translator question

[nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Dave Houston)]

I'm considering tackling the TW523 emulator translator.

Which of the controllers which might make use of this send for all three
phases and which only send for a single phase? I know ADI only sends for one
and think HAI is the same. I'm not sure this is critical but would like to
know, just in case.

My thoughts are to make it with TTL input/output and with mutiple serial
input/output ports. That way it could interface with any PLC (or other)
system for which there is a serial interface and for which the translator
knows the protocol.

If I do this it will be a DIY project and will probably use a ZX-24
processor so it won't be as cheap as a PIC based device. The ZX-24 has one
hardware UART and can support up to four interrupt driven full-duplex
software UARTs (9600 bps or less) so it could deal with multiple
protocols/devices and be programmable from a PC serial port. It's code
execution speed is 10x as fast as the original BX-24 and has a more
efficient compiler so there should be ample EEPROM available for user
instructions.

I'm willing to try to develop the code and to design a printed circuit board
but I'm not willing to buy all of the various hardware needed to develop and
test (and reverse engineer protocols) for the new PLC (and other) systems.

I envision it as a "monkey see, monkey do" system that listens for inputs on
any port and translates it to whatever action on whatever port the user
specifies. In essence, it would just be a multilingual switchboard.

I can probably do most of the development using a board I already have
(BX24-AHT). That way the board design could come after the coding and list
of devices supported is near completion or it might turn out that the
existing board design will prove adequate with some simple surgery.

I think it could support...

     TW523
     CM11A
     CPU-XA, Ocelot, Leopard
     2414S PowerLinc V2 Serial (if I can reverse engineer the protocol)
     UPB Powerline Interface Module
     LynX-10 PLC
     Other serial interfaces (if the protocol is available)
     X-10 RF (if all the above leave enough memory)

I need to keep this as simple as possible so as not to put too much pressure
on my health so would probably take on one protocol at a time.

I've had some preliminary discussion with the ZX-24 developer about
publishing this as an Application Note on the ZX-24 web site. I do not want
to set up and maintain another web page.