To all new users of Indigo and X10 technologies. Unless you are using the excellent PowerLinc USB controller...

Order the Keyspan USB High Speed Serial Adapter
Keyspan Model #USA-19HS
http://keyspan.com/products/usb/USA19HS

You will need this to connect your OSX (and OS X Panther!) Macintosh to your X10 Controller. Controllers, most anyway, have a 9-pin serial port and you will need this serial port to USB adapter cable to connect your Mac to it. Do NOT bother ordering any other model of serial port/USB adapter cable like I just did...

I have a Macintosh Network. All are on Panther (OS X v10.3.2). I ordered hundreds of dollars worth of various X10 equipment, modules, two controllers, antenna, motion sensors, and Indigo. And I made the STUPID mistake of ordering the first USB/serial adapter (CPSTECHUSA.com model #CP-US-03) that I saw that said it supported Mac OSX... yeah, well it only supports upt to 10.2.6 AND their website is devoid of documentation AND their downloadable driver is just Mac.... not more specific than that and it turns out to be an OS 9 EXTENSION for the system folder. Grrr. Furious. Save yourself time and money. Just get the KeySpan Model #USA-19HS.

Do NOT order the CP Tech USA USB Serial Adapter CP-US-03. Use the Keyspan USA-19HS.

Waiting for the stores to open tomorrow. What was I thinking. Weakest link always breaks first, huh? I guess what infuriates me the most is that the stupid company CPSTECH printed right on the package "Mac OS X 10.X" What do they mean by 10.X??!! 10.1 and 10.2 but not 10.3. According to their tech dept. this module and many others use the same "chipset" and are all awaiting the OSX Panther driver. About a month they said.

Sorry, just had to rant and berate CPS TECH publicly. I apologize for my outrage.

Sincerely,
Ian Sears
ian@iansears.com

Thanks for the report Ian. Some other folks have tried various adapters with not much luck. The problem isn't the hardware itself, but the lack of quality drivers for OS X. Belkin has had an unusable beta driver for their adapter for months (maybe over a year by now). As far as I can tell it is absolutely worthless.

Griffin Technology also has a line of adapters: gPort, cubePort, etc. I have had good luck with my cubePort. It did take them a long time to come out with a Panther upgrade for the driver, but it seems to be working fine.

Keyspan has always had good driver support and they are the quickest to release new drivers for OS upgrades. They may cost a bit more, but it is definitely worth it.

Regards,
Matt

I'd just like to report that I'm using two of the IOGear USB-Serial adapters with Mac OS 10.3 (Panther) (one for my Lynx10-PLC and one for my W800RF32). This is the model GUC232A, they look really nice (one piece molded), they're small, high speed and $19.95 (at Cyberguys.com - otherwise $39.95 at IOGear). IOGear has the driver for Mac OS X 10.2 & higher:
http://www.iogear.com/support/drivers/IOGearDriver.dmg.sit
I have a Keyspan on another machine - all 3 work great for me.

Thanks for the report. I've had good luck with an IOGear KVM switch, but have never used their USB to serial adapters before. Good to hear that they work in OS X, and their price (through Cyberguys.com) is much less than the Keyspan adapters.

Regards,
Matt

I am new to X10 and was wondering if I am smarter to get a USB to serial adapter or get a Powerlinc USB controller??? I am using a G3 ibook with 10.3 if it matters. Thanks,
Setharet

You should get the PowerLinc USB, or if you want to be able to upload logic/schedules for offline (Mac not running) operation the PowerLinc Controller. They are both USB devices.

You would only want the KeySpan USB to serial adapter if you:

   - already have a serial based X10 interface, like the CM11

   - want to use a RF X10 interface, like the W800RF (which is a serial device). The W800RF32 will enhance the performance of receiving RF commands from motion detectors and remote controls, but it is not required to do home automation. You could use a plug-in X10 RF transceiver instead; it will just be slower.

Regards,
Matt

Wow...i wasn't expecting that fast of a responce...thanks matt!!! and i will be going with the powerlinc

Hi

I'm about to purchase Indigo and some other X10 bits and pieces. My house is already wired for X10 - a lot of LD11's located centrally.

I'm in the UK, so I won't be able to go down the PowerLinc route, so I'm going to purchase a CM11 and Keyspan adapter as advised on this forum.

I'm also intending to buy a W800 RF. So I'll need another Serial-USB interface.

All of these will be plugged into my old iMac, which only has 2 USB sockets. I already have a Phlink Telephone adapter plugged in, as well as a keyboard.

So I'll need to plug some of these into a USB hub. The Phlink doesn't seem to mind being plugged into the hub, but my keyboard does. However my bluetooth dongle is fine via the hub, so maybe I'll get a bluetooth keyboard and mouse. That will free up one of my iMac's USB ports.

I see that Keyspan also have a 4-way Serial-USB adapter - will this work with Indigo? If so I can plug bothe the W800 RF and the CM11 into this, which will save on USB socket on the iMac. It's a shame Keyspan don't do a 2 way adapter as the 4 way is overkill, and is quite pricey.

Any advice appreciated...

Ben

Actually, they do - Check here.

At any rate, it could be useful to have another serial port available for something else at a later date (eg. Weather Station).

That's a Mac Serial to USB adaptor though. The CM11 needs a PC 9 Pin D Connector.

I take your point about an extra serial port being useful. I was planning on buying Rain8 at a later date.

Ben

This is true.

I use the Twin Serial adapter with adapter cables to a CM-12 and an MR-32. I built the adapter cables myself (I bought them with a mini-din-8 already attached and the other end I soldered to a DB-9.



Best Regards




Steve

I now have the 4-way Keyspan adaptor and it's all working flawlessly!

Ben