RE: xAP Hardware?

[Kevin Hawkins]

Mark
- regarding my own little bit from UKHA, the 'xAP to C-Bus gateway'
it's moving along at quite a pace. Even surprised myself on this one.
I have the first 10 boards back now (and mostly reserved for people
which is encouraging). The boards as I mentioned are pre-release in nature.
I am going to be putting some new pictures up soon so people can see
exactly
what they will be getting, but they look pretty good. I have also got the
Rabbit controllers but the C-Bus SIMS are on backorder with Clipsal - I am
awaiting a delivery estimate but they are not renowned for their speed ! I
have two units out in test using PC/RS232 modules, and can supply the rest
as soon as I have the SIMS. If people are happy with a connection to the
C-Bus PC interface and urgently want one then get in touch.
It's no bad thing as most users are still waiting on getting their
C-Bus stuff and it gives me a chance to add some more features to the
firmware. I have still some of the web interface bits to do and then to
focus on the extra features that the design is capable of. The fundamental
C-Bus gateway stuff has been running well now for a few weeks. I am also
looking to incorporate an Ethernet based update facility too so that users
can upgrade their firmware without returning their boards which will be
much
more attractive. Just sorting out if this will work & the licensing
as we
speak.
Moving on from this I have had a few requests and suggestions for
other features that the board could support. As I have the basic Ethernet
UDP and Web interface alongside a xAP engine and serial/parallel I/O
running
on the board there are a lot of interesting possibilities here. Obviously I
am looking at the projects that would make the hardware appeal to as many
people as possible in order to get a little volume turning over - which in
turn allows the pricing to come down. The C-Bus hardware SIM can easily be
unplugged from the main design reducing the cost and making the product
appealing to a much larger audience with more typical HA implementations -
eg X10. I have a number of great ideas, and they should all be very viable
within the current hardware design - watch this space. The beauty of the
design is the flexibility of upgrades that could be offered to add features
to the existing product. I hope the product will become a general module
for xAP enabling various other products or technologies, xAP enabling audio
systems, alarms, telephone systems, etc etc. Thinking of a product name...

xAPtise
xAPtisor
xAPplicator < this or more likely
xAPit < this I think

I just need to put the C-Bus side to bed and to also address issues
like a casing etc - the current product (as it will ship) is a board only -
a bit like a Comfort UCM.

I am sure Patrick and Mark will update you on the other hardware
that was shown in the xAP demos, plus I wonder if DavidB has any update on
HomeBrain progress ??

Kevin


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark McCall [mailto:<a
href="/group/xap_automation/post?postID=GIYU3a_vRFDOtnPSgxIBLeqwbSwPDZW-7aC3jXDDrQP6mpjTZF6YS6hiAeseLHVqmc1fDcnBTv5PAtHWellXH1g">lists@a...</a>]
> Sent: 06 August 2003 16:30
> To: <a
href="/group/xap_automation/post?postID=csjKnjGcV8t64GXEkAf_1EcQszLib6S0GAfbG52B3ofjZiOgWQcUAh2PEqWBIrtHmZhu2LMCqYOf4QT2TrXWwX5GmxM1gWk">xap_automation@xxxxxxx</a>
> Subject: [xap_automation] xAP Hardware?
>
> Any updates on xAP hardware shown at UKHA2003?
>
> Thanks
>
> M.