From: Rob Lewis <rob-AT-whidbey.com>
Date: 15 May 2008 15:45:37 UTC   (08:45:37 AM in author's locale)
To: xtensionlist-AT-shed.com

OK, let me take a shot at decoding this (James, you may have been
spending too much time around Unix geeks :-)

--Somebody (such as, for example, me) writes code to execute on the
Arduino. This code looks for events on its sensors and reports them
over the USB bus.

--Somebody else (such as, for example, you) writes code to run on the Mac. This code receives the reports from the Arduino and … what,
exactly?

Aargh, I'm lost again.
--Where exactly does your "conduit" run? Is it part of XTension?
--Where does the Arduino API run? In the Arduino microcontroller itself?
--Is this a 2-way interface?
--What does "in our arduino work" mean exactly?
--Where does the proposed command "XTTurnOn" occur? In unit scripts?
Why is it needed over standard XTension verbs?
--It sounds like you are proposing mapping X10 unit addresses to
inputs and outputs on the Arduino board. Am I close?

Waaah! Maybe a block diagram would help :-{

(Want to continue this offline?)

On May 15, 2008, at 8:27 AM, James Sentman wrote:

>
> On May 15, 2008, at 11:21 AM, Rob Lewis wrote:
>
>> James, your idea sounds intriguing but I'm afraid I don't
>> understand exactly what you're proposing. For instance, what does
>> "talked up the serial port" mean?
>>
>> Could you possibly take another shot at explaining just what you
>> have in mind, with maybe a concrete example? Sorry if I'm dense.
>
> I hope you're not dense as I think you might want to work on this ;)
>
>
> What I mean is that we could build a sort of conduit, an arduino
> API for talking directly to XTension. So for example there might be > a command in our arduino work to:
>
> XTTurnOn( "A1")
>
> that you might run if say, you noticed that someone had turned on a > switch connected to a digital input on the device.
>
> and there might be an event into which you could place code, for
> example something like:
>
> on XTGotValue( TheUnit as string)
> if TheUnit = "A1" then
> turn on some led or something as the unit was controlled in
> XTension
>
> so all the work of talking to XTension would be handled by those
> things and you and others coudl concentrate on just making the
> arduino do what it wanted to.
>
> We could also document this protocol so that it could be
> implemented on any microcontroller that anybody liked, or... any
> other serial device for that matter.
>
> Does that make any more sense?
> James
>
>
>
>>
>>
>> On May 15, 2008, at 8:06 AM, James Sentman wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> On May 15, 2008, at 10:43 AM, Rob Lewis wrote:
>>>
>>>> I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this article in the current
>>>> Macworld:
>>>>
>>>> www.macworld.com/article/133184/2008/05/geekfactor2506.html
>>>>
>>>> It's about interfacing a microcontroller "project board" with OS >>>> X and using it with sensors for the outside world.
>>>>
>>>> I've never even heard of the Arduino product line: it looks
>>>> quite cool (and inexpensive). The article says it works
>>>> "wonderfully" with OS X. I'll definitely be picking up some of
>>>> their stuff.
>>>>
>>>> Anybody already using it?
>>>
>>> I have 2 of those arduino boards in my top desk drawer here right >>> now waiting for a suitable project ;) I've had them for a while
>>> now and beyond just making an LEd flash with them I haven't had a >>> chance to do anything exciting. But they have a fairly simple
>>> programming language, you talk to them via serial ports, they are >>> not expensive and are really cool!
>>>
>>> what might be interesting would be to build some starter code for >>> the arduino that talked up the serial port for sending and
>>> receiving unit on/off commands and values. I would then be
>>> willing to write an interface plugin for XTension that received
>>> those commands and translated them to and from real unit
>>> commands. Then it would be up to you to add devices and do a
>>> little program left you coudl control XTension units from it, and >>> control it from XTension units. The thing has PWM outputs for
>>> driving servos and digital IO's for reading in states of buttons
>>> or switches and turning on and off LEd's or relays and also
>>> analog inputs for say, reading the position of a knob or other
>>> such thing. and that is just what you get with almost no
>>> programming... With some simple XTension interface libs you could >>> do a lot more if you were willing to program the thing.
>>>
>>> Anybody interested?
>>>
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> James
>>>
>>>
>>> James Sentman sentman.com http://
>>> MacHomeAutomation.com
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>
> Thanks,
> James
>
>
> James Sentman sentman.com http://
> MacHomeAutomation.com
>
>
>