

  Kraqer - X-10 FireCracker Module Control Software, v1.0

  Curtis Brown <mrbrown8@juno.com>



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what is it

This program is used to send commands to X10's FireCracker module. The
Firecracker is a keychain-sized device that plugs into a serial port of a
PC and sends commands to X10 (and compatible?) devices. Because the
FireCracker is a transmitter only, it cannot receive commands and such. The
FireCracker is also a pass-thorough device in that you can attach other
serial devices, such as a mouse, on the back of it.

The software was written for the 8086 class of PCs, well suited for the
oldest of XTs and Hewlett-Packard's line of DOS based palmtops, including
95LX, 100LX, and 200LX. So far, this program has only been tested on a HP
200LX palmtop.

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why I wrote it

This is effort to give back to the Palmtop community. It is my hope that it
becomes useful for other people. I do have visions of creating a GUI
frontend using the PAL libraries for palmtop users, but only if there is
sufficient interest. Therefore, *any* comments/questions/suggestions/
complaints/donations are welcomed. Any donations received will be given to
the International Campaign for Tibet.

______________________________
more information

I first bought my FireCracker based on a Freshmeat.net article:
http://freshmeat.net/news/1999/07/10/931665599.html

However, the X10 web page that had the sale now seems defunct. Any
information about the FireCracker appears here:
http://www.x10.com/firecracker/fc_x10_cm17a_br1.htm

There's a project to use the Firecracker under Linux, called BottleRocket:
http://mlug.missouri.edu/~tymm/

The algorithms used in my software I believe to be original. I have NOT
seen any of the source code used the BottleRocket project or any other 
project. I have only used their web pages to research other information.

Under the BottleRocket page, they site the protocol for the Firecracker:
http://www.x10.com/manuals/cm17a_proto.txt

The serial routines, provided by David Kessner, are available from Simtel:
http://www.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/c/asynlib2.zip
Thank you David!!

Borland's Turbo C v3.0 was used to compile the source. A project file is
included. Also, asyncs.obj was used from the serial routine package, but
was renamed to async.obj for linking. Turbo C is available for free
download at http://community.borland.com/museum/

_________________________________
copyright / license / legal crap

This software package, collectivly known as Kraqer, is copyrighted (C)
2000,2001 by Curtis Brown, with the exeption of the asynchronous serial
routines. I believe these were placed into public domain by David Kessner. 
The licence in force is the GNU General Public License.