A10 / X10

Post by **Snelvuur** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 5:20 pm

Hi,

Since Xanura is also x10 compatible, is it possible to grab the signals from xanura with a CM11?

This is mostly because i know the cm11 works under linux and i might want to start there. Since i have not seen the ctx35 with linux drivers, i know the HCB is linux and does support the ctx35 or a different device but that information is closed (as far as i know)

Regards,
Erik

Post by **Bwired** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 6:46 pm

Yes all the Xanura devices (A10 protocol) and Marmitek (X10) are compatible. So with the CM11a you receive and control Xanura devices as well. Inside the Home Control Box there is a CTX15 which has the same functionality as the CTX35. I think it is very easy to write a Linux driver yourself. I am almost finished with a VB6 driver for the CTX35.

Post by **Snelvuur** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 7:20 pm

I think your understanding of writing a linux driver "very easy" is different then mine

I cant code in C, i can only do some perl and php, so i'am kinda stuck at the things that are supported. I dont have any windows programming skills, it would take me about the same time to learn as coding a linux driver (which is very long for me)

Post by **Bwired** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 8:12 pm

I understand!
I am not a Linux guy myself, I do everything with MS products Like Wondows Server 2003, ASP, VB and VB.net. Perhaps somebody on this forum can help you with a driver. Have you thought about using Homeseer because there everything is available.
Regards Pieter

Post by **DMB** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 8:26 pm

Snelvuur,

Did you already find misterhouse http://misterhouse.sourceforge.net/ (misterhouse Perl based) or eg. heyu (http://heyu.tanj.com/ )
Some years ago I used x10bot ( http://www.scriptkitties.com/x10bot/ ) on a linux system.

If you want to use the CTX35 you must choose the TI103 driver.

DMB

Post by **Snelvuur** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 8:45 pm

Well i did allready find that the ctx35 is the ti103, so i searched for both those with "linux" on google. Not much hits came back. Also with misterhouse its just the question if the drivers are seperate and the support has been inactive for the last year as far as i can see on that website (and not all links are working)

I've seen heyu, and it supports the w800 too so that could be used for the rfxcom (but only 32bits i think then) its also what Pieter says, if you build it yourself you can do more things. I have till end of 2008 at least to finish it (then the house is build) so i want to start building somthing now that i have the time (allready have rfxcom and x10 stuff.. want the xanura for my new house since it has 2 way and status) or go all EIB/KNX but i have 0% knowledge of that.

Post by **Snelvuur** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 11:08 pm

And also, homeseer is nice i do have it at this moment. Only its just totally not my kind of layout or style.. the first thing i looked at with homeseer was the button `themes` or `layout` but i could not find one. So instead of digging into visual basic why not continue in the language i know.

But! If i cant figure out how to do the things i want in linux, i might as well start learning VB. Allready seen alot of information on that subject.

So far my plans to do the complete new house are with Xanura, if someone thinks something else is better please let me know.

Post by **MindBender** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 10:02 am

Hi Snelvuur. Why would you need a 'linux driver' for a CTX35 unit? The CTX35 is one of the most programmer-friendly interfaces around: It accepts human-readable ASCII commands instead of binary characters and it reponds in the same way.

A linux device driver would add some functionality to the Kernel, potentially making it instable. You could simply write a small deamon program which handles all communication with the CTX35 device though an already available serial port (/dev/tty). This program could offer the functionality of the unit on a newly created device like /dev/x10. The software interface offered by /dev/x10 should be the same as required by standard applications as Mr. House, if that doesn't communicate with a device on /dev/tty directly.

Checking out the Linux software for the CM11 is a good starting point. Check out if it's a driver, a deamon or just a part of the Mr. House application. Strip all CM11 specific functionality an use what's left as a frame for your own driver/deamon/application. It's really not that hard: Both interfaces offer roughly the same primitives. But writing a Linux device driver isn't something to start with in Linux (though it's not that hard either).

Good luck!

Post by **Snelvuur** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 12:02 pm

Ok, i will try this, i have a cm11 now. But i will buy a ctx35 to play with linux. You guys make it all seems so easy so it must be easy then

Hopefully i dont have to reset this things as much as the cm11 we shall see.

Post by **MindBender** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 12:33 pm

I have thought it over a little longer and the bad News is that Userland Application aren't capable/allowed to create /dev devices. So my initial idea of writing a deamon program is no real option.

But the good News is that a good Linux Device Driver already exists for the CM11: Project WiSH (http://wish.sourceforge.net/index2.html) does all you need and a lot more.

While looking for that, I stumbled upon a home-brew firmware update for the CM11 that fixes some lockup problems and adds some diagnoses functionality: http://www.geocities.com/manic_marv
I will give it a go soon.

And if you still want to buy a CTX35, become a member of the Open Source community and add support for it to WiSH!

Post by **Snelvuur** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 1:08 pm

Wish looks nice, i've seen that too. Heyu also has support and for the w800 (so basicly rfxcom?) i ordered the ctx35 anyway since i'am going to place those in my new house. I can better start testing/building what i want (alhtough i still have 1.5 years to go) i will try and make something then for the ctx35 if i can manage it. It all sounds easy in my head. Just updating the status of the A-Z devices in mysql, and the rest add it incremental for graphs.. then grab it with php and make some nice figures with it and a nice frontend (although i'am no adobe fan)

Post by **Snelvuur** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 10:52 am

Got my ctx35 today.. a pitty it does not have a simple rs232 cable for that amount of cash you would think so. Just like printers.. no usb cable (those things are only like 3 euro max?)