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More Firecracker Kits For Free
On Monday, we had a story about X10 offering up copies of Firecracker, their home automation kit for 5.90$, the cost of shipping. A bunch of you did get some, but they called to say that after a while, the server crashed. They've updated the page, and have more availible but only for the next twenty-four hours. If you look at the page the bottom right side has the links for the Linux material with it-much fun to be had.
Ok, I was going to let this offer pass as an obvious loss leader sales tactic...
...then I remembered the APC master switch that I didn't purchase because it would have exceeded this quarter's equipment rack budget.
Humm... This thing switches power on and off from a computer... hummm... it works with Linux... humm... I've been wanting to play around with a dickless LRP box... hummm... mulling over next quarter's equipment budget... humm... maybe I can get a two-fer out of this.
Proving, once again, that OSS + a little glue = most of the things you want to do.
I wonder when they'll offer the stuff to Europeans, too. I'd sure enjoy toying with one of those units and might even buy some add-ons from them later. Too bad they're not giving me the chance to get hooked.
:(
And going to rant mode, this isn't even too rare. Seems to me most US companies have forgotten non-US customers totally.
"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid, it is true that most stupid people are conservative."
I inquired with Marie (the very nice woman that took my order) about that and she said that it would run up at midnight Pacific time. She said the graveyard shift would probably not mind letting you order a little past that. Good business practice and all. Also, after she and I talked for 15 minutes or so and I was ready to order, I inquired about commission and she said they do get commissions. So if you're feeling kind hearted and one of them helped you out on the phone, be kind. :-)
Me
> If you look at the page the bottom right side has the
/. and all, but really--sometimes some of this stuff is
> links for the Linux material with it
No. The links are on the *left* side. And they're nowhere near the
"bottom" of the page.
Please, *please* can't you guys at least email one another and ask a
co-editor to review your stories before you post them? Or at least
one of you correct the mistakes, broken grammar, etc. after the fact?
I appreciate
painfully, embarrassingly bad.
The code you mention was written by Dan Lanciani. And though I agree that the code looks ugly it does work. The comments most likely are mine. A couple of weeks ago I had taken the entire package and broken down the files so that it didn't compile as one file. Unfortunately I lost the drive and didn't have a backup of my work. So far I've been too lazy to make any more changes. The reason I prefer it to the other software is that it allows me to telnet to it from another box. None of the others have such an interface. I would prefer if the commands made more sense and the command response were less terse (or at least explained).
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
I agree with the comment made already that Rob should _absolutely_ get paid for the service he provides. But, sadly, I think it's just something that X10 uses to track where orders are coming from. (if you come to the site via zdnet, it will have zdnet in the URL) . . . Correct me if I'm wrong. . .
I couldn't tell if you were experimenting with poor-man's cryogenics or looking for the orange sherbet.
In any case..considering X10 originally had a deal with ZDNET to advertise this item (and who beside me wondered what the sexy ladies on the ad had to do with buying a "toy for big boys"?)...how amusing that the linux users going from a link on slashdot.org got x10's attention so much that it brought their server to a screeching halt.
Penguin Power indeed!
--FameWolf
Got mine yesterday. Gonna have to get a wall switch mod to turn off that ceiling fan without getting out of bed.
I am not your blowing wind, I am the lightning.
This guys apt. is now flashing
like a Christmas tree.
garyr
-- your Web browser is Ronald Reagan
I've got some mail from them offering other "great deals"...
Luckily I have an eudora account to use for all merchants and spam risks.
It works great, check it once a week or when bored.
Can you control more than 16 devices at a time without going to the reciever and changing the house code physically? For example, the reciever is set to A, but I want to turn B1 on. I've tried sending B1 on through the software, and it doesn't do anything. However when I change the reciever to B, then I can send B commands.
Whats the point of the software even sending the house code if the device has to be physically set to a code anyway?
well, has been two weeks and all I have got is one email a day from X10 about their offers. No devices or answering to my emails (phone number is constantly busy). Hope some of you got yours...
In the future, X10 will have to do better than this to even get $5 from me.
My definition of a spammer includes someone who refuses to honor requests for removal. X10 fits the bill, here. Repeated e-mails to the listed address plus anyone I could think of went unanswered. procmail now sends all X10 correspondence to /dev/null for me, and they lost me as a customer.
The protocol is not all that reliable, either.
It would be quite easy to, say, have lights flash
when you get email. Say you monitor a server and
you want to be woken up if it goes down - you
could effect that with the firecracker and a few
well-placed modules.
M.
You've got it backwards. 120AC@60Hz in the US, and 220-240AC@50Hz in Europe.
Other than that, you made an excellent point about power usages. For those not in the know, the system sends one bit per cycle in the AC. It sends a one on the positive going zero voltage crossing, and a 0 on the negative going crossing. I don't have the specs at hand, so the above statement may be backwards.
Note: Shipping to Canada is $10 US extra bringing the grand total to $15.90 US dollars.
It's an interesting collection, but disappointing. It seems to be just a random assortment of stuff, it's hard to tell what recommendations if any you have. I just took a look at the X10d code since X10d seems to be your preferred software. It's pretty awful code. The download is just a single C file. It's almost totally uncommented and uses lots of one and two character variable names.
I think it might actually be easier to write an X10 program from scratch than to try and salvage X10d.
Although it really won't help most people, here are the ideas that went buzzing through my head when I read the write-up.
First off, I should mention that I'm an experimental musician. The idea of controlling non-midi musical equipment from my computer is MORE than appealing. There's only so much crap you can squeeze into a small work area and it still be useful; with a basic switch I can flip on (and subsequently off to get that big nasty "thump" sound) with ease and still have it on the other side of the room and out of my way. Or, and much more practially, in another room so the vocal mic isn't flooded with TOO much external noise (thus keeping the multi in multitrack recording!!!).
The dimmer presents a much more interesting application. I can hook it to a light bulb and use it to control the pitch of vibration, which is a direct result of the current flowing through the bulb. Again, this is something I could do with a standard dimmer, but if I'm already going to be at my computer, it'd be nice to have one less knob to worry about. Particularly since I could then program a simple oscilation routine into it, and can spend more time working on live processing of the sound, rather than the creation of the sound. By programming in rhythms and patterns, I could then do alot more as far as manipulation of live sources when doing a show, rather than phrase sampling and then manipulating, or just using a tape loop.
And, worst comes to worst, I can always cannibalize it for parts!!!
Bad things often happen to good people,
It is up to them to see that they remain good.
QUICK HURRY!
AMAZINGLY ENOUGH THEY'VE EXTENDED THE OFFER! I BET THIS TIME THEY REALLY MEAN MIDNIGHT ON THE 24TH!!!!!
BUY NOW!!!
;)
ordered: June 23
received: July 1 (via U.S. mail)
Not bad.
I still occasionally use my HP 48 as a remote -- much more useful after snipping the resistor that limits its range though.
Things you can do with an X10 unit:
1) Hook up a voice modem, and be able to shut things off from other places. Very handy when you leave your coffee pot on.
2) Use a daemon to monitor the X10 signals, now you can control your PC from the X10 remote. Handy for making it play back messages you got with #1. I also have a channel that will make it tell me if I've got new e-mail, and bring my network up and down off the internet.
3) Use your stereo as an alarm clock, as you said.
4) Detect rings with #1 and after a certain time at night, turn on a few lights at 15% brightness so you don't kill yourself trying to get to the phone
5) Turn AC on/off, especially useful if you hook a temperature sensor to the PC
Those are all things I've used my ActiveHome set for. I also have four high-flow fans taken from an old Sun 350 that the computer will turn on via an X10 module when any of the computers in that cabinet sees (via the lm78's) that the temperature is rising in the systems. That's better done with a relay control unit off the parallel port, but the one I built has a short in it and I haven't gotten around to fixing it.
The computer that the X10 stuff is running on (an old 586/133 AMD which also handles voicemail, Squid cache, mail server, and runs a secure server for accessing voicemail messages over the net) also has a handly little unit I built that has four buttons and four LEDs on it that can be monitored and controlled via a daemon I wrote. One LED blinks when I've got new e-mail, one for new voicemail.
There's other useful X10 modules too. The ActiveHome kit came with a motion sensor, which I've got mounted on the first floor and can work as an alarm sensor, and also just lets the computer know I'm home. I walk in and it dials up to the net and collects all my e-mail, under the assumption that I'm going to want to know what I've got.
So most of that would be handy in a geek sort of way even in a small apartment. For the most part I don't use any of the X10 stuff to simply control lights or something when I don't want to get up.
If you've never been there, X10.com *always* has "expires at midnight tonite" deals. Maybe not for the firecracker stuff, but some sort of sale.
Remember those ginsu knives from the 70s? "Offer expires at midnight tonight" but the ad ran for months?
CK18A-SDOT - Gosh, Rob, now they're numbering products based on your site :-)
Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside a dog it's too dark to read. - Groucho Marx
or just an advertisement. I think this article is a little too close to advertisement in my opinion.
--
"I got it running, grabbed a rocket launcher, and fired down a hallway." --John Carmack
On the spam front - note that the conditions associated with the offer explicitly include a term that says that by ordering the kit, you consent to being placed on a mailing list. There's no radio button to opt-out of this, so it's a sure bet that any e-mail address you provide will get lots of mail.
I suppose that it's technically not spam, since you agreed to be placed on the list as a condition of purchase, and the conditions of purchase were disclosed on the home page. Whether it meets the clinical definition of spam or not, anyone ordering should strongly consider the use of an expendable e-mail drop.
So the cost isn't $5.90 - it's $5.90 and giving x10.com the right to send mail to the address you supplied when ordering the kit. IMHO that's still (and especially if you use an expendable e-mail drop for your e-commerce transactions :) a pretty good bang for the buck, especially if you're new to X10. As a previous /. poster said - "The first hit is free".
Great, $5.90 for the kit. I've put in my purchase based on the articles posted to slashdot. Even got a hotmail account just for the occasion.
But what's the next step? Slashdot is now used to sell books and home automation devices. What's next? Shall we do another article on Dell's Linux computers?
Just think of the possibilities! Slashdot could become the "Computer Shopper" of the Internet!
This story may just be a thinly veiled ad, but I am always seeing X10 software for Linux. There is often a new X10 util posted on freshmeat, and there has been X10/Linux software on metalab for as long as I can recall.
I assumed the hardware would cost more, so I never bothered to check it out. Now I have a new (cheap!) linux toy. What could be more appropriate for slashdot?
Lets you control your house from your PC.
Didn't you read the thing?
Though it seems that you've only got one lamp module and one wireless module to work with.
There may not be an opt-out button, but there is a "remove me from the list" feature prominently featured at the bottom of the promotional email they send you.
I can't imagine a reputable business NOT including one of these these days!
people are saying that they will spam you silly once you ordered something. well, i ordered and they havn't spammed me... yet. i wonder if that has something to do with thier server's crashing.
anyone got spammed yet?
The new firecracker appears to have potential. They are giving it away for two reasons...the first is they expect you to buy more modules...that has already been mentioned...then they will tempt you with the "upgrade" model..this one has memory and a timer and you don't have to leave your pc on all the time.....I think they fail to realize Linux users leave ours on all the time anyway. I already use mine to make sure I turn lights off when at work and never come home to a dark front porch...linux does a nifty job of calculating sunrise and sunset based on my city and turning the light on and off at the right times. Cron is a very flexible scheduler. Software for the firecracker is moving along as quickly as the hardware is being sold..links below:
L auncher.html
Bottlerocket command line interface: http://mlug.missouri.edu/~tymm/
WebX10 Web based Gui:
http://members.tripod.com/~famewolf/webx10/
TCL Based Gui:
http://www.crl.com./~wrigley/chris/pages/Rocket
ok... so I just bought one of these... let's face it, 5 bucks is nothing... so what is it?
So, here's my question? Does this mean the technical verson of Midnight (i.e. the time right after 11:59 pm on 6/23) or what every one and their mother means for midnight (the time right after 11:59 on 6/24)?
Just wondering . . .
I couldn't tell if you were experimenting with poor-man's cryogenics or looking for the orange sherbet.
Sorry, I know it's not directly related
to the string...Probably be moderated down,
but I saw a reference somewhere in the comments
to the SKU number of the firecracker.
I know what a SKU number is, but does
anyone what "SKU" means?
(please moderate me down low so I don't bother anyone)
| I can deal with spam, just keep the | damn telemarketers away!
:)
I dislike spammers more than I dislike telemarketers - the telemarketers at least call on their own dime.
BUT - If you want to rid yourself of most tlemarketers, get Caller ID. Most telemarketers don't want *you* getting *their* phone number, so they have caller ID blocked. The phone company lets you reject these calls before they even ring your phone now - caller gets a message like "Sorry, this number has blocked anonymous calls, etc. etc.".
Rules of the phone in my house - Anonymous call rejection on, and any "out of area" calls (the rest of the telemarketers) can talk to the machine. If they're interesting, I'll pick up. The telemarkeers don't *ever* say anything to the machine, though.
-- Rick
When I placed my order two days ago, I dude asked for my email address, and I replied that I preferred not to give one. He didn't seem to mind but said that we'd need to use a different SKU and it would take a little more time. I offered to make up a bogus email address. He cheerfully agreed (what does he care, eh?). Well, it took us four tries before we hit one that nobody had used before.
Yeah! X10 is one of those things that gets "branded" in one way or another by various retail outlets - these places usually jack the price you pay way up as well (at least over the normal X10 prices). One place I have found that doesn't "brand" X10 is Fry's Electronics - they have a pretty good selection of stuff - alarms, remotes (including the keychain one), and computer interfaces (though the software is for Windoze).
But yeah, X10 can be found at other places - the modules tend to look the same across the brands, since only the brand is stamped on. One kind of module I haven't tried is the light switch one - replaces a normal light switch.
I already have the X10 house alarm system from RatShack - so already I have an extra lamp module (and a remote, too!) - this thing should be fun to play with...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
I'd say the odds of this "deal" disappearing at midnight are virtually 0. Every other "deal" I've bought from there (like the ActiveHome kits) ALWAYS said the deal expired that day.
:)
Even if it does, the deal will be back next week.
Is slashdot getting kickbacks from these? I'm confused why this story appeared again if they're not. The "deal" was available the day it appeared before, and was never gone in between. It'll almost surely still be there tommorrow and for weeks to come. I hope Rob and company are getting SOMETHING from this.
How fast do you suppose they will ship these things out?
I've gotten too used to lightspeed fulfillment recently.
One another front - wasn't this stuff sold in radio shack at one time? (software ran under deskmate )
...when you order the things. Good news. I can deal with spam, just keep the damn telemarketers away!
Radio Shack still sells modules and controllers that support X10...a while back they had a 6 in 1 remote that also would interface with an infrared controller to let you control x10 stuff....GE had some stuff for x10 as well in places like Montgomery Ward or other odd shops...www.smarthome has a 6 pack of lamp modules for $30...a good buy...
--FameWolf
I've been quite pleased with X10 -- both their equipment and the company. Yes, they do place your email address on a mailing list, but they will cheerfully remove it as soon as you ask them.
My home is decked out with X10 stuff. I've got the CM11A controller, which contains an actual X10 modulator. The "FireCracker" appears to be a device that transmits RF signals to a remote-control receiver, which then modulates the X10 signals. It's nice to eliminate the extra step ... even if I do already have the remote receiver (and a ton of remotes).
Anyone planning on ordering should be aware that most of the Linux software found on Freshmeat et al is designed for the CM11A, not the FireCracker.
Do check out the Linux Home Automation Page; it's got lots of useful resources.
Home automation, Linux, and nerds. A match made in Heaven. :)
Tired of FB/Google censorship? Visit UNCENSORED!
Here I am in Korea. Are they using GMT? ;)
I followed the link and read the story about the "great husband" that Curtis is because he can lower the lights and turn on the Barry White CD from the other room (this turns on his wife?) I guess they don't have X10 controls for, uh, 'battery operated' appliances...
Or, Curtis can show his kids he cares without even leaving his home office.
Finally, Curtis can water the lawn automatically.
I don't have a wife, kids, or a lawn. My NYC studio apartment is so small that I can get to most things in it in a couple of steps anyway.
Here's my problem: I'm a geek (I'm reading and posting here, right?) and I like gadgets. Can anyone suggest a realistic scenario taking into account my limited needs for this possible toy? (I certainly appreciate the geek's desire to do something simply because it's possible - I tried to turn my HP48 into a remote control - but that's not what I'm after.)
I thought of something I could do myself - turn my stereo into an alarm. (I don't already have a clock radio but with such a device I could maybe even play a CD/tape/etc.) Anyone have any other suggestions?
Yes, like most of their products, Rat Shack OEMs the X10 modules. They used to sell this thing that looked like a large X10 controller (the box with buttons on the end of an AC cord) that also had an RS232 port growing out of its butt. Essentially, Firecracker is a new flavor of this interface, different in that it somehow allows serial pass-through (much like a PPA or IMM Zip drive, but with RS232). Why they did this is beyond me; Few generic PC/WinDos users care about serial ports, everything that used to eat up those ports is now on PS/2, USB, or internal to the PC case. If X10 was really one step beyond, they would be releasing a Firecracker module that speaks USB. Of course, that would make Linux driver development a bit stickier...
Look at the link that is posted. Then after you go to it, you get
d =x10merchant&dbname=products&itemnum=1971& function=show&prevlocation=http://www.x10.com/home /offer.cgi?~slash_dot&testcookie=on
http://www2.x10.com/cgi-bin/sb/order.cgi?storei
NOTICE THE offer.cgi?~slash_dot??? My God people, we musta made Rob a TON of money off this. Screw banner ads, mak it look like news!
Every once in a while a telemarketer will leave a message. Personally I keep getting messages from some bogus phychic network bullshit. The thing that really pisses me off though is when the telemarketers don't even call you, they have a machine that tells you to stay on the line for the next available representative - YEA RIGHT!
I don't know, I thought it was cute.
irecracker is a new flavor of this interface, different in that it somehow allows serial pass-through
It manages that (more or less) by being controled and powered through DTR and RTS. RTS high is a one, DTR high is a zero. Both high is 'standby' and both low is reset or off. In order to avoid powering it down (and loosing the command), both are set high between bits.
As for why, probably because it's cheap to make it, and easy to design.
As for pass through, only if you don't try to send X10 commands while you're using the other device.
I posted this on the last x10 article, but my post was way down at the bottom and i'm not sure if all those who would be interested in it would have seen it there.
I found the protocol information on their site, it has since been removed. For those who are interested in making their own GUI's (I'm developing one for Windows that can work as an on/off timer) you can get the CM17 protocol from my site.
How awful.
"Elmo knows where you live!" - The Simpsons
They do not ship this free stuff to the Europe :((
At least there are only USA and Canada in theirs
ordering form.