geopi@cbnewsh.att.com (george.p.cotsonas) (08/30/90)
Please, does anyone have a reference to the signaling specification and protocol of the X-10 home control devices? Thanks. -- George P. Cotsonas AT&T BL/CPL att!hocpa!geopi
gyugyi@amy3.stanford.edu (Paul Gyugyi) (09/20/90)
In article <1990Aug30.145839.12866@cbnewsh.att.com>, geopi@cbnewsh.att.com (george.p.cotsonas) writes: |> Please, does anyone have a reference to the |> signaling specification and protocol |> of the X-10 home control devices? |> Thanks. |> -- |> George P. Cotsonas |> AT&T BL/CPL |> att!hocpa!geopi The X-10 interface communicates over house wiring in the followinf way: at 60 Hz crossings, it either puts a spike on the line or doesn't. You should be able to hook up a scope and figure out what you need to. There is no error checking, (i.e. in the form of a returned message) -- communication is strictly one way (master->all units). This might be a good time to mention my new Microsoft Windows 3.0 control program for the BSR X-10 PC interface that connects to your computer through a comm port. The PC interface is available through DAK mail order, or from Fry's electronics or some EggHead stores. The PC interface is a microcontroller that takes serial port messages to turn on, off, or dim lights and encodes them and sends them across the house wiring. If you have one of these units, you can now control them from MS Win 3.0: Begin pseudo-press-release: I have just finished my ver 1.0 interface to the popular BSR X10 remote control modules you can buy at RadioShack and through DAK mail order. The program has a menu/dialog box interface for turning on, off, or dimming X10 modules. It also has a command line interface for people who hate menus, and supports DDE commands. I have a sample script from CrossTalk to turn on a module, and it should work from Excel also. To use it, you will need a BSR X10 PC interface unit connected to a serial port. I'd like to beta test it a week or two before uploading it to the general public. If anyone would like to help test it out, please contact me. Paul Gyugyi gyugyi@rascals.stanford.edu