Re: plea from poor X10 user

[Nigel Orr <nigel.orr@xxxxxxx>]

At 14:29 26/07/99 +0100, you wrote:
>> Nice, easy and wireless don't seem likely to coexist for a while
yet...
>I think wireless is all set to become big over the next 3-5 years -
long
>neck sticking out :-)

10 maybe- short stubby neck staying put ;-).  There just doesn't seem to be
the capacity for it to be widespread.  There's not really a good technical
reason why X10 couldn't be a good usable system, just that it doesn't take
advantage of modern comms knowledge to give a reliable link.  So if there
is an interferer (neighbours system or electrical noise source), you lose
performance/reliability.  It is probably rare to get a false control or
switching message (because of the house codes and repetition), but it seems
easy to lose genuine commands, with no feedback...

It is 'do-able' now to have a complete RF system at 418/433/868MHz, with
video distribution at 2.4GHz, right up to the point when your neighbour
gets one too and yours is suddenly a bit less reliable.  It happened to
portable phones, and 10 years later they're reliable, usable and reasonably
secure.  I can't see it happening much faster for wireless, whatever the
pundits say...

>> No, I _know_ I will never want a computer in my bedroom.
>
>What about a LCD Touchscreen?

Maybe, but _very_ unlikely- I appreciate that for some it is nice to see
how busy the roads are before leaving bed, but that doesn't apply to me...
it might be nice to have TV/video, but not for a _long_ while.  I can look
back over 2-3 years and see how much that I'd hoped/planned for actually
had time and money for it to get done- and think of the couple of hours it
might take in 5 years time in a 100-yr-old house to throw in a few more
cables... so I can take a bit more time to set up cable routes rather than
spending more money on copper and less on toys to connect it to!

I guess this is different for some (most?) people, in modern houses, with
chipboard floors, limited attic space, basically very tightly specified,
but in a turn of the century terrace, for someone who can cope with lifting
floorboards and making good neatly afterwards, a bit of cable running isn't
so terrible...

I'm currently preparing the 'wiring closet'/equipment cupboard, which has a
straight run to the attic or the space under the first floor, with easy
access to most rooms.  But, having spent a few hours in my in-laws
15-yr-old house runing in a single phone extension, my house is probably
the exception, rather than the rule...

>> I suppose there is an argument for being able to play games in bed
>You don't need a computer for that ;-))

You might if your wife spends her time in bed typing letters :-P

Nigel
--
Nigel Orr                  Research Associate   O   ______
Underwater Acoustics Group,              o / o    \_/(
Dept of Electrical and Electronic Engineering     (_   <   _ (
University of Newcastle Upon Tyne             \______/ \(

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