JP1 Remotes

I'm done!

The final (for now) version of "The WHAT and WHY of JP1" is in the Yahoo! Groups JP1 Help section. Hopefully, all the technical errors have been removed. (If not, I trust someone will let me know so that I don't confuse anyone else.)

My thanks to those of you who offered constructive criticism, especially to Jon Armstrong who undertook a detailed review of two drafts of the document and who suggested a number of improvements. I'll continue to monitor this post for further comments. And, as necessary, I'll make further revisions.

Thanks again to everyone who helped.
Don

Don,

You asked for feedback from newbies as to the usefulness of the document: I would just like to say that I think it hits the spot extremely well in giving a 'systems' view of the whole JP1 world. I am a newbie to JP1; I have done enough (and learned enough in this forum) to get a moderately simple JP1 setup working and I would have found that a lot easier with this document in hand. I will certainly use this document again if I find the need to venture into extenders, for example.

One minor question: in 11.5 you refer to the 'Device Multiplexer' protocol. I'm not familar with that: is it the same as the Device Combiner? If not, I'd suggest that the Device Combiner is generally useful enough to warrant a mention in this section, if only for its ability to specify repeated commands.

Excellent work!

Moderators, I suggest this document be made 'sticky' in the Beginners Forum so people can easily find it.

forestial wrote:Moderators, I suggest this document be made 'sticky' in the Beginners Forum so people can easily find it.

I added it to the Software Tools thread.

Thanks "forestial" and Mark.

Device Combiner is not the same as Device Multiplexor. And, you're right; Device Combiner should get some exposure in the manual. Unfortunately, I've never used Device Combiner - which is why it was missed. I'll do a little research over the weekend and add a paragraph or two.
Don

The Robman wrote:Also, you refer to JP1 as JP-1 which would probably hinder people from finding it when using a search engine.

DGG -

Not sure if these were supposed to all change to JP1 but the document
seems to still switch from JP1 to JP-1 from paragraph to paragraph.
Sorry if this is too nit-picky.

Thanks "sfhub". Old habits die hard. As you can see, Rob made a similar comment early-on and I changed them all at that time. Then I reorganized the book and some more JP-1's creat back in. I'll be posting an updated version later this week and I guarantee there will be no JP-1s in it.

Don

Great Job!! I wish I had this reference when I started. Nice concise explaination of JP1...

Congratulations 8) on a very good introduction into JP1.

Would have assisted me considerably when I first started and saved a lot of basic questions to the forum.

Now >90 posts on, there is still much for me in the content.

Thank you

7. Keymap-Master (KM) wrote:Incidentally, KM also supports the specification of externally triggered functions i.e., the ability to have a function on the device to which the upgrade applies to be “triggered” by a keypress on the remote when another device is active. This capability is labelled, simply, “KeyMoves”. It permits, for example, when creating an upgrade for a receiver that has a variety of signal input selections, the specification of a key on another device that will select the appropriate input on the receiver when that other device is the active device on the remote.

8. Remote-Master (RM) wrote:RM, too, supports the specification of external functions. However, its External Functions capability is quite different from KM’s. In RM, external functions are functions performed on other devices that are triggered by a key on the device to which the upgrade is to be applied (when it is the active device). So, essentially, it is the inverse of RM’s KeyMove capability. Using a similar example to that used for KM’s external functions, RM’s External Function capability allows a function, and hence a key, to be specified in a TV upgrade that would select the appropriate input on the Audio device.

In the RM paragraph it says "the inverse of RM’s KeyMove capability" which was probably meant to say "the inverse of KM’s KeyMove capability". However, there's a slight misconception/inaccuracy here.

KM's Key Moves sheet does allow a function from the current device (that the upgrade is for) to be assigned to another (external) device. However, these should not be confused with "external functions".

As described in the RM paragraph above, an "external function" is a key move bound to the current device that is actually a function from another device (hence the term "external"). KM also has this feature, as documented in the readme. External functions are setup on the Functions sheet using a special (and admittedly ugly) syntax.

So, while RM's External Functions can be thought of as "the inverse of KM's Key Moves", KM's "external function" capability is the essentially the SAME as RM's, though the syntax and user interface are different.

Thanks for the kudos, all - both public and private. And thanks Mark for bringing that KM/RM discrepancy to my attention. Actually, I meant to fix that earlier. (We had discussed it briefly in another thread a week or so ago.) But, it slipped my mind.

As some of you may have noticed, the manual has undergone frequent revision since it was initially posted a couple of weeks ago. Some of those changes were to improve presentation. Others were to add topics several of you suggested.

Generally, I am now happy with it and have posted yet another update. I don't anticipate initiating any more changes in the near future. However, if someone sees an oversight/error, please say so, and I'll fix it ASAP. If there are additional area you would like to see covered, please let me know and I'll see what I can do.

The manual probably won't become a best-seller. But, from the comments I've received, it appears to be serving the purpose I intended.

Don

A new version of "The WHAT and WHY of JP1" has been posted.

Like several other JP1ers who have posted recently, timing of my double/long keypresses seemed inconsistent. I recently spent some time exploring the problem and found several things that helped.

In addition to further improvements in readability, the new version of the manual, in Section 10.4, includes some hints for making special protocol timing more consistent.
Don

Great job....this will breed many more JP1ers.