Re: XPL - XAP

[Chris Hunter <cjhunter@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

 >If you give us an idea of what sort of things you are trying to
achieve ...

Many thanks ... some specific examples, how about (!) :

Before too long, we will need to buy appliances for the new house ...
and Siemens have an offer to add EIB to some of their ovens, fridges,
freezers, washing-machines, dishwashers, tumble-driers, etc ... 50Euro
per item, for full control & status (on/off, open/closed, start/stop,
settings, etc) ... but our network will be Idratek, not EIB !

Our cars have computerised everything, including SatNav, and it would be
handy to be able to check status (locked/unlocked, fuel & service
situation, etc) & plan trips & download data from anywhere in the
house
... via Idratek.

Our Pure DAB radio has USB ... and it would handy to be able to link it
to Idratek, for relaying about the house - to be able to listen anywhere
/ everywhere, via Idratek MFP, and on lap-tops ...

Our ancient HP-41 / HP3421A data-logger, with HP-IL ...

Nigel's Rafiki Twinflex fire-alarm system ...


Chris



John B wrote:

> Hi Chris,
>
> > to expand  the capabilities of an Idratek set-up, I would
obviously buy
> > the Xpl Cortex extension ... then what ... ??? !
>
> It depends on what you want to integrate with.
> There is xPL support for a whole load of devices - the usual suspects
> like X10, C-Bus, media players, infra-red transceivers, caller ID, LCD
> display units, DMX lighting control etc.
>
> We have an application called xPLHal, which is the service that sits
> at the core of most peoples' xPL networks.
> It's a free (GPL) piece of Windows software that handles the
> configuration and management of your xPL-enabled devices, as well as
> letting you create macros (using either a scripting environment, or a
> fully graphical environment if you're not keen on writing code).
>
> In addition, xPLHal also includes a bridge to xAP, so if you decide to
> go with a mix of xPL and xAP devices, you can bridge them both using
> xPLHal (you do need to do a bit of scripting for this bit though - but
> it's not too difficult).
>
> To give you a quick example, suppose you wanted to link Cortex to
> Winamp, so that an event somewhere within your Idratek system (maybe a
> button press or something) starts some music playing.
> You would first install xPLHal (this only needs to be on one PC on
> your network), then install the xPL Cortex support, then finally the
> xPL module for Winamp.
> (all quite straight-forward and reasonably well documented).
> Then it's just a case of using xPLHal to say: When you receive this
> particular event from Cortex, send a message to WInamp to start
> playing this particular music.
>
> Now, that's not a brilliant example, but hopefully it gives you a
> basic understanding of the xPL concept.
>
> If you give us an idea of what sort of things you are trying to
> achieve, we can give you some more specific pointers.
>
> HTH,
>
> John




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