Philips has officially announced that ProntoEdit (the PC software for Pronto) will be demonstrated at the CES show 1/7-1/10/99 in Las Vegas.
Further, the press release announces that the software will be available via the website (www.pronto.philips.com) when released in January.

Cables will be available at no cost to registered users and authorized dealers at the time of release.

I would suspect that the posting of software could be timed with the actual CES show so mark your calendars to check the website accordingly. I would also suggest that all users register their Pronto ownership at the website sooner rather than later as cables could be sent prior to software release.
I will also post a pinout of the cable prior to for those who can't wait for the "real thing", should the software post before cables are shipped.

Finally, I hope everyone can appreciate that I have posted items of interest on this site as food for thought and that if I were able to control software release, I certainly would have provided it. However, I also appreciate that there were a few items to iron out prior to release so this of course takes some time on behalf of the software engineers involved.
I'd also like to point out that there are a few other software beta sites that haven't seemed to post here at all.
Thank you to all who have interest in Pronto as I believe you'll find it is worth the wait.

Great !!!

If you are using your cable to determine pin out by "ringing" it out. Be sure to check if any pins are also shorted together. Often on "simple" interfaces like this some hand shaking signals are faked out by shorting pins or grounding (like DTR and GND).

Than You, Thank You Jack. Your input has been most helpful and greatly appreciated. You have kept us posted in a most timely manner. And, no doubt, we will still need your sage comments after we get the software next month.
Don Coleman

jack, that www doesnt go thru. is it a correct address?

The complete software press release has been posted here.

Jack,
Thank you very much for your efforts in this forum. I know I have benifited from your thoughts and perspectives. Keep up the good work! BTW, I look forward to hearing more about the integration of smartlink and Pronto.

Thanks again,
Clay W.

Bill,
Just checked www.pronto.philips.com, works fine. Perhaps you used phiLLips?

George,
The old serial kind a guy I am, I will be suer to advise specifics as to pins shorted for flow control.
Thanks though as it's worth noting for others.

Clay,
I completed the integration of Pronto to SmartLinc in one of our "demo" rooms yesterday. Works great!
In essence, the Pronto has one button X-10 commands for main "events" such as MX-130/DVD, MX-130/Laser Disc, etc. These one button events (X-10) actually fire macros within SmartLinc. The idea is that power control is still an issue that SmartLinc needs to handle because Pronto can't know the state of power of each piece of A/V gear. However, after an initial selection is chosen, Pronto can talk directly to the equipment oc course, no problem (conflicts) as the appropriate gear is already powered. Of course this also provide full lighting control via TouchLinc dimmers as well as any other device like screens etc. HouseLinc has some great "probes" for monitoring equipment state via high and low voltages present, video present, light present, etc. They are connected back to the HouseLinc system via BOBs (Break out Boxes) so it really provides for great overall control. One day soon, I expect that SmartLinc will build an actual IR to HouseLinc data bridge of their own but for the time being, I am doing via an X-10 unit which takes the IR from Pronto and converts it to an X-10 signal that HouseLinc uses to fire the macros.
Of course because HouseLinc also links to TouchLinc, the hardwired TouchLinc can also run the same set of commands that Pronto has available, although not to the degree as it really has no purpose. The preferred method is of course fully wireless.
However, I really see that both systems have their purpose and especially when they're linked because there are places in the home that a "wall mounted touchscreen is preferred over a wireless type.

Jack -- I wish I had your "playground" :-)

Will there be a way to connect the Pronto to a USB port? It would be nice to be able to simply plug the Pronto into a USB port on the back of a USB keyboard than fussing with serial connections behind the PC.

Sorry, Pronto doesn't have any USB support. The more hardware we put in, the more power is drawn, and battery life is pretty crutial for a remote. We picked the serial port because everyone has one, portables included.

By the way, we've no intention of keeping the cable pinout a secret. Remember that it costs us money to send out those 'free' cables, so if someone wants to make their own, we're not going to complain :-) provided they don't call us for support when their home-made cable doesn't work, of course...

Last time I spoke to a hardware engineer, he was going to double-check that Pronto couldn't be damaged by an incorrectly-constructed cable, but that's about the only issue I can see.

Jack..

Is the Pronto software release going to include the........Mac!?

Please, Please, Please with sugar on top??!!

Wynn,
To my knowledge, there is not a Mac version at this time. I beleive that the Philips engineering team wrote the application in a Win environment to satisfy the largest number of computers in the field. While I'm not a Mac user, I thought there was some sort of Win emulation available in a Mac system? Although I cannot speak officially, I wouldn't expect a Mac version soon.
Sorry.

WARNING: The following post contains sweeping generalizations and may offend some users. Read at own risk! ;-)

The lack of Macintosh support for this product seems to be a bit odd. (To me, anyway)

It may be true that the Mac only accounts for small percentage of the computer market*, but the Pronto is not a mass market device. It is being marketed to those people that have (argueably) more than 6 components in their A/V system and are willing to spend good money to simplify the control of their system. Of the people that I know that fall into this catagory (I can think of 9, including myself), only two people have a Wintel PC. I would bet that there are more Mac users interested in your product than you think.

A connection kit (cable/software) for the Mac would not be significantly more expensive. The cable would likely be the same cost as the PC version, and the software, could be ported for a fraction* of the development costs for the Windows version. Most Mac users are used to paying a premium for the right product, you would be doing yourself a favour to remember that when trying to sell a $400 remote control.

Also, I noticed the default interface for the Pronto is, very obviously, "heavily influenced" by Apple's HyperCard. The Home button is almost pixel-for-pixel exact and the buttons and text are very similar. I am not implying that you owe anything to Apple, just that a Mac user would likely find your product to be more familiar and more likely to buy the Pronto than a competeing product. One of the main reasons why I am considering buying a Pronto is the interface. It is very clean and intuitive which, by the testimony of the posts on this site, makes the product very easy to setup and use. Coincidentally, this is also the very same reason why Mac users insist on using the Mac OS. And, probably, why Windows users don't know why the Mac is so great.

(I warned you about the sweeping generalizations)

Robin

*There is a great article at [Link: MacKiDo.com] that covers this subject.