XTension digest Wednesday, November 14 2001 Volume 01 : Number 427 Re: Phantom events Experimental Web server Re: New Version 3.7.0 OT: Phone-Anywhere? Re: OT: Phone-Anywhere? Re: OT: Phone-Anywhere? Re: OT: Phone-Anywhere? Re: OT: Phone-Anywhere? Re: Noise Problem (bit long...) Re: Noise Problem (bit long...) Re: OT: Phone-Anywhere? Re: OT: Phone-Anywhere? feature request: setting value HCA02 vs. PR511 :( Re: Controlling non-Applescript Applications? Re: HCA02 vs. PR511 :( Re: feature request: setting value Re: HCA02 vs. PR511 :( Re: HCA02 vs. PR511 :( Re: OT: Phone-Anywhere? Re: Controlling non-Applescript Applications? RE: HCA02 vs. PR511 :( RE: HCA02 vs. PR511 :( Re: HCA02 vs. PR511 :( is someone at the door? RE: is someone at the door? Re: is someone at the door? Re: is someone at the door? Re: is someone at the door? Re: is someone at the door? Re: is someone at the door? Re: annual subscription Re: is someone at the door? Re: annual subscription Re: is someone at the door? Re: is someone at the door? Re: is someone at the door? Re: annual subscription Re: Controlling non-Applescript Applications? Re: annual subscription Re: annual subscription RE: is someone at the door? Re: annual subscription Re: is someone at the door? Re: is someone at the door? Re: annual subscription Re: Controlling non-Applescript Applications? Re: is someone at the door? Re: annual subscription Skyway racer Re: annual subscription Re: is someone at the door? Re: Controlling non-Applescript Applications? Re: annual subscription A new Face ? Re: is someone at the door? Re: Controlling non-Applescript Applications? Re: A new Face ? Re: Skyway racer Re: A new Face ? Re: A new Face ? Re: is someone at the door? Re: OT: Phone-Anywhere? Re: New Version 3.7.0 USB MR26 was Re: A new Face ? Re: Controlling non-Applescript Applications? Re: New Version 3.7.0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 07:18:03 -0500 From: Jeffrey Lomicka Subject: Re: Phantom events I's pretty easy to get a bad date when doing date math in your scripts, and scheduling and event on them would show up as you described. I'm going to suspect it's a bug in your date math. Try logging the dates to the XTension log after doing date math, and see what you got. Use "as string". >I'm wondering whether this is a bug in one of my scripts, ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 08:01:21 -0500 From: Chuck Shotton Subject: Experimental Web server A month or so ago, I announced that I was going to undertake merging MacHTTP and X10Tools into a single web-based application for interacting with XTension. While that project is well under way, I thought some of the code geeks here might be interested in the intermediate state of the project. Specifically, MacHTTP has been modified to make it very easy to add your own C code to process HTTP requests. This process is much simpler than developing plug-ins for servers like WebSTAR or Quid Pro Quo. And while more limited in scope, it's the same set of interfaces being used to merge in the X10Tools functionality. So if you're interested in tying a fully functional Web server into some of your own code (or vice versa), you can get started by downloading the MacHTTP source code. A tutorial on how to do this is now on-line at: Look for the completed X10Tools/MacHTTP project in the next couple of weeks. C. - --_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- Chuck Shotton "Shut up and eat your vegetables!!!" ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 08:39:13 -0500 From: James Sentman Subject: Re: New Version 3.7.0 >Thanks Chuck, I'll let you know. I noted that I had ver. 3.6.5 set to 18 >Meg, and never had a crash. This was set to 4! I set 3.7.0 to to 18 like the >previous version, and have survived the first afternoon so far. > >Can someone tell me where they bought the auto restart gadget that attaches >to ADB, which one is best, and where I order one? (I wonder Michael if you >should support a particular one where Xtension sends the keep alive pulses?) >My concern is that this machine does run a Retrospect backup at noon each >day, and it SWAMPS the CPU, so the reboot device might cause a hit. How long >do the wait before resetting? You can add this tickle yourself, either with a schedualed event, or better yet in the idle handler of the attachments. The powerkeys, and restart stuff from sophisticated.com are all applescriptable. I can't remember the exact syntax, but it's something like: tell application "powerkey background" set application timeout 500 end tell this is in seconds, then run it every minute in the idle handler in XTension and it will keep the counter up to date. If it ever runs down to 0 the machine will restart. So by setting it to some high number like that it should have a bit of headroom to stay up during your backup. Or you can turn it off specifically during the backup and back on when it's done with some other clever scripting;) - -James - -- _________________________________________________________________________ James Sentman http://www.sentman.com Enterprise server monitoring with: http://whistleblower.sentman.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 07:47:42 -0600 From: Jeff Click Subject: OT: Phone-Anywhere? I just bought Dad a TiVo for Christmas and face a minor challenge. His entertainment center is on a wall with no phone outlet. Running another one is out of the question, as it's an exterior wall. Does anyone know of a product that works like the DVD-Anywhere product, only for phones? One would think this product would be available...where you plug a receiver in to a phone outlet, and have a wireless transmitter to which you could plug a phone into... Any help or ideas would be appreciated. jeff ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 09:02:40 -0500 From: michael Subject: Re: OT: Phone-Anywhere? Jeff said : >I just bought Dad a TiVo for Christmas and face a minor challenge. His >entertainment center is on a wall with no phone outlet. Running another one >is out of the question, as it's an exterior wall. Does anyone know of a >product that works like the DVD-Anywhere product, only for phones? One >would think this product would be available...where you plug a receiver in >to a phone outlet, and have a wireless transmitter to which you could plug a >phone into... Exactly.... Ray Fleischmann passed this link to me just yesterday : Looks like it's just what you need :-) michael ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 09:07:44 -0500 From: Ray Fleischmann Subject: Re: OT: Phone-Anywhere? Jeff, Funny you should ask. I sent Michael a link yesterday to a product I found at RadioShack. You've heard of a portable phone? Well this is a portable phone jack. I'm NOT at home at the moment so if Michael is READING this I'm sure he will pass the link on to you. If you want to go looking, go to www.radioshack.com it is something that they sell for satelite receivers. Regards, Ray Fleischmann > From: Jeff Click > Reply-To: xtensionlist@shed.com > Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 07:47:42 -0600 > To: XTension List > Subject: OT: Phone-Anywhere? > > I just bought Dad a TiVo for Christmas and face a minor challenge. His > entertainment center is on a wall with no phone outlet. Running another one > is out of the question, as it's an exterior wall. Does anyone know of a > product that works like the DVD-Anywhere product, only for phones? One > would think this product would be available...where you plug a receiver in > to a phone outlet, and have a wireless transmitter to which you could plug a > phone into... > > Any help or ideas would be appreciated. > > jeff > ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 09:11:32 -0500 From: James Sentman Subject: Re: OT: Phone-Anywhere? >I just bought Dad a TiVo for Christmas and face a minor challenge. His >entertainment center is on a wall with no phone outlet. Running another one >is out of the question, as it's an exterior wall. Does anyone know of a >product that works like the DVD-Anywhere product, only for phones? One >would think this product would be available...where you plug a receiver in >to a phone outlet, and have a wireless transmitter to which you could plug a >phone into... > >Any help or ideas would be appreciated. You mean something like: http://www.smarthome.com/4509.html This feels kind of expensive to me, it seems I've seen these for less money elsewhere you might want to shop around a bit. But such things are definitely available, You might not want to bother though, TiVo doesn't really need a fulltime connection. Where we have ours setup there is no phone jack either and once a week I just connect up a long cord to the kitchen, do it's dialup, which doesn't take more than a few minutes, and then roll the cord up again. Tivo is terrific! I've always got the latest episode of Sesame Street and Blues Clues for when my daughter has some TV time;) Being able to start watching a program 10 minutes late and then fast forward through all the commercials is great. And, unlike some other PVR's, it runs Linux! So it's hackable to get shell and even to use your cable modem, but this is a lot more complicated than hacking your audrey... - -James - -- _________________________________________________________________________ James Sentman http://www.sentman.com Enterprise server monitoring with: http://whistleblower.sentman.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 09:34:39 -0500 From: Ray Fleischmann Subject: Re: OT: Phone-Anywhere? And IF you can't plug it into a wall outlet but a power strip, use this 1 foot power cord. http://www.cyberguys.com/cgi-bin/sgin0101.exe?UID=2001111306275503&GEN6=00&G EN9=5CG01&FNM=08&T1=121+2550&UREQA=1&UREQB=2&UREQC=3&UREQD=4 my 2¢ Ray Fleischmann > From: James Sentman > Reply-To: xtensionlist@shed.com > Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 09:11:32 -0500 > To: xtensionlist@shed.com > Subject: Re: OT: Phone-Anywhere? > >> I just bought Dad a TiVo for Christmas and face a minor challenge. His >> entertainment center is on a wall with no phone outlet. Running another one >> is out of the question, as it's an exterior wall. Does anyone know of a >> product that works like the DVD-Anywhere product, only for phones? One >> would think this product would be available...where you plug a receiver in >> to a phone outlet, and have a wireless transmitter to which you could plug a >> phone into... >> >> Any help or ideas would be appreciated. > > You mean something like: > > http://www.smarthome.com/4509.html > > This feels kind of expensive to me, it seems I've seen these for less > money elsewhere you might want to shop around a bit. But such things > are definitely available, > > You might not want to bother though, TiVo doesn't really need a > fulltime connection. Where we have ours setup there is no phone jack > either and once a week I just connect up a long cord to the kitchen, > do it's dialup, which doesn't take more than a few minutes, and then > roll the cord up again. > > Tivo is terrific! I've always got the latest episode of Sesame Street > and Blues Clues for when my daughter has some TV time;) Being able to > start watching a program 10 minutes late and then fast forward > through all the commercials is great. And, unlike some other PVR's, > it runs Linux! So it's hackable to get shell and even to use your > cable modem, but this is a lot more complicated than hacking your > audrey... > > -James > > -- > _________________________________________________________________________ > James Sentman http://www.sentman.com > Enterprise server monitoring with: http://whistleblower.sentman.com/ > ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 09:20:54 -0500 From: Chad A Gard Subject: Re: Noise Problem (bit long...) >Oh, missed that. Sorry. It will be interesting to find out the >results of your UPS experiment. Well... The ups experiment... Would you believe I misplaced the ups? Hopefully I can find it tonight, and I'll try it then. An interesting thought from a ham radio operator I talked to an the morning drive this morning. He works for Thomson (you know, RCA and other little-known electronics brands), and they had a simmilar problem with some of their sattelite receivers. The problem occurred when the polarity of the outlet was wrong. I'm gonna check that tonight, too. Chad Gard, CTS KB9WXQ INCHASE: http://www.inchase.org Co-founder SCOA: http://www.stormchasersofamerica.org Member #3 INSWA: http://www.insw.org Unit #21 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 09:21:52 -0500 From: Chad A Gard Subject: Re: Noise Problem (bit long...) >So I missed the boat on the last issue, but this we could have helped >you with! May I suggest a skyway racer with the baseball bat attached >that could have slammed the compressor for you! LOL! I really hadn't thought of that. I'll try it. 'Course, that means subjecting my poor skyway racer to the atrocities of an aluminum bat... Chad Gard, CTS KB9WXQ INCHASE: http://www.inchase.org Co-founder SCOA: http://www.stormchasersofamerica.org Member #3 INSWA: http://www.insw.org Unit #21 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 10:02:18 -0500 From: "Mark F. Nettleingham" Subject: Re: OT: Phone-Anywhere? Jeff, One solution is to simply run the phone wire on the outside of the house and drill a small hole through the wall to the location where the TiVo is setting. Usually the wire can be hidden by running it along a seam in the siding, a little paint and it's invisible until you get really close. Install a phone jack and your on your way! Jeff Click wrote: > I just bought Dad a TiVo for Christmas and face a minor challenge. His > entertainment center is on a wall with no phone outlet. Running another one > is out of the question, as it's an exterior wall. Does anyone know of a > product that works like the DVD-Anywhere product, only for phones? One > would think this product would be available...where you plug a receiver in > to a phone outlet, and have a wireless transmitter to which you could plug a > phone into... > > Any help or ideas would be appreciated. > > jeff - -- Mark F. Nettleingham (732) 870-4635 markfn@commvault.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 08:33:21 -0700 From: John Mitchener Subject: Re: OT: Phone-Anywhere? on 11/13/01 7:02 AM, michael at michael@shed.com wrote: > Jeff said : >> I just bought Dad a TiVo for Christmas and face a minor challenge. His >> entertainment center is on a wall with no phone outlet. Running another one >> is out of the question, as it's an exterior wall. Does anyone know of a >> product that works like the DVD-Anywhere product, only for phones? One >> would think this product would be available...where you plug a receiver in >> to a phone outlet, and have a wireless transmitter to which you could plug a >> phone into... > > Exactly.... Ray Fleischmann passed this link to me just yesterday : > > > > Looks like it's just what you need :-) > michael > > This system does work, but be aware that it may interfere with dialup modem connections. I was troubleshooting a recurring dialup disconnect problem and it turned out that if we unplugged the "wireless" phone connection the problem went away. The solution was to unplug the "wireless" connection whenever he wanted to use his modem. Not pretty, but it worked out ok since he didn't spend too much time online. John ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 11:07:15 -0500 From: Chad A Gard Subject: feature request: setting value OK, I have a feature request. It's really a silly one that I feel kinda flippant about mentioning, considering how many times in the past I've said I like things the way they were (hence I was using 1.7.3 until last night). However, I would like to be able to create an event that "sets value of". right now, you can use syntax like: set value of "House Mode" to 7 to change the value of a pseudo unit. But, to create a scheduled event that does it, I have to: create event "chmod pre-wake" that dims unit "House Mode" to level 7 starts at alarmTime1 I know, I know, it's really a petty thing. But, syntactically, I like to stay consistent. If something is a pseudo unit, I like to use 'set value', becuase it doesn't get bright or dim. If it's a lamp, then I like to use dim/bri. That way, both the log file and my scripts make sense to my overworked little brain... How difficult would that be, michael? If it's more than a 30 second thing I wouldn't want you to bother. But... Chad Gard, CTS KB9WXQ INCHASE: http://www.inchase.org Co-founder SCOA: http://www.stormchasersofamerica.org Member #3 INSWA: http://www.insw.org Unit #21 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 11:07:54 -0500 From: "Arman, Tom" Subject: HCA02 vs. PR511 :( Hi, I was having trouble getting accurate (strong enough) signals over my 400 foot run to the end of my driveway. I purchased a HCA02 repeater/amplifier and put it between the two phases, put the driveway run on one phase and put the CM11A on the other. Signals became very strong (on my signal strength meter) but two problems arose. The first problem was relatively minor. I began seeing "ghost" signals from unused house codes that I had never seen before. However the second was a killer. The PR511 that is at the end of the 400 foot run is capable of responding to a status request. Whenever the request is generated, either intentionally by me or through some "noise", the PR511 responds and the HCA02 "seems" to take the response and reissue it as another request (I see this in the log as these X10 signals received by the CM11A.) The PR511 dutifully responds again and the HCA02 again transmogrifies the response into another request........ This goes on until I power off the HCA02 by killing the circuit breaker. This was 100% repeatable! Needless to say, while this is happening, NOTHING ELSE WORKS! I switched over to one of the older models of the repeater (do not remember the number, but it is the one that fits in a triple gang box and has two leds and two fuses on the front) and it has not had any problems as of yet. I tried to induce the same problem as above but could not do so. So, anyone want to buy my HCA02? Tom ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 00:20:55 +0800 From: "Antony N. Lord" Subject: Re: Controlling non-Applescript Applications? >There are several great products to control non-scriptable >applications. A couple of the best known are OneClick and QuicKeys. >These will allow you to control the applications very well and will >interphase with AppleScript. Its a damn shame a good application (SoundJam) doesn't have (AppleScript) objects for its more specialist features. Even worse the team that went on to do iTunes didn't add this function. Having to spend more money (Quickeys) to make it "more" functional is a pain! I'll let you know if I find a dirty way around this. Cheers, Antony. - -- ================================================================== = = http://antonylord.com = = Antony N. Lord = Perth, Western Australia = = antonylord@mac.com = AIM - A93863878 = = = ICQ - 13528277 = ================================================================== ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 08:36:38 -0800 From: Chuck Coleman Subject: Re: HCA02 vs. PR511 :( On 11/13/01 8:07 AM, "Arman, Tom" wrote: > I was having trouble getting accurate (strong enough) signals over my 400 > foot run to the end of my driveway. > I purchased a HCA02 repeater/amplifier and put it between the two phases, > put the driveway run on one phase and put the CM11A on the other. Signals > became very strong (on my signal strength meter) but two problems arose. > The first problem was relatively minor. I began seeing "ghost" signals from > unused house codes that I had never seen before. > > However the second was a killer. The PR511 that is at the end of the 400 > foot run is capable of responding to a status request. Whenever the request > is generated, either intentionally by me or through some "noise", the PR511 > responds and the HCA02 "seems" to take the response and reissue it as > another request (I see this in the log as these X10 signals received by the > CM11A.) > The PR511 dutifully responds again and the HCA02 again transmogrifies the > response into another request........ > This goes on until I power off the HCA02 by killing the circuit breaker. > This was 100% repeatable! > > Needless to say, while this is happening, NOTHING ELSE WORKS! > > I switched over to one of the older models of the repeater (do not remember > the number, but it is the one that fits in a triple gang box and has two > leds and two fuses on the front) and it has not had any problems as of yet. > I tried to induce the same problem as above but could not do so. > > So, anyone want to buy my HCA02? You are quite the salesman Tom. Tell us how bad it works and then hit us with the sales pitch..{8-}... I do appreciate your honesty. I have found that several things make the system highly functional and keep the signals at their max without the amplifier. Since the amplifier will also amplify noise that it thinks are signals I can see this would be a problem. - - Place the interface as close to the fuse box as possible with nothing else on the circuit. - - Use one of those bridges to cross the 2 legs of the system. This is a passive rather than active and doesn't amplify noise. - - spend the $$$$ to get X10 specific noise blocks. These are expensive but I reduce cost by plugging in a surge protector to the filters so I can have many devices on one filter. This has reduced my problems significantly and I have had this setup for over 2 years now and signals are not a problem. And thanks for the Audrey card Tom. It's in the machine but I have been to busy taking classes on Anthrax, Smallpox, Dinghi fever, Ebola fever and other wonderful diseases that are required for us to be able to identify and treat. The class for chemical weapons was real short. One, find out where it is and, two, head the other way. Chuck ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 11:38:36 -0500 From: michael Subject: Re: feature request: setting value Chad said : >I know, I know, it's really a petty thing. But, syntactically, I like to >stay consistent. If something is a pseudo unit, I like to use 'set value', >becuase it doesn't get bright or dim. If it's a lamp, then I like to use >dim/bri. That way, both the log file and my scripts make sense to my >overworked little brain... > >How difficult would that be, michael? If it's more than a 30 second thing >I wouldn't want you to bother. But... I dunno, but it sounds like a reasonable request... I might even fix that old bugger about "executes 'unit'" ...? Gotta watch out for compatibility with old scripts, but I could probably just add them without disturbing the old format...? I'll see michael ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 11:51:54 -0500 From: "Hendrik W. M. van Eeden" Subject: Re: HCA02 vs. PR511 :( If it is a good deal, I am interested. Henk > > So, anyone want to buy my HCA02? > > Tom ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 11:52:20 -0500 From: michael Subject: Re: HCA02 vs. PR511 :( Arman, said : >Needless to say, while this is happening, NOTHING ELSE WORKS! > >I switched over to one of the older models of the repeater (do not remember >the number, but it is the one that fits in a triple gang box and has two >leds and two fuses on the front) and it has not had any problems as of yet. >I tried to induce the same problem as above but could not do so. > >So, anyone want to buy my HCA02? Hi Tom, I've been warning of this 'deadly embrace' trick of the HCA02, but your description is worthy of putting in the troubleshooting pages... :-) It is everyone's opinion that the problem is with the repeater, and not the PR511's. Leviton claims that 'their' model of the PR511 is 'correctly' programmed and doesn't have the problem... I think that they will eventually offer a fix, so at least I'm glad that someone has finally offered a repeater/amp for a down-to-earth price. There are still three PR511s in my system that have not shown any evidence of triggering this problem. But three others were killers. The 'distance' between the PR511s and the HCA02 doesn't seem to be a factor... nor which phase they're on... I loved the old CR230, but it was $230 a pop... michael ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 09:13:10 -0800 From: Rob Lewis Subject: Re: OT: Phone-Anywhere? I've seen them that use house wiring to send phone signals (one brand I think is called Add-A-Jack?)--may not be too XTension-friendly, though :-) I wonder if anybody makes a cordless phone with a modem port, like the ones on airplanes. Anyhow, lots of phone wire is run on outside walls (I'm assuming there's no crawl space). On Tuesday, November 13, 2001, at 05:47 AM, Jeff Click wrote: > I just bought Dad a TiVo for Christmas and face a minor challenge. His > entertainment center is on a wall with no phone outlet. Running > another one > is out of the question, as it's an exterior wall. Does anyone know of a > product that works like the DVD-Anywhere product, only for phones? One > would think this product would be available...where you plug a receiver > in > to a phone outlet, and have a wireless transmitter to which you could > plug a > phone into... > > Any help or ideas would be appreciated. > > jeff > > > Rob Lewis If I hadn't believed it, I wouldn't have seen it. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 12:13:29 -0500 From: Chad A Gard Subject: Re: Controlling non-Applescript Applications? >Its a damn shame a good application (SoundJam) doesn't have >(AppleScript) objects for its more specialist features. Even worse >the team that went on to do iTunes didn't add this function. Yeah, I can agree with you there. I've been playing arround a bit with scripting iTunes 2. And you can do a lot. But, for the life of me, I can't figure out how to script the browse window. So, I can do something like, select all tracks of a genera, random, repeat all, play. Instead, you have to make a playlist - and there is no point in making a playlist, say, of all of the tracks in the "blues" genera, just so I can have XTension say "Play da blues."... What you have can do a lot. What you don't have can drive you crazy... Chad Gard, CTS KB9WXQ INCHASE: http://www.inchase.org Co-founder SCOA: http://www.stormchasersofamerica.org Member #3 INSWA: http://www.insw.org Unit #21 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 12:41:25 -0500 From: "Arman, Tom" Subject: RE: HCA02 vs. PR511 :( Best price I can find is $67 + shipping from Worthington, so how does $50.00 + $3.00 for express mail sound? Tom > -----Original Message----- > From: Hendrik W. M. van Eeden [mailto:hvaneeden@home.com] > Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2001 11:52 AM > To: xtensionlist@shed.com > Subject: Re: HCA02 vs. PR511 :( > > > If it is a good deal, I am interested. > > Henk > > > > > > So, anyone want to buy my HCA02? > > > > Tom > ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 13:09:51 -0500 From: "Arman, Tom" Subject: RE: HCA02 vs. PR511 :( Sorry, I jabbed send before I changed the address...Obviously this was no intended for the list. :( :( :( Tom > -----Original Message----- > From: Arman, Tom [mailto:TArman@Rational.Com] > Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2001 12:41 PM > To: 'xtensionlist@shed.com' > Subject: RE: HCA02 vs. PR511 :( > > > Best price I can find is $67 + shipping from Worthington,.... ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 13:38:49 -0500 From: Phil Pedersen Subject: Re: HCA02 vs. PR511 :( At 11:52 AM -0500 11/13/01, michael wrote: >I've been warning of this 'deadly embrace' trick of the HCA02, but your >description is worthy of putting in the troubleshooting pages... :-) > >It is everyone's opinion that the problem is with the repeater, and not >the PR511's. Leviton claims that 'their' model of the PR511 is 'correctly' >programmed and doesn't have the problem... > >I think that they will eventually offer a fix, so at least I'm glad that >someone has finally offered a repeater/amp for a down-to-earth price. > >There are still three PR511s in my system that have not shown any >evidence of triggering this problem. But three others were killers. >The 'distance' between the PR511s and the HCA02 doesn't seem to be >a factor... nor which phase they're on... I had this problem last week about 12 hours after I installed the HCA02-10E. I've been looking into alternatives: 1. Use Hawyeyes or equivalent with an MR26a. I like somewhat more assurance that lights will come on than I feel is the case with the vagaries of both the Hawykeye and the MR26a so I don't like this solution. I think it's fine for room occupancy and the like, but not for situations where I'll fall down the stairs without the lights. 2. Use standard security PIRs with the output going into a Universal Module. For outside, the security PIRs cost the dickens; like >$60. Add this to a Universal module and a 12VDC power supply and you start getting expensive. I've also looked at using a BASIC STAMP as the X10 transmitter for up to 8 of the PIRs. That's a little better, but the cost of that is pretty steep as well. 3. Use off-the-shelf PIRs from Heath-Zenith (replacements for their security lighting, available at Home Depot at $15-$20) The output of these is AC so I'll need a relay at about $6 and then wire it to a Leviton 6315 Maintained Dry Contact Transmitter with four inputs at about $60. That puts the cost at about $40 a sensor total, which is similar to the PR511. The only thing I'll have to do is run an extra low-voltage pair to the sensor to pick up the relay closure and that should do it. I've go all the stuff and wiul try to get one running this weekend and see how it goes. Phil ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 13:41:51 -0500 From: Chad A Gard Subject: is someone at the door? OK, continuing with my system re-building... one down side to moving my "living" spaces to the second floor is that, even in my tiny apartment, if someone knocks on the storm door, rather than opening it, then knocking on the interior door, I rarely can hear it upstairs. Especially if I'm watching a movie. So, I'd like to have XTension tell me someone's at the front door. Normally that would be a trivial thing, but... My neighbor and I share a driveway (the whole block is duplexes, with driveways going between the buildings), and he comes and goes at odd times, as do his guests. A PIR motion sensor would trigger constantly when he was coming or going, or had a guest doing so, it it would be quite hard to modify one to be selective about who's sidewalk it was monitoring, and it would also have problems, due to its location, with morning sun. People often walk up, parking on the street. So a vehicle sensor doesn't work too well. The only way to install a laser beam sensor that would catch folks coming up to the door would involve putting one side of it where I park my car (the driveway is that narrow). I really think a pressure mat is the way to go. But, I can't find one that is weatherproof. The place I want to put it frequently gets snow drifts and such, so I need something that can take some abuse. I thought I saw something like that in an old Herbach & Rademan catalog a while back, but I can't find anything now. Of course, i'm poor, so I'd love to do it in a way that doesn't involve too much cash outlay. My other thought is some sort of mercury switch I could use as a vibration sensor, that could sense when someone knocks on or opens the storm door. That would have the added bonus of letting me know if I inadvertantly didn't close the door all of the way, and left it swinging in the wind. But, how do I keep it from confusing my powerflash by sending a closure each time it vebrates, or flooding my system with signals if the door is swaying in the wind and I'm not home (UPS guys like to leave it unlatched...)? Any thoughts, or brainstorms on other ways to see if someone is there. right now my best thought is to use a skyway racer. If someone is standing there, it hits them,and doesn't continue it's path... The space I want to test is actually just down from the front step, as often people don't go up on the step before knocking. It's an area about 2'6" square. Chad Gard, CTS KB9WXQ INCHASE: http://www.inchase.org Co-founder SCOA: http://www.stormchasersofamerica.org Member #3 INSWA: http://www.insw.org Unit #21 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 12:47:17 -0600 From: "Prsha, Jerry" Subject: RE: is someone at the door? My 2¢... I'm wondering if you might be able to use a Camera attached to Oculus aimed directly at the door. Then, by setting up zones, tell Oculus to only trigger a script when the movement occurs in more than (X) specified zones meaning that there was someone standing there. Sunlight can wreak havoc with it if Oculus isn't tweaked properly. Of course, at night the whole scenario changes.. oh nevermind! Jp > ---------- > From: Chad A Gard > Reply To: xtensionlist@shed.com > Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2001 12:41 PM > To: xtensionlist@shed.com > Subject: is someone at the door? > > OK, continuing with my system re-building... > > one down side to moving my "living" spaces to the second floor is that, > even in my tiny apartment, if someone knocks on the storm door, rather than > opening it, then knocking on the interior door, I rarely can hear it > upstairs. Especially if I'm watching a movie. > > So, I'd like to have XTension tell me someone's at the front door. > Normally that would be a trivial thing, but... > > My neighbor and I share a driveway (the whole block is duplexes, with > driveways going between the buildings), and he comes and goes at odd times, > as do his guests. A PIR motion sensor would trigger constantly when he was > coming or going, or had a guest doing so, it it would be quite hard to > modify one to be selective about who's sidewalk it was monitoring, and it > would also have problems, due to its location, with morning sun. > > People often walk up, parking on the street. So a vehicle sensor doesn't > work too well. > > The only way to install a laser beam sensor that would catch folks coming > up to the door would involve putting one side of it where I park my car > (the driveway is that narrow). > > I really think a pressure mat is the way to go. But, I can't find one that > is weatherproof. The place I want to put it frequently gets snow drifts > and such, so I need something that can take some abuse. I thought I saw > something like that in an old Herbach & Rademan catalog a while back, but I > can't find anything now. Of course, i'm poor, so I'd love to do it in a > way that doesn't involve too much cash outlay. > > My other thought is some sort of mercury switch I could use as a vibration > sensor, that could sense when someone knocks on or opens the storm door. > That would have the added bonus of letting me know if I inadvertantly > didn't close the door all of the way, and left it swinging in the wind. > But, how do I keep it from confusing my powerflash by sending a closure > each time it vebrates, or flooding my system with signals if the door is > swaying in the wind and I'm not home (UPS guys like to leave it > unlatched...)? > > Any thoughts, or brainstorms on other ways to see if someone is there. > right now my best thought is to use a skyway racer. If someone is standing > there, it hits them,and doesn't continue it's path... > > The space I want to test is actually just down from the front step, as > often people don't go up on the step before knocking. It's an area about > 2'6" square. > > Chad Gard, CTS KB9WXQ > INCHASE: http://www.inchase.org Co-founder > SCOA: http://www.stormchasersofamerica.org Member #3 > INSWA: http://www.insw.org Unit #21 > > > > ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 10:54:30 -0800 From: Chuck Coleman Subject: Re: is someone at the door? On 11/13/01 10:41 AM, "Chad A Gard" wrote: > OK, continuing with my system re-building... > > one down side to moving my "living" spaces to the second floor is that, > even in my tiny apartment, if someone knocks on the storm door, rather than > opening it, then knocking on the interior door, I rarely can hear it > upstairs. Especially if I'm watching a movie. > > So, I'd like to have XTension tell me someone's at the front door. > Normally that would be a trivial thing, but... > > My neighbor and I share a driveway (the whole block is duplexes, with > driveways going between the buildings), and he comes and goes at odd times, > as do his guests. A PIR motion sensor would trigger constantly when he was > coming or going, or had a guest doing so, it it would be quite hard to > modify one to be selective about who's sidewalk it was monitoring, and it > would also have problems, due to its location, with morning sun. > > People often walk up, parking on the street. So a vehicle sensor doesn't > work too well. > > The only way to install a laser beam sensor that would catch folks coming > up to the door would involve putting one side of it where I park my car > (the driveway is that narrow). > > I really think a pressure mat is the way to go. But, I can't find one that > is weatherproof. The place I want to put it frequently gets snow drifts > and such, so I need something that can take some abuse. I thought I saw > something like that in an old Herbach & Rademan catalog a while back, but I > can't find anything now. Of course, i'm poor, so I'd love to do it in a > way that doesn't involve too much cash outlay. > > My other thought is some sort of mercury switch I could use as a vibration > sensor, that could sense when someone knocks on or opens the storm door. > That would have the added bonus of letting me know if I inadvertantly > didn't close the door all of the way, and left it swinging in the wind. > But, how do I keep it from confusing my powerflash by sending a closure > each time it vebrates, or flooding my system with signals if the door is > swaying in the wind and I'm not home (UPS guys like to leave it > unlatched...)? > > Any thoughts, or brainstorms on other ways to see if someone is there. > right now my best thought is to use a skyway racer. If someone is standing > there, it hits them,and doesn't continue it's path... > > The space I want to test is actually just down from the front step, as > often people don't go up on the step before knocking. It's an area about > 2'6" square. > > Chad Gard, CTS KB9WXQ > INCHASE: http://www.inchase.org Co-founder > SCOA: http://www.stormchasersofamerica.org Member #3 > INSWA: http://www.insw.org Unit #21 > > > How about a MS13 with a hack to the dusk sensor. Run the wires to a door bell and when it is pushed it turns on a light and rings an X10 door chime upstairs. You could use the sensor portion to pre-alert for movement as they walk up to the door. It's an easy hack and very reliable. Chuck ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 10:57:53 -0800 From: Gordon Meyer Subject: Re: is someone at the door? Is there a reason they wouldn't ring a doorbell instead of knocking? Put a wireless X-10 button on the door, with a sign that says "Ring Bell, Don't Knock". Not what you were looking for, but somehow I think it will be more reliable. That said, I have a motion detector mounted on a railing, pointing backwards *towards* the front door. This prevents it from getting triggered by walking-by traffic -- you have to be in front of the door (close enough to knock) before it will see you. --Gordon ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 14:08:14 EST From: Iamsmall@aol.com Subject: Re: is someone at the door? Or why not try one of those wireless doorbells available from Home Depot? Ed ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 14:09:12 -0500 From: Chad A Gard Subject: Re: is someone at the door? >How about a MS13 with a hack to the dusk sensor. Run the wires to a door >bell and when it is pushed it turns on a light and rings an X10 door chime >upstairs. > >You could use the sensor portion to pre-alert for movement as they walk up >to the door. > >It's an easy hack and very reliable. Yeah, I have lots of options if I end up resorting to providing a button to push. But, the nut in me would like to avoid providing a door bell button. None of the other houses on the block have a doorbell, so folks like the Pizza guys and ups guys and the like would be unlikely to press one consistently (my neighbor put up a "Big Red" once, and still no one used it). But, more importantly, a button has no "geek factor" Chad Gard, CTS KB9WXQ INCHASE: http://www.inchase.org Co-founder SCOA: http://www.stormchasersofamerica.org Member #3 INSWA: http://www.insw.org Unit #21 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 14:17:05 -0500 From: "Chester Lapeza" Subject: Re: is someone at the door? Is there any overhang above where you want to sense? Could you put a motion detector on the ceiling facing down? You wouldn't have the problem of catching your neighbor and it would be safe from snow, rain, etc. You could also use the dusk switch hack to run a wire for a contact closure on the top of the storm door for additional monitoring. Chester ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 11:20:49 -0800 From: Bob Subject: Re: annual subscription on 11/12/01 6:05 AM, Phil Pedersen at philip.pedersen@speakeasy.org wrote: > I was looking through my archive of the list and noticed that the > last discussion we had about an annual subscription was just about a > year ago. I guess it's time to send Michael another check. It was > $30 last year, wasn't it? > > Phil I see no response, Phil, so like you my annual is due also. My $30 check is in the mail. Thanks, Michael - -- Bob - -------- Robert Ladle bob@pitchypaw.com http://www.pitchypaw.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 11:29:10 -0800 From: Rob Lewis Subject: Re: is someone at the door? You could always get a dog :-} What about a video camera connected to a computer with motion-detection? On Tuesday, November 13, 2001, at 10:41 AM, Chad A Gard wrote: > OK, continuing with my system re-building... > > one down side to moving my "living" spaces to the second floor is that, > even in my tiny apartment, if someone knocks on the storm door, rather > than > opening it, then knocking on the interior door, I rarely can hear it > upstairs. Especially if I'm watching a movie. > > So, I'd like to have XTension tell me someone's at the front door. > Normally that would be a trivial thing, but... > > My neighbor and I share a driveway (the whole block is duplexes, with > driveways going between the buildings), and he comes and goes at odd > times, > as do his guests. A PIR motion sensor would trigger constantly when he > was > coming or going, or had a guest doing so, it it would be quite hard to > modify one to be selective about who's sidewalk it was monitoring, and > it > would also have problems, due to its location, with morning sun. > > People often walk up, parking on the street. So a vehicle sensor > doesn't > work too well. > > The only way to install a laser beam sensor that would catch folks > coming > up to the door would involve putting one side of it where I park my car > (the driveway is that narrow). > > I really think a pressure mat is the way to go. But, I can't find one > that > is weatherproof. The place I want to put it frequently gets snow drifts > and such, so I need something that can take some abuse. I thought I saw > something like that in an old Herbach & Rademan catalog a while back, > but I > can't find anything now. Of course, i'm poor, so I'd love to do it in a > way that doesn't involve too much cash outlay. > > My other thought is some sort of mercury switch I could use as a > vibration > sensor, that could sense when someone knocks on or opens the storm door. > That would have the added bonus of letting me know if I inadvertantly > didn't close the door all of the way, and left it swinging in the wind. > But, how do I keep it from confusing my powerflash by sending a closure > each time it vebrates, or flooding my system with signals if the door is > swaying in the wind and I'm not home (UPS guys like to leave it > unlatched...)? > > Any thoughts, or brainstorms on other ways to see if someone is there. > right now my best thought is to use a skyway racer. If someone is > standing > there, it hits them,and doesn't continue it's path... > > The space I want to test is actually just down from the front step, as > often people don't go up on the step before knocking. It's an area > about > 2'6" square. > > Chad Gard, CTS KB9WXQ > INCHASE: http://www.inchase.org Co-founder > SCOA: http://www.stormchasersofamerica.org Member #3 > INSWA: http://www.insw.org Unit #21 > > > > > Rob Lewis Our situation is hopeless but not serious. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 11:29:26 -0800 From: Chuck Coleman Subject: Re: annual subscription On 11/13/01 11:20 AM, "Bob" wrote: > I see no response, Phil, so like you my annual is due also. > My $30 check is in the mail. > Thanks, Michael Michael, Can we do PayPal???? For those new to the list we have agreed to pay $30 a year (voluntary) to Michael since he has provided free upgrades for as long as I have been using Xtension (v 1.5 I believe). This assures that we get continuing upgrades and he can afford to buy new stuff to try and integrate it to Xtension. "A man is worthy of his hire" as I have been told since birth. Chuck ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 14:31:50 -0500 From: Chad A Gard Subject: Re: is someone at the door? >Is there a reason they wouldn't ring a doorbell instead of knocking? Put a >wireless X-10 button on the door, with a sign that says "Ring Bell, Don't >Knock". Not what you were looking for, but somehow I think it will be more >reliable. > Yeah, per my last message... I'm going to do that for now - I've got a powerflash and I'll just pick up a doorbell button. That's cheap. But the end solution I want somethin' with some geek value... >That said, I have a motion detector mounted on a railing, pointing backwards >*towards* the front door. This prevents it from getting triggered by >walking-by traffic -- you have to be in front of the door (close enough to >knock) before it will see you. That's what I'd ideally like to do, 'cept I have no railing. I've thought about mounting it above the door facing down, but there's no eve on the house and the gutters often overflow, producing giant 2-story tall, 8" diameter ice sickles there. Now, the landlizzard has claimed he's putting a new roof/gutters on all 3 buildings he owned, but after the first building, we haven't seen any progress (well, they did tear all of the ivy I really liked off the front, which will make the brick bake really nicely in the summmer. ug). If he does do that, I might go towards that kind of solution. I had good luck mounting a DM10 sideways in my stairway, so that its patterin is more up and down, rather than right and left. I cold probably do something simmilar, pointing down at the ground, if I knew it wasn't going to be encased in ice sickle... Chad Gard, CTS KB9WXQ INCHASE: http://www.inchase.org Co-founder SCOA: http://www.stormchasersofamerica.org Member #3 INSWA: http://www.insw.org Unit #21 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 14:33:29 -0500 From: Chad A Gard Subject: Re: is someone at the door? >Is there any overhang above where you want to sense? Could you put a motion >detector on the ceiling facing down? You wouldn't have the problem of >catching your neighbor and it would be safe from snow, rain, etc. You could >also use the dusk switch hack to run a wire for a contact closure on the top >of the storm door for additional monitoring. There's an overhang of about 4 inches 2 stories and a gable up... I might be able to build some sort of small overhang that wouldn't be too bad. I guess in the summer I could stick it to the bottom of the window air conditioner that goes in the window right about the door. But what to do in the winter... Chad Gard, CTS KB9WXQ INCHASE: http://www.inchase.org Co-founder SCOA: http://www.stormchasersofamerica.org Member #3 INSWA: http://www.insw.org Unit #21 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 14:33:48 -0500 From: "Jeffrey A. Lomicka" Subject: Re: is someone at the door? I think a good solution would be to glue a pizeoelectric transducer to the screen door, near where a visitor would knock. You might have to stare at the schematic a bit, but you could probabaly hack the transducer into the darkenss sensor circuit on the MS13. I'm not sure about the best place to obtain a cheap pizeroelectric transducer. Expensive ones (about $50) are found at music stores in the form of under-the-bridge acoustic guitar pickups. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 11:41:15 -0800 From: Don Preisler Subject: Re: annual subscription The credit card system worked for me. I looked but didn't see any PayPal options. Don Preisler dmpreisler@ucdavis.edu > From: Chuck Coleman > Reply-To: xtensionlist@shed.com > Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 11:29:26 -0800 > To: > Subject: Re: annual subscription > > On 11/13/01 11:20 AM, "Bob" wrote: > >> I see no response, Phil, so like you my annual is due also. >> My $30 check is in the mail. >> Thanks, Michael > > Michael, > > Can we do PayPal???? > > For those new to the list we have agreed to pay $30 a year (voluntary) to > Michael since he has provided free upgrades for as long as I have been using > Xtension (v 1.5 I believe). > > This assures that we get continuing upgrades and he can afford to buy new > stuff to try and integrate it to Xtension. > > "A man is worthy of his hire" as I have been told since birth. > > Chuck > ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 13:44:54 -0500 From: Craig Treleaven Subject: Re: Controlling non-Applescript Applications? > I've been playing arround a bit with >scripting iTunes 2. And you can do a lot. But, for the life of me, I >can't figure out how to script the browse window. So, I can do something >like, select all tracks of a genera, random, repeat all, play. Instead, >you have to make a playlist - and there is no point in making a playlist, >say, of all of the tracks in the "blues" genera, just so I can have >XTension say "Play da blues."... Why don't you want a Blues playlist? The Genre tags are not very accurate. For example, I just notices that the Bryan Adams album, "Waking up the Neighbours" was listed as genre "misc". Along with Bette Midler and Barbara Streisand. He's "Rock"; I don't know about them. You could automate making the Blues playlist. Loop through the library playlist and copy everything where genre = "Blues". Following web site has some good pointers on iTunes scripting: http://www.malcolmadams.com/itunes/index.html Craig ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 14:54:00 -0500 From: michael Subject: Re: annual subscription Don said : >The credit card system worked for me. I looked but didn't see any PayPal >options. Checks, cash, credit cards, old baseball trading cards... The top credit card link on the ordering page is the cheapest to me... All contributions go to a good cause :-) michael ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 14:58:26 -0500 From: "Mark F. Nettleingham" Subject: Re: annual subscription I'd like to add my vote for PayPal, it helps hide my HA habit from my wife a bit :-). Chuck Coleman wrote: > On 11/13/01 11:20 AM, "Bob" wrote: > > > I see no response, Phil, so like you my annual is due also. > > My $30 check is in the mail. > > Thanks, Michael > > Michael, > > Can we do PayPal???? > > For those new to the list we have agreed to pay $30 a year (voluntary) to > Michael since he has provided free upgrades for as long as I have been using > Xtension (v 1.5 I believe). > > This assures that we get continuing upgrades and he can afford to buy new > stuff to try and integrate it to Xtension. > > "A man is worthy of his hire" as I have been told since birth. > > Chuck - -- Mark F. Nettleingham (732) 870-4635 markfn@commvault.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 13:58:36 -0600 From: "Prsha, Jerry" Subject: RE: is someone at the door? Ok.. I just thought of another weird one but this might just actually work... Ever see those parking aids for your garage that sense the distance between your car and the wall it's mounted on? I would assume that it has a sensor that echoes back the distance and triggers a switch when something gets close. Could you mount something near the door to sense someone and then hack the device with a powerflash to send a address code to XTension? Anyone know if those are sonic? Jp > ---------- > From: Chad A Gard > Reply To: xtensionlist@shed.com > Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2001 12:41 PM > To: xtensionlist@shed.com > Subject: is someone at the door? > > OK, continuing with my system re-building... > > one down side to moving my "living" spaces to the second floor is that, > even in my tiny apartment, if someone knocks on the storm door, rather than > opening it, then knocking on the interior door, I rarely can hear it > upstairs. Especially if I'm watching a movie. > > So, I'd like to have XTension tell me someone's at the front door. > Normally that would be a trivial thing, but... > > My neighbor and I share a driveway (the whole block is duplexes, with > driveways going between the buildings), and he comes and goes at odd times, > as do his guests. A PIR motion sensor would trigger constantly when he was > coming or going, or had a guest doing so, it it would be quite hard to > modify one to be selective about who's sidewalk it was monitoring, and it > would also have problems, due to its location, with morning sun. > > People often walk up, parking on the street. So a vehicle sensor doesn't > work too well. > > The only way to install a laser beam sensor that would catch folks coming > up to the door would involve putting one side of it where I park my car > (the driveway is that narrow). > > I really think a pressure mat is the way to go. But, I can't find one that > is weatherproof. The place I want to put it frequently gets snow drifts > and such, so I need something that can take some abuse. I thought I saw > something like that in an old Herbach & Rademan catalog a while back, but I > can't find anything now. Of course, i'm poor, so I'd love to do it in a > way that doesn't involve too much cash outlay. > > My other thought is some sort of mercury switch I could use as a vibration > sensor, that could sense when someone knocks on or opens the storm door. > That would have the added bonus of letting me know if I inadvertantly > didn't close the door all of the way, and left it swinging in the wind. > But, how do I keep it from confusing my powerflash by sending a closure > each time it vebrates, or flooding my system with signals if the door is > swaying in the wind and I'm not home (UPS guys like to leave it > unlatched...)? > > Any thoughts, or brainstorms on other ways to see if someone is there. > right now my best thought is to use a skyway racer. If someone is standing > there, it hits them,and doesn't continue it's path... > > The space I want to test is actually just down from the front step, as > often people don't go up on the step before knocking. It's an area about > 2'6" square. > > Chad Gard, CTS KB9WXQ > INCHASE: http://www.inchase.org Co-founder > SCOA: http://www.stormchasersofamerica.org Member #3 > INSWA: http://www.insw.org Unit #21 > > > > ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 12:00:50 -0800 (PST) From: Dean Davis Subject: Re: annual subscription You can if you jump through some hoops. Get the PayPal ATM/Debit card then use it to pay Michael via KAGI. Dean Davis - --- Chuck Coleman wrote: > On 11/13/01 11:20 AM, "Bob" > wrote: > > > I see no response, Phil, so like you my annual is > due also. > > My $30 check is in the mail. > > Thanks, Michael > > Michael, > > Can we do PayPal???? > > For those new to the list we have agreed to pay $30 > a year (voluntary) to > Michael since he has provided free upgrades for as > long as I have been using > Xtension (v 1.5 I believe). > > This assures that we get continuing upgrades and he > can afford to buy new > stuff to try and integrate it to Xtension. > > "A man is worthy of his hire" as I have been told > since birth. > > Chuck > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Find the one for you at Yahoo! Personals http://personals.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 15:01:31 -0500 From: Chad A Gard Subject: Re: is someone at the door? >I think a good solution would be to glue a pizeoelectric transducer >to the screen door, near where a visitor would knock. You might have >to stare at the schematic a bit, but you could probabaly hack the >transducer into the darkenss sensor circuit on the MS13. Hmmmmm.... That's not a bad idea, either. You used to be able to buy them at rat shack for about $7 - used some in a midi trigger on a project back in college... That might require some experimentation, but isn't a bad idea... Chad Gard, CTS KB9WXQ INCHASE: http://www.inchase.org Co-founder SCOA: http://www.stormchasersofamerica.org Member #3 INSWA: http://www.insw.org Unit #21 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 12:11:09 -0800 From: Chuck Coleman Subject: Re: is someone at the door? On 11/13/01 12:01 PM, "Chad A Gard" wrote: > Hmmmmm.... That's not a bad idea, either. You used to be able to buy them > at rat shack for about $7 - used some in a midi trigger on a project back > in college... That might require some experimentation, but isn't a bad > idea... I would think that wind might activate your doorbell since they are very sensitive. Unless your door is very tight and solid..... Chuck ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 12:17:32 -0800 From: Don Preisler Subject: Re: annual subscription If that isn't the truth here too. Ebay sales too. > > I'd like to add my vote for PayPal, it helps hide my HA habit from my wife a > bit :-). ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 15:24:07 -0500 From: Chad A Gard Subject: Re: Controlling non-Applescript Applications? >Why don't you want a Blues playlist? because it's redundant. The Genre tags are not very accurate. For example, I just notices that the Bryan Adams album, "Waking up the Neighbours" was listed as genre "misc". Along with Bette Midler and Barbara Streisand. He's "Rock"; I don't know about them. I make them accurate myself :) > >You could automate making the Blues playlist. Loop through the library >playlist and copy everything where genre = "Blues". Following web site >has some good pointers on iTunes scripting: > >http://www.malcolmadams.com/itunes/index.html Yep, been there. Have a contribution of mine posted, I believe ;). But, I don't want a Blues playlist because any time I rip a new CD or change the genre of a track, I have to re-make the playlist. It really seems like a duplication of effort that makes little sense. I guess the main reason I don't want to make a new playlist is academic - making a playlist of something that is already tagged seems wrong. Plus, I'd want one for symphonic sound tracks, jazz soundtracks, modern/experimental soundtracks, baroque erra, classical erra, early romantic era, late romantic era, minamalist, neo-classical, etc etc. You end up making a lot of play lists just to duplicate information that's already available. Same holds true for albums. What if I want to play the soundtrack from "The Sea Hawk". I really don't want to make a playlist for each album. I want to select the album "The Sea Hawk" from the browser, and play it. Or composers. If I decide I want to hear something by Rachmaninoff, I want to just select "Rachmaninoff" in the browser, randomize, loop, & play. I don't want to make a play list for every composer. It all works into some plans I have based arround installing a file server with an airport card permanantly in the trunk of my car, so I can have the same mp3s available at home or office or in the car (or a 6th antenna on the trunk, depending on how you look at it...). I have about 400 CD's I want to rip to mp3 (only about 100 done), so I can automate the audio through XTension, iTunes, the Flash interface I have planned, etc. But i don't think of my music by playlists, so I plan on actually having very very few playlists, and those mostly developed arround special events. As soon as I can figure out how to scrpt the browser window... Chad Gard, CTS KB9WXQ INCHASE: http://www.inchase.org Co-founder SCOA: http://www.stormchasersofamerica.org Member #3 INSWA: http://www.insw.org Unit #21 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 15:26:33 -0500 From: Chad A Gard Subject: Re: is someone at the door? > > >I would think that wind might activate your doorbell since they are very >sensitive. Unless your door is very tight and solid..... d'oh. good point. It'd probably require some method of determining the intensity of the knocking... Chad Gard, CTS KB9WXQ INCHASE: http://www.inchase.org Co-founder SCOA: http://www.stormchasersofamerica.org Member #3 INSWA: http://www.insw.org Unit #21 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 15:44:36 -0500 From: michael Subject: Re: annual subscription Mark said : > I'd like to add my vote for PayPal, it helps hide my HA habit from my >wife a >bit :-). I do have an account with PayPal I've just never gotten paid thru there... don't know how it works ? I think my email address at PayPal is ebuyer@shed.com I notice they take pesetas :=) michael ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 13:39:40 -0800 (PST) From: Dean Davis Subject: Skyway racer OK, I had no offers for my spare new-in-box Skyway Racer. So here is my last ditch effort at a trade. I have to trade one Skyway Racer plus one video modulator (see: http://www.smarthome.com/7715a.html) I also have some spare random X-10 stuff (remotes, modules) I could use an Audrey or a spare CPU with enough power to play MP3 with ITunes (I want a dedicated MP3 payer computer). If you want to trade (even if you have something different to offer), e-mail me off list otherwise the Racer is going to EBay tomorrow at noon. Anyone still have any other ideas for a HA trading board? No one signed up for the test one I set up but I understand with the pop-up ads (they won't let me turn them off). __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Find the one for you at Yahoo! Personals http://personals.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 17:02:48 -0500 From: "Mark F. Nettleingham" Subject: Re: annual subscription Well, I sent you the payment via PayPal, it went somewhere. Let us know if you get it! michael wrote: > Mark said : > > I'd like to add my vote for PayPal, it helps hide my HA habit from my > >wife a > >bit :-). > > I do have an account with PayPal I've just never gotten paid > thru there... don't know how it works ? > > I think my email address at PayPal is ebuyer@shed.com > > I notice they take pesetas :=) > michael - -- Mark F. Nettleingham (732) 870-4635 markfn@commvault.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 14:02:47 -0800 From: Gordon Meyer Subject: Re: is someone at the door? Darnit, that snow and ice is definitely a bugaboo in this situation. Maybe you should move to California and make things easier to implement. :-) Another thought -- Insert some sort of obstacle that must be moved in order to get close enough to your door and knock. For example, if you had rails on both sides of the stairs, put a bar across that must be lifted out of the way in order to climb up. You know, a procedural something or other that is natural, but required, to get to the door. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 17:05:26 -0500 From: Craig Treleaven Subject: Re: Controlling non-Applescript Applications? >>Why don't you want a Blues playlist? > >because it's redundant. > > > The Genre tags are not very accurate. For example, I just notices that >the Bryan Adams album, "Waking up the Neighbours" was listed as genre >"misc". Along with Bette Midler and Barbara Streisand. He's "Rock"; I >don't know about them. > > >I make them accurate myself :) > > >> >>You could automate making the Blues playlist. Loop through the library >>playlist and copy everything where genre = "Blues". Following web site >>has some good pointers on iTunes scripting: >> >>http://www.malcolmadams.com/itunes/index.html > > >Yep, been there. Have a contribution of mine posted, I believe ;). > > But, I don't want a Blues playlist because any time I rip a new CD or >change the genre of a track, I have to re-make the playlist. It really >seems like a duplication of effort that makes little sense. I guess the >main reason I don't want to make a new playlist is academic - making a >playlist of something that is already tagged seems wrong. Plus, I'd want >one for symphonic sound tracks, jazz soundtracks, modern/experimental >soundtracks, baroque erra, classical erra, early romantic era, late >romantic era, minamalist, neo-classical, etc etc. You end up making a lot >of play lists just to duplicate information that's already available. > >Same holds true for albums. What if I want to play the soundtrack from >"The Sea Hawk". I really don't want to make a playlist for each album. I >want to select the album "The Sea Hawk" from the browser, and play it. > >Or composers. If I decide I want to hear something by Rachmaninoff, I want >to just select "Rachmaninoff" in the browser, randomize, loop, & play. I >don't want to make a play list for every composer. Hmm, I think all of what you want is possible right now with either iTunes or SoundJam. But you'd have to do a lot of scripting to make it happen. Seems to me, you would need to make a script that 'queries' the Master Playlist for all the tracks meeting your criteria. Then put them all into a 'scratch' playlist (delete anything 'leftover' in there first) and play it. >It all works into some plans I have based arround installing a file server >with an airport card permanantly in the trunk of my car, so I can have the >same mp3s available at home or office or in the car (or a 6th antenna on >the trunk, depending on how you look at it...). I have about 400 CD's I >want to rip to mp3 (only about 100 done), so I can automate the audio >through XTension, iTunes, the Flash interface I have planned, etc. But i >don't think of my music by playlists, so I plan on actually having very >very few playlists, and those mostly developed arround special events. > >As soon as I can figure out how to scrpt the browser window... My project, off and on, has been making the MR26 control SoundJam and now iTunes 2. I have about 150 CDs ripped. I use basically a couple of big playlists, random order, and let it play like a personal radio station. I have it tied to the stereo system downstairs with X10's Entertainment Anywhere kit (2.4 GHz transmitter/receiver). Hence the need for RF control of the player. I'd love to use a cable to take the audio from Mac to stereo but it is going to be a bear to pull. Maybe someday. The AppleScript thing I've put together does the basics--like Play, Stop, Pause, Mute, next track, previous track--and some fun stuff. Press 'Display' on the remote, and the names of the song, album and artist are announced by text-to-speech (after lowering the playback volume, of course)! Press 'Title', and you'll be reminded of the name of the playlist and whether it is playing in random or straight-through order. A couple of other things... Craig ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 17:21:07 -0500 From: michael Subject: Re: annual subscription Mark said : > Well, I sent you the payment via PayPal, it went somewhere. Let us know if >you get it! It worked ! That should really help to shorten those waiting lines :-) Step right up ! No Waiting ! Three servers waiting for YOU ! grovel, grovel michael ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 18:07:55 -0500 From: michael Subject: A new Face ? Hi Folks, In preparation for the MacWorld show, one of our list members offered to help make up a 'banner' for the booth at the show. The idea is that I'd like to have a banner that drew people in from the aisles to ask more about what all this is ... Since the ZephIR boys are $haring the booth, I didn't want it to shout "XTension!", and it just sounded good to try to be very succinct, with warm fuzzy initial impressions. I specially like the image of the 'house', and I've decided to use it as the basic new 'logo' for XTension, and in general, 'shed.com'. The name 'XTension' hasn't ever been what attracts customers, and I kinda like the idea of tweaking the shed.com site to be more like the old Beehive, in that it would be more of a portal to pages for different applications, both commercial and free, that fit into the extended home automation theme. I liked the old Beehive idea, and specially liked the collaboration between different developers. Well, that's what we've had here for some time now...!! There are 'user' pages on the shed site, and there are a lot of tutorials on the site, both from me and many of you. But if you didn't follow the list closely, or know how to ask the right questions of the archive search engines, then there are just no end to the number of tutorials that folks would appreciate. I think that by providing the web space to the developers, and elevate that concept, it would be a real boon to Mac users to be able to more easily navigate and find answers. So, I would rely on the developers for help with the tutorials, and in response, I would put 'major links' on the home page that are presented as essential elements of 'your' home automation system. Still a cock-a-mamie idea, but I'm sure it'll spawn a lot of comments from you ... ? michael ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 18:55:20 EST From: NuLynx@aol.com Subject: Re: is someone at the door? In a message dated 11/13/01 3:04:38 PM, jerry.prsha@anheuser-busch.com writes: << Ok.. I just thought of another weird one but this might just actually work... Ever see those parking aids for your garage that sense the distance between your car and the wall it's mounted on? I would assume that it has a sensor that echoes back the distance and triggers a switch when something gets close. Could you mount something near the door to sense someone and then hack the device with a powerflash to send a address code to XTension? Anyone know if those are sonic? Jp >> Not sure about THOSE switches, but I know of a great little proximity switch that I have used for robotics. It can be found at: http://www.acroname.com/robotics/parts/R49-IR15.html It is an IR unit, is preset to detect an object at 24 cm, is $13.50, and is as dependable as a good hunting dog. This switch works great for object sensing. I have not tried to integrate it into HA, but it shouldn't be too hard to hack with a motion sensor, or maybe even use it directly with a powerflash module. BTW, they also have other sensor circuits, such as the Polaroid sonar sensor http://www.acroname.com/robotics/parts/R11-6500.html but it costs about 35 bucks. I have never used these, so I am not sure what would be involved with getting them to work. Brad ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 17:56:30 -0600 From: JasonY Subject: Re: Controlling non-Applescript Applications? on 11/13/01 2:24 PM, Chad A Gard at gard@indy.net wrote: > I have about 400 CD's I > want to rip to mp3 (only about 100 done) Do you often get audio 'blips' or skips in your mp3 files? I, too have 400 cd's that I ripped using iTunes at 320 VBR. After I ripped them all (took about 3 months of ripping), I noticed that about 20% of my songs have artifacts. Do you get these too? It might be that the CD player in my Powerbook is going bad (I used it as an aux ripper drive when I was busy on the tower. Jason ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 16:05:56 -0800 From: Rob Lewis Subject: Re: A new Face ? Pretty banner, Michael. Great concept. One tiny comment: I wonder how many people know what "HVAC" means? On Tuesday, November 13, 2001, at 03:07 PM, michael wrote: > Hi Folks, > > In preparation for the MacWorld show, one of our list members > offered to help make up a 'banner' for the booth at the show. > > The idea is that I'd like to have a banner that drew people in > from the aisles to ask more about what all this is ... > > > Since the ZephIR boys are $haring the booth, I didn't want it to > shout "XTension!", and it just sounded good to try to be very > succinct, with warm fuzzy initial impressions. > > I specially like the image of the 'house', and I've decided to use > it as the basic new 'logo' for XTension, and in general, 'shed.com'. > > > The name 'XTension' hasn't ever been what attracts customers, > and I kinda like the idea of tweaking the shed.com site to be > more like the old Beehive, in that it would be more of a portal > to pages for different applications, both commercial and free, > that fit into the extended home automation theme. > > I liked the old Beehive idea, and specially liked the collaboration > between different developers. > > Well, that's what we've had here for some time now...!! > > There are 'user' pages on the shed site, and there are a lot of > tutorials > on the site, both from me and many of you. > > But if you didn't follow the list closely, or know how to ask the right > questions of the archive search engines, then there are just no end to > the number of tutorials that folks would appreciate. > > I think that by providing the web space to the developers, and elevate > that concept, it would be a real boon to Mac users to be able to more > easily navigate and find answers. > > So, I would rely on the developers for help with the tutorials, and > in response, I would put 'major links' on the home page that are > presented as essential elements of 'your' home automation system. > > Still a cock-a-mamie idea, but I'm sure it'll spawn a lot of comments > from you ... ? > > michael > > > > Rob Lewis Our situation is hopeless but not serious. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 19:34:37 -0500 (EST) From: Greg Sutherland Subject: Re: Skyway racer Dean, I don't have anything to trade at the moment. I only got two Audreys so I don't think I'm ready to trade one of them. I've been hearing comments about the skyway racer since I joined the list. What is it and what does it look like? Let me know when it goes to ebay. I might want to bid on it. greg On Tue, 13 Nov 2001, Dean Davis wrote: > Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 13:39:40 -0800 (PST) > From: Dean Davis > Reply-To: xtensionlist@shed.com > To: xtensionlist@shed.com > Subject: Skyway racer > > OK, I had no offers for my spare new-in-box Skyway > Racer. So here is my last ditch effort at a trade. > > I have to trade one Skyway Racer plus one video > modulator (see: http://www.smarthome.com/7715a.html) I > also have some spare random X-10 stuff (remotes, > modules) > > I could use an Audrey or a spare CPU with enough power > to play MP3 with ITunes (I want a dedicated MP3 payer > computer). > > If you want to trade (even if you have something > different to offer), e-mail me off list otherwise the > Racer is going to EBay tomorrow at noon. > > Anyone still have any other ideas for a HA trading > board? No one signed up for the test one I set up but > I understand with the pop-up ads (they won't let me > turn them off). ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 19:43:06 -0500 From: michael Subject: Re: A new Face ? Rob said : >Pretty banner, Michael. Great concept. >One tiny comment: I wonder how many people know what "HVAC" means? It's a test... If you don't know, or don't want to take the time to find out, then it's possible that I would advise you to buy MouseHouse... :-) Really. I don't want the common un-washed public... It would be the death of this very comfortable family... I could handle a doubling of the order rate, and more, but how to handle the help line if things get really rambunctious ? The best thing is that I believe that it will be some time before that do-all-be-all home automation box is developed that just erases all of our efforts. There's always one thing that brings marketers to their knees : 'the installed base'.... :-) Or, perhaps some rich company thinks that they can simply take over the market with some completely new technology, at a price that we can't resist ? I'm always interested :-) michael ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 18:01:19 -0700 From: Bill Fernandez Subject: Re: A new Face ? Michael-- The banner JPEG is beautiful, but if it's not too late I'd like to suggest that in it's present form it doesn't communicate the right message. The colors and style are fine, but it seems to me that: o The headline ought to be "Automate Your Home!" o The police car and woman at the computer dilute the message and misdirect readers' attention. o The house icon could/should be made very large and centered under the headline, then could be surrounded by smaller text saying: o "Our software controls your (list of bullet points) lights, appliances, heating, cooling, sprinklers, security lights, etc." (If you're interested I can explain at length why I made these specific suggestions, but I won't bore you with rationale unless you ask ;-) As far as the website goes; having a clean, consistent visual design and sensible navigation to its wealth of features would make XTension much more attractive and approachable to prospective buyers (as well as usable by us old-timers). The visual style of the banner JPEG could be nicely extended to the website. Showcasing products that interoperate with XTension would show people just how useful XTension really is. And having appropriately presented links to related topics and sites will convey the attractive message that XTension is part of a dynamic world of useful and interesting stuff rather than an eclectic niche product. I don't know if this is the kind of feedback you wanted, but being a user interface and information designer it's what comes to mind :-). Regards, - --Bill At 6:07 PM -0500 13-11-01, michael wrote: >Hi Folks, > >In preparation for the MacWorld show, one of our list members >offered to help make up a 'banner' for the booth at the show. > >The idea is that I'd like to have a banner that drew people in >from the aisles to ask more about what all this is ... > > >Since the ZephIR boys are $haring the booth, I didn't want it to >shout "XTension!", and it just sounded good to try to be very >succinct, with warm fuzzy initial impressions. > >I specially like the image of the 'house', and I've decided to use >it as the basic new 'logo' for XTension, and in general, 'shed.com'. > > >The name 'XTension' hasn't ever been what attracts customers, >and I kinda like the idea of tweaking the shed.com site to be >more like the old Beehive, in that it would be more of a portal >to pages for different applications, both commercial and free, >that fit into the extended home automation theme. > >I liked the old Beehive idea, and specially liked the collaboration >between different developers. > >Well, that's what we've had here for some time now...!! > >There are 'user' pages on the shed site, and there are a lot of tutorials >on the site, both from me and many of you. > >But if you didn't follow the list closely, or know how to ask the right >questions of the archive search engines, then there are just no end to >the number of tutorials that folks would appreciate. > >I think that by providing the web space to the developers, and elevate >that concept, it would be a real boon to Mac users to be able to more >easily navigate and find answers. > >So, I would rely on the developers for help with the tutorials, and >in response, I would put 'major links' on the home page that are >presented as essential elements of 'your' home automation system. > >Still a cock-a-mamie idea, but I'm sure it'll spawn a lot of comments >from you ... ? > >michael - -- ====================================================================== Bill Fernandez * User Interface Architect * Bill Fernandez Design (505) 346-3080 * bill_sub@billfernandez.com * http://billfernandez.com ====================================================================== ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 18:15:34 -0700 From: Bill Fernandez Subject: Re: is someone at the door? Chad-- (1) You can put a black tube (plastic or metal) over the front of an MS13 so that it only "sees" movement in a small field of view. You can put this above the door and aim it down at the doorstep, or mount it on a wooden stake next to the top step so people "break the beam" as the walk up to it, etc. (2) I remember seeing floor pressure switches that run in a strip of rubber made for office and industrial buildings. Try Greybar or Grainger if you have these distributors in your town, or maybe one of the office superstores has them in their catalog. They're used to activate electrically opened doors or to annunciate visitors, etc. This sounds right up your alley. (3) Create your own pressure switch with some flat rubber or plastic tubing (or fold over and glue a piece of heavy polyethelyne). Use the air pressure to actuate a switch, perhaps by pressing against a spring-loaded piston or bladder (how that for geek factor ;-)? (4) Get two strips of adhesive-backed copper, stick them parallel onto a piece of heavy polyethelyne, fold it over lengthwise, glue it such that it leaves an air bubble inside (make it into a long, flat balloon). Now you have a long, skinny pressure switch (and look ma, I made it myself!). OK, this is too much fun -- I have to get back to work now ;-). - --Bill At 1:41 PM -0500 13-11-01, Chad A Gard wrote: >OK, continuing with my system re-building... > >one down side to moving my "living" spaces to the second floor is that, >even in my tiny apartment, if someone knocks on the storm door, rather than >opening it, then knocking on the interior door, I rarely can hear it >upstairs. Especially if I'm watching a movie. > >So, I'd like to have XTension tell me someone's at the front door. >Normally that would be a trivial thing, but... > >My neighbor and I share a driveway (the whole block is duplexes, with >driveways going between the buildings), and he comes and goes at odd times, >as do his guests. A PIR motion sensor would trigger constantly when he was >coming or going, or had a guest doing so, it it would be quite hard to >modify one to be selective about who's sidewalk it was monitoring, and it >would also have problems, due to its location, with morning sun. > >People often walk up, parking on the street. So a vehicle sensor doesn't >work too well. > >The only way to install a laser beam sensor that would catch folks coming >up to the door would involve putting one side of it where I park my car >(the driveway is that narrow). > >I really think a pressure mat is the way to go. But, I can't find one that >is weatherproof. The place I want to put it frequently gets snow drifts >and such, so I need something that can take some abuse. I thought I saw >something like that in an old Herbach & Rademan catalog a while back, but I >can't find anything now. Of course, i'm poor, so I'd love to do it in a >way that doesn't involve too much cash outlay. > >My other thought is some sort of mercury switch I could use as a vibration >sensor, that could sense when someone knocks on or opens the storm door. >That would have the added bonus of letting me know if I inadvertantly >didn't close the door all of the way, and left it swinging in the wind. >But, how do I keep it from confusing my powerflash by sending a closure >each time it vebrates, or flooding my system with signals if the door is >swaying in the wind and I'm not home (UPS guys like to leave it >unlatched...)? > >Any thoughts, or brainstorms on other ways to see if someone is there. >right now my best thought is to use a skyway racer. If someone is standing >there, it hits them,and doesn't continue it's path... > >The space I want to test is actually just down from the front step, as >often people don't go up on the step before knocking. It's an area about >2'6" square. > >Chad Gard, CTS KB9WXQ >INCHASE: http://www.inchase.org Co-founder >SCOA: http://www.stormchasersofamerica.org Member #3 >INSWA: http://www.insw.org Unit #21 - -- ====================================================================== Bill Fernandez * User Interface Architect * Bill Fernandez Design (505) 346-3080 * bill_sub@billfernandez.com * http://billfernandez.com ====================================================================== ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 17:16:30 -0800 From: Gordon Meyer Subject: Re: OT: Phone-Anywhere? You can get the wireless "portable" phone jacks at Home Depot (et al) or Circuit City (et al). They're commonly used by dish TV boxes (similar to why TiVo needs one). They're often shelved near the audio/tv/stereo equipment. I'd go this route, since if it causes problems you can easily return it to the store and try a different brand. I've used one from GE in the past w/out any problems, fwiw. --Gordon ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 17:17:42 -0800 From: Gordon Meyer Subject: Re: New Version 3.7.0 > Can someone tell me where they bought the auto restart gadget that attaches > to ADB, which one is best, and where I order one? (I wonder Michael if you > should support a particular one where Xtension sends the keep alive pulses?) It's very easy to integrate Rebound! with Xtension. A simple AppleScript tickles the Rebound! dongle and lets it know that Xtension is still alive. I used one with a Power Mac 7500 for over a year -- worked like a charm. (Rebound is the same technology built into the PowerKey, also from Sophisticated Circuits, but costs less if you don't need the whole power strip.) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 22:31:10 -0500 From: Craig Treleaven Subject: USB MR26 was Re: A new Face ? >Since the ZephIR boys are $haring the booth, I didn't want it to >shout "XTension!", and it just sounded good to try to be very >succinct, with warm fuzzy initial impressions. I was wondering the other day if a version of the MR26 would ever be developed that talks USB instead of serial. Making a Lomicka cable and/ or dealing with serial to USB addons seems to be a fair hurdle preventing more people from getting on the wireless bandwagon. With so few 'legacy- free' Windows machines, it doesn't look that hopeful. Would the ZepIR guys have any interest in this sort of project. One could conjure that ties in to Apple's digital hub strategy... whatya Craig Treleaven, Clearview Consulting (905) 829-2054 craigt@globalserve.net ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 21:59:48 -0500 From: Craig Treleaven Subject: Re: Controlling non-Applescript Applications? >on 11/13/01 2:24 PM, Chad A Gard at gard@indy.net wrote: > >> I have about 400 CD's I >> want to rip to mp3 (only about 100 done) > > >Do you often get audio 'blips' or skips in your mp3 files? I, too have 400 >cd's that I ripped using iTunes at 320 VBR. After I ripped them all (took >about 3 months of ripping), I noticed that about 20% of my songs have >artifacts. Do you get these too? > >It might be that the CD player in my Powerbook is going bad (I used it as an >aux ripper drive when I was busy on the tower. > >Jason I ripped mine with SoundJam and I've never noticed any audible problems in the MP3's (192 kbps, fixed bitrate). BTW, I think iTunes is more prone to stuttering during playback than SoundJam. Today, I was fooling around in GraphicConverter and most file open/save operations caused iTunes to stop playing. Craig ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 03:41:11 -0500 From: "Mark F. Nettleingham" Subject: Re: New Version 3.7.0 One case for a PowerKey is that if the Mac doesn't restart from the ADB it can (and will I believe) remove and restore AC power. The result is a absolutely faithful restart. It's been over six months since I installed a PowerKey and I haven't manually restarted my HA Macintosh since. The only problem I've noticed is that occasionally my HA Mac slows down a bit and the SRO option thinks it hung and restarts. This could probably be tuned a bit, but It's not been that much of a problem so I just ignore the restarts. Looking at the log PowerKey has restarted my Mac a total of 11 times, not counting the one day that I installed some buggy software (Carbon Lib 1.3). You might try e-bay (there is one for sale there now, it's currently at $15.00). Every time I've looked there has been at least one for sale. Note: The SRO (Server Restart Option) is built into each PowerKey Pro, all you have to do is order the "upgrade" from Sophisticated Circuits (you give them the serial number and they send you the software and a "key" that unlocks the SRO feature). I'm currently waiting for the USB version which is "Coming Soon!" according to their web site. > > Can someone tell me where they bought the auto restart gadget that attaches >> to ADB, which one is best, and where I order one? (I wonder Michael if you >> should support a particular one where Xtension sends the keep alive pulses?) > >It's very easy to integrate Rebound! with Xtension. A simple AppleScript >tickles the Rebound! dongle and lets it know that Xtension is still alive. I >used one with a Power Mac 7500 for over a year -- worked like a charm. > >(Rebound is the same technology built into the PowerKey, also from >Sophisticated Circuits, but costs less if you don't need the whole power >strip.) - -- Mark F. Nettleingham markfn@home.com ------------------------------ End of XTension digest V1 #427 ******************************