World of Ham Radio 1994 January

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--------------------------------------------- Discussion on Converting a BSR module into a momentary contact module Circuit Cellar BBS 203/871-1988 March 1988 --------------------------------------------- Msg#: 742 *PROJECTS* 03/01/88 00:21:19 From: RICHARD DOERING To: ALL Subj: X-10 MOMENTARY CONTACT Has anyone ever taken an X-10 receiver module and converted it to a isolated contact momentary contact? Such a "garage door opener" is lacking in the X-10 lineup. I converted an X-10 appliance module to momentary contact the other day by disassembling the latching relay and machining the little plastic cam inside. This works well but, unfortunatel y, only about 90% of the time. Has anyone ever tried such a feat electronically rather than mechanically? Msg#: 754 *PROJECTS* 03/01/88 09:02:33 From: KEN DAVIDSON To: RICHARD DOERING (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 742 (X-10 MOMENTARY CONTACT) There was a letter in Electronic House magazine a few months ago from one of the members of the team who implemented the HCS (Leo Taylor) on just that topic. Unfortunately, nothing more came from it than "Yea, X-10 should get on the ball and make one." I can look up the exact issue if you'd like. Msg#: 770 *PROJECTS* 03/01/88 22:21:04 From: RICHARD DOERING To: KEN DAVIDSON (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 754 (X-10 MOMENTARY CONTACT) I'll look at the more recent back issues I have of Electronic House. Was the discussion in their Mr. Module section? In any event, I asked someone at X-10 about coming out with a momentary contact and I got a response along the lines of "we've done one but we decided not to release it because of potential liability problems". He seemed to be worried that the receiver might false and cause a garage door to close on someone. Of Msg#: 786 *PROJECTS* 03/02/88 08:54:58 From: KEN DAVIDSON To: RICHARD DOERING (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 770 (X-10 MOMENTARY CONTACT) It sounds more like a REliability problem if they're worried about false triggering. :-) Yes, it was in the Mr. Module section. ---------------------------------------------- Discussion on BSR codes and receiving/ transmitting units Circuit Cellar BBS 203/871-1988 March 1988 ---------------------------------------------- Msg#: 1130 *PROJECTS* 03/16/88 09:12:02 From: ROBERT MCILVAINE To: STEVE CIARCIA (Rcvd) Subj: BSR CONTROLS Steve, I've been working on BSR control things ever since I built your original ultra sonic interface a long time ago. I heard you are doing some articles on controllers and things now so I thought I'd let you know some of the things I've been working on. I have recently completed a stereo control system which uses BSR carrier signals for control functions. I'm currently working on Rev2. It will control speakers, volume, and on/off now and will control source select at next rev. (plans complete, just have to get enough time at the bench to implement.) I've also experimented with control of the whole system (BSR modules, stereo, etc.) from any touch tone phone in the house. I also have some tips on solutions for power line problems which occur in carrier current systems. If you're interested in any of these topics let me know. I can be reached at 603-673-5861 H or 617-276-1288 W Msg#: 1140 *PROJECTS* 03/16/88 14:36:58 From: STEVE CIARCIA To: ROBERT MCILVAINE (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 1130 (BSR CONTROLS) I'd be very interested in your project for INK. If I din'r have so much wire strung through my house I'd probably be doing the sam thing. Be warned of something. I had planned to present a X-10 (BSR) code receiver as part of the INK transmiter project. When X-10 found out about it (I told them) they went B___S__T ! They started screaming about patent violations and junk about using their codes and especially zero crossing transmission and reception as theirs. Now we all know that I can publish anything I damn well please, patented or not, but I usually try to have the more popular stuff manufactured as kits. A legal shootout with them would have eliminated manufacturing anything and left an audience primed for something I can't deliver. In exchange for NOT messing up their market right now, CCI will have access to the new X-10 transmitter module that will undoubtedly hard to get and we'll have a good project. After the dust settles, we'll check their patent and see about that stuff. Just becareful that you aren't X-10 test case for holding onto their patent. -- Steve Msg#: 1156 *PROJECTS* 03/17/88 07:21:14 From: ROBERT MCILVAINE To: STEVE CIARCIA (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 1140 (BSR CONTROLS) Steve, I would be intereseted in writing about the BSR stuff for INK. I'm not sure how much hold BSR has on signals once they enter the transmission medium. Never the less, I believe the actual control portion of my design would be of interest to the audience. It would probably be possible to replace my decoder circuits with BSR's chips (it would actually reduce the chip count by 4 or 5), but when I originally designed the thing they were in the throws of the formation of the new company and they weren't making any promises about availability. As I said above, I'd be interested in doing an article, where do we begin. Regards, Bob McIlvaine Msg#: 1171 *PROJECTS* 03/17/88 17:23:43 From: RICHARD ANDREWS To: STEVE CIARCIA (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 1140 (BSR CONTROLS) . I wonder if these geniuses at X-10 remember the Sony Betamax. Sigh...some people just have to learn the hard way. Do you have a name and address and/or phone number of someone at X-10 whom we can pester about this? Msg#: 1184 *PROJECTS* 03/17/88 21:25:45 From: STEVE CIARCIA To: RICHARD ANDREWS (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 1171 (BSR CONTROLS) I'm not in my office right now. Email me again Monday and I'll give you a name and phone number. You aren't planning on burning my bridges are you? -- Steve Msg#: 1185 *PROJECTS* 03/17/88 21:33:25 From: STEVE CIARCIA To: ROBERT MCILVAINE (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 1156 (BSR CONTROLS) I believe you have a right to use and publish any technology (not deeemed as classified, at least) you want. You can still write an article and if it is well written and offers something useful to the CC INK readers, it will be published. Only if you manufacture something receiving X-10 codes will I expect that the X-10 people will get excited (the key word is manufacture). They got concerned when i told them I was presenting a receiver because I have a history of licensing my designs for manufacture and because they remember that 2 articles that I did back in '76 and '77 virtually created their market for them. I guess they don't know whether to love or hate me. :-) -- Steve Msg#: 1456 *PROJECTS* 03/28/88 11:30:40 From: ROBERT MCILVAINE To: STEVE CIARCIA (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 1185 (BSR CONTROLS) Steve, As it turns out, I remember those articles quite well. I think I even have a copy of them hanging around in my files somewhere. I have a question on a different topic. I'm looking at a control and monitoring application and would like to get some detailed info on the Micromint Z8 system. Specifically, about the facilities for storing the programs in ROM. Can you give the low down or can I order info from this BBS? Thanks, Mac Msg#: 1457 *PROJECTS* 03/28/88 12:24:17 From: KEN DAVIDSON To: ROBERT MCILVAINE (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 1456 (BSR CONTROLS) Give Micromint a call at 800-635-3355 and ask for BCC-series literature. If you have specific questions, feel free to ask here. Msg#: 1476 *PROJECTS* 03/29/88 09:28:44 From: STEVE CIARCIA To: KEN DAVIDSON (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 1457 (BSR CONTROLS) Yess Ken is right the best way is to call Micromint (203-871-6170) and ask for a series manual set. For the BCC11 (Z8), the package is called the BCC99/11 for $39. Similarily, for the BCC52 (8052) it is the BCC99/52 and it is also #39. There are about a dozen manuals in each set including all manufacturer doc (Zilog Z8 manual or BASIC-52) is included where necessary. Finally, a new manual set is being readied for the BCC180 (64180) called the BCC99/180. It includes not only the appropriate BCC expansion board manuals with the BCC180 user's manual, but also the all the SB180 stuff and BASIC-180 doc (200 pages alone). This one weighs POUNDS and costs $59. If you ever wanted to build any of this hardware, these manual sets are the way to go. -- Steve ------------------------------------------------- Discussion on Home Control with Steve's HCS and the Amiga PC Circuit Cellar BBS 203/871-1988 March - April 1988 ------------------------------------------------- Msg#: 1384 *PROJECTS* 03/25/88 05:27:54 From: ERIC HEUPEL To: STEVE CIARCIA (Rcvd) Subj: HCS/AVMUX & AMIGA I'm fairly new to hardware design (good at putting them together though) and need to get some info... Im trying to finish the design of my parents house (just recieved my degree in architectural design). They have 2 amiga computers and an old RS model 3. My questions come in that they want an automated house with BSR type controls and a survailance/security system all computer controled. Also my father has 4 video machines (2 beta 1 vhs and a Vid -8) plus cable etc...so an AVMUX would be perfect for his Audio Video dreams (you should have seen the mess of AB selector and wires befor I moved out) I would like to control all of this through one of the Amiga computers (one 1000 the other a 2000) or maybe a better route have them controlled by a BCC52 or SB180 with a serial link to the Amiga. Any suggestions ??? Also how long of a run would the AVMUX drive before signal noise/loss started taking an appreciable toll ? Thanks :) Eric PS -- Any good books to actually teach myself about hardware design (theory ) I have learned a bit by reading Byte and on this board just observing. Msg#: 1417 *PROJECTS* 03/26/88 14:36:32 From: STEVE CIARCIA To: ERIC HEUPEL (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 1384 (HCS/AVMUX & AMIGA) You have quite a list of goals there :-) , but I suppose you wouldn't have asked if you were an electrical engineer like most of the rest of us. Education and experimentation is the route to achieving your goal. There is no single source book that will teach you to be a designer. That ability comes from many sources and takes time. Most of us just started reading a bunch of magazines and communicating with other people with similar interests. Sounds like you've done that much but it might be advisible to sit down with someone who knows your background and interests in more detail to plot the right future course. Regarding the AVMUX (which seems to be of continued interest. Perhaps it's time to design a new one.), I am driving 25' cables and it seems OK but it depends upon the termination impedance (what you have it connected to). -- Steve Msg#: 1418 *PROJECTS* 03/26/88 19:17:42 From: KEN HOWELL To: ERIC HEUPEL (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 1384 (HCS/AVMUX & AMIGA) Well -- glad to see another Amiga user interested in hardware! For starters, you might consider abandoning any hardwired approach to coupling the amiga to the avmux and/or the bsr type modules. I think there's a controller that accepts touch tones as inputs. The Amiga can *easily* produce touch-tone frequencies, with which you can control the bsr modules, and perhaps thereby the avmux. A letter to the editor in AmigaWorld listed the proper frequencies to use in AmigaBasic. I wrote a small program to dial my telephone using those frequencies, and it worked fine. This way, your parents could also use their radio telephone as a controller! --Ken. Msg#: 1491 *PROJECTS* 03/29/88 23:36:23 From: ERIC HEUPEL To: STEVE CIARCIA (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 1417 (HCS/AVMUX & AMIGA) Thanks for the info... I have invested in a few intro type books and some more specific to computer hardware.. They seem to be getting me some knowledge.. Most of my present experience is from reading (unfortunately not by doing) your projects from Byte. Anywho....Thanks for the projects maybe now that I have time and some money I'll learn by building more than just a simple hi-lo logic probe, and a midi interface. Eric Msg#: 1493 *PROJECTS* 03/29/88 23:43:32 From: ERIC HEUPEL To: KEN HOWELL (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 1418 (HCS/AVMUX & AMIGA) Thanks ... Which issue ?(amigaworld) I am still interested in some good hardware hacks for Amy. I would like to build a card for the 2000 (I am getting a asdg 2000 & 1 box ) which would provide 2-3 extra par. ports and 1 or 2 extra rs-232 ports. Oh well dreams are nice to chase but once you catch them you need something better and bigger to chase (ami3000?). Msg#: 1571 *PROJECTS* 04/01/88 22:32:13 From: KEN HOWELL To: ERIC HEUPEL (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 1493 (HCS/AVMUX & AMIGA) I'll look it up and leave another message. I've designed a parallel port expander for the Amiga, using a 8255 chip. It allows up to about 256 parallel ports to be added. I've written a preliminary softward driver for it, but have yet to actually construct the board. It attaches to the existing parallel port, so high speed transfer among all ports is definately limited. I designed it to make a 68701 programmer, though, so speed is not one of my concerns. A hardware solution is much better. I have the Micron 2 meg expansion board with my A1000. I got the powered 2 slot chassis, and so have one extra slot. I hope to have some neat boards to drop in there. Maybe yours when its finished! --Ken. Msg#: 1589 *PROJECTS* 04/03/88 03:58:59 From: ERIC HEUPEL To: KEN HOWELL (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 1571 (HCS/AVMUX & AMIGA) Right now I'm running with two boards on my expansion chassis...an Easyl (1000) and a Starboard 2 meg. I plan to get one of ASDG's 2000 and 1 expansion chassis' and put the boards in there....but as the main dif between the zorro bus for that chassis (A2000) and anything else is size it shouldnt be to hard to convert it. Dont hold your breath though cause unfortunately I am not very learned in hardware design and have found virtually nill in help for passing the ports out. It shouldnt be that hard ...pull power and the neccessary lines off the buss ... run through drivers etc... the big question is will it work to mount a new parrallel port as say "par.01" as device type Parrallel.device work or do I need to write a new device driver also ? Msg#: 1856 *PROJECTS* 04/09/88 20:47:21 From: KEN HOWELL To: ERIC HEUPEL (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 1589 (HCS/AVMUX & AMIGA) I wouldn't think you would need to re-write the parallel.device, but if so you could probably disassemble the existing device and modify it to work. I know there's been a lot of talk on bix and the like to add extra serial ports, so I think it's possible. By the way, the AmigaWorld issue you want for the touchtone frequencies is Sept/Oct '87. Also, the last Amazing computing advertized a pre-built interface for BSR modules, complete with intuition interface. You might find it interesting. --Ken. ------------------------------------------------ Discussion on X-10 Transmitter and Receiver Circuit Cellar BBS 203/871-1988 March 1988 ------------------------------------------------ Msg#: 1490 *PROJECTS* 03/29/88 22:59:33 From: REZA POURZIA To: STEVE CIARCIA (Rcvd) Subj: MORE ON X-10 Dear Steve, Any suggestions where I might be able to find the schematics for the new X-10 rf transmitter and receiver units? Msg#: 1514 *PROJECTS* 03/30/88 11:19:16 From: STEVE CIARCIA To: REZA POURZIA (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 1490 (MORE ON X-10) One of the most parenoid companies I have ever dealt with is X-10. I don't have a copy of the schematic in question and I wouldm't expect that X-10 would make it easy to obtain. The only reaso they are making this new X-10 line transmitter and circulating its schematic is that it is a case of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em". X-10 saw everyone (including us) using X-10 codes in products. Now they say that you have to use their OEM line transmitter or they will sue for violating their patents. Personally, I think it's a crock but the transmitter module is cheaper to use and I won't fight it. -- Steve Msg#: 1528 *PROJECTS* 03/30/88 22:42:07 From: REZA POURZIA To: STEVE CIARCIA (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 1514 (MORE ON X-10) Thank you Steve. I guess I was pipe dreaming about information as complete as your September 1980 Radio Electronics article! Anyway, the reason I want the schematic is to convert the transmitter unit into an IR receiver and RF transmitter unit. This should be fairly easy because they use the NEC 6121G chip in the transmitter and that chip is fairly well documented in NEC data books. The output (pin 5) goes to an rf trasmitter of about 300 MHZ. I managed to get my CORE unit learn the code from pin 5. Now All I have to do is learn how to is figure out how to make the rf transmitter work indepndantly with an MC3373 receiver or build my own receiver. I would appreciate any comments from anyone who has hacked with the transmitter. Ever since I purchased a CORE I've been looking for a way of working the X-10's with IR. Seems like the only thing that did that was the GE/Radio Shack "Home Minder" and it is no longer available. By the way Steve, I haven't seen you comment on Steve Wozniak's CORE. I am pretty sure you are using one. If so, what's your opinion about the design? Msg#: 1540 *PROJECTS* 03/31/88 09:48:37 From: STEVE CIARCIA To: REZA POURZIA (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 1528 (MORE ON X-10) Believe it or not, I don't have a CORE remote control. I have a few others including the Master Controller that we invented here :-) I'll look for one though. I'm gadget happy enough that I probably need one. The upcoming INK article will contain all the particulars about transmittin g (I suppose that includes receiving) X-10 codes. If you can find these pulse trains any where int the box you have with a scope you should be able to intercept them or introduce them. I know the old ultrasonic remote control unit could be converted to IR (I did it). Too bad they don't make it anymore. Keep tuned. -- Steve ----------------------------------------------------------- Discussion on Steve Ciarcia's Home Control System (HCS) Circuit Cellar BBS 203/871-1988 March - April 1988 ----------------------------------------------------------- Msg#: 1074 *PROJECTS* 03/13/88 23:10:41 From: EVAN HOLLANDER To: STEVE CIARCIA (Rcvd) Subj: HOME CONTROL SYSTEM Steve, I am using one of your HCS boards and I am planning to connect a printer to the expansion connector to monitor the system in my absence. When I am at home will it cause the HCS any problems if the HCS software has the printer enabled and I have turned the printer off. I am curious if this might cause the HCS to hang indefinetly. P.S. The board has been installed and working perfectly for about 6 months now. I am very pleased with it's operation. Thanks, Evan Msg#: 1089 *PROJECTS* 03/14/88 10:35:43 From: STEVE CIARCIA To: EVAN HOLLANDER (Rcvd) Subj: HOME CONTROL SYSTEM At one time I had a printer hooked up exactly as you describe. All I did was leave the printer connected to the HCS port all the time and let the HCS control the power to the printer through an appliance module. When I left the house (alarm system on) the HCS turned on the printer power and when I was home (alarm system off) it turned off the power. Worked fine for the 2 years it was installed. -- Steve Msg#: 1091 *PROJECTS* 03/14/88 13:37:55 From: EVAN HOLLANDER To: STEVE CIARCIA (Rcvd) Subj: HCS Steve, I received your message about the printer connected to the HCS. Just curious but you said that you used to have a printer connected. Does that imply that your also no longer using the HCS? Evan. Msg#: 1137 *PROJECTS* 03/16/88 14:14:19 From: STEVE CIARCIA To: EVAN HOLLANDER (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 1091 (HCS) Quite the contrary! My house would grind to a halt and be pitch black without the HCS. No, the HCS is still used but the printer is not. Because of the lightning problems where I am, the printer cable sometimes would pick up noise and glitch the system. The HCS would still be controlling everything perfectly but I'd find a ream of useless printout on the floor next to it. This only happened a few times but I said forget this and instead parallel monitor the system with a BCC52 and a time-lapse video recorder. When I get home I can view the control operations on a crt rather that on paper. Think of it as a giant printer buffer with no paper. -- Steve Msg#: 1604 *PROJECTS* 04/03/88 23:02:10 From: EVAN HOLLANDER To: STEVE CIARCIA (Rcvd) Subj: HCS Steve, I have two of your HCS boards and one of them is currently controlling the lights in my home. A cable which carries two seperatly shielded pairs connects an IBM XT clone to the terminal port of the HCS. The cable run is about 20 ft. For whatever reason I cannot get the EXEC program from Robin Computing to download to the HCS (or upload) at a speed greater than 1200 baud. To see if the cable length was a problem I took the second HCS board that I have and connected it up to the PC via a 3 ft. commercially made cable. The same problem seems to exist. I then connected the video out port to a monitor so that I would be able to see what is occurring. It appears that the EXEC program is missing the prompt from the HCS at speeds over 1200 baud. Is there any known fix?? I would appreciate any help. My event table is 77 events and it takes about 30 minutes at 1200 baud. (Whew!) Thanks, Evan P.S. I'm looking forward to the March/April issue of INK.... Msg#: 1626 *PROJECTS* 04/04/88 10:13:19 From: STEVE CIARCIA To: EVAN HOLLANDER (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 1604 (HCS) Coincidentally, I have about a 35 foot run between my PC and the HCS. I remember that for a while I had tremendous problems doing downloads at anything faster than 1200 bps too (sound familiar). Finally, I rerouted the connecting cable, hardwire earth grounded the HCS, and changed the serial I/O card in the PC. I made no software changes and everything now works fine at 4800 bps. Oh yeah, I also changed the RS-232 chips in the HCS. There were no software changes and to my knowledge there are no bugs of fixes. Check the wiring and the grounding. That's all I can suggest. -- Steve Msg#: 1749 *PROJECTS* 04/06/88 19:44:18 From: EVAN HOLLANDER To: STEVE CIARCIA (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 1626 (HCS) Steve, Well I changed the serial card to a genuine IBM serial card and lo and behold the problem went away. I can download error free up to 4800 baud. I have used the other serial card for other projects withoud problems. I would really like to understand what is different between the two. Thanks for the suggestions. Evan... Msg#: 1757 *PROJECTS* 04/07/88 02:12:03 From: ERIC BOHLMAN To: STEVE CIARCIA (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 1626 (HCS) It may be that the other serial card has weaker drivers or less sensitive receivers (they may have played loose with the voltage specs. Some devices will use 0v and 5v rather than two equal but opposite voltages. That works just fine when you're talking about a 1-foot cable to a modem, but it doesn't work very well for longer runs at higher speeds). Msg#: 1768 *PROJECTS* 04/07/88 10:30:48 From: STEVE CIARCIA To: EVAN HOLLANDER (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 1749 (HCS) I think the driver chips was really my problem too. Glad you fixed it. -- Steve -------------------------------------------- Discussion on Infrared Home Control Devices Circuit Cellar BBS 203/871-1988 February - May 1988 --------------------------------------------- Msg#: 632 *PROJECTS* 02/25/88 03:37:59 From: ORRIN CHARM To: SYSOP (Rcvd) Subj: HOME CONTROL SYSTEM This BBS should be very interesting. Is there any data available on the Circuit Cellar Home Control System, particularly on interfacing it to the infrared controller? Msg#: 635 *PROJECTS* 02/25/88 09:01:57 From: KEN DAVIDSON To: ORRIN CHARM Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 632 (HOME CONTROL SYSTEM) If you look at some of the recent messages, there's been some talk about the HCS and home control in general. While nothing has been said specifically about I/R control, maybe someone will jump in after seeing your message. Msg#: 3045 *PROJECTS* 05/10/88 21:23:28 From: MIKE SCULLY To: STEVE CIARCIA (Rcvd) Subj: I-R HOME CONTROL DEVICES DEAR STEVE AND COMPANY: This is my first communication with your bulletin board, and I am grateful to have access to it. Without getting into much personal history, I will summarize my interest in your work as follows: I am a long-time software user and developer who knows just enough about electronics and computer hardware to constantly want more knowledge. I am really a frustrated engineer at heart who hasn't the time to get a formal education in computer engineering, but wants to know more. That's what makes your BYTE columns so enjoyable to me. Anyway, enough of background. I share your interest in home control devices. I have had a houseful of BSR units for 4 years, along witan increasing number of IR remotes for appliances strung throughout the house. Your remote control device about a year ago sparked my interest in a similar project. I have a PC version of the BSR module that hooks up to a serial port. With a little work, I can send software commands to the module to do real-time control of my BSR units from the PC. I also have a voice-recognition board with a limited vocabulary (200 words) and a WATSON board that I hope to integrate into a complete home control system with my PC. All I need is a real-time, RS232 device to send IR commands to a repeater. Sorry, I can't continue this now, a real RIPPER of a storm is hitting me. I'll call back later. Msg#: 3058 *PROJECTS* 05/11/88 09:50:20 From: STEVE CIARCIA To: MIKE SCULLY (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 3045 (I-R HOME CONTROL DEVICES) Sounds like all the things you want to build are the things we are making as regular projects in Circuit Cellar INK Journal. -- Steve Msg#: 3075 *PROJECTS* 05/11/88 20:09:34 From: MIKE SCULLY To: STEVE CIARCIA (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 3058 (I-R HOME CONTROL DEVICES) Sounds like a great marketing answer, but I think I know you better from your work. Actually, I was going to get to the subscription part of my call last night, but we had a real blowout of a thunderstorm here and I had to pull the plug on all my stuff. (Sounds like more ideas for projects: I have never found low-end commercial surge supressors effective for lightning-induced surges. Besides, too many things here interconnect to get them all: phone lines, serial cables, audio inputs, etc.). Just to expound on what I would like to connect as a system. My voice board has enough of a vocabulary to respond to most things I could want a home control system to do if I link phrases together (turn the HALLWAY LIGHT on, TAPE show at TEN PM WEDNESDAY). I can design the necessary software to organize the recognized key words into a command process I have preprogrammed to do. If it needs a BSR module, I can direct a data stream to a serial port on my PC-BSR control module. I am hoping to get my hands on some of the third-party software available for the WATSON board to push a voice file through when I need audio verification. (Some recordings of John Gielgud as a butler would be nice...As you wish, sir). If this works out, I would look for some way to poll a series of microphone connected to the VR board so that I could identify the location of the caller, and thus know more to make decisions from (which LIGHT? Ah! he's in the upstairs den.). Also, one could then open only the circuit to a speaker in the caller's location, and not broadcast responses to others in the house. If you have seen Mastervoice's BUTLER-IN-A-BOX at the last several COMDEX/Fall show, you will know where I have developed some of my ideas. Anyway, the first ingredient I need is a way to record and retransmit IR patterns, similar to your IR remote replacer, that works interactively with a computers I/O port. Enough said. I will leave you with this thought, get to the subscription section, and await your next column. With sincere appreciation, Mike Scully --------------------------------------- Discussion on X-10 BSR Transmitters Circuit Cellar BBS 203/871-1988 June 1988 --------------------------------------- Msg#: 3597 *PROJECTS* 06/02/88 21:54:03 From: JOHN APPLEYARD To: STEVE CIARCIA (Rcvd) Subj: X-10 TRANSMITTER Steve, I just received the new Micromint Catalog today, and I noticed that they are now offering a X-10 transmitter that is capable of being directly attaced to the BCC-180 parallel port system. Two questions, if you please: 1. Is this THE TRANSMITTER that you are going to describe in the next INK issue ? If not, what are the differences going to be? 2. Is CCI going to offer anything like this, or only available thru Micromint? Thanks for the info and keep the projects coming! Msg#: 3614 *PROJECTS* 06/03/88 09:17:47 From: KEN DAVIDSON To: JOHN APPLEYARD (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 3597 (X-10 TRANSMITTER) I'm actually the one who did the article for the third issue of INK. The module, software, and cable in the Micromint catalog are exactly what is described in the article. Originally, CCI was going to handle the product. I believe Micromint is the only one selling it now. Individual modules can be obtained directly from X-10 (they have an ad in the same issue). While we're on the subject, we just got a 2-way X-10 module from X-10 (a sticker on the back says "Unit 1"). This thing not only transmits X-10 codes but will also receive them. The front end on it filters what it hears on the power line, confirms that it's valid X-10 code, then sends clean 1-ms pulses to the computer. I have to do some software this weekend to see it work. I'll be doing a short follow-up article in the fourth issue of INK that describes the receiver portion. X-10 also defined some new codes in their protocol that definitely look useful. Msg#: 3616 *PROJECTS* 06/03/88 10:28:22 From: JOHN APPLEYARD To: KEN DAVIDSON (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 3614 (X-10 TRANSMITTER) What possibilities the UNIT 1 conjures up! Is this going to be a real thing in the future (i.e. should I wait on the current X-10) or is this just an evaluation unit with no real future ahead? Please give me some direction, if you please. Msg#: 3629 *PROJECTS* 06/04/88 09:17:11 From: KEN DAVIDSON To: JOHN APPLEYARD (Rcvd) Subj: REPLY TO MSG# 3616 (X-10 TRANSMITTER) Oh it is definitely a real thing for the future. I don't know their production plans or timeframe, but I'm quite sure it will be produced in quantity. With the low cost of these modules, though, why bother waiting if you want to start playing with the transmitter portion now? You can get your transmitter code working, then get the receiver when it's ready. X-10's latest ad says that a 2-way module is coming, so even X-10 is starting to promote it. The additions to the protocol start me wondering about some of X-10's future plans. They've added such function codes as "hail request" and "hail acknowledge," used by a transmitter to find out if there are any other transmitters in listening range; "all lights off" (previously there was only "all lights on" and "all units off"); "status request," "status on," and "status off," used to query the RF transceiver module to find out whether it's on or off; and "extended data," used to send one or more bytes of 8-bit data. Things are starting to look interesting. I've written some code to support the receiver functions already. Surprisingly enough, since the receiver front end does such a good filtering job, the receiver code is much simpler than the transmitter code. Works like a charm. Now I just have to figure out how to make it work entirely in the background.