Killer xAP/xPL app?

[David Buckley <db@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

The killer app - its a virtual serial port that acts as if its a CM12U,
whilst accepting and sending xAP and/or xPL on the network!

This thought came about because we've got a nirvis slink-e controlling Sony
CD jukeboxes, and the software is on the misus's laptop.  The slink-e
serial port is connected to a Moxa terminal server (like the MSS100s Kevin
was flogging recently) and Moxa connects over the (wireless) lan to a
virtual serial port on the lappy.  When CDJ (the slink-e controlling
software) starts up, it connects to COM6, and lo and behold, theres a
slink-e there, at it all works fine.  We have music.

Which is great as there is no trailing serial cable to the lappy, a
wireless solution.

But, its not all perfect.  The lappy has no way of power controlling the
HiFi and changers.  The entire HiFi thing (including the changers) is on a
X10 appliance unit.  CDJ can interface to a CM12U through a com port, and
can be configured to send X10 commands to "wake up" the changers
prior to
it trying to use them, and also to shut them down when required.  So, I was
going to add another terminal server, put a CM12U on the end of it, and let
CDJ control the CM12U.

And then the doh! moment hit me.

If there was a "virtual" CM12U I could install, which
"looks" to the
controlling app like a CM12U, and it spat out xAP and/or xPL, then I
wouldn't need a dedicated CM12U for controlling the HiFi.

What it also means is _any_ windows app (or in this context, any Home
Automation application that isn'x xPL/xAP enabled) that can talk CM12U can
be xAP/xPL enabled....!

The reverse is also possible using mostly the same code - a real serial
port on a PC could emulate a CM12U, so an external (non-windows) controller
that want to talk CM12U can instantly be xAP/xPL enabled.

And it gets better - the fact that X10 like messages are passing between
devices doesn't mean that there actually has to be any real X10 kit at all
- once its xAP/xPL messages, then you can connect to any sort of hardware
via a gateway (eg CBus/EIB), with no low speed protocol delays, high
reliability, no missed or corrupted messages.

Have I been taking the wrong sort of happy pills?  Or am I (still)
criminally insane...

And I've not been keeping up with the xAP/xPL groups so I hope this isn't
an old idea, apologies if it is, where do I download it from :-)