It is bull to do this to people.

Hopefully I have provided enough information to help you clean this off your system.

If needed, you can always fall back on two tools.  Proccess Monitor and look for suspicious process and Procmon, use it to see if vosteran is running.  Track it down using Procmon.