C-Bus gateway update and a picture too !

[Kevin Hawkins]

OK - another update - plus I have put a temporary picture in the files area
(850K size). I'll upload a smaller one soon. This is of the Rabbit
development system with the following piggyback boards installed - a Rabbit
3200 core attached lower left corner, plus the C-Bus SIM upper centre (blue
board) and a 4 line graphic lcd display with keypad and LED's. The power
supply connector is upper right corner and the blue Ethernet cable emerges
centre left. The two wires (white and blue) are the C-Bus connection. For
those interested the power supply components are top right on the main pcb
and the space at the top left is for a secondary Rabbit 'slave' processor.
Two DB9 connectors on the right hand side offer extra RS232 serial ports.

A very productive week really - I have totally re-coded the web
server and the ftp server - I had borrowed some code earlier and I think in
later versions of Dynamic C (v8) more extensive libraries now allow me to
implement these in a much neater fashion. However I learned an awful lot
from the previous code both about how web servers actually work, how to
implement pages with dynamic content and about C itself so it was well
worth
it. So we now have a web server with dynamic pages for C-Bus content, and
an ftp server with both anonymous (read only) access and an administrator
who can create pages for the web server to use. I am just now looking into
the best way to allow people to include their own dynamic content. I have
the C based cgi routines working too. The C-Bus side has been running
reliably now for some time and only balks at a few of the more complex
message streams (ignored). I have still to incorporate some group naming
into both the web displays and the xAP messages, this means reverse
engineering the C-Bus project files format or manual entry.

I have also made progress on my hardware solution. I have got ten
boards made up as a partial hand build so no fancy silkscreens/solder
masks,
plus there will be a couple of link wires on the board. Photos soon when I
receive the boards. These look nothing like the photo btw, they are much
simpler in design incorporating power supply, Rabbit mounting sockets ,
extra I/O headers, serial port level converters and C-Bus SIM mounting.

These units will simply offer a C-Bus interface (via a SIM) and a
spare RS232 port. I will use this port as a serial to Ethernet xAP bridge (
probably not in initial software release ). Actually there is another spare
serial port that can either be connected to a C-Bus RS232 computer
interface
obviating the need for the C-Bus SIM - or in my case I will be using this
for a connection to the Galaxy Alarm panel. As few of you need this I
>MAY<
look at other options, for example connection to a Meteor Caller ID unit or
an X10 interface or to provide a basic control protocol (non xAP) for
connection to say HomeVision or ACE. We'll see. This would all be extra
functionality, possibly chargeable.

Later on I may have a more capable board with other interfaces but
I'll see how these go first.

So... it looks like I may need some early adopters soon - the board
uses a Rabbit 2200 core and needs a SIM too unless you connect directly to
your C-Bus PC interface. The cost of the board, including the software will
be approx £50 to UKHA'ers. In addition you need a Rabbit core with Ethernet
interface at around £45 (2200 - 256/128K)or £65 (2250-512/512K) depending
on
what size RAM you choose - I stongly recommend the latter. You need also
either a C-Bus RS232 interface which you probably have already or a C-Bus
SIM which will add another £50. So if you are interested in reserving a
board email me now. If I get a very low level of interest I shall probably
not make any more. Please note the board is not in any way cased or CE
approved and does not come with a power supply either - you need to provide
a small wall wart that provides 9-12V DC - I can supply these too if you
like. I should have boards available in around 3 weeks or so. I have
assumed
the sale of 10 units to get a small price break on the cores.

BTW - early on in the products life there are inevitably going to be
bugs. You can't upload new firmware to these units from a PCvia a serial
port - either the units will have to come back to me or you will have to
buy
a programming cable from the UK distributor which costs around £25. If you
do the latter I will be posting updates on my website for new features /
bug
fixes.

Please note that I am making no profit on these early boards and I
am not charging for the software either. Accordingly nor am I promising to
continue to develop the product either, however I will ensure that the
current C-Bus feature set works as it should. Extra features may be
chargeable later but it will always be a low cost upgrade. Later on in a
commercial release when the product is more mature the C-Bus option may
well
be chargeable as a software option for the board.

Hope that makes sense I am trying to be as fair as possible, months
of work has gone into this from my side and although I don't want in any
way
to profit from the UKHA members for this (I did it for my own need) I am
not
going to expose myself to a loss on building and selling hardware either.
You can buy the Rabbit (and programming lead) from the UK distributor and
the C-Bus SIM from Clipsal if you prefer, and just the board and software
from me at £50.

Cheers Kevin