OK guys, bear with me here.....
What is the current status of using the Epod for home theater control? I have read some of the X10 stuff (using the firecracker, etc), some of the VB stuff, etc...
Since I am an electrical engineer, I was thinking about using a low power 8 pin PIC microcontroller to interface to an IR emitter detector pair. The detector would be used for "learning" mode, aim you existing remote at it and hitting a button. Communication would be via the rs-232 port, which has the nice thumbscrews to support the PCB. I could power the PCB via a battery, or possibly steal power via the serial port (would have to look into that).
What would be nice about this is no other external "stuff" would be necessary, no networks, modules, etc.
The software could be written in VB, it seems people have gotten it to work, although I would need more explicit instructions on what software I need to download, etc to get whatever runtimes we would need....
I also do PCB layout, and would be happy to make the files and PIC source code available to anyone interested...
I guess what I am after is this: Is this a worthwhile endeavor? Is anyone interested? if so, does anyone care to walk me through via concise instructions on configuring the software (I have done lots of programming, so the actual software part is not a problem, just what development software do I really need?)
Well, I look forward to your feedback and constructive criticism. If this is a lousy idea, let me know that too, however I would like to keep this "Professional" and not have a flame war erupt!
Thanks!
