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Home automation gadgets for free
mamadrum writes "Firecracker is giving (today only) away a starter kit of PC controlled home automation relays and software. It uses a wireless connection between the PC serial port and an outlet, then modulates control signals on the house AC wiring. Seems to be an example of "give away the razors and charge for the blades" since you only get one relay. Still, adding relays is cheaper than opening up my walls to put in 10baseT. Old tech but decent price. "It's 5.90 for the shipping. Anyone played with this before?
Windows-only but code for many platforms is on its say. One thing to note to everyone that this is not the full kit for home control. Just a sampler with a neat RF (via RS232) xmitter. The protocol is published but this RF unit actually sends the bits across RF just as they would go across your AC wireing. You don't write "A1 ON" out your RS232 port and get the module "A1" turned on. One has to code to the timing of the raw X10 protocol. They don't even use Rx/Tx for this either, it uses 2 RS232 control lines (CTS/DTR IIRC).
This is a great deal for play or to increase your current X10 module base. Maybe we just need a Java version of the software....
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
The X10 has two serious problems:
(1) A mere 256 module address space.
(2) No way to confirm that a module actually did something.
(1) is a security problem as the previous poster mentioned which makes X10 useless for entry/exit applications. (2) can be a problem is noisy AC lines in your home smother X10 commands on occasion. You can never be sure the light really came on.
One trick is to daisychain say 4 X10 modules together with your garage door opener at the end of the chain. To open the door you send the command to turn on the first X10 module, then the code for the second, then the code for the third, and then the last. When all 4 modules are on, the door opens. This only increases security by 256x4, though since sending all 256 commands 4 times will open your door.
The only real way out is to have a computer controlling the secure door and have it look for the proper n X10 commands in the right order with no bogus codes inbetween, and then have the computer switch a relay to open the door. Computers make for expensive X10 modules, however.
If you really want to get hardcore automation stuff take a look at Lonworks. This is one of the places where the big boys go to automate entire office buildings. Neat stuff. There are all kinds of media that this can run on, from twisted pair to fence wire in New Zealand.
It's good to see X10 doing something to build an established user base before Micros~1 kicks into gear and tries to dominate this industry
it's funny i was just reading about m$~oft's early attempts to get into multimedia set-top box's back in the early 90's (94 to be precise) last week. It was in an old wired article [2.09-Sep1994]. (wired's cool its all online even from back in '94). here's a summary of what the boss at http://www.microware.com (Microware President Ken Kaplan ) thought at the time...
I don't know what other people think, but I just don't think Microsoft's gonna be a player. I just think it's too late. We've been working on this for two, three years. We've got real product. By the time they figure out how to put Windows on a set-top box, we'll have a couple of million boxes out there and working.
wonder if it still holds?
peterrenshaw ~ Another Scrappy Startup
Ack, forgot to mention something. This unit is almost certainly not compatible with any of the linux software, because the older two units did not have serial pass-through on them. I have a CP290 unit which works, and was the predecessor to this one. The protocols changed between the CP290 and the one before that, so it probably happened this time, if not at least to support how ever its doing the "passthrough"
--
..are pretty simple. I wrote a Macintosh app to control that kind of stuff to fill time in highschool CS; took me all of an hour to get the controller communications part working.
(ah, highschool CS, how I miss those days; Macintoshes and resedit made it Sooo easy to write login spoofs, and then there was the time I replaced all the lab's system's default window drawing/updating functions with oval-frames..)
And speaking of the CM11A and discounts, it appears that they are offering their ActiveHome kit for $50 (normally $130).
--
Timur Tabi
Remove "nospam_" from email address
My question is (and I have no experience with home automation kits) whether there is any advantage to getting multiple kits? Can you make use of the relays that come with other kits to set up a very cheap system, or is there a limitation of some sort?
Tom Byrum
If you've already given them an email address, install procmail and filter their junk...
If you haven't already given them an address, create a hotmail or yahoo or whatever address. They're free, and you can just abandon the account once you've got your product.
-- Don't Tase me, bro!
Firecracker control drives can be found at: http://mlug.missouri.edu/~tymm/
Give a man a match, you keep him warm for an evening.
Light him on fire, he's warm for the rest of his life
I don't get ppl that piss and moan about spam, especially when you know where it is coming from (x10). Just put in simple rule in procmail to filter it...
...see subject...
nmarshall
#include "standard_disclaimer.h"
R.U. SIRIUS: THE ONLY POSSIBLE RESPONSE
nmarshall
The law is that which it boldly asserted and plausibly maintained..
--Colonel Burr 1783
See, this scares me a bit. I have so many problems/crashes/concerns on my non-networked PC at home. I couldn't imagine have a house that is networked as such.
It reminds me of Bill Gates' house. I was told it is almost fully automated running on WinNT. I hear that it has periods of non-functioning. Granted that is WinNT, but still, I would hate to have my dishwasher or shower crash..
-Clump
Windows-Only control software. ... I wonder if the protocol is simple.
----------------- ------------ ---- --- - - - -
----------------- ------------ ---- --- - - - -
Your honor is perfectly understandishable.
The software for this thing is compatible with Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT. Not that I blame them or anything, but I imagine that until a Linux version is available, this hardware will have little practical use to some people here. At least, to me it's not worth the six dollars...
The gadgets are cool and all, but the computer interface is just a little widget that plugs into your serial port (really tiny) and the software it comes with (You download it actually) is a Win95 app that looks like the remote the package comes with and you can program it like the real remote. Very limited, but a good way to start getting into automation at a cheap price.
These (I think) are partially supported under linux, but the automagic turning on & off is not quite there yet. (You could write a cron script, but the point is to have them turn on & off with the computer off).
My coworker told me about this deal weeks ago. I gave in and got one. I was expecting it to take a long time to process my order, but to my surprise I received it in only a few days. It is fun to play with, so I think I got my $5 worth.
The little remote works well, and you can download the Windows software from their web site. The software worked fine for me, but I had to put it in "Compatibility Mode."
I'd definately like to see a Linux version of the software that I could run from cron. I could have it turn on my Lava Lamp automatically! I don't do alot with serial port programming, but I can't imagine this would take much effort.
Larry Wall gave a talk about his house at the Silicon Valley LUG. I believe that this is the
technology that his house is running on, which would imply that linux and perl drivers are available. If not from the company.
There are many X10 control proggies despite what other people have been posting. You can control your house with a Linux box. See freshmeat.
The protocol for this is X10, and is fairly simple. You can get a Linux version of the protocal called Heyu - but I don't know the download site. The Linux version is mostly compatible, but it won't store your schedule in the actual plugin module on the wall. This is basically the same kit as the IBM Home Director as well.
I bought one of these sets during the ZDNet offer a few weeks ago. Here's what you get:
My experiences: I've only used the computer interface for pure novelty value. But then, I live in an apartment where I can walk to any appliance in the apartment almost as quick as I can load the program. Also, most of the electrical stuff in my apartment is either stuff I don't want to switch at the socket, or lighting from convenient wall switches. For the most part, I only really use the handheld remote and a lamp dimmer which is currently hooked up to a lamp in a hard-to-reach corner. I like the kit for that, but don't think I would have spent any more than the $6 S&H that I did.
On the other hand, my dad is more heavily into the X-10 stuff. At his house, he's replaced several wall switches for ceiling lights with X-10 wall switches. He has a more advanced controller package and software (again, Windows-only) which does have timer functions, macros, etc. Although the software allows him to program the controller, the controller itself operates independently of the computer and will continue timer functions, etc. wehn the computer is off. He used to use the old mechanical timed switches to make the house look occupied on vactions; now he uses this Firecracker stuff.
Warning: The special $6 Firecracker deal may be only for new customers. My dad, who had bought their stuff before, ordered a set. He just got his credit card bill, and had been charged $20. I don't know if this was a clerical error, or whether the that's the price for existing customers. Still, that's less than he'd pay for an extra lamp module and appliance module.
From what I understand, X-10 is just one supplier of these home automation gizmos. They sell several types of wall modules, switches, and controllers, as well as security equipment. They also have stuff for letting you control your computer from your TV. I know Radio Shack sells compatible gear, and I'm sure someone has written Linux controller software for some of the existing control units.
Anyway, I may get some more of their home automation stuff in the future (a keychain remote to turn on the lights before I go in might be nice). Which is the point: this deal is just to give you a taste of their products. This new computer module seems to have more novelty value than anything else, but the remote control and switches aren't bad.
Weblogging Considered Harmful:
OOhhhh! Could I have a copy of this miracle module/ or it's sourcecode?
(halejc@ori.net)
Thanks!
Even if you can't use the computer interface, the kit does come with a handheld remote. Except for the interface itself, all the hardware is X-10 standard, so the lamp and appliance modules will work with any X-10 controller, apparently including some that do have Linux software. Besides, this interface is a brand-new gadget, and I'm sure some Linux hacker is already working on a driver.
Weblogging Considered Harmful:
At the time I didn't much care for it, because I'd rather play Defender on the IBM, but my parents still hid the book, for fear that I would break something/electrocute myself/burn down the house.
I wonder where that book went?
The hour of noon has passed. Let us go and get some Kentucky Fried Chicken.
is that it's unreliable. If you live in a *new house* then you can expect everything to be fine&dandy. If you live in an *old* house or (far worse) an apartment, you can kiss your X10 reliability goodbye. As X10 uses the AC wiring to transmit signals, it's reliant on every wall socket being ultimately connected to every other wall socket via a reasonably clean power system. Many apartments and old homes have either multiple circut breakers or a bizarre power setup that doesn't work well with X10. Where I live now X10 doesn't work at all basically. That said, I've heard of farmers using X10 to control stuff out in fields from their home, so YMMV.
Shipping - The final product arrived in a very timely manner. I was surprised at the short turn around time of less than 1 week.
Packaging - Lots of bubble wrap. The $6 is worth it just for the finger strengthening exercise.
HW Product quality -
- (+) The stuff looks like it will last for a while. The miniature button on the lamp module for switching the appliance on/off was a great inclusion. The X10 modules I used to wire staging lights back in my college days didn't have this and it is definitely a good feature.
- (-) The remote takes (4) AAA batteries. The Firecracker serial interface uses a though-port design that I use to inline with my external modem for my laptop, and when I use the software to actually control something it ends up killing my internet connection.
SW Product quality - download and install were no problem. It's basically a Win 9x GUI front end version of the remote control. It is home control through clicking buttons AND NOT home automation with scheduled tasks or event driven interaction.While I'm happy with the bang for the buck ratio (!/$) I'm having trouble figuring out how to use this with any practicality given my rather basic lifestyle. If I plug a reading light in, do I really want to use a remote to turn it on or off, or hit a button on the lamp module rather than turning it on or off by the built in switch?
What I really need is a timed power supply for my bedside lamp. When I fall asleep reading a geek book in bed, I dislike seeing it on when I get up the next morning. Has anyone implemented a direly needed solution to some home control problem with the FireCracker kit?
-- "In a time of drastic change it is the learners who survive; the 'learned' find themselves fully equipped to live in
Be advised: It seems that they just found out what slashdot is, and what happens to any system that winds up here. :)
Their order placement server has been slashdotted and they can't even check if an attempted order went through. It might be a good idea to order with the 800 number instead.
For those who got an error trying to order: They said that if you got as far as the point where you enter your credit card you're probably OK. If you don't get e-mail confirmation by tonight, they said they would let me place the order again over the phone tomorrow.
You can have 16 different "channels" (A-P), with 16 different devices on each channel (1-16) for up to 256 different devices. The transponder/appliance module acts as device 1 on whatever channel you pick, so you can't have multiple transponders on one channel. Within the 256-device limit described above, you can use as many lamp modules, on one or multiple channels, as you want. You can have as many remotes as you want; a remote is set for a given channel, but you can switch channels fairly easily (just turn a dial with a screwdriver or paperclip). Same thing for the computer module. So, there isn't that much advantage to getting multiple kits; if you want a bunch of lamp and/or (non-transceiver) appliance modules, X10 offers much better deals.
Weblogging Considered Harmful:
Would this equipment work in the UK? I think we have different power supplies -- three pin instead of two pin (+ve, -ve and earth; better IMHO) and 240v instead of 110v (also better). I'm guessing something would get damaged if I ordered this and plugged it straight in?
>they spam you daily with their new offers.
Boy, that's for sure. I never even bought anything, and they sent me at least one love letter a day about some fantastic offer they had. Took me a month of asking before they took me off their list. (ugh)
I'm still very interested in doing something with this at some point. I just won't ever give x10.com an e-mail address ever again.
I have a house full of X10 stuff, some going back to the mid 70's when it first came out. Being a sucker for anything free, I snapped up the Firecracker deal when I first heard about it.
So far I haven't been able to make it work at all, which isn't surprising because there are a number of things that can interfere with X10 signals, especially PC power supplies.
Their "Active Home" system is a lot better, and there's Linux software that will work with it. I especially like the Web based interface. Maybe one day I'll even get it to work!
I've used X-10 for several years now. Sure it's low tech, but it works just fine for me. I use a CM11A controller on a PC runnning WINNT. I just bought the Firecracker kit (via their 800 number- declined to give them my email address). I'll toss out the Firecracker and use the other components. I've been wanting another X-10 wireless remote and I can always use another lamp controller. $5.90 is a great deal!
Oh yes, they do spam you every day with their newsletter. Every day is a sale day, so make sure you don't rush in to buying anything. I've purchased over $200 worth of stuff from them in the past year, and am fairly happy. Customer service sucks big time, so hope nothing goes wrong.
There are things that work well, and other stuff that ends up useless.
Useful things:
In-wall light switch, palm-pad remote, the 6-1 remote (thought this would be useless, but it actually has more range then my other remotes)
Useless things:
Computer interface (nice toy to play with, but thats all), motion sensor (annoying), keychain remote (not their new one)
Wait for their specials where they give out two things plus everything is 12% off. The best thing to get free is the palm pad. The firecracker deal is really nice. Got one to get the extra receiver and palmpad. Nice tryout type of thing. One thing I hate, all their modules and controllers use AAA batteries, and usually 4 for each. Transmitter range is not that great.
Overall: satisfied. Never go home to a dark house...
The CM11a serial protocol isn't easy per se, but it isn't that complex either. There are some nasty gotchas, like (AFAIRemeber) a result code that could also be interprated as an result code. A nicer (than the official X-10 one) protocol guide can be found here along with a nifty command line X-10 interface program (named heyu). The newsgroup comp.home.automation is a good resource for X-10 and other HA related things.
If you want software and information about Linux Home Automation (HA) please check out my pages http://members.home.net/ncherry or http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/lig htsey/52. The software, documentation and link are just a collection of the stuff I've found over the years. It should work with other flavors of unix. I have some other links to HA pages. If you find any interesting Unix/Linux HA projects, software, or documentation please email with the info and I'll add it to the pages.
I've noticed quite a few errant statements about Linux HA and X10. First the X10 technology has been around since the early 70's (which explains it's weird protocol). X10 is a lot like running a Unix operating system (if you just want to sit back and not know much about it I wouldn't recommend it). X10's customer support is weak and their documentation is poor. For the best source of info on HA (and X10 in particular) check out comp.home.automation. Now that I've said all these bad things about X10 I'll add that I use it and I can make it work pretty well. Mine runs correctly 99% of the time and last 1% is probably my fault. This doesn't include when I'm playing with software (which may tend to crash the system from time to time when you're experimenting with new coding ideas).
I've been using X10 with Linux for over 10 years and I have it working pretty well. The only thing that we're really missing is a good GUI to make the software collections easier to use. I currently have 5 devices under X10 control at all times (and at Christmas time I have a lot more). The reason for so few is that I'm working on the rest of the house and I haven't a need for more just yet. I have quite a few more devices I'll begin controlling when the time is appropriate. X10 is not the key technology in HA. But it is useful and when used with other technologies can be very nice. Steve Ciarcia (editor of Circuit Cellar Ink and a great many Byte magazine articles) has a fully automated home (he uses a custom controller which can be purchased ( HCS II).
I hope this is enough to whet some peoples appetite for the HA field.
--
Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry@home.net
http://members.home.net/ncherry (Text only)
http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/lig htsey/52 (Graphics GB)
Neil Cherry - Linux Smart Homes For Dummies
Come on folks, haven't you all learned to give out your Hotmail account instead of your regular email? I mean, what better place to collect huge piles of spam than on Microsofts servers, at Microsofts expense?
Anyhow, as has been said, X-10 has a different sale on every day. There are several items that are -always- on sale (starter kits, etc.), and there is always something you get for free with every item (usually remotes of various sizes and flavours.)
If you can wait, decide what you want, wait for a deal you like to come along (should only take a few weeks at most), and order it. This stuff is cheap, so it's not like it's a huge up-front investment. I ordered the $19.99 starter kit with the remote just so I can have a new universal remote that will also allow me to control the lighting in the TV room. Easily worth $20.
Now if I could wire up caller-id to the TV, wire up a speaker phone into the TV room that I can control with X.10, and rig up a remote lock for the front door so the pizza guy can let himself in, I'd never have to get up again (well, maybe for some things...)
"Tomorrow's forecast: a few sprinkles of genius with a chance of doom!" - Stewie Griffin
Anyone know of a web site documenting computer home automation accidents? I bet there are some doozies.
-Masked Marmot
If you think one message a day is a 'fire hose'. You should see my hotmail account! I haven't posted the address in 2 years and I just broke my record recently when I received 20 spam emails in one day.
http://members.tripod.com/~famewolf/webx10 has a web based gui that currently calls x10-amh to control a cp-290 x10 controller. By changing one line in the .shtml you could easily make it call the bottlerocket program for the firecracker. This would allow you to control the device from any web browser on your net.
does X10 also work with european style fuseboxes?
I have one, it's cool ...
... a serial dongle that lets the software send commands to the interface module. The "interface module" is how the remote signals make it to your home wiring.
...
...
The kit comes with one lamp module, one interface module, one remote and the FireCracker
X10 does do this to bait you into buying modules (lamp, appliance, wal switch, dimmers, etc.) at $12-20 per unit. But they have deals if you buy 4 at a time.
The included software is lame. However
There is a simple FireCracker control program for LINUX called "Bottle Rocket". I plan on toying with this once I'm done with my current LINUX training. I hope to use my home's LINUX box to make scheduling scripts that I can use at home or program through a web interface. But I need to make sure my security is setup just right, or my hacker pals might try to screw with me when I'm asleep.
Link to bottle rocket
http://mlug.missouri.edu/~tymm/
OS/2... Let have a show of hand of people that have used OS/2 and another show of hands of people that still use it..
But OS/2 can do this..
But on the subject of the topic, imagine what you can do with this. I could make the ultimate alarm clock!!!
I ate my tag line.
I ate my tag line.
-=Ellis (D)25=-
Well, I got this a couple weeks ago. I had no problems setting it up. The interface is useless without a decent program behind it. If i wanted to use a GUI that looked like the remote i might as well just use the remote. So, I went in search of the protocol... I couldn't find it anywhere. However, with a little guesswork I found the firecracker page on their site. It isn't referenced anywhere becuase it isn't supposed to exist. I just looked at how each product info page was listed and guessed. sure enough, http://www.x10.com/products/x10_cm17a.htm exists. At the bottom, they USED to have a link to protocol information. It has since been removed, but for the good of the community here it is:
cm17a protocol
The interface is NOT TIMING DEPENDANT... I wrote a simple timer program in Visual Basic (yeah, i know...) and i tried anywhere from a few millisecond delay to a whole second between 1's and 0's and it works fine no matter what.
X10 is okay, but they need to work on truth in advertising. They've been selling their ActiveHome software at over 50% off for the "last day!" for a month now.
bottlerocket (br) works just fine for me. I had to fiddle with the timings on my Pentium III machine, though, since the author used simple loops to slow things down.
The kicker with the firecracker is that it's transmit only. You can't watch the wire, say, to see whether a motion sensor has tripped. However, I still think I got my money's worth out of the firecracker kit. The remote, lamp module, and tranceiver (which also has one switched outlet, hard set at device 1 or 9), was a good deail.
-Scott Hutton
curious what the total bill came out to if anyone from canada has ordered this thing. given how UPS likes to stack on crap like huge brokerage fees, cod fees on brokerage fees, fee fees, and fee handling fee fee fee fees ;)
The slow bitrate is what lets them get away with having the Firecracker computer interface toggle serial port lines in real time to send each bit (instead of using a UART).
On the handheld remote that comes with the Firecracker kit, there is an LED that blinks out the bit pattern as it's being transmitted to the receiver. It is so slow that you can see the individual bits being sent.
Is that real? If it is that is absolutely hilarious. Hope I didn't just wake you up...
;-)
This is very cool...
I load the page and right off the bat the lights
in the room are flipping off and on...(I assume
from commands from other viewers...)
Damn cool.
ITs called heyu, and its damn good, you can script things to happen on your box depenfing on the lighte, you can even have a light turned on if you have e-mail. This stuff is madd good, get it while you can
My apartment is visible at http://phobos.illtel.denv er.co.us/~abelits/apartment.php3 -- two webcams and x-10 devices that can be controlled through HTTP.
Everything runs on one linux box, camera is qcwebcam, and x-10 software soon will be released. x-10 hardware is a bit strange -- it's TW-523 and " TWO-WAY" serial to interface.
I will close the access to this when blinking will become too annoying.
Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
You can block all X10 signals coming in to your house by using a blocking coupler. You put it on your load center, and on outside outlets. You can also get a coupler/repeater, that not only connects phase a and b in your house electrical system, but also repeats any signals it gets to increase reliability.
:-)
Not only that, but X10 stuff has gotten a lot cheaper lately. Me, a poor college student has been able to afford some stuff. I have all the lights in the den and my room on X10. The remote I have even works with our TV, VCR, and stereo. I've been thinking about setting up a security system on X10 as well.
I don't think X10 has any patents or anything (note the think), because you can download the protocols for free. Several linux drivers have been written, my favorite of which is currently heyu. ( http://heyu.tanj.com/heyu/). Of course the little computer interface they give you free isn't compatible - try the CM11A interface for linux stuff.
These are fun toys to play with, and in my opinion the $6 is worth it. A lot of stuff is happening in the home automation arena right now, at least for me, since I work on the IBM products
...not just for themselves, but for the end-users they serve. If one programmer writes a BeOS port, that's several thousand new potential end-users.
Sure, sales to programmers may be minimal. Sales to end users who are interested because of the work of those aforementioned programmers... now, that's significant.
The "freebee" kit is a good bargain but watch out, you only get one lamp module and will want to buy more.
That should read "incredible" bargain. And technically you get two modules (the RF receiver is an appliance module in and of itself) so you can control two things from the git-go. You also get a little handheld RF remote that talks to the reciever. The little serial port dongle is almost incidental. But for six bucks this is not to be missed.
I think what you meant was that each type of X10 controller has different software to control it. The CM11A has x10d, heyu, Mr. House and a few others, the Cp290 has software and the Firecracker has Bottle rocket. There are a few other controllers but they tend to need other hardware to use properly.
--
Linux Home Automation - Neil Cherry - ncherry@home.net
http://members.home.net/ncherry (Text only)
http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/lig htsey/52 (Graphics)
Neil Cherry - Linux Smart Homes For Dummies
Does anyone know of a way to send IP (as in TCP/IP, UDP/IP and ICMP/IP) over X10?? I have one computer user in my house that wants internet access (via our household LAN), but doesn't want the unsightlyness of an ethernet cabel running through the house... Ideally it would have a 10-base-T port on it directly, because all computers in the house have 10-base-T ethernet NICs. I envision something like this:
/------\ /-------\ /-----|- AC .\-----|
------\
| RJ45|-|10base|-| 1 MB. |-| X10 |- outlet
------/ |T eth | | buffer| |tran-|
. . . . \------/ \-------/ |sever|
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
P.S. Please excuse my insult to ASCII art.
P.P.S. Rob, could you please make Slashdot able to support the &xxx; HTML tag? -- Thanks
Loren Osborn
--
Umm... How could you have been using X10 with Linux for 10 years when Linux has only been around for less than 8 years (Linux first appeared in September 1991)?
Loren Osborn
There is also the 220/240v 50Hz equipment here. And yes, it's ex-spend-sive!
Another feature is the emphasis on Mac software (yeah, I know it's pretty much the same stuff, just wrapped different...) and hardware. PCI multi-port serial card, anyone?
One final thing -- and this is just opinion on my part -- I like the site design a lot better than X-10.com!!
"...America's great minds of today, teaching America's great minds of tomorrow. Poor bastards." -- A Beautiful Min
Posted by !ErrorBookmarkNotDefined:
This appears to be a variation of X10 technology. I've been using X10 around the house for some time, and it's quite nice. Most hardware stores carry X10 modules (e.g. switch controls, motion sensors, etc.), so it's easy to upgrade. I run this all through linux with a custom module (have a look at the OReilly book "Writing Linux Device Drivers"--it's cut and paste to make your own kernel module.) You can find out more about x10 at: www.x10.com Beware: DO NOT join their mailing list. It's an absolute fire hose of spam. At least one message per day. Just visit their page every so often for updates.
-----------------------------
Computers are useless. They can only give answers.
The protocol for this is X10, and is fairly simple. You can get a Linux version of the protocal called Heyu - but I don't know the download site. The Linux version is mostly compatible, but it won't store your schedule in the actual plugin module on the wall. This is basically the same kit as the IBM Home Director as well as the Radio Shack series of Plug 'n Play modules for your house.
I got my kit last week and tried installing it over the past weekend. Extremely simple, but alas I was never able to get it to work. Granted I only gave it 15 minutes worth of trouble shooting, but it seemed the problem was in the serial-port wireless transmitter... hmm...
I would love to find sites on how to build the stuff myself though.. 13 bucks a pop to hook up a light isn't cheap...
My new catch phrase is: "I NEED A NEW CATCH PHRASE, BABY!"
This has been available for a while now. The "freebee" kit is a good bargain but watch out, you only get one lamp module and will want to buy more. The good news is that X10 is really reasonably priced and they always throw in free stuff. Be warned though that the firecracker controller is nothing more than a simple remote for X10 devices, it does not include most of the features of the more complex controllers, including builtin macros, being able to query devices, etc.
There is a couple of packages for linux that control the firecracker. You can find links at freshmeat. I've tried this one and it works ok.
http://mlug.missouri.edu/~tymm/
The difference between Canada and the USA is that in Canada healthcare is a right and gun ownership is a privilege.
X10 modules are cool. Wireless remores, computer control, brightening/dimming, the only reason I don't use it extensively is that it has negligable security. Any schmuck can but another transmitter and try the 256 possible codes until my garage door opens up. Because of this I won't use X10 on critical locations. Yet, in the nearly 20 years X10 has been around, I've seen no cheap alternatives. Does X10 have some sort of patent on sending on/off/bright/dim data to modules over AC lines?
http://mlug.missouri.edu/~tymm/. Probably others will work too, if it's basically standard X10.
--
First, if you already have X10 equipment - BUY THIS NOW. It's about $100 worth of stuff for $6 (and they spent $3.20 for shipping).
If you don't have X10 already, it's a cheap way to see if you want to use this equipment. If you don't like it, you're only out $6 (instead of about $40 for the active home starter kit).
X10 has been around for years and provides for home automation via the AC line (as previously described). You have 16 house codes and each house code has 16 numbers within it, which provides for 256 devices per house. While there isn't software for the firecracker yet (it translates RS-232 -> RF and works rather nice from my laptop), there *is* software for the ActiveHome Kit (the CM11a?) that works just fine under Linux.
Heyu and xtend are two great software packages for this.
please, how about doing a freshmeat search before concluding that there is no Unix control software for this stuff?
Also, my understanding is that the Firecracker interface can only send command but not receive events like the CM11A, is this correct?
...which is why it's the standard :-) If there is no software for it, it's trivial to get the transmission codes from the unit. Perl guru Larry Wall is alleged to have his house networked and X-10'd. Controlled by Perl scripts, of course. You think it runs on Windows? Nah!
I got mine today (what a coincidence!) and I can't even use the thing. Why? Because the serial adapter is huge. It hits the case of my computer and won't go in. If I try it in my laptop, I can get it in, but it pops out if I want to put the laptop down on the desk. Very impractical. I could buy an extension cord, but I'm not going to do that for this little novelty. It just seems they should have thought that part out a little more thoroughly.
If the control program toggles DTR, the modem could hang up. If the control program toggles RTS, then you could get a buffer overflow from releasing flow control too early. The latter probably isn't so bad, but the former is probably the reason for the dropped connection. Adding a '&D0' to the modem init string would make the modem ignore DTR commanded hangups. Perhaps that would let you activate firecracker without being diconnected from your ISP.
-- 3 events that reshaped the world in the 20th century: WW1, WW2, and WWW
Great! now I can get my Linux box to reboot my NT server automatically! No more late night trips to the server closet!
Hey .. I didn't see anyone list what is probbably the best HA software for linux that is out there right now. It is called MisterHouse. It runs on Linux and Winblows. It is all done in Perl and and TK. The home page is at http://misterhouse.net/house/programs/index.html ... and much more. For all you HA buffs this is deffinately worth a look.
This software has a web based interface, does speach recognition, text to speach
Of all the things I miss
well, i'm in a dorm cell, 10 by 12 ft. So i'll use it to freak out my neighbors. that's be a good gag.
I learned about the spam too late tho, damn it! Rob you should up those spam warning posts.
Once you have this installed, you have a nice RF pipe that any malware tojan can use to broadcast your data, even if you are not connected to the net at the time. All it needs to do is toggle DTR and RTS, and poof, you are on the air.
-- 3 events that reshaped the world in the 20th century: WW1, WW2, and WWW
How different is the CM17A from the TW523? The TW523 appears to be similar to the description that has been posted here. It uses a few signals and has tight timing requirements to talk to it. You basically have to time writes to it so that they go out on the right phase of the 60Hz signal.
There is a good driver for the TW523 for FreeBSD. I'll have to see how hard it will be to add support for this device when my package arrives. I went ahead and ordered it, since for $6.00 you can't go wrong.
They won't ship it to the uk. Or at least there is no option to do so. If they charge $10 to send it to Canada then I don't want to know how much it would cost anyhow.
Oops rounding error :-), Sorry but I have no idea what year it is. I started using X10 with my 3B1 (AT&T Unix). The first Linux I had was .9x kernel in 1993. Sorry about that I was concentrating more on the HA stuff.
--
Linux Home Automation - Neil Cherry - ncherry@home.net
http://members.home.net/ncherry (Text only)
http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/lig htsey/52 (Graphics)
Neil Cherry - Linux Smart Homes For Dummies
Just a suggestion.
http://mlug.missouri.edu/~tymm/ -- has command line program to control firecracker
.shtml to call BR to make it work with bottlerocket.
http://members.tripod.com/~famewolf/webx10 Only requires changing one exec line in the
A friend of mine has his house wired and is quite happy with it. It's good to see X10 doing something to build an established user base before Micros~1 kicks into gear and tries to dominate this industry (which they are very much considering doing; there's quite a lot of growth potential and, at a couple $ per light switch in America, there's quite a lot of money to be had).
"If one is really a superior person, the fact is likely to leak out without too much assistance" -- John Andrew Holmes
Does anybody know where to get these European versions? I've been looking for things like this for quite some time, but couldn't find any 220V versions..
Greetings,
Ivo
I personally haven't used them, but my uncle uses an X10 system to completely control his outdoor holiday lights.
I'm not sure if these are compatible with the standard X10 system or not, but one of its really cool features is the ability to interface a telephone module to the system. Think about it, power-cycling a hung machine via telephone.
This isn't a big sale... X10.com seems to always have one of their intro kits on sale for next to nothing. And once you order, they spam you daily with their new offers. Check out Smarthome for some similarly great deals, a better interface, less spam, and more honest promotions. Another good place is Worthington.
Check out this thread at AnandTech for some more opinions! Some people said that the Firecracker is not really home automation, but rather like a remote control... You need ActiveHome or something to get real automation (timers, etc.).
Of course, you may want to buy from Smarthome after you get the intro kit from X10.
-Dodja
Micro$oft(R) Windoze NT(TM)
(C) Copyright 1985-1996 Micro$oft Corp.
C:\>uptime
They certainly delivered what was advertised. The biggest complaint that I had with their approach is the amount of promotional e-mail that they have sent me since I signed up.
I am not sure if you can avoid the spam I've been getting by filling out the forms differently. In other words, I don't remember if I had the opportunity to opt out. I assume that I simply made a mistake.
However, I would point out that I subsequently followed their unsubscribe instructions, and the promotional e-mail has not stopped yet. YMMV.
-- Dave Aiello
Firecracker can only send commands to a RF receiver. As I said in the article above yours, it works great with my laptop.
From their FAQ page:
How can I write my own program to work with the CM11A interface? X-10 provides two pieces of information about programming for the CM11A. The first is a help file that is part of the normal ActiveHome installation look for X10COMM.HLP in your ActiveHome folder. This document tells you how to use X-10's communications link to pass data to the CM11A. If you want to start from scratch, our CM11A communications protocol specification - ftp://ftp.x10-beta.com/ftp/protocol.txt - describes how to directly program the CM11A. A web search will also turn up ActiveX and Visual Basic tools that other X-10 users have written to work with the CM11A.
If hardware manufacturers aren't going to do a linux port, then they should supply the specs so an interested programmer can do it. It looks as if that is what they are doing. They also said that a Mac version of the software is available at www.shed.com. Someone here has also mentioned that there is something on freshmeat to control it too.
the good ground has been paved over by suicidal maniacs
X10 has been out there for a while and in the beginning it was used by geeks. Low level electronic geek mostly (partly guessing here, talking from limited personnal experience) but still, people usually not satisfied by the baseline. That is why there always was a lot of information on the standard out there.
For once, this company know who they're selling to and they are acting accordingly
Anyone else notice that TODAY the offer on the firecracker site has a little sidebar with Linux drivers? They also have a link to the RocketLauncher TCL frontend...
Lime
Posted by transgression2:
Why the hell don't they have a REAL X10 clock that you can set the time through?
Limitations in the X10 protocol I'm sure...
Sucks.
Wouldn't mind scheduling my viper alarmed truck starting either...
-Will
Since the Linux GUI is written in Tcl/TK, it would be a trivial matter to extend it to include true automation features. Of course this would require your computer to be on, but would also allow fairly complex conditional activation (turn this light on, but only if it's the last tuesday of an alternate leap year...) that I presume ActiveHome does not support. Admittedly, most people probably don't need such features, but the potential is quite cool.
I've asked them about whether the system will work on 240VAC several times and had no answer so I decided to do the same thing and unsubscribe. That didn't work either. I've heard that they just don't have the time to field requests from people all the time. I think this is a definate customer service problem. If they want to advertise through the Web and Email then they should listen to the people responding from those directions. Still getting spammed to this day.
When shit hits the fan get some of these https://youtu.be/pY-GncsZ-UE
Is there anyway to have home automation through something like Fast Ethernet? I don't want to invest in X10 if all it does it network appliances. It would be better to put all my computer and electrical appliances on one network. Maybe even stereos? TVs? Satalite receivers? VCRs?
i was looking at their product list and couldn't help thinking about an arthur c clarke book i read eons ago where the networked house still functioned (albiet what was still left) after a nuclear war.
it's all fiction of course (emp, power etc) but the food processor would fire up breakfast every morning, dispose of the remains and happily fulfil the daily requirements of the now charred occupants.
peterrenshaw ~ Another Scrappy Startup
I took part in their last giveaway, and have found the linux software at:
http://mlug.missouri.edu/~tymm/
to provide all of the functionality found in the Windows software.
If you would like a GUI frontend to this software, I have a really cheesy tk/tcl version at:
http://www.crl.com/~wrigley/chris/RocketLauncher/
I am planning on starting a scheduler this week that uses at and cron to schedule turning stuff on and off (and even dimming).
The firecracker stuff is X10's lowend stuff, but still is pretty useful. The normal price is ok, but you really shouldn't pass up free.
I signed up for the "free" Firecracker deal... received it in the mail a couple of days ago. I couldn't get the Firecracker interface to work at all, though the receiver modules and remote work fine. In the meantime, X10 has sent me spam -every- -day- for the past several days despite the fact that I asked to be taken off their mailing list a while ago. Oh, and when X10 says "LAST DAY!!!!" for a deal...most of the time, the deal or one nearly identical to it still exists the next day.
If you're not the sort that gets annoyed by obnoxious marketing strategies, then the $6 might be worth the risk that the system won't work. But if spam really pisses you off, don't even think about dealing with these turkeys.
Finally, a Linux utility for the Firecracker interface does exist, though I haven't tried it...look for BottleRocket on www.freshmeat.net.
The firecracker (CM17A) is not the same thing as the CM11A! It uses a protocol that depends on toggling the wires such as DTR. The CM11A uses a serial protocol where you send and recieve bytes from it. Most of the software for Linux such as heyu, x10d, ... do not currently work with the CM17A. There are early versions of programs that do work (eg. bottle rocket) but they are still very new.
The difference between Canada and the USA is that in Canada healthcare is a right and gun ownership is a privilege.
NOT all X10 controllers work under Linux. A bunch of people posted on here about how there is X10 control software, and didn't mention that each one is controller-specific.
This is also NOT a good deal. This is perhaps $40 worth of stuff for $6. They often have deals for $50 that include a dozen or so control modules, and you certainly can't do much with just one. You're going to spend more money buying more modules than buying one of their other "deals".
That said, I'm going to buy one because I don't have a good hand-held controller. I've been using X10 stuff with one of their older control units that actually does work with Linux for several years. Let me repeat again, the linux software may not work with this unit.
You can do some pretty slick stuff with it though. The multi-remote that came with the package I bought works with one of my TV's and VCR's -- and I have perl scripts that are triggered by X10 events to check my voicemail, bring my network link up and down, and stuff like that. Nice webpage on a secure server lets me control the important things like all the halogen lights and my coffee pot, to keep from burnin my place down.
The coffee pot is the most useful. At noon at work when I can't remember if I shut it off I can call into my (also linux driven) voicemail, punch in a pass code and get to an IVR prompt that lets me control the X10 devices in my house (air conditioners, lights, coffee pot, and the three of the PCs on my network so I can turn them on, punch in the "connect to internet" code, and get files off them from remote...)
If you really want to play with home automation (and X10 is OLD technology, most new automated homes use MUCH higher tech stuff these days -- this is poor man's home automation) get one of their larger packages. As I said mine was around $50 or something, and included the computer interface, infared remote, keychain remote, motion sensor (computer tells me if I've got e-mail when I walk into the room), like six or eight light units, two or three appliance units, and a wall switch.