It's inline with my serial mouse (a Logitech cheapie with a wheel). No problems at all.
Same here. It's inline with my Logitech Firstmouse+... This only works with the newer bottlerocket program (0.03a), though...the older one didn't save any of the serial port state information...so it would lock up the mouse after it was used.
The only slightly annoying thing is that the mouse locks when sending a command...but I can live with that until the CM11A HomeDirector interface I orderd shows up...It doesn't have a passthrough, so I'll have to try to get that second serial port (/dev/ttyS2) to work...I had locking problems with it when I tried to use it earlier...grumble.
It includes two modules, since the Transciever is effectively also an Appliance module.
Note though that the "appliance module" in the transciever is transmit only, so it will not respond to X10 commands transmitted over the power lines. Not a problem for people just starting out with this one kit, but a bummer if you have other "normal" non-wireless controllers.
is incapable of dimming a unique device - it can only dim an entire room of lamps at once.
as the above dude mentioned, this is false. The documentation is written with a knowledge of the X10 protocol... so...
"commands" in the X10 protocol don't have attached UNIT codes...they only have HOUSE codes. So to address an individual unit, you first get it's attention by sending it an ON or OFF command. Then any DIM or BRIGHTEN command that comes through for that HOUSE code will affect that module.
It's actually a nice system, since it means you can dim/brighten multiple lamps at the same time. (The Firecracker itself can't...but the CM11A can, and hardwired controllers (like Mini Controllers) can.)
I think the X10 idea could be much improved by making devices ACK their commands, and make them transmit an equivilant command when they are controlled locally. Making all devices capable of reporting their status when interrogated would complete the picture for the protocol.
The more expensive modules (such as the Leviton decora wall switches) do transmit local commands. They also respond to STATUS request commands, and they also support Preset Dim commands (200 levels)... So these features do exist, they just don't exist in $5 modules...:-)
I like your suggestion for a wall recptical that screws into the wall.
If you're not controling a light you might as well use an Outlet Module...which contains one X10 controlled plug and one always-on plug. These are appliance modules, though, so you don't get any dimming.
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.
Re:why this won't always work
on
Digital VCRs
·
· Score: 1
And many cable systems have head ends which leave the stereo sub-carrier on at all times...so even mono commercials will appear to have a stereo sound track. There really isn't any sure way to distinguish between programming and commercials.
Although it occurs to be that the stupid little network logo is usually turned off during commercials...so maybe you could scan for that...
Your problem likely has very little to do with Linux. It's either caused by your hardware manufacturer not making programming information available to open source programmers, or it's a PCMCIA cdrom drive. If it's the second case, then it's being addressed right now on linux-kernel.
Please don't base your opinion of Linux on one experience with funny hardware.
Re:Linux: The Ultimate Appliance OS
on
Digital VCRs
·
· Score: 1
In the near future many of these appliances are going to want to be networked. For the current example it'd be really cool to be able to pull video off of it over a household 100Mbs network. But one can't really do that with a single-tasking OS like DOS...
You've also got to remember that with modern modems the initial connect speed is likely only correct for the first few minutes or seconds of the connection. With retrains and other such things the connect speed will change with line quality...
Nowadays the connect speed really doesn't tell you anything anyway. Far more useful is the BPS rate you get on various downloads. FTP a large compressed file with a REAL ftp program (not a browser) and see what it says at the end of the download...thats the only way to get a useful number.
I have an HP694C printer which I bought during my Windows days.... After moving to Linux, I was quite dissapointed with the print quality and speed of the default Ghostscript driver...after playing around with both the GNU and the comerical versions (which one can do for quite a long time, as just about every HP LaserJet and Deskjet driver will work with this printer), I was able to find some third party drivers...
As I was mainly intested in regaining speed in draft mode, I ended up using the driver here:
ftp://ftp.pdb.sni.de/pub/utilities/misc/
This driver is very fast in draft mode (faster then the windows driver, in fact)...and is highly configurable. Its biggest problem is that it doesn't do Floyd Steinberg dithering...so while text looks quite nice, graphics don't look so hot...
I also found one here:
http://www.erdw.ethz.ch/~bonk/hp850/hp850.html
I never got around to testing this one, though... It is supposed to support the Photo Ret1 and 2 stuff, though...
Of course, you have to patch ghostscript to get either of these to work...but since the default drivers are so bad, it's probably worth it...
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It's inline with my serial mouse (a Logitech cheapie with a wheel). No problems at all.
Same here. It's inline with my Logitech Firstmouse+... This only works with the newer bottlerocket program (0.03a), though...the older one didn't save any of the serial port state information...so it would lock up the mouse after it was used.
The only slightly annoying thing is that the mouse locks when sending a command...but I can live with that until the CM11A HomeDirector interface I orderd shows up...It doesn't have a passthrough, so I'll have to try to get that second serial port (/dev/ttyS2) to work...I had locking problems with it when I tried to use it earlier...grumble.
It includes two modules, since the Transciever is effectively also an Appliance module.
Note though that the "appliance module" in the transciever is transmit only, so it will not respond to X10 commands transmitted over the power lines. Not a problem for people just starting out with this one kit, but a bummer if you have other "normal" non-wireless controllers.
is incapable of dimming a unique device - it can only dim an entire room of lamps at once.
:-)
as the above dude mentioned, this is false. The documentation is written with a knowledge of the X10 protocol... so...
"commands" in the X10 protocol don't have attached UNIT codes...they only have HOUSE codes. So to address an individual unit, you first get it's attention by sending it an ON or OFF command. Then any DIM or BRIGHTEN command that comes through for that HOUSE code will affect that module.
It's actually a nice system, since it means you can dim/brighten multiple lamps at the same time. (The Firecracker itself can't...but the CM11A can, and hardwired controllers (like Mini Controllers) can.)
I think the X10 idea could be much improved by making devices ACK their commands, and make them transmit an equivilant command when they are controlled locally. Making all devices capable
of reporting their status when interrogated would complete the picture for the protocol.
The more expensive modules (such as the Leviton decora wall switches) do transmit local commands. They also respond to STATUS request commands, and they also support Preset Dim commands (200 levels)... So these features do exist, they just don't exist in $5 modules...
I like your suggestion for a wall recptical that screws into the wall.
If you're not controling a light you might as well use an Outlet Module...which contains one X10 controlled plug and one always-on plug. These are appliance modules, though, so you don't get any dimming.
Just be quick with the left shift key and use
"linux single" at the lilo prompt...
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.
And many cable systems have head ends which leave the stereo sub-carrier on at all times...so even mono commercials will appear to have a stereo sound track. There really isn't any sure way to distinguish between programming and commercials.
Although it occurs to be that the stupid little network logo is usually turned off during commercials...so maybe you could scan for that...
Your problem likely has very little to do with Linux. It's either caused by your hardware manufacturer not making programming information available to open source programmers, or it's a PCMCIA cdrom drive. If it's the second case, then it's being addressed right now on linux-kernel.
Please don't base your opinion of Linux on one experience with funny hardware.
In the near future many of these appliances are going to want to be networked. For the current example it'd be really cool to be able to pull video off of it over a household 100Mbs network. But one can't really do that with a single-tasking OS like DOS...
You've also got to remember that with modern modems the initial connect speed is likely only correct for the first few minutes or seconds of the connection. With retrains and other such things the connect speed will change with line quality...
Nowadays the connect speed really doesn't tell you anything anyway. Far more useful is the BPS rate you get on various downloads. FTP a large compressed file with a REAL ftp program (not a browser) and see what it says at the end of the download...thats the only way to get a useful number.
I have an HP694C printer which I bought during my Windows days.... After moving to Linux, I was quite dissapointed with the print quality and speed of the default Ghostscript driver...after playing around with both the GNU and the comerical versions (which one can do for quite a long time, as just about every HP LaserJet and Deskjet driver will work with this printer), I was able to find some third party drivers...
As I was mainly intested in regaining speed in draft mode, I ended up using the driver here:
ftp://ftp.pdb.sni.de/pub/utilities/misc/
This driver is very fast in draft mode (faster then the windows driver, in fact)...and is highly configurable. Its biggest problem is that it doesn't do Floyd Steinberg dithering...so while text looks quite nice, graphics don't look so hot...
I also found one here:
http://www.erdw.ethz.ch/~bonk/hp850/hp850.html
I never got around to testing this one, though... It is supposed to support the Photo Ret1 and 2 stuff, though...
Of course, you have to patch ghostscript to get either of these to work...but since the default drivers are so bad, it's probably worth it...