Cedric Chang wrote:
> Have you looked at INSTEON as a successor to X-10 ?
> Cedric

Odd method of quoting, I've fixed it at least you trimmed and
didn't top post, thank you. ;-)

Yes, there are very good things about Insteon and some annoying
things.

The good:

  X10 compatible - controllers can respond to X10 if programmed to
  handle X10. Power line transceiver can handle both X10 and
  Insteon. Insteon protocol is closed loop (yeah!). It's also
  a bit more programmable. It's much faster than 50 bps,
  normally about 2kbps and the protocol is more flexible.

The bad:

   In its infancy (it's getting there) so it has growing pains.
   The quality of the devices comes into question from time to
   time. The interface protocol (and the Insteon protocol) is
   not free. It was $99 for a dev kit, it's now $199 and the
   only difference is the Windows software (grr, windows tax).
   The signal suffers from the same black hole and other
   mysteries that X10 does. The protocol is also more
   complicated.

When Insteon was first introduced I spoke with a gentleman
there who had no problem with my Open Source software explaining
how it talks to the PLC. He's now gone and his replacement and
I haven't exactly been able to see eye to eye on a great many
things. I worry that the permission I received may be revoked.
The License/Dev Agreement says one thing, the first representative
gave permission for limited information sharing. This has me
worried. I'm still continuing to work on my Open Source code
but tip-toeing along (my book, school, work, family etc).

BTW, there is also UPB (US and Canada only) and ZWave. ZWave
and I didn't see eye to eye on the Open Source issues but
someone else seems to have resolved that issue.

I hope I've kept my personal opinion out of the above.
-- 
Linux Home Automation         Neil Cherry       ncherry@linuxha.com
http://www.linuxha.com/                         Main site
http://linuxha.blogspot.com/                    My HA Blog
Author of:    	Linux Smart Homes For Dummies
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