RE: C-Bus gateway update Sept 3rd

[Kevin Hawkins]

Still waiting for Clipsal's express shipment of the C-Bus SIM's :-(
- the good news is that I have got a good price on these (I think) so you
will find it attractive to source them from me directly. It is possible
that
these will be soldered to the board too due to a height restraint if I use
a
header. This is caused by the dimensions of the casing I am considering.

I am going to be changing the schemas I am using before shipping - and
supporting, I hope, a standard 'basic' form of .status .event and .control
classes that should make it much simpler for xAP devices to perform limited
discovery and control, along with status monitoring. The hope is that we
get
to a stage of just being able to switch a xAP device on and it is
automagically recognised as devices within HomeSeer say... now that would
be really cool wouldn't it ! There is a discussion topic at the moment on
the xAP Developer group re this status/control schema so I am going to wait
till it's all agreed before I change them all (yet again).

If anyone does want a version with older schemas then I am happy to ship
now
really (or when the SIM's arrive if you need one). You can upgrade them at
home with my included Ethernet downloader.

I have made progress with a casing but it is going to be a little expensive
as it is extruded aluminium - black - very nice, although I say it myself.
Not for a while yet though and may need me to swap your board if the
dimensions are off a bit - I would do this within the cost for those that
want.

I also want to mention that there is some talk that Clipsal may release
some
of the C-Bus2 protocol into the public domain - or at least a very low cost
license. Probably only the minimal protocol detail, to allow you to
ONOFFDIM control a group and perhaps see changes as loads switch. I wanted
everyone to know that this may happen such that if all you want is basic
C-Bus control it may be available another way later.

There may be some light on the horizon for HomeVision users too wanting to
control C-Bus within their schedules - either with a bit of help from a
board like the C-Bus/xAP gateway ;-) or possibly a direct serial connection
to HV/C-Bus or via a PC - and some helper software - more news soon -
please do NOT bother CSI with any questions or request for details on this
-
they can't help - I will let you know more when information when I have it.

Kevin