Interesting idea. Here is my experience from the Yahoo site where Crestron talk and programs thrive ( never did much Pronto so others can speak about this site and who participates ). Far too many DIY's though being a DIY is not inherenly bad. Some of the DIY's who do participate are really knowledgable and helpful. Being a degreed programmer can be very helpful when control system programming is involved. But those who participate are very few in number.

Many "professionals" who are little different from the DIYs. They troll for free code and help but rarely participate. In theory I love the idea of such a site wherever it might exist. The idea of a community of professionals selflessly helping each other and providing not merely information but product ( which is what code is ) is laudable. In practice it is utopian. Somehow the Lynux communiity makes it work but that is the exception not the rule.

Also providing a site for help on every conceivable control system in the world is a bit unwieldily. A site devoted to all sorts of Prontos is large enough. How would you organize, Crestron, AMX, Elan, Niles,Sonance,Digilynx, and the many like Control4 about to blast on to the market ( And how about that marketing strategy of showing up at CEDIA making a big splash and shipping no product almost 5 months later ).

Unless you did in fact charge a fee and make some participation requirement ( such as x amount of programs, IR files, graphics and the like ) I cannot see any but the most idealistic and utopian would participate--but lots of people would passively consume. I do recognize that many Pronto screens, discrete IR codes, and all sorts of graphics are on this site. But my experience on the Yahoo site and amoung volunteer organizations, in general, is that most people are lazy and that the bulk of the work is done by a few but enjoyed passively by many consuming the work done by the few commited individuals.

In this era of Red State domination such a utopian outlook is like a drop of water to a man dying of thurst.

Alan

So is that a Yay! or a Nay! Alan??

I still receiver the Yahoo Crestron Group posts every day as I have quite an Archive of RS-232 Documents and still like toFire up VTPro/Simpl every now and then..... Thats probobly be best place right now to find an oddball RS-232 document....

oxjox' idea is interesting, buts its been tried before with little support, and I dont think RemoteCentral is the Venue to do somthing like that unless Daniel has a LOT of free time or wants to start adding a few Moderators......

A simple FIles area and a "RS-232 Control" Message are would be great... Pretty self Sustaining and stil relevant to the standard remote control community as RS232 can be utilized with ANY remote control with the addition of a Celedon box or Xantech IR-RS232 box.

well considering there are 4 areas for Pronto related stuff (CCF, PCF, icf, nCF) and 4 areas for HTM remotes (3000, 1000, 700/800, 500/600) and one for the T2 I think one for RS232 and possibly for others like Crestron or AMX would not be impossible

Not my call on whether to devote sections on every control system on the market but I would think it too large a territory to manage and therefore unfeasable in practice. It would be a daunting task to set up and manage.

Yay, in so far as I would participate ( on those I had experience. Not much use on those with whom I did not ) but I am also one of those inveterate folks who do most of the work at volunteer organizations. I post far fewer macros than I once did. In so far as sharing code I am more likely to pass it along privately to those who play as opposed to those who troll. I do like the ideal but dislike being made to feel the fool by the trolls. Help and fully functioning code are two very different matters.

I agree, but I would guess it could be like the remote forums where Daniel adds one if it is necessary (i.e. he thinks there would be enough traffic for a forum or if he gets enough files for a file section. So if you do want an XYZ file section the best thing to do is send in some configs or stuff. I think he said somewhere that 5 files where enough to warrant a file section.

as for the trolls or the guys that think it is all about helping themselves, I agree, but who cares, it is their loss, look at how many decided to come look and decided to stay and share their knowledge. I might have never met any of the people on these forums in person, but I do feel a bond with them and do consider myself richer for it, not to mention the good feeling of helping someone and all the knowledge I gained.

Well I, for one, would most likely "troll" at first. I have a foundational understanding of RS232 but do not know the individual control systems programming. However, as you can tell by my increasing participation, the knowledge is not simply wasted on me as I stay and help. I'd argue that the more information that you provide, the better able others are to help and less is needed/wanted from you as others knowledge grows and as the questions grow somewhat redundant. This will also help those in between apply better as, if they can explain it, they truly understand it... With regard to sharing fully functional code... who here programs the touch screen remotes and has saved hours of time by having available fully functional code for the remotes and not having to re-invent the wheel? Why not share fully functional code? If a sufficiently large archive were to be created here, wouldn't your installs of new products that you don't have modules for yet go quicker too? Just my $.02

The complexity of most of the systems that are in the caliber of crestron and amx would keep most DIY's at bay... not to mention that the few DIY's that could would ever get to do it on enough of a regular basis to even need that much data. Its simply for professional installers/programmers who try to interface control systems with external devices on a daily basis. Since this is now mostly 90% of my job task, i need access to solid, reliable information from the manufacturers in one central location. I love being on a job site when the customer wants to add a pair of Sharp LCD's in the kids rooms, interface to the security system, control the PTZ camera from the camera server, and open and close the pool top from their touchpanel, i have to write modules to interface to said equipment, and i have no internet access. Of course, the manufacturers of the pool control wanted to use a RJ12 connector for their RS-232 interface, the security system company wanted to use a DB25 connector and use some funky handshaking with their RS232 communications, the LCD's end up not having the ability to turn ON from the serial input, because when the LCD shuts off, so does the serial input, and there are not discrete IR codes for input selection, so i end up having to use both! The camera server uses some freaking black interface box with another DB25, and you have no pinouts... so you wait on hold with some company on the east coast, but since your on the west coast, its already closed. You finally get some dude in Australia who doesnt know what null-modem is. Once you get that sorted out, you then (too late) notice that it uses a wierd 6-pin RJ-12 looking cable, but the pin is off-set to one side so you cant make a custom cable because you cant find the right ends, and even if you did, YOUR CRIMPER WOULDNT CRIMP IT!!! Then you try to figure out why the PTZ camera keeps locking up before you have to go modify the module with one-shots to keep it from overloading the buffer and causing the server to crash while the camera constantly spins in a circle. After this, then you need to figure out why the rear projection DLP isnt responding to the serial data your sending it, wait on hold while you find someone who understands what a parity and checksums are. Meanwhile, the customer doesnt understand why it really isnt a good idea to put the controls for the pool top to open and close on their touchpanel in the master bedroom, and some dumbass punched the entire house down 568a when you specified 568b.


sigh...


i need a vacation...

this is why i dont think DIY's will even mess with what we are talking about

thanks for letting me rant.

cade.

Just look at the Crestron Yahoo site some time and you will find quite a few DIYs inhabiting it; many of whom are now *itching that Crestron no longer has its software freely available. Some of these folks are degreed programmers earning their bread writing C, C++, Java, Unix, and/or Windows develpment and figure why pay someone else lots of money for what I can do better. Many of these folks parse data in their sleep and have no problem calculating check sums in thier code in run time. In some few cases they are correct as many of them could outprogram any of us in their sleep. How many of us could write code controlling a Tivo? How many of us could actually parse feedback from a CD server to a touch panel from scratch? How many of us could write code controlling an iPOD --assuming a serial protocol existed?

There are 2 kinds of DIY. One is an honest hobbiest who occasionally needs help and who also participates providing help to others. The others are skum sucking leeches who forgot Lennon/McCartney's advice that "the love you take is equal to the love you make." In this respect they are not so different from some "pros" who also look to take help without providing anything in return. The only difference between the two is the DIY leech oozes contempt for those of us earning our bread from system's integration.

Personally, I have no problem with former and believe one should tell the latter to **ck off and not politely either. Strange how many of us have no problem providing help to the skum sucker. But DIY's exist and want to program their own systems. They may or may not play here but they certainly do on the Yahoo Crestron site.

Feel your pain. Been there done that. We are so overpaid for what we do, n'est pas?

Alan