RCH@cup.portal.com (Ric C Helton) (12/13/88)
Has anyone made/built/otherwise devised, any home-grown controllers, or built interfaces for their joystick ports? I read both ANTIC and ANALOG magazines, and every now & then someone will writ an article showing how to make a parallel printer port with the joystick port. Or use your old 800 as a print buffer. Remember the old AtariLab kits? I never saw one, or got to play with them, and wondered if 1) they were still available? 2) they were worth bothering with? 3) were improved to real-world interfacing, such as the recent X-10 remote control power modules that have long been available on the C64 and Radio Shack Coco computers....? I am looking for something that will allow remote control, security system applications, equipment monitoring, etc... Thanks for any mail or postings! -Ric Helton RCH@cup.portal.com sun!portal!cup.portal.com!RCH
kimes@ihlpe.ATT.COM (Kit Kimes) (12/14/88)
> > Remember the old AtariLab kits? I never saw one, or got to play with them, > and wondered if 1) they were still available? 2) they were worth bothering > with? 3) were improved to real-world interfacing, such as the recent X-10 > remote control power modules that have long been available on the C64 and > Radio Shack Coco computers....? > The AtariLab kit is still listed on the software list I got from Atari at the Summer CES. It is listed as AED80013 and the Light Module is AED80014. I don't think that any modifications have been made to it. > I am looking for something that will allow remote control, security system > applications, equipment monitoring, etc... Thanks for any mail or postings! > The latest ANTIC 8bit catalog contains the PowerManager from Terrific Corp. for $24.95. This is the hardware and software necessary to use the X-10 controller in your home. It was reviewed in ANTIC an issue or two ago. There was even a simple PD version in that issue of ANTIC, but the commercial version is supposed to be much more powerful. On further reading, I see that it says it requires the CP290 Powerhouse Interface from X-10. I don't know what that costs or where you would get it, but I imagine the same place you can get the X-10. Kit Kimes AT&T--Bell Laboratories ...att!ihlpe!kimes
u-mderha%ug.utah.edu@wasatch.UUCP (Max Derhak) (12/20/88)
About a year and a half ago, I purchased an X10 controller interface. It uses RS232 to comunicate to the outside world. I Was also working on a joystick interface. It is simple hardware. It's just a joystick cable with a resistor. The software was simple. I had the X10 to atari working sorta ok, but the atari to X10 had bugs. I gave up and used an 850 interface which supports rs232 already. As far as I know there isn't any software written for the 8bits and the X10, and I have been too busy with other things to ever get around to doing it. I do recal that an (ANTIC/ANALOG?) issue had an article on the X10. You might try looking there.
gjh@tybalt.caltech.edu (Greg J. Hiscott) (12/21/88)
u-mderha%ug.utah.edu@wasatch.UUCP (Max Derhak) writes: | About a year and a half ago, I purchased an X10 controller interface. | It uses RS232 to comunicate to the outside world. | As far as I know there | isn't any software written for the 8bits and the X10, and I have been too | busy with other things to ever get around to doing it. I do recal that | an (ANTIC/ANALOG?) issue had an article on the X10. You might try looking | there. I have written an Atari BASIC program to control the X10 Computer Interface. I have designed it in such a way that it can be run over a modem. It is kind of like a BBS that controls your house. The user can set the clock in the interface, read the clock, send a direct command, and program a timer event. The only thing I need to do yet is provide a command to read timer events from the interface memory and display them to the user. One of my friends has also written a controller program, but his has a Mac-like user interface. The user controls a pointer with the joystick and selects commands , but he did not have as many functions implemented. If anyone is interested in either of these two programs, let me know. We can probably work something out. +-------+ Greg Hiscott +-------+ |+-----+| gjh@ligo.caltech.edu |+-----+| ||[===]|| Phone:(818)356-2974 ||[===]|| |+-----+| USPS:Caltech, 102-33, Pasadena, CA 91125 |+-----+| +-------+ FAX:(818)304-9834 +-------+
RCH@cup.portal.com (Ric C Helton) (12/23/88)
RE: The X10 systems.... Are there pin-outs and tech. docs included when one purchases the X10 system? I am a relatively accomplished programmer, and would love to tackle the problem as a hobby thing..... but I lack the workbench knowledge to take the gadget apart to find out which wire goes where.... -Ric RCH@cup.portal.com
euloth@dalcsug.UUCP (George Seto) (12/24/88)
In article <8929@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu>, gjh@tybalt.caltech.edu (Greg J. Hiscott) writes: > > u-mderha%ug.utah.edu@wasatch.UUCP (Max Derhak) writes: > > | About a year and a half ago, I purchased an X10 controller interface. > | It uses RS232 to comunicate to the outside world. > | As far as I know there > | isn't any software written for the 8bits and the X10, and I have been too > | busy with other things to ever get around to doing it. I do recal that > | an (ANTIC/ANALOG?) issue had an article on the X10. You might try looking > | there. > I found another listing. There is a company that someone mentioned here in this newsgroup called Terrific Corp. Don't remember where they were located, but the same day this message came in, I had picked up a copy of the January '89 Antic. Well they have restarted their 8 bit Catalog and one of the listings is Terrific Corp.'s software for controlling X10 devices. Apparently it supports a device called Powerhouse Interface from X10 and is called PowerManager. Antic's code for this is TH0029 and is shown as $24.95 US. I don't know more than that about this, since I am not affiliated with Antic except as a reader of their magazine. > > -- ******************************************************************************* * euloth@dalcsug.uucp || Disclaimer: All opinions are my own unless other- * * /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ || wise noted. * ****AKA: Atari Nut*************************************************************
tob@inuxm.UUCP (T Burger) (12/28/88)
> RE: The X10 systems.... Are there pin-outs and tech. docs included > when one purchases the X10 system? I am a relatively accomplished Yes a Programers Book comes with the unit. I got mine from DAK for the IBM machine. I have written a complete interface for the 8bit systems, and if someone can tell me a sure fire way to post it, I will. I have tried to get stuff from the net and unscramble it to my 8bit with very litle sucsess. The software I have written does everything with the only limitation being it supports any 15 of the possible 256 addresses. I have never even got close to 15 different 'chanels' so this is no problem for me. I use the 850 with mine, but a friend has used the P:R: connection. PS: I have found several mistakes in the programers book. Ted Burger 317-835-7635 Home
usenet@cps3xx.UUCP (Usenet file owner) (12/28/88)
At least a couple guys here have mentioned that they bothered to write
the software to control the thing.
PLEASE POST THIS SOFTWARE!
It's one of those programs that, as a programmer, I would have written,
but with a Unix workstation sitting next to the XL, well, I, uh, didn't.
Also, PLEASE POST THE SOURCE!
Whereas figuring out ALL the mechanics would be a pain, as programmers
yourselves, you most certainly know that it's a lot easier to edit than
to punch something out from scratch. I've deleted 99% of a program in an
edit, but psychologically, it's "just an edit."
When you get sick of working on your program any more ("Hey, it works")
that's when you POST THE SOURCE, such that someone (like myself) can add
whatever features he wants and then post it back.
Eventually, these things turn into really nice programs.
Just for the nets sake, there are a lot of people out there who can't
get files from the net. If you want to make things acessible to
everyone, please consider uploading them to the Club II (BBS) in
Detroit. I do my best to keep everything that is posted on there, and
there's plenty of space. We're going to add another 65 meg in the near
future.
Thanks!
(P.S. I know, "Why the Club II?" 'Cause it's free, there are 8bit
programmers on it, and when was the last time you saw a 100-meg board
that actually kept 8bit files?)
Club II (313) 334-8877 3/12/24 (96 when real V.32 modems are affordable)
Terry Conklin
uunet!frith!conklin
conklin@egr.msu.edu
The Club (517) 372-3131 (no files)lazear@GATEWAY.MITRE.ORG (01/11/89)
I wrote the public domain BASIC program for the X10 that appeared in Antic last fall. The controller documentation is pretty good and gives pinouts for their RS-232 plug. I have tried the Radio Shack Coco version and it is not compatible with the IBM version I used originally for my code. The Powerhouse Interface is the controller. It costs around $60-70 and comes with IBM PC software. The Terrific Corp's $25 software is in addition to the interface (controller). Walt Lazear