Re: XTB - the Future of X10 has arrived!

[Marc F Hult <MFHult@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, 6 Jun 2006 15:17:22 -0400, "Robert Green"
<ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
<MvudnRP6gru4SxjZnZ2dnUVZ_tudnZ2d@xxxxxxx>:

<snip>

Bobby, Dear Bobby, *Dearest* Bobby ;-)

No need to be so defensive ...

I've order one of Jeff's nifty X-10 amplifiers (sensu stricto) because it
will neatly allow me to keep a couple of X-10 switches in service where
running a neutral wire for INSTEON or low-voltage for hard-wired lighting is
not worth the effort at this time. But I rather doubt that this is gonna
solve the "fundamentals of how [I] live and work" as you wrote in your first
post of the thread.

To continue the alternative automotive power analogy used elsewhere in this
thread, when I bought our family's shiny, brannew 1980 Dasher diesel wagon
in 1980, it was wunnerful in part because it got 50 mpg. But when in 1993 I
bought a second, used one, identical except for color,  for spare parts to
help keep the first one alive, I didn't gush that others would/should follow
the same path. Because just as X-10 switches -- amplifier or not -- are
still tactile mush, slow to respond relative to newer devices, more easily
confused by multiple commands, add noise to the powerline, have poor hash
suppression, etc etc,  my then 13-year-old Dasher model was way long in the
tooth and superseded by better cars for less money.

Similarly, I still ride my 1972 Motobecane 10-speed bicycle most days. The
light, purty new front wheel I recently treated it to cost  bout as much as
the whole bike did when new, but I don't recommend 1972 Motobecanes because
[ add list of good reasons here]. If someone asked, me, I'd tell them to buy
a new bike.

Thanks for your (many, many! ;-) words and bon mots in this newsgroup.

... Marc
Marc_F_Hult
www.ECOntrol.org