RE: EIB Instabus

[Martin Wonders <martin.wonders@xxxxxxxxx>]

I have to disagree, EIB is an open standard and I've seen the spec on sale
for $350, which is peanuts for
manufacturers. EIB has been integrated into the new Konnex standard with
all
of its functionality intact as far as I
can see.

I do agree that IP and ethernet are the future, but all we can do for now
is
wire and wait, using cbus, instabus or X10.

Martin

-----Original Message-----
From: Ian Lowe [mailto:ian@xxxxxxx]
Sent: 09 April 2004 00:13
To: ukha_d
Subject: RE: [ukha_d] EIB Instabus


-----Original Message-----
>From: Martin Wonders [mailto:martin.wonders@xxxxxxx]

...

>Instabus uses an open standard(EIB European installation bus) that any
>manufacturer can implement. This can mean the difference between
household >appliances coming EIB enabled or CBus enabled.  Saying that,
no-one knows >which way the manufacturers will go so it's all a bit of a
gamble.

Well... yes and no.. EIB isn't really an open standard - you need to pay
in excess of EUR2000 to get access to the specification. It strikes me
as nowt more than a manufacturer's club, and one that's now swallowed up
anyway - according to the web, EIB is dead, it's now merged with another
couple of standards (not merged as in picking the best bits
incidentally, merged as in including all three standards en-masse!!)
into Konnex or "KNX".. and it's just the same money making club
all over
again - in order to even get a look at the documentation you need to
shell out EUR1000 EUR - and that version is tied down in more NDA than
you can shake a stick at.

Even those are better than C-Bus though - THEIR protocol is even more
super secret!!

I'll be all radical and suggest that none of these are the answer. I
predict (and you can quote me on this ;) ) that embedded IP will become
so dirt cheap in the next few years that all these closed systems will
simply fall by the wayside before the mighty Ethernet.

Then we can start seeing good things happen!! Until then? It's just
moving from one "obsolete on install" lock-in to the next. :



UK Home Automation Meet 2004 - BOOK NOW!
http://www.ukha2004.com <http://www.ukha2004.com>

http://www.automatedhome.co.uk
<http://www.automatedhome.co.uk>

Member Offers - http://www.freeranger.co.uk/ukha
<http://www.freeranger.co.uk/ukha>



_____