[AD] My Linux HA book is done! (yeah :-)

Cool ! And eligible for free shipping to boot. Got a 'Dummy' on the way.

( I'm in the throes reconfiguring my HA systems for parallel use of inputs by more than one control system. There's no insurmountable obstacle to Linux-based controller(s) or devices being used in parallel with other PC-based controllers (CyberHouse, CQS, Homeseer) or microcontrollers, for sensor and actuator data that stays in the analog realm within the signal path. Let them compete for authority and control, as it were ... ;-)

... Marc Marc_F_Hult

But only if you order more than $25 (US).

There's nothing in this book about bringing up a controller with Linux but another author will have an article in the September or October Linux Journal to that effect. I'll let him speak for himself in case I wasn't supposed to say anthing about it. I know I'll be buying a copy.

I just took a look on Amazon and there's a $14.87 under 4 new and used! My gosh I'm being discounted liked a can of beans. :-)

Not necessarily, I understand your question and another way to word it is:

Why isn't the book released under the Creative Commons license?

I don't have a good answer for you. All I know is that Wiley came to me asking if I would write about Linux and Home Automation. It's like a lot of the magazines do (though I would have made a lot more writing magazine articles than writing the book).

Writing the book will not limit my support for Linux or Home Automation and I'm not going to start charging for my normal support. BTW, you're not paying for the software, that's Open Source (except Twonky) and I have the links to everything. Even my code I wrote in the book is Open Source. I argued that point early on, my contract stipulated that any software I wrote for the book was the propery of Wiley. So I didn't write any software for the book. :-) I just include my software for my home automation.

But I think that there is ;-) -- at least by my own slippery definition of 'controller', which can include controlling only part(s) of a 'federated' system.

For example, Neil's chapter on rolling your own telephone PBX / VOIP is worth the price of admission all by itself in my opinion. This was something that I knew next to nothing about before starting the read.

I even got to like the writing style. (The "Dummy" theme grated a bit at first.)

Well done! Thanks for your effort. I hope that you earn a nickel or two also.

... Marc Marc_F_Hult

-[a bit OT from the book posting ]------

I proposed a Linux based SBC (no MMU use) for the HCS (I call it the HCS-L). I received a few no votes and got a bit wound up on the definition of embedded. Robert Morrison, the engineer who created the HCS_C, did save my butt by posting that he's still supporting the HCS_C (the FPGA is beyond me). I'm still going forward with the HCS-L. Right now I'm working on the daemon (my own code or a GPL library) and the XPRESS parser (an interpreted language based on the original HCS II XPRESS). Lots of work is needed but it's do-able. One thing I must do is tidy up the web site. It has lots of information but is so disorganized I can't find anything!

This is not in the book, the HCS-L came to me after my main Linux server running Mr. House started having a sector with bad ECC (grr). I'm going to bring the HCS II out or retirement (actually it's the Spectra-Sense 2000) for a little while as a redundant system. I've ordered a 200MHz ARM board that should arrive tomorrow. I'll begin sometime after that getting it working. I have another project in between that I must finish.

I'm not sure I understand but I fully intend the HCS-L to be flexible and play nice with everyone else. I intend to create daemons that permit communication from XPRESS to comm-links (remote u-controllers) and 'soft-links' (software emulation of comm-links). The soft-link can be a demon, a remote IP attached device (such as on a terminal server) or a directly attached device on one of the ports of the HCS-L (such as USB or Serial port). A soft-link can be anything (so I can replace the HCS II X10 module with an Insteon module for example). I haven't figure how to add the extra commands to XPRESS so it can dynamically add 'libraries'. Oh outside software will be able to connect to the daemons to send and receive commands. That way Software such as Mr. House and other PC-based controllers (CyberHouse, CQS, Homeseer) or microcontrollers, can interoperate with it. the software will remain 'open source' but I haven't determined all the licenses (most will be GPL V2).

Wow, thanks that's quite a compliment! It's the chapter I'm most proud of (I spent 3 months on it).

That was a really tough thing to learn (the style), the editors are really patient and they even told me I'm not close to being the worse author they've dealt with (Yikes!).

I was paid for the effort but not for the time. I doubt I'll ever see the royalties as I need to sell a certain amount before I see royalties. But I didn't write it for money. :-) If they ever need it to be updated I'll do it.

That's the heart and soul of good teaching: One person spends a day (or a month or a lifetime) conquering a topic and how to communicate it so that many others can spend only minutes (or hours or a semester) to grasp the essence.

(Would that more folks took the time to consider and refine what they write in this newsgroup! )

... Marc Marc_F_Hult

One of my coworkers bought the book and the Linksys SPA-3102 (replaces the Sipura SPA-3000). I have both working. He's having trouble with his setup I'll let you know if I made any errors in the chapter and what the corrections need to be to get things working. I know I made one mistake in the dial plan for the SPA (as opposed to the Asterisk's dial plan). I missed the 7 digit dialing (rats!). I need to provide an update for that.