> > Anybody using the LON these days?

No.  I looked at it seriously too, both for home and commercial use,
but concluded that its 1) too complicated and 2) too proprietary, and
therefore 3) too expensive.  In turn, the critical mass of equipment
which conforms is NOT there.  Nothing like a second source to keep
you honest and keep costs low, LONworks has none.

I, too, have hacked various home control systems, and wished for
some backbone protocol that would be cheap enough that small
companies could build around.  Something as simple and cheap as
X-10, but that worked.

X-10 is so lousy in some applications, that it falls into the
not quite expensive enough catagory.  Is very old tech, and cost
performance is no longer good enough.

I like the fact the LONworks defines several media and how to
interconnect them.  Its important to be able to mix IR, RF, wired and
Powerline, because most of us can't afford to start over.

There is a newsgroup for home control, comp.embedded.home or some
such.  Anybody here follow it?  Any consensus on an emerging
standard?

> The CAN bus looks attractive, what pitfalls await the hapless
> > developer, will I get screwed blind by some accountant, lawyer,
> > vampire (previous two occupations rolled into one) wanting their
> > royalties and requiring expensive proprietary tools?

I *thought* CAN bus was an open standard, attempting to be the
automobile internal LAN.  (So the door lock computer can chat with
the left rear tire computer, ad nauseum.)  Can anyone confirm or
deny that its open / liscense free?

I'll bet there's plenty of CAN expertise on forums about Motorola
micros, since Motorola was an early adopter / developer of CAN, and
their high end microcontrollers have built-in CAN bus peripherals.

>
> EDN just ran a story about "Home Networking" protocols,
> which -- since they were being marketed in that direction --
> included some protocols that were traditionally used in
> industrial applications, such as LONworks.

Well put.

> After reading the article, I had the overwhelming reaction
> that this home networking stuff was in dire need of an
> "open source" type solution.

Yes!  My reaction too.  I'll bet there is an emerging standard
amongst home-control hackers.  I'm betting on RS-485 half duplex
or its analog (you should pardon the expression) on powerline
carrier.  But maybe since 10baseT is getting so cheap... Nah. ?

I agree with Bob that if a good system was promoted using the
"open source" (and "open schematic"? for the hardware) model, it
might take off.  But early fragmentation kills these things, so
that's why I want to know what others are doing right now.

Its time to go hit the 'net newsgroups and the web sites for the
doorbell, alarm, high end stereo, and automatic sprinkler
manufacturers.  Many of these guys are small, and in reality I think
they will drive the market for real home control that can be cheap,
extendable, and reliable.

Easy for me to say, I have babies at home.  One hobby at a time :)

------------
Barry King, KA1NLH
Engineering Manager
NRG Systems "Measuring the Wind's Energy"
Hinesburg, Vermont, USA
www.nrgsystems.com