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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.
QUICK HURRY!
AMAZINGLY ENOUGH THEY'VE EXTENDED THE OFFER! I BET THIS TIME THEY REALLY MEAN MIDNIGHT ON THE 24TH!!!!!
BUY NOW!!!
;)
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
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".
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
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.
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.
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. :)
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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.
They do not ship this free stuff to the Europe :((
At least there are only USA and Canada in theirs
ordering form.