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1993-10-06
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Path: menudo.uh.edu!usenet
From: kevin.messick@cas.org (Kevin Messick)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews
Subject: REVIEW: IllumiLink 2.5 and AirLink 2.5
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Date: 5 Oct 1993 21:00:41 GMT
Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett
Lines: 539
Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator)
Distribution: world
Message-ID: <28sn9p$leg@menudo.uh.edu>
Reply-To: kevin.messick@cas.org (Kevin Messick)
NNTP-Posting-Host: 129.7.128.1
Keywords: hardware, infrared, controller, audio, commercial
PRODUCT NAME
IllumiLink 2.5 and AirLink 2.5
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
IllumiLink is an Infra Red (IR) Universal Programmable Remote
Controller for the Amiga. It consists of a hardware device that attaches to
the mouse port, and software. It also comes with hardware for using a
cordless telephone for controlling your Amiga. AirLink is a subset of
IllumiLink that doesn't include the telephone capabilities. I've tried to
note anything that applies only to IllumiLink.
AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION
Name: Geodesic Designs Inc.
Address: P.O. Box 956068
Duluth, GA 30136
USA
Telephone: (404) 822-0566
LIST PRICE
I've had IllumiLink for about 1 year, so don't remember the exact
price, but it was somewhere around $90 (US). I believe AirLink is around
$60 (US).
SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
The package comes with all software and hardware needed.
HARDWARE
None.
SOFTWARE
I've used the package under both AmigaDOS 1.3 and 3.0. If
you have only 1.3, you should strongly consider purchasing
ARexx to get the full functionality of this package. The
rexxsyslib.library and RexxMast command are included with
the package for people who only have 1.3 and don't have
ARexx.
COPY PROTECTION
None. The program installs on a hard drive and does not need the
original disks any time after that. I've never tried booting from the
floppy disk, so I'm not sure if the floppy is even bootable. All save files
are placed in user-specified locations.
MACHINE USED FOR TESTING
Amiga 1000
512KB Chip RAM, 1MB Fast RAM
Commodore 256KB RAM expansion
Original Insider Board with battery-backed clock and 1MB of memory.
C-Ltd. 33MB hard drive
Kickstart and Workbench V1.3
1080 monitor
Amiga 4000/40
2MB Chip RAM, 8MB Fast RAM
Seagate 120MB hard drive
Kickstart and Workbench V3.0
1080 monitor
REVIEW
I've been waiting for a package like IllumiLink for a while now.
When my home was being built, I wired IR receivers in every room that run
down to an IR repeater in the basement. The IR repeater can have up to 3 IR
transmitters attached to it. I put all my stereo equipment, cable box, VCR,
etc. down in the basement with one of the transmitters aimed at them. I can
control all of it from any room. I'd bought a few of those Radio shack
universal remotes, but I'm not really impressed with them. Plus, I wanted to
be able to control everything from the Amiga. IllumiLink was the first
package I've seen that looked like it did what I wanted.
I should probably explain what a universal IR remote control is.
Normally, your CD player remote can only control the CD player. A universal
remote can control the CD player, plus the receiver, and usually other
devices as well. You just switch to whatever device you want, and the
buttons on the remote send out different IR commands for the new device.
I've seen universal remotes for sale that can control 4, 6, or 8 devices.
Generally there is some setup required. The remotes come programmed with
the IR commands for hundreds of devices, and you tell it which ones you have.
Programmable universal remotes are just like universal remotes, only
they don't come pre-programmed. You have to program them yourself. This
generally involves putting the remote in "learn mode," pushing one of the
buttons, and then pointing your old remote at it and pushing what button you
want it to learn. IllumiLink is a programmable universal remote. It does
come with with a few examples, but I think they're mainly for giving ideas
on how to set things up than for using as pre-programmed remotes.
The reasoning behind universal remotes is to reduce clutter. By
controlling all (or most) of your devices with one remote, you can put the
old remotes in a closet and just have the one remote out. I've found that
having the universal remote just adds one more remote to the clutter - I use
the universal remote, and my wife uses all the others (universal remotes
take some getting used to since the button labels are wrong for a lot of the
devices).
I was pretty excited when I found IllumiLink (in the Amazing Amiga
Product Guide) and had my dealer order it. After it came in, I took it home
and installed it on my hard drive. The software doesn't come with an
installation program, but does have installation instructions included in a
"readme" file. All you need to do is copy everything from the disk to a
directory on the hard drive. There are no Assigns that need to be done.
You should put the AIR command into a directory in your PATH or add the
Illumilink C directory to your PATH.
The IllumiLink hardware is a little brown box about 1.5"x2.5"x0.5"
with a mouse jack (9 pin D connector) on one end, a stereo jack (like they
use for portable tape player head-phones) on one side, and a modular
telephone jack on the other side. The box can be plugged directly into the
mouse port, but I've found it more convenient to use the 6' extension cable
that came with the package. There is also a stereo Y adaptor that plugs
into the stereo jack and terminates with 2 RCA phono jacks. An IR
transmitter with a RCA phono plug plugs into the right jack, and the left
jack is an input for a tone generator. You can get an extension phono cable
to run from the right phono jack to the plug on the IR transmitter to make
it more convenient to use (this cable is not included - I bought one from
Radio Shack for about $2 (US)).
The box, in addition to the jacks, contains an IR receiver, an IR
transmitter, a red LED, and a yellow LED. When the box is receiving IR
signals, the yellow LED flashes. When the box is transmitting IR signals,
the red LED flashes. All of this is located inside the box and can't be
seen (until the LEDs start to flash).
Once you have the hardware attached to the mouse port (turn off the
computer during installation, just to be safe), and the software installed
(either on a hard drive or a backup copy of the floppy), you're ready to
go. The first thing you need to do is set up an AirWindow. This is a
normal Workbench window that looks like a remote control. The window takes
a little getting used to because, when it is active, none of the normal
window borders or gadgets are visible - it just looks like a picture of a
remote. The borders and gadgets are still there, but you can't see them.
If you click in the upper right corner, the window will cycle front-to-back
like normal. When the window is not active, the borders and gadgets
reappear.
Setting up the AirWindow isn't very hard, but it does take time - it
probably took me 3-4 hours to set up my first one. I can do it in about an
hour now. The first thing you have to do is get a picture of the remote.
You can scan in a picture of the real remote, draw one using a paint
program, or just draw a box with some buttons on it. The image doesn't have
to look like the real remote, although that might be best. You'll want to
make sure each of the buttons are labeled with what you want them to do.
Once you have the image, save it as a brush. I'm not sure what all paint
programs let you do this, but DPaint (II or IV) works fine.
Next, you'll need to start up an AirWindow (using one of the sample
ones provided) and load the new image on top of it. The old AirWindow
resizes to the size of the new image. You then delete the old gadgets and
start defining new ones. A gadget is a spot on the AirWindow where you can
click and have a command executed. They can be anywhere, but it's best to
make them where you've drawn button boxes on the image :-). You define
gadgets by putting the A