Does anyone know how the commands that the PC sends to the firecracker unit? I am learning to program 3Com's palm pilot series, and would love to write an ap that would control my house w/ my pilot.

Since the firecracker isn't physically attached to the wiring of your house, I would say that the little firecracker sends an RF command just like the other wireless remotes.

Does anyone know if this explanation is correct?

The other alternative is for the firecracker to send a command that goes thru your computer and out it's electrical cord into the house wiring. But I don't really see how that is likely.

The Palm Pilot couldn't emulate what the firecracker transmit because its a RF signal.

Your palm pilot (if Palm III or higher) can send IR commands, but it is usually to other Palm pilots. If you can reprogram it somehow to send custom IR commands, I would think it's possible to use an IR543 to convert those IR signals to an X-10 powerline signal.

Just don't ask me how. I couldn't figure it out in a million years! ;)

Roland

Actually, I need to know if anyone knows the serial communication commands. The Palms also have an RS232 serial port. I intended to use this. If nobody has this info, I think I can hook a null modem (crossover) serial cable between my two serial ports. I will have the firecracker software emit commands on com1, and set up a terminal program to catch them on com2. Then all that's left is to look at the bits and figure out the protocol. However, if someone's already done this, no point in reinventing the wheel.

The protocol for the Firecracker can be found here:

[Link: x10.com]

Hope that helps!
Jonathan

the Firecracker doesn't send ASCII to the serial port. It works by pulsing the DTR and RTS lines. (This is how it is able to be a pass-through device).

I've found an ActiveX control for the firecracker that can be programed with any COM software such as Visual basic, C++, ASP etc.

Mike,

Could you post where to get the ActiveX?

Here's a couple X-10 Related ActiveX sites I know of. I'm not a programmer (at least not a good one), so I don't know the usefulness of these links.

[Link: ieenet.com]
[Link: gunnsys.com]
[Link: keware.com]

Hope these help...

Roland