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supported_hardware:alexa [2018/10/02 11:02] – [Amazon Alexa Bridge] James Sentmansupported_hardware:alexa [2023/02/13 14:52] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1
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 =====Amazon Alexa Bridge===== =====Amazon Alexa Bridge=====
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 +**NOTE** as of October 2019 Amazon pushed an update to their Alexa devices that broke every single non-cloud based home automation integration system, not just XTension. As of February 2020 there are three potential solutions to this problem since Amazon either wanted to do this or is not interested in fixing it.
 +  * the simplest solution is to find a generation 1 Echo device on ebay or elsewhere. Note that many that are labeled as such actually aren’t as people don’t really know what they are selling and are re-using descriptions from other similar devices. Please make sure you can identify a version 1 device! It will have the bezel that you can physically turn to change the volume. If if has buttons to adjust the volume then it is not a generation 1 device and will not solve your problem. These gen 1 devices are not eligible for the newer software updates and therefore will not automatically receive the update that breaks everything. Once you have one on your network you can do the discovery for new devices through it and not through one of your newer devices. When that is working all communications to the shared units will go through this older device even if you issue the command from a newer device also on your network. This works without having to make any other changes to your system usually though you may have to re-discover all your units through the new/old device.
 +  * If you do not require port 80 standard web services on your XTension server you can now run the new [[supported_hardware:alexasudo|Alexa Plugin with Sudo]] to get around the limitations of the new Amazon software. This is limited to a single instance of the plugin running on the XTension server.
 +  * If you do require the standard web port on your XTension mac or you need multiple instances of the plugin to share all the units that you wish to then you can run more instances of the plugin on separate machines. This will work from extra Macs or more easily by putting the plugin code onto a Raspberry Pi. See the [[supported_hardware:alexapi|Alexa On Raspberry Pi]] page for more info.
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 With the Alexa Bridge you can control any of your XTension units via voice control through any compatible Amazon Alexa or Echo device. Since this works by pretending to be a phillips hue hub, the Alexa can control your units even without a working internet or cloud connection.  With the Alexa Bridge you can control any of your XTension units via voice control through any compatible Amazon Alexa or Echo device. Since this works by pretending to be a phillips hue hub, the Alexa can control your units even without a working internet or cloud connection. 
supported_hardware/alexa.1538478173.txt.gz · Last modified: 2023/02/13 14:51 (external edit)