Re: X10 Computer Interface

["Paul Peard" <NOSPAMpaul_peard@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dave,

- Just personal opinions and observations as a user.....

Those serial units are still around and are still very popular, they are
called variously CM11's or CM12's (12's are European spec versions of the
11's). They can be programmed with some simple macros so they can run some
logic with the pc offline.

There are many more choices available in the US - and USB is on the newest
units - but us poor backwater users in Europe haven't seen them yet.

Who knows about 5 years time - but the cm11 is staple diet out there and has
been for a number of years - and it's available in both Europe and US - so
if you support that then you have a larger market.

Personally I am interested in the STAMP units for some messing about - have
you got any links to some details?

Paul


"Dave" <dju@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:5srg41t6e0v2lt3i4bhisk7dqt8ii67j4g@xxxxxxxxxx
> Hi,
>
> I'm authoring a video motion detector application and would
> really like to be able to send commands to X10 devices from
> the user's PC if motion is detected.
>
> Is there an interface that a third party app developer can
> support in their software that will have some longevity? In
> other words, do the X10 computer interfaces that are
> currently available have any likeliness that they'll be
> around in 5 years. I wouldn't want to support something then
> have to explain shortly afterwards that the X10 feature is
> no longer usable.
>
> Would appreciate it if anyone can tell me which are the most
> popular X10 computer interfaces. I used to have an X10
> system when I had a house and the box I had (made by X10)
> connected to the serial port of the PC. Now they probably
> have something that uses USB. I hope so. I need to either
> pick an existing device and declare that I support it or I
> need to make my own hardware. The problem with that is that
> it no longer becomes software only and the Internet cannot
> be used to send hardware to the user..., let alone having to
> make the x10 adapters too. BTW: The Parallax Stamp chips can
> provide an X10 interface for anyone who wants to fiddle with
> programming them.
>
> Thanks for any help.
>
> Dave