Re: What's the cheapest X10 generating device with PC interface?

["graham_howe" <graham@xxxxxxx>]

This is fantastic, a thread on ukha_d about HomeAutomator that has 
not been kicked off by me! Unfortunately I had to do some stupid work 
and so couldn't join in as it was happening.

Anyway, my take is that CM12U is probably the cheapest computer 
controlled device for issuing X10, it is certainly the most readily 
obtainable one. HomeAutomator is, at the moment, only a web front end 
and so can not do any scheduling. However Andy and I have already 
talked about the possibility of having desktop applications using the 
same interfaces he develops to control stuff without the web 
interface.

In fact we have both knocked up little scripts to do just that as it 
can be quicker than writing a new asp page if you want to test 
something. Now of course, if you have a little scriptlet, there is 
nothing to stop you using windows own scheduler to run it at a 
particular time. So in a roundabout way we could have scheduled 
macros, though it would be pretty crude, almost immediately.

But, as Nik has pointed out, our first priority is putting together a 
download so that you can all have a play. Andy does have some more 
stuff to do on his HVC (the link to HomeVision software) but once 
that is finished it is looking very likley that the CM12U interface 
would be the next project. If anyone has any experience or ideas on 
how to control CM12U from VB then I'm sure that Andy would love to 
hear from you.

My own personal interest will remain with the web front end because I 
am fortunate enough to have HomeVision for scheduling macros and you 
just can't beat a PC-independent device for reliability. But we will 
actively encourage others to come up with clever ways of using the 
software, including developing non-web applications. So if you have 
an interest in this stuff, you should join the HomeAutomator group 
and start talking about it.

Regards

Graham

--- In ukha_d@y..., "Mark Harrison" <Mark.Harrison@e...>
wrote:
> Nik,
>  
> Sorry - I wasn't saying that Macros couldn't be done in Home 
Automator.
>  
> The point I was trying to make that, as I understand it, events in
H.A. can ONLY be triggered by web-clicks.
>  
> It isn't possible, say, to write a HomeAutomator event that 
automatically happens at 7am every morning, or triggers because an X-
10 event is received.
>  
> M.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Nikola Kasic [mailto:nikola@k...]
> Sent: 17 May 2002 10:23
> To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
> Subject: RE: [ukha_d] What's the cheapest X10 generating device 
with PC interface?
> 
> 
> Mark,
> Graham, addmitted that software that comes with CM12U is crap (and
I agree), and his next project will be support for CM12U interface. 
Of course, he'll first try to bring current version to some decent 
level before releasing it. I suppose that at some point it will start 
supporting macros and scheduled events, because there's no point 
having it just to turn on or off particular lights. In fact, it 
already supports simple version of macros, because he was able to 
send multiple X10 commands with one click, although to the same 
device.
> I think it shouldn't be a problem to create macros, when all the 
rest is working.
> Nik
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark Harrison [mailto:Mark.Harrison@e...]
> Sent: 16 May 2002 18:04
> To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
> Subject: RE: [ukha_d] What's the cheapest X10 generating device 
with PC interface?
> 
> 
> Nikola,
> 
> 
> HomeAutomator is a "remote control" application.
>  
> What's it's not for is for programming macros and generally running
the house. You'd still need some other software to do that. You may 
find that the software supplied with a CM12U is enough for you... but 
it isn't for many, which is why so many of the non-Homevision users 
use HomeSeer.
>  
> It's not clear, yet, how easy interoperability between HomeSeer and
HomeAutomator is going to be????
>  
> M.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Nikola Kasic [mailto:nikola@k...]
> Sent: 16 May 2002 18:00
> To: Home automation (E-mail)
> Subject: [ukha_d] What's the cheapest X10 generating device with PC
interface?
> 
> 
> In a context of great Home Automator software, I would like to know
what's the cheapest device that can generate X10 commands and have an 
interface to PC.
> Is it CM12U?
> Home Vision is a bit too expensive for me at the moment, and I 
suppose for many of the UK_HA-ers. On the meeting I found that only 8-
9 people out of 50-ish have HomeVision. CM12 everyone can afford and 
Home Automator as well :-). So is it then a winning combination?
> Also, if I want to develop such a device, will I have to pay any 
licencing fees for using X10 protocol if it's patented?
> Regards,
> Nik
> 
> 
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