[sci.electronics] CEBus?

J0S@psuvm.psu.edu (07/31/90)

I recently saw an Ad. for a book claiming to describe the installation of
the CEBus in a house (price: $149.00!!).  What is the CEBus?  Where can
I obtain detailed information at a reasonable price?

chip@hare.ingr.com (Chip Boling) (08/01/90)

In article <90212.090656J0S@psuvm.psu.edu>, J0S@psuvm.psu.edu writes:
|> I recently saw an Ad. for a book claiming to describe the installation of
|> the CEBus in a house (price: $149.00!!).  What is the CEBus?  Where can
|> I obtain detailed information at a reasonable price?

CEBus is the U.S. Consumer Electronics bus for the home.  It is a SLOWLY
evolving
standard for using home wiring for communications between appliances, security,
computers, sensors, ... in a persons home.  Their are seperate physical
standards
being developed for twisted-pair, coaxial (cable), fiber (big bucks ;-)), and
power-line (AC wiring).  Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar magazine (around Nov-89 to
Jan-90) had a fairly good article on it and what it is attempting to provide.

I've been scanning this and a few other consumer newsgroups for more
information
on actual equipment, but have not seen any so far.  I know that there are some
"MAC" level chips available on the market from TI (and some partner I cannot
recall right now), but these were being produced before the MAC and
other layers
were standardized.  I seem to recall that they were hoping for a
complete standard, with the exeption of the fiber interface, sometime
around this summer.


If anyone else has more info on available devices/experimenter's kits, I'd like
to know also...

As to the price of $149.00 for a book, it sure had better some hardware with it
as the standards can be obtained for much less.

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guillaum@shiva.trl.oz (andrew guillaume) (08/02/90)

In article <90212.090656J0S@psuvm.psu.edu> J0S@psuvm.psu.edu writes:
>I recently saw an Ad. for a book claiming to describe the installation of
>the CEBus in a house (price: $149.00!!).  What is the CEBus?  Where can
>I obtain detailed information at a reasonable price?

The CEBus is the EIA (Electronic Industries Association) Home Automation
Standard Consumer Electronic Bus. I posted a request to the net
(sci.electronics) about a week ago, asking whether anybody knew the
status of the Standard, but I haven't had a response yet !!!
The CEBus has various types of media : power line, twisted pair, coax,
infra red, radio freq., and fiber optics. To date, the only info I have
is a draft interim Standard from the EIA (document EIA IS-60), which
was released for balloting. It only addresses the power line media, but
describes Data Link Layer, Node Network Layer and Application Layer (the
CEBus model is based on OSI). I was particularly interested in finding out
more about the twisted pair media, and had asked whether anyone out there
knew whether the physical layer had been defined. As I said : no response.

You can get info from the EIA at a reasonable price I understand (it's
under the $50 mark), but I wish you good luck. I've been trying to get the
info from the EIA for some time now, with no success. Maybe the EIA
doesn't want to talk to us Aussies :-)

If anybody can shed more light on the subject, I'd appreciate. I'm
interested in any information, even if it is only interim.
Email me, or fax me or post here !
Thanks in advance

Andrew Guillaume
Internet address : a.guillaume@trl.oz.au

Telecom Australia Research Laboratories,
770 Blackburn Road
Clayton, Victoria, Australia
Phone +61 3 541 6743, Fax +61 3 543 3339

dlou@dino.ucsd.edu (Dennis Lou) (08/02/90)

In article <1996@trlluna.trl.oz> guillaum@shiva.trl.oz (andrew guillaume) writes:
>In article <90212.090656J0S@psuvm.psu.edu> J0S@psuvm.psu.edu writes:
>>I recently saw an Ad. for a book claiming to describe the installation of
>>the CEBus in a house (price: $149.00!!).  What is the CEBus?  Where can
>>I obtain detailed information at a reasonable price?
>
>If anybody can shed more light on the subject, I'd appreciate. I'm
>interested in any information, even if it is only interim.

Sorry, but the only thing I can offer is that I saw a TV show
(possibly a news segment?) that showed someone who had a hand in
coming up with the schema and his house which was completely wired for
CEBus.

It showed how his entire house was wired on the bus.  His shutters
opened with the sunset; you could see who was at the door from the TV,
the toaster and coffee maker were synced to the alarm clock; the oven
flashed a message on the TV when the roast was done, etc, etc, etc....


--
Dennis Lou                Disclaimer: I don't use lame disks.
dlou@dino.ucsd.edu         "But Yossarian, what if everyone thought that way?"
[backbone]!ucsd!dino!dlou  "Then I'd be crazy to think any other way!"

rick@ofa123.fidonet.org (Rick Ellis) (08/06/90)

On <Aug 01 23:02> andrew guillaume writes:

 ag> The CEBus is the EIA (Electronic Industries Association) Home 
 ag> Automation Standard Consumer Electronic Bus. I posted a request to the net
 ag> (sci.electronics) about a week ago, asking whether anybody knew the
 ag> status of the Standard, but I haven't had a response yet !!!

There is another meeting of the CEBus committee this week in Portland Oregon.  
I'll be able to tell you more when our representative gets back on Thursday.

The twisted pair (TP) bus standard is scheduled to be released for comment in 
January.



 




--  
Rick Ellis
Internet: rick@ofa123.fidonet.org
BBS:      714 939-1041   2400/1200/300

pmeyer@ecocd7.intel.com (Paul Meyer) (08/07/90)

In article <850.26BD4798@ofa123.fidonet.org> rick@ofa123.fidonet.org (Rick Ellis) writes:
>
>There is another meeting of the CEBus committee this week in Portland Oregon.
>I'll be able to tell you more when our representative gets back on Thursday.
>
>The twisted pair (TP) bus standard is scheduled to be released for comment in 
>January.
>

	Being the home electronics/automation nut that I am (I'm trying
to wire my Mac into an IR controller right now) I'd love to have the
CEBus type of system in my house.  Can anyone give any estimates as to
when a usable standard will arise, and how long after that Consumer
Electronics manufacturers (read Japan) will start using the standard?

	My real goal is to be able to plug a PC into the CEBus, with all
my stereo/TV/VCR/thermostat stuff, and even my coffee maker and lights
and such eventually, and be able to have total remote control of my
house from a single remote hooked into my computer.  The technology is
there, its just a matter of showing there is a market and setting up a
standard.
--

******************************************************************************
** Paul Meyer (602)554-2078 ** "I remember reading somewhere that men learn **
** Intel Corp. CH3-40       ** to love the person they're attracted to and  **
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rick@ofa123.fidonet.org (Rick Ellis) (08/10/90)

On <Aug 06 18:33> Paul Meyer writes:


 PM> Being the home electronics/automation nut that I am (I'm 
 PM> trying to wire my Mac into an IR controller right now) I'd love to have 
 PM> the CEBus type of system in my house.  Can anyone give any estimates as 
 PM> to when a usable standard will arise, and how long after that Consumer
 PM> Electronics manufacturers (read Japan) will start using the standard?

I'd hate to try guessing when the standard will actually be adopted but much of 
it is somewhat usable as it now stands.  From what I've seen most of the 
current debate concerns transport methods.  (For powerline the debate is about 
using spread-spectrum or not.)


 PM> My real goal is to be able to plug a PC into the CEBus, with all
 PM> my stereo/TV/VCR/thermostat stuff, and even my coffee maker and lights
 PM> and such eventually, and be able to have total remote control of my
 PM> house from a single remote hooked into my computer.  The technology is
 PM> there, its just a matter of showing there is a market and setting up a
 PM> standard.

That's what CEBus is about. 


I've been running a home automation mailing list for a while now, let me know 
if you'd like to be added.

 
 

--  
Rick Ellis
Internet: rick@ofa123.fidonet.org
BBS:      714 939-1041   2400/1200/300