Ok people, thanks for all the suggestions so far.
We decided to use the LanBox LCE, and some Arduino's. However we now face quite some riddles on how to go about it... I wonder if someone has even used a LanBox on pd, afaics there is no mention of it on the list... Below, I will describe how I plan to do it.
My idea of the set up so far:
- LanBoxLCE and 12 channel switchpack for the motors and lamps control
signals (out) 2) arduino's + relay cards to monitor the end-of-line switches, other sensors in the space..etc. 3) all programming on pd, running on a linux (apodio) desktop computer.
questions, questions, questions:
- So I want to use the lanbox simply as an interface to send 'on/off'
control signals to the switchpack from pd. Do I need the [lanbox] pd external ? if yes, where can I find it ? Is there a compiled version somewhere (linux/windows) ? How do I configure the LanBox, is there a simple preset that I can just upload to it ? 'Read me.txt' says I have to update the firmware, the CD contains 'LCE-firmware v2.06.dat', but I have no clue what to do with it. 'LCeditPlus tutorial.html' speaks about LanBox-LC, only, not LCE...
- I want to read incoming data from 2 or 3 arduino's inputs and use
that to influence the output signals. I have some problems testing them on windows now: when I leave it plugged in and restart the computer, apparently the arduino is regarded as a mouse that goes crazy. The mousepointer jumps around the screen randomly and clicks everywhere...(strange but true!) On Linux I still have to get the arduino to work... In the pd patch for testing, all inputs seem to react somewhat together. There is a photoresistor connected to one inlet, but the others seem to react to it too.
- The LCedit+ 3.4 software for the lanbox is windows only, but I gather
I just need it to initialize the lanbox once, after wich I can just send it control signals from pd on Linux? There are examples for MaxMSP, not for pd. Should I switch to MaxMSP ?
Hope someone can shed some light on this...
Thank you, Tim