RE: Re: wishlist for next christmas

["Nigel Giddings" <nigel.giddings@xxxxxxx>]

I have to say I agree with Johannes. USB is great but only for very
short
distances, the equipment has to be in the same room or it gets expensive
/
difficult.

As we are all installing Cat5 anyway it should be very easy to add units
and
with the built in webserver that the Barix units use it is very easy to
integrate with a web browser setup.

As I mentioned before I have an Exstreamer and hope to purchase a few
more
in the near future. I have found it does what it says it does without
fuss
or complication, high WAF... although she is not actually using it yet.

Next project is to use a Pronto to send IR to X-10 and issue UDP from
Homseer to select playlists from the Exstreamer. Seems long winded but
the
Exstreamer reacts very quickly to input from a web browser so it should
'feel right'. I think Johannes has mentioned IR being added to the
Exstreamer at some point in the future.

I would like to see this type of product (range) extend to IO devices,
being
able to communicate button pushes would be a great step forward
especially
if it could do it in conjunction with Homeseer which is my preferred BMS
at
the moment. I am also a great fan of One Wire so that would be a step in
the
right direction. Still considering iButtons as a replacement for keys
although Biometrics are becoming affordable ? Another advantage of
using
Ethernet / Cat 5 is that you don't need to keep adding serial ports to
the
PC. At worst you may decide to have a dedicated LAN for Home Auto (a
DCN)
with a separate LAN for other applications.

A unit that could reliable operate lights would be a great product,
something faster than X-10 with feedback on status, it would need to be
able
to receive local control from switches and report that as well. Of course
it
would need to be of a similar cost to X10.

Just my thoughts on a rainy Sunday morning...

Nigel

-----Original Message-----
From: Johannes Rietschel <jr@xxxxxxx> [mailto:jr@xxxxxxx]
Sent: 28 December 2002 18:04
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: [ukha_d] Re: wishlist for next christmas

I did not plan for a USB device, rather for an Ethernet/Cat5 version.
USB in my view is pretty limited (cabling etc), and an Ethernet
device, ideally with power-over-ethernet - if affordable (that's a
challenge) - is much more universal. The device we're doing has also
an RS-485/232 interface, so it could be used as the "head point"
for
a C-Bus like interface. And there is a one-wire interface for the
Dallas stuff (yes, inside and outside temp sensors!).
If we use xAP, little very cheap devices (pic/avr etc) with xAP could
be bridged to Ethernet, probably using higher level protocols on the
network (XML,SOAP) etc.

--- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, "Mark McCall" <Mark@L...> wrote:
> > We have also plans for a universal I/O for home automation
with
> > digital I/O, analog I/O,
>
> Is this going to be a USB device Johannes?  I think it's time
there
was an
> inexpensive, easy to instal (ie USB) IO device aimed at the HA
market.
>
> > question: what do you die-hards would love to see next to be
> > connected to ethernet
>
> Internal and external temperature readers?
>
> M.



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