Late to the party: What's Rosetta?

I just read a few of the latest messages, enough to get my interest piqued. Is there a web site, or can someone cut/paste an explanation for me? Sounds like I might want one!

-Phil C.

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Reply to
prc1
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The correct spelling is now RoZetta. Dave Houston is working on this project and it promises to be a much needed "switchboard" of sorts to take the X10 TTL level output from a controller and translate it to another protocol such as Insteon or UPB. It will do much more than that too but that's the basic approach.

From:prc1 snipped-for-privacy@large.com

Reply to
BruceR

It's roZetta. It's a DIY project I'm working on that is based on a ZX-24 and will have 5 full duplex serial ports, two TTL ports and one pin that can be used for 10-bit ADC, DIO, or to output pulsetrains (modulated for IR or baseband for RF).

One serial port is highspeed and will connect to a PC. An optional 10/100 Ethernet port can be used instead of the PC connection. Jumpers will select between them. The ZX-24 firmware can be updated over the serial link. I still have to test whether it can be updated over the Ethernet port. There are virtual comm port drivers for the Lantronix xPort so the same software written for serial communications can also work over Ethernet.

The other four serial ports are 9600 MAX and will understand the communications protocols for the CM11A, CPU/XA, Ocelot, Leopard, Smarthome

2414S, PCS UPB PIM, MR26 and a few other devices. I'm willing to consider anything for which I can get the documentation and someone will loan me the hardware. Bruce Robin has sent me a 2414S and UPB interface along with lamp modules for each so my hands are full for now. It cannot support USB devices as the ZX-24 has nowhere near the horsepower to be a USB host. For those who have no RS232 ports on their PC I will recommend a USB/serial adapter that is known to work with roZetta.

The two TTL ports will understand the X-10 PLC protocol (i.e. TW523/PL513).

roZetta will translate between the various protocols so that signals arriving on any port can trigger an output on any other port. Programming will be kept as simple as possible. I will try to design it so users can support any serial device for which they know the ASCII (or binary protocol) and for which there is no handshaking.

It will have a capacitor backed RTC so events can be scheduled by time of day. It will either compute dawn/dusk or use lookup tables. As I recall, it only took a few more bytes to compute it than to do lookup with the BX-24 - I expect the ZX-24 to be a bit more efficient.

I got the final parts I need today to build a prototype using a BX24-AHT board. I'll have a couple of boards for a dedicated design in 2-3 weeks and expect to be ready for release a few weeks after that.

I've revised the design to use more through hole components. It will be available as a bare board (with the remaining SMT components preinstalled) with a bill of materials (Mouser P/Ns) or assembled with the exception of the chips (socketed) and optional Ethernet port (Lantronix xPort). It will fit a standard Polycase enclosure but you will have to cut the openings for the ports. I've tried to cut cost where possible. It will require a +5V

*regulated* power supply. I will supply part numbers for reliable sources.

It will allow those with an investment in X-10 based controllers (HAI, JDS, etc.) and devices to continue to use them with the newer PLC protocols that have recently been introduced.

I'm estimating a final cost of $100-175 depending on options and on whether you do some of the assembly. Four of the serial ports use RJ11. I'll design adapters for the CM11A, and for DB9.

There's no web page yet but I'll try to get >I just read a few of the latest messages, enough to get my interest

Reply to
Dave Houston

I need to weasel out of that just a bit.

The ZX-24 only has 32K of EEPROM which is used both for program and data storage. While I've added a socket for a 64K I²C EEPROM for additional data, the ZX-24 onboard EEPROM still has to be treated as a scarce commodity. Adding native support for protocols will use up some EEPROM so I need to be selective, supporting only those devices that are most common. ASCII and binary protocols that do not require handshaking can be supported without roZetta needing to know anything about them so they only use up data memory.

I've socketed the I²C EEPROM so it can be easily replaced, if necessary. I'm specifying a Microchip EEPROM that can withstand 1,000,000 erase/write cycles which means it might wear out with frequent changes to the data. With one erase/write cycle per day it will need replacing in 4742. YMMV. ;-^)

Reply to
Dave Houston

Dave--

Thanks for the info. Although I've just put together a BX24-AHT system (and bought two more PC boards besides), I'll have to get one of these also. I'll be watching for further developments...

Regards, Phil C.

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Reply to
prc1

Phil,

After I get roZetta released and after I port the BX24-AHT code to the ZX-24 chip, I will try to update the BX-24 version. It will require adding a piggyback EEPROM to the BX-24 chip and can do nothing to improve the BX-24 software UART. However, my health (or lack thereof) may intervene before I get that far.

As I noted in another thread, Jeff says he's down to a dozen BX24-AHT boards.

Jeff has the BasicX source >Dave--

Reply to
Dave Houston

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