Re: DMX and xPL

["Frank Mc Alinden" <fmcalind@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Kevin

>     Who's interested in this ?? I have always said that if there is
> sufficient demand I would produce an xPL version of my board

Of course im interested but i cant see xPL being implemented anytime soon
into your product and i dont think there would be half a dozen xPL Cbus
users at the moment....

What about Homevision Kevin ..is that still on the cards ??if so any idea
when ???

>     The profit margin on the board is quite small as I tried to make
it
> appealing to everyone here on UKHA.  Any commercially available
version
> would be considerably more.  The lower cost solution is obviously to
use
> a PC application as middleware as in a direct connect to the RS232
> module or via C-Gate which is how my first version at UKHA 2003
worked.

Compared to Cbus pricing your board is quite appealing ......

Frank

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin Hawkins" <lists@xxxxxxx>
To: <ukha_xpl@xxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 11:06 PM
Subject: Re: [ukha_xpl] DMX and xPL


>
> Frank Mc Alinden wrote:
>
> >
> >Would be nice to have a hardware interface for xPL to
Cbus....????....Wonder
> >how difficult it would be ....??.....The main issue her would be
getting
the
> >protocol from Clipsal..........
> >
> >Frank
> >
> >
> >
> >
>     Who's interested in this ?? I have always said that if there is
> sufficient demand I would produce an xPL version of my board - it
costs
> a lot to produce a surface mount board, CE approved and to join the
> C-Bus enabled program. Plus there are the licence fees and two bought
in
> modules (processor and C-Bus SIM) plus case tooling. That's not even
> considering  the coding time. The xAP versions of the board have also
> been very low quantity although there are a couple of  possibilities
now
> floating around that might change this.  I knew this but was prepared
to
> do it as I needed it for my own setup. Obviously having extra sales
> through an xPL version would be attractive but there needs to be a
dozen
> or so takers and I don't think we are there yet - are we ?? If there
are
> enough takers I would do this.  :-)
>
>     The profit margin on the board is quite small as I tried to make
it
> appealing to everyone here on UKHA.  Any commercially available
version
> would be considerably more.  The lower cost solution is obviously to
use
> a PC application as middleware as in a direct connect to the RS232
> module or via C-Gate which is how my first version at UKHA 2003
worked.
>
>     Meanwhile if you did want a hardware solution you could always use
> the xAP C-Bus controller & bridge between xAP and xPL using the
inbuilt
> functionality of xPL HAL.  A bit of scripting work will be needed as
the
> environments have differing data in the packet structures -  I guess
it
> may be do-able. Anyone up for this ??
>
>     Adding xPL is not difficult although it does require a whole
> different style of operation as the xAP version uses the hardware sub
> addressing and UID values along with multiple body parts that were not
> carried over in  the xPL fork. I am guessing I would instead support a
> similar schema to the one used via the xPL to C-Gate connector - or is
> there a specific lighting control schema available in xPL I wonder ??
> I haven't looked in detail at this and I have noticed a trend towards
> things sitting within one sensor.basic / control.basic schema rather
> than more specific functional schema areas like lighting, heating  or
> security etc.    I guess the same decisions exist with regard to how
xPL
> might implement any DMX integration. I shall keep an eye on how this
> progresses and see if something useful drops out that will be
applicable
> to C-Bus and easy to implement from where I am currently.
>
>     As the number of C-Bus users increase and xPL too becomes
> implemented in more networks hopefully the number of potential sales
> opportunities will be there and this development work will be an easy
> choice.  Ironically DMX  might actually detract from this as a lower
> cost option. But it would be nice to be able to implement lighting in
> many more places than you can justify C-Bus.  I'm dead keen on a DMX /
> xPL  gateway although I strongly favour an embedded standalone
solution
> that would work without a PC helper application.  If anyone were to
> think of writing this in C on an embedded controller  they might even
be
> able to use my board base hardware which would take away a load of the
> practical headaches - including the killer of CE approval. The board
has
> adequate I/O, speed and code space and removing some parts eg the
C-Bus
> connectivity  would bring the cost down.  (BTW The board is Rabbit
3700
> based 512K RAM 512K Flash - 4 serial ports (RS232/422/485) plus
parallel
> I/O , lcd display & keypad circuitry). If anyone is up to this
drop me a
> line and I can discuss the bare board costs.
>
>     Kevin
>
> PS  G8KMH 73's G8KIO !
>
>
>
> xPL Links: http://www.xplproject.org.uk http://www.xplhal.com
http://www.xpl.myby.co.uk
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