[Coco] The CM17A "FireCracker" does work on the Coco

[K. Pruitt]

It works very well and is really simple to use on the coco.

No hardware mods required.  Just plug a DB25 to DB9 serial adapter in to the 
RS232 pack and plug the firecracker in to the adapter and it just works.

This will turn Unit 1, House A, On.

10 DIM C(40)
20 FOR D=1 TO 40
30 READ C(D)
40 POKE &HFF6A,C(D)
50 POKE &HFF6A,&H0D
60 NEXT D
70 DATA 8,8,1,8,1,8,1,8,8,1,8,1,8,1,8,1
80 DATA 1,8,8,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1
90 DATA 8,1,8,1,8,8,1,8

It doesn't get much easier than that.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sean"
To: "CoCoList for Color Computer Enthusiasts" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2015 12:15 PM
Subject: Re: [Coco] The CM17A "FireCracker" does work on the Coco


> Oh neat, I bought one of those many years ago and played around with it on
> the PC.  Never thought of trying it with a CoCo!
>
> On Thu, Jan 15, 2015 at 7:27 PM, K. Pruitt wrote:
>
>> A few nights ago I was thinking about trying out Marty Goodman's DC Modem
>> conversion to make it in to a host for an X10 CM17A Firecracker module.
>> Well it dawned on me that I had a perfectly good RS232 pack sitting here
>> doing nothing, so I ordered myself a  DB25 to DB9 adapter which arrived
>> today, and just a short while later. I had it working.  It can be 
>> accessed
>> by simple basic pokes which of course means writing software for it for 
>> use
>> under OS-9 is not going to be an issue and for those folks who like DECB
>> they can use it without even using assembly.
>>
>> So if anybody else would like to play around with remote control of lamps
>> and such, the inexpensive firecracker (CM17A) does work on our cocos via
>> the RS232 pack.
>>
>> All I have written now is a little Basic "proof of concept" program that
>> turns on unit 1 on house A.  I'll be doing a command line utility for 
>> OS-9
>> that's will be a bit more full featured and useful.
>>
>> The firecracker should work on the drivewire cable as well..  But I'm not
>> so sure how much drivewire would like the RTS and DTR signals being 
>> messed
>> with so I'll stick with the RS232 pack.
>>