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Re: Last Night in London?



Now that Maxim have swallowed Dallas Semi,  (or was it the other way
round?)
I should be able to get iButton stuff on free sample (up to 13 items a
month
! :) )

I called them up to ask for suppliers of some bits and bobs for a
prototype,
and they said, "hang on, I'll pass you to the samples desk... bingo,
£45
quids worth of AV switching ICs for =zip= :)

Last week they sent me their CD catalog and Data Sheet collection. How
chuffed am I :)

Ian.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Broadfoot, Kieran J" <Kieran.Broadfoot@xxxxxxx>
To: <ukha_d@xxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, June 22, 2001 11:53 AM
Subject: RE: [ukha_d] Last Night in London?


> I actually ordered mine direct from the ibutton.com web site but you
can
> expect up to 14 weeks for delivery.  I have been lucky and quoted till
the
> end of july for all my buttons and TINI board.
>
> To be honest I anticipate buying a whole lot more kit so I might
resort to
> RS.  Anyone know if they have a pretty good stock level at the momen?
>
> As an aside where did you get the sensor mats?
>
> thanks
>     kieran
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mike Griffiths [mailto:mike@xxxxxxx]
> Sent: Friday, June 22, 2001 11:25 AM
> To: 'ukha_d@xxxxxxx'
> Subject: RE: [ukha_d] Last Night in London?
>
>
> Kieran
> Where did you get the ibutttons from
> I keep trying to buy them from the States without any success
>
> I agree with your way I thinking on HA control
> I'm luck that as my house is quite naturally dark If your in the house
you
> normal need the lights on
>
> All we normally do is tell the house we have entered (X10 code via
Touchlinc
> to HomeVision)
> And tell the house when either of us are going to bed
> Sensor mats on the stairs cover most movement. And using HomeVision
these
> react differently to the number of people in the house and whether
they
are
> in bed or not
> I have a system with light sensors which turns off the lights in
individual
> areas  when the room has direct sunlight
> But that's as far as it goes really
>
> What I really need is the security ibuttons to replace the X10 entry
> commands
> And some low powered Transmitters in each car to keep track of who is
in
and
> out
> We live miles in the country so any serious leaving of the house
involves
a
> car
> Mike
> Antena
> Caernarfon
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Broadfoot, Kieran J [mailto:Kieran.Broadfoot@xxxxxxx]
> Sent: Fri 22 June 2001 10:41
> To: 'ukha_d@xxxxxxx'
> Subject: RE: [ukha_d] Last Night in London?
>
> my head hurts lots.  I tried to keep pace with Mr Gordon and this led
to
me
> leaving a little earlier than I would have liked.
>
> We were talking about remote control and mark made a very interesting
> comment which included the following: "fillipino boys",
"bugger" and
"that".
> I didnt understand what he was trying to say ;-)
>
> We had quite a few dicussions about the project and came up with a few
> ideas:
>
> i. second ukha product - 1 and 2 gang wall switches controlled by xap.
> Standard wall sockets providing the same functionality as x10 just
over
> tcp/ip and with state
>
> ii. Maybe the project doesnt need a full software control system but
rather
> a software API written in various languages.  Maybe the HA masses
would
> prefer a COM object they can embed into their VB?  Or the perl geeks
can
> have a perl module, or those java heads can get their hands on a jar
file.
> Whatever way we produce it the important thing is that it keeps some
of
the
> complex stuff hidden with a nice little API for people.  They could
wrap
> objects and other groovy data objects round it if they want to build
> relationships between devices but alternatively they could something
as
> simple as:
>
> import net.sf.ukha.xap.*;
>
> Xap x = new Xap();
>
> public void main()

>    Array a = new Array();
>    x.scanNet(a);
>    x.turnOnDevice(a[4]);
> }
>
> // you get the idea ....
>
> iii. We also talked about sponsorship for the ukha project from
letsautomate
> or laser etc to help cover up front costs for CE compliance etc.  In
return
> they get guaranteed stock and the honour of being the only stockists
for x
> number of months or x amount of stock etc.
>
> As to Mark mentioning my sensor ideas I get all evangelical about this
and
I
> know ive already spoken to Ian and Stu about it so my apologies if I
am
> repeating myself.
>
> I think there are two major issues with nearly all HA systems
currently:
>
> a. There is virtually no easy way to integrate the components in a
> controlled fashion (thats what makes the expensive systems a good deal
if
> you could afford them)
>
> b. Most people implement HA by controlling devices and then adding
sensing
> capabilities
>
> Im in the very early stages of implementing my own home brew system
but
Ive
> been thinking about it for quite some time and the idea of an
intelligent
> house must indicate you start with setting up the house to be aware of
its
> surroundings.  I am basing this stuff on 1-wire/ibuttons and TINI as
my
> chosen platform because it all supports java ;-)
>
> Each room has a number of sensor modules.  A module would be made up
of a
> small breaboard containing a 64kbit iButton plus n+1 1-wire sensors
(light,
> humidity, temp etc).  Using the xml 1-wire project (on sourceforge)
you
can
> define relationships between 1-wire devices.  The idea is that each
sensor
> has its own local data storage on the nvram.  This is then farmed off
> through an object model into a database for historical use.  The great
thing
> is that even if you lose the database you can still boot strap the
house
> using the few hours worth of data on the nvram buttons.
>
> Historical mapping of data provides trend analysis of the house status
which
> can then be used with a bit of logic to define outcomes when
situations
> occur.  I wanted to be able to dim lights in a room to different
levels
> depending on light levels in different parts of the room so you get a
> uniform light level across the room.
>
> Remote controls are great until you forget where you put them ;-)  so
why
> not make the house keep track of how you do things and learn from you.
 It
> will then switch on devices at the right time etc.  Now all I need is
some
> bik sensors with 1-wire interfaces, and a 1-wire hub, and some
electronic
> skills, and a life etc....
>
> Anyway Ive started talking twaddle (again) but you catch my drift.
>
> thanks
>     kieran
>
> p/s Found some groovy stuff using vrml in java 3d.  think I might have
found
> the ideal vehicle for my systems front end.  virtual movement through
house
> and point/click -> on devices using a mouse click
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark Harrison [mailto:Mark.Harrison@xxxxxxx]
> Sent: Friday, June 22, 2001 9:53 AM
> To: 'ukha_d@xxxxxxx'
> Subject: RE: [ukha_d] Last Night in London?
> It was a laugh. Four of us were there:
>
>     - Paul Gordon
>     - Kieran Broadfoot
>     - Martin Greenwood
>     - Mark Harrison
>
> I only stayed for about an hour, but the others all seemed to have
late
> passes :-)
>
> Kieran has some interesting ideas about sensing, and automatic control
of
> what happens in the house based on what the house detects is going on,
> rather than everything being remote-control-centric.
>
> None of us like blokes with yellow, check, shirts.
>
> Mark Harrison
> IT Controller, eKingfisher
>
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>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark McCall [mailto:mark@xxxxxxx]
> Sent: 22 June 2001 09:37
> To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
> Subject: [ukha_d] Last Night in London?
> How'd it go guys?
>
> M.
>
>
>
>
>
>
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> http://www.automatedhome.co.uk
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