Close Your Drapes (And More!) With the Casio e125

[Pat Logsdon]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.24central.com/project-ppc.html' target='_blank'>http://www.24central.com/project-ppc.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"This was my first major X10 project. As I was working away at the time, I needed something to look after the house and give it a 'lived in' feel. I originally had the usual lamps plugged into timer switches but these were only partly effective as the times for dusk constantly move and I found myself having to re-set the times. I could have used dawn/dusk timers but these just didn't have the flexibility of going off at random or specific times. Anyway, I wanted to get into X10 and here was an ideal opportunity..."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/logsdon_20040810_e125.jpg" /> <br /><br />This is a project that definitely falls into the W?BIC category. Combine X10 with a Pocket PC, add a dash of coding mojo, sprinkle generously with some serious geek motivation, and you've got yourself an extremely stable, powerful control system for your house. This guy wrote the code, designed the interface, and even gave it voice capability. Pretty impressive, but I have to ask - where's the robotic capability? This system is just begging for some kind of tie-in with a modified attack Aibo... :mrgreen:

[Steven Cedrone]

If it weren't for x10's unholy pop-up, pop-under, pop-everywhere ad campaigns, I might actually consider doing something like this! :wink:

Steve

[snowlion]

i wouldn't call this W?BIC kinda project - this is actually quite useful!

re X10..i bought their camera and it barely works - just enough that i can't return it but not enough to use it reliably. their customer support is non-existant...try sending them an email.

[sponge]

Really? I was under the impression that not only did they stop their popup/under campaign, but their products were surprisingly high quality.

[Ryan Joseph]

And I thought it was cool to walk around the house surfing the Internet! Imagine walking around turning lights on and off! Sweet!

I haven't seen an X10 ad in a very long time. They used to be everywhere and they drove me up the wall, but it looks like they've stopped. 8)

[rlobrecht]

Thanks to Firefox, I haven't seen an X10 ad in ages.

X10 is actually two things. Its a protocol for turning switches on and off over the power lines, and a company that makes devices which use the x10 protocol.

[jkendrick]

What's so cool about his project is that he's been running his house with this for over three years. A good use for an old PPC lying around and his E-125 is as solid as mine was (so long ago).

[ScottC]

I've had a fully automated house for over 2 years now, all on X10.

There are many awesome packages to control things, I prefer Homeseer (win) and Misterhouse (Linux). I've also added a few 3Com Audrey's, they are the cheapest way to add a color touch screen to control things, read emai, show caller ID, the weather etc... (on ebay for $80!!)

[Sven Johannsen]

And I thought it was cool to walk around the house surfing the Internet! Imagine walking around turning lights on and off! Sweet!

Unfortunately, this doesn't. It relys on the PPC serial port to interface with the wireline TX of the X-10 system. I've had X-10 stuff in various incarnations for probably 20 years. (first was with a Radio Shack Color Computer). Radio Shack sells (or sold) compatible stuff as did other companies.

I have some of the camera stuff too and find it acceptable, for the price. I did have a 2.4Ghz remote phone system that played havoc with the X-10 wireless cameras, though BT and WiFi didn't seem to bother them. Went to a 5.8Ghz phone and cleared that up.

There are options floating around to do wireless control remotely from a PPC. They typically involve having a PC that interfaces to the X-10 system and talking to that PC wirelessly.

[dean_shan]

Really? I was under the impression that not only did they stop their popup/under campaign, but their products were surprisingly high quality.

Yeah they ended up stopping that campaign, they found it drove people crazy.

[Handy]

I've had X10 running things in my house for several years. I would love to be able to control things from my Axim, but I would want to use Wi-Fi to do it. I wonder if anybody has developed an app that does that?

I guess you would need a server application running on your desktop that the PDA client application would talk to. The server app would talk to the X10 controller. Sounds feasible, but probably a lot of work!

[Sven Johannsen]

http://www.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=11773

http://www.homeseer.com/products/homeseer/
Look about the 4th bullet

[Handy]

http://www.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=11773

http://www.homeseer.com/products/homeseer/
Look about the 4th bullet

Thanks for the tips!

The Homeseer device is a bit expensive. The Jeffers product looks interesting. Just looking at the screenshots, it looks like it doesn't do much more than the X10 remotes do. The author could have added some value by programming in some sequences, 2-way functions, etc.

I'll give it a try. Maybe it would be possible to use the server and write your own PPC client.

[Sven Johannsen]

If you have your X-10 software running on an XP Pro machine, you could try remote desktop and Terminal Services client to operate it. I haven't tried since I have X-10 controllers all over the place, and don't have my PPC glued to my hand when at home.

I think you could have some fun with the X-10 IR receiver and NEVO too.

[Handy]

If you have your X-10 software running on an XP Pro machine, you could try remote desktop and Terminal Services client to operate it. I haven't tried since I have X-10 controllers all over the place, and don't have my PPC glued to my hand when at home.

I think you could have some fun with the X-10 IR receiver and NEVO too.

If I remember correctly, Terminal Services client was extremely slow and cumbersome. Probably not worth the trouble. I'm just interested in this for tinkering possbilities, mainly.