Z-wave on Linux

Why not use the ZCS101 serial interface? If you have no serial ports, the kernel has built in support for FTDI and other SerialUSB adapters. I've tested with FTDI, Prolific and Silicon Labs based adapters on 8-10 of the most used Linux distros.

Byterunner has two very inexpensive adapters, one based on a Prolific chipset and one based on FTDI. (I've tested both USB-COM-CBL and Y-105 under Windows, Linux and OSX.) Spark Fun Electronics has Silicon Labs and FTDI based adapters but they are more for breadboarding and/or embedded development. (I've tested their CP2102 board - BOB-00198.)

While that is possible, the problem gets back to the SW. The ACT unit says it doesn't provide the SW, and all I've found on the z-wave SDK says it's for windows and not linux. I'd bee happy with the specs, as I'll be writing the SW for the actual interface, but again, it sounds like even the SDK provides the interface, but not the actual protocol to interface to the z-wave adapter. Am I missing something?

AFAIK it's an ASCII interface and the only way to get the API documentation is to purchase a developers kit from Zensys for oodles of moolah. You might find more info at LinuxMCE.

I haven't looked at Z-Wave in detail since shortly after it was introduced. The high cost (hardware and API), high complexity network (difficult to setup and maintain) and inherent limitations (there were a limited number of modules that could be used in a network with limited range and a limited number of hops between modules - you were likely to run out of modules/hops before you ran out of real estate) convinced me to forget it. It may have since been improved but I'm not going to waste time exploring it again. Zensys is now a division of a larger company and may not get a lot of attention or funding.

This might prove useful...

WOW! $3500 for the SDK/API doc? They CAN'T be serious!