On 8/25/07, Ronald L. Rosson Jr. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I currently have a NET4501 sitting on the shelf doing nothing since > it was replaced by my NET4801 as a firewall running pfSense. > > I am looking for a low cost solution to have this system do something > that can benefit my network that the NET4801 is not doing at the moment. > > any idea? > > TIA >
Might not benefit a network greatly... I enjoyed writing software for an X10 system using a (rs232 serial controlled) CM11a device. Its for a system called X10, which is basicly a relay system that communicates over house wiring, you can turn lights on and off, control equipment, a hot tub, whatever. In fact, you could force a soekris to power off and back on again remotely, should it freeze cold. You can also overhear x10 talk on the wire and report it, so you can get crazy with simple relays: detect motion in the yard, turn on a house light, run a video recorder, and run a tape player of dog barks? You get the idea. X10 is 70's technology, its incredibly stupid, and theres no place in the protocol for acknowledgment or re-transmits. If you really get into programming a CM11a directly, you'll find all kinds of idiosyncrasies of bit-saving. I recall how the internal clock pretended there were 12 hours in a day, 120 minutes per. I cut my teeth on C with this device, and learned a great deal. Theres a lot of fun and learning to be had if you're into that kind of thing. There are other X10 transmitters, but I did not find them as reliable as os-independant as a rs-232 controlled cm11a. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X10_%28industry_standard%29 http://www.pigselectronics.com/products/cartfrm.htm Sometimes i would "verhear unintelligible x10 talk on the wire, and I would tell things to turn on or off three times a few seconds apart, because it really isn't all that reliable, and messages can get muffed. I wouldn't use it for anything but play and fun. _______________________________________________ Soekris-tech mailing list [email protected] http://lists.soekris.com/mailman/listinfo/soekris-tech
