[slinkelist] CM-17A (alias "X-10Firecracker")

[Alan Freeman]

FYI, Regarding the Firecracker:  (This is FUNNY!)

I called X10.COM requesting to use the "Firecracker" protocol in our
software.  They were adamant about it; almost rude.  No, they were rude!
They said they didn't provide the protocol to 3rd parties.  I asked for a
supervisor, at which time my head got bit off.  The woman said, "he's goi=
ng
tell you the same thing".  She then went on to say, that if I "wanted to
interface to it, I would have to hack it."  And she further said, "there =
are
many places on the web to find information about it, as it had been hacke=
d
already.  You can use that source."

I told her we'd rather work with them.  She said in a not too
round-about-way, they'd rather we didn't.

So... taking her lead, I went searching.

The CM-17A (aka. Firecracker) uses (as Colby suggested), a hack to the
serial lines.  It doesn't use a standard RS232 serial protocol method at
all, nor does it receive data from the power line, of course.  The
communications is achieved by toggling a serial line much like an IR sign=
al,
using a single data bit stream on a single serial port line.

Having said that, and knowing that Colby or my company can hack it, I'm n=
ot
sure I'd want to, just because of their attitude.  I can't speak for Colb=
y.
I can only guess that the CM17A will be short lived if they won't coopera=
te
with other vendors to get some halfway decent software for it.  Isn't tha=
t
how SONY killed the BETA machine, and how SONY 'almost' killed the
Mini-Disc!?!  (rhetorical)

Haven't we seen this movie before!?!  X-10's biggest problem to date has
been their "proprietary" hold on their X-10 power-line protocol.  Other
companies could have made it SCREAM, but X-10 USA has forced it to ''craw=
l".

Sorry to editorialize.  I'm off the soap box now.  Next...

 >(=A9=BF=A9)<
Best regards, Alan Freeman
E-Mail: alan@cdcontrol.com
Web-URL: www.cdcontrol.com
Genealogy: www.ifreeman.com