Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1999 21:43:03 -0600 From: Steve Passe <smp@csn.net> To: Michael Searle <searle@longacre.demon.co.uk> Cc: freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: home automation hardware Message-ID: <199908180343.VAA58390@Ilsa.StevesCafe.com> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Wed, 18 Aug 1999 00:24:04 BST." <19990818002404.05940@longacre.demon.co.uk>
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Hi, > On Tue, Aug 17, 1999 at 03:03:49PM +0100, Michael Searle wrote: > > I'm interested in some of the hardware on the > > home automation page: > > http://www.freebsd.org/~fsmp/HomeAuto/HomeAuto.html > > > > Much of this hardware is only mentioned as schematics > > or PCB artwork though. Is there anywhere I can get > > the actual hardware from? Yes, I'm one of that > > minority without facilities to etch my own PCBs :) > > > > Michael. > > > > I've got a lot of helpful replies from this... but > only about x10 or other power controllers. > > While I am interested in this also, I really meant the > IR controller and other hardware (temperature monitor, > POST card, keyboard/console switch), as these seem > to be home built hardware and I need to know where to > get them from. As the guilty party who (doesn't) manage those pages I suppose I should reply! --- x10d: The serplix controller (my funky design) is definately outdated. Although I am still using mine 24/7, I wouldn't recommend that anyone attempt to build one today. The lynx10 might be feasable. The parallel port tw523 would also work. But the proper action would be to use the newer x10 computer interface: cm11a. Its available alone or as part of the x10 activehome kit. IBM also makes a branded version of this kit. The hardware specific module of the x10daemon would have to be ported to support this hardware, but that shouldn't be too hard if you understand c++. --- ird: The ir hardware is also antique, besides being hard to use. I would suggest starting with the crystal semiconductor CDB8130 evaluation kit. This kit include 2 assembled prototype boards built around the CS8130 multi-standard infrared transceiver part. It has a standard serial interface for the computer, and should be MUCH better suited to the job. Down side is that not only will the hardware specific module of the irdaemon need to redone, but the code for "learning" ir data will have to be re-rolled to deal with this new part. On the plus side, this board might also talk with the ir port of your laptops... (no guarantee, I havn't researched it well enough). --- mld (ie temp monitor): The dongle described on the pages is a home brew from a cci article. Dallas now makes a part that provides a standard serial interface that uses byte (nibble?) wide data instead of bit-banging. The dallas part # is DS9097U-09. Again, a port of the hardware module for the mld, but this should be fairly straigh-forward. --- POST card: I know of no commercial substitute for the hardware outlined on the pages. --- keyboard/console switch: The 2 differences between my switch and the many commercial kvm switches available today are: 1: my switch uses serial port control, allowing X11 programs to switch between systems based upon the cursor entering a predifened area (see the pages for details) 2: I don't switch the vga port. My project is fairly labor intensive. If I were to do it today, I would start with a commercial switch and add serial control. One way to do this would combine a keyboard controller and a PIC, control the PIC via a serial port, having it inject the hot-key sequences to the commercial switch that control it. --- final thoughts: most of the code you encounter for these projects is very rough. It started out as a "proof of concept" for the idea of connecting a series of control daemons together. As each daemon was first made to work, we went on to the next. As each was done, things were learned that changed the overall design, but seldom were those lessons ported back to earlier daemons. As a result the overall package is crude and hard to install. But once working it is pretty slick as it gives you integrated control of power, audio/video, temperature, alarm systems, etc. We got a http web version working at one point, a vmrl driver would be most cool! If I had the time I would rewrite this whole thing from scratch, using the knowledge gained on the first version, but who has the time.... -- Steve Passe | powered by smp@csn.net | Symmetric MultiProcessor FreeBSD To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hardware" in the body of the message
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