RE: Re: Displays round the house - architecture...

["Ian Lowe" <ian@xxxxxxx>]

Example quote:
"I think this architecture extends beyond just displays to provide
(one possible) foundation for an HA network protocol."

DANGER WILL ROBINSON!!!

...there leads the path of ruin for a project.

I have seen this happen so many times, both in my Craplins days, and
since,
and its a nasty trap to fall into.

Designing a distributed system is a *massive* undertaking, even for a
dedicated team motivated by a salary!

In contrast, we all have PCs available, RS232 cards are cheep cheep,
and
CAT-5 cabling is cheap and easy. When the only thing to do is come up
with
some cool software to run the off-the-shelf kit, it will all fall into
place
with a minimum of pain/weeping/gnashing of teeth.

>from
"display only", buiding on to a "display + 4 Button
Interface" through to
"Display + Dallas 1-wire + IR Node + 4 button Interface" and so
on..

The initial "get some WAF" steps are smaller, the outlay is more
manageable,
and you can build on earlier success rather than making one *enormous*
leap
into the unknown.

Go distributed, and you have to design (or adapt) a protocol, which no
two
people will agree on, the nodes will be complex, *read expensive* and
people
will be much less likely to just throw them in to try them.

Complexity is your enemy.

<OMINOUS WITH LIGHTNING>

Mark My Words!!

</OMINOUS WITH LIGHTNING>

Ian.

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