X-10 (was Re: controlling power) - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

26 Jun 2001

On June 27, Tony Duell wrote:
...
  [1] Wintel, only, alas. Totally useless to me. 
  There are "generic serial" interfaces now...PIC12C508-based, of
course, and very tiny, with documented control protocols.  The X10
people have bought VERY LARGE CLUES, and I'm very happy about it.

...
     They're
all PIC-based, by the way...the modern dimmer modules contain
 12c508 chips.  
 I am not suprised. I think they used to be based on some kind of ASIC, 
 but it would make sense for them to use PICs now. 
  I use a very nice commercial C compiler/dev environment for my PIC
hacking, the PCW system from CCS.  (see http://www.ccsinfo.com/picc.html)
This system contains dozens of code snippets that implement practical
examples of how to do things with PICs and their compiler.  One of the
examples is the X10 protocol.  Very handy.

  (I don't work for CCS, I'm just a very happy customer!)

       -Dave McGuire