BUSnet needs you!
		With applogies to Lord Kitchener and all those involved wth the original recruiting poster. That's right, BUSnet needs you. BUSnet started as an idea to build a simple network to link a few micros around my motorhome, but it's "growed like Topsy" into something much larger and more useful, or at least into a spec that defines something much larger and more useful. But there's very little substance at present and although I am capable of doing everything myself I a) aren't necessarily the best person to do certain parts, and b) don't have enough time. BUSnet is an open standard, all the specs, code, hardware designs etc will be freely available when ready, but it needs help for this to happen any time soon. What is needed? Well some things I can think of are... Peer review, general reading of the spec and applying sanity tests to the design. There must be many holes at present and I'm probably too close to the project to see them. Input to all hardware and software specs and designs. Ideas, even if you aren't into electronics or programming you may have ideas as to what functionality a user would want, or what devices should be monitored or controlled. Node design. There are many nodes that need to be designed before BUSnet can be a working system, maybe you'd like to knock up a node that reads battery voltage or fridge duty cycle. PC application. BUSnet will need two applications running on a PC, one for developers and another for users. If I do them they'll be written in VB.NET, but a more portable language (Qt?) might be better. ZigBee, WiFi, Bluetooth, iPad/Pod, Android tablet etc. gateway interfaces. Basic Stamp, BasicX, Arduino, Picaxe interfaces to BUSnet. Saleae Logic analyser. The Saleae logic analyser has the ability to plug in a user-written protocol analyser that has been written using their SDK. This would be a nice feature to have. Alpha testing. I currently have a design for an Arduino interface PCB. I may be able to provide free PCBs to someone that will be an alpha tester/developer (you will need to be able to program an LPC1227 32-bit processor). Rich but not technically minded?, how about sending a $1000 my way so I can start developing for real. So if you have anything from a single idea to the urge to build a touch-panel BUSnet controller with internet access and maybe you can be a founding member of the BUSnet consortium :-) The spec is solidifying but there's still plenty of room to make changes.