Subject: REVIEW: IllumiLink 2.5 and AirLink 2.5
From: [email-masked] (Kevin Messick)
Date: 5 Oct 1993 21:00:41 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews

PRODUCT NAME

	IllumiLink 2.5 and AirLink 2.5

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

	IllumiLink is an Infra Red (IR) Universal Programmable Remote
Controller for the Amiga.  It consists of a hardware device that attaches to
the mouse port, and software.  It also comes with hardware for using a
cordless telephone for controlling your Amiga.  AirLink is a subset of
IllumiLink that doesn't include the telephone capabilities.  I've tried to
note anything that applies only to IllumiLink.

AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION

	Name:		Geodesic Designs Inc.
	Address:	P.O. Box 956068
			Duluth, GA  30136
			USA

	Telephone:	(404) 822-0566

LIST PRICE

	I've had IllumiLink for about 1 year, so don't remember the exact
price, but it was somewhere around $90 (US).  I believe AirLink is around
$60 (US).

SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

	The package comes with all software and hardware needed.

	HARDWARE

		None.

	SOFTWARE
	
		I've used the package under both AmigaDOS 1.3 and 3.0.  If
		you have only 1.3, you should strongly consider purchasing
		ARexx to get the full functionality of this package.  The
		rexxsyslib.library and RexxMast command are included with
		the package for people who only have 1.3 and don't have
		ARexx.

COPY PROTECTION

	None.  The program installs on a hard drive and does not need the
original disks any time after that.  I've never tried booting from the
floppy disk, so I'm not sure if the floppy is even bootable.  All save files
are placed in user-specified locations.

MACHINE USED FOR TESTING

	Amiga 1000
	512KB Chip RAM, 1MB Fast RAM
	Commodore 256KB RAM expansion
	Original Insider Board with battery-backed clock and 1MB of memory.
	C-Ltd. 33MB hard drive
	Kickstart and Workbench V1.3
	1080 monitor

	Amiga 4000/40
	2MB Chip RAM, 8MB Fast RAM
	Seagate 120MB hard drive
	Kickstart and Workbench V3.0
	1080 monitor

REVIEW

	I've been waiting for a package like IllumiLink for a while now.
When my home was being built, I wired IR receivers in every room that run
down to an IR repeater in the basement.  The IR repeater can have up to 3 IR
transmitters attached to it.  I put all my stereo equipment, cable box, VCR,
etc. down in the basement with one of the transmitters aimed at them.  I can
control all of it from any room.  I'd bought a few of those Radio shack
universal remotes, but I'm not really impressed with them.  Plus, I wanted to
be able to control everything from the Amiga.  IllumiLink was the first
package I've seen that looked like it did what I wanted.

	I should probably explain what a universal IR remote control is.
Normally, your CD player remote can only control the CD player.  A universal
remote can control the CD player, plus the receiver, and usually other
devices as well.  You just switch to whatever device you want, and the
buttons on the remote send out different IR commands for the new device.
I've seen universal remotes for sale that can control 4, 6, or 8 devices.
Generally there is some setup required.  The remotes come programmed with
the IR commands for hundreds of devices, and you tell it which ones you have.

	Programmable universal remotes are just like universal remotes, only
they don't come pre-programmed.  You have to program them yourself.  This
generally involves putting the remote in "learn mode," pushing one of the
buttons, and then pointing your old remote at it and pushing what button you
want it to learn.  IllumiLink is a programmable universal remote.  It does
come with with a few examples, but I think they're mainly for giving ideas
on how to set things up than for using as pre-programmed remotes.

	The reasoning behind universal remotes is to reduce clutter.  By
controlling all (or most) of your devices with one remote, you can put the
old remotes in a closet and just have the one remote out.  I've found that
having the universal remote just adds one more remote to the clutter - I use
the universal remote, and my wife uses all the others (universal remotes
take some getting used to since the button labels are wrong for a lot of the
devices).

	I was pretty excited when I found IllumiLink (in the Amazing Amiga
Product Guide) and had my dealer order it.  After it came in, I took it home
and installed it on my hard drive.  The software doesn't come with an
installation program, but does have installation instructions included in a
"readme" file.  All you need to do is copy everything from the disk to a
directory on the hard drive.  There are no Assigns that need to be done.
You should put the AIR command into a directory in your PATH or add the
Illumilink C directory to your PATH.

	The IllumiLink hardware is a little brown box about 1.5"x2.5"x0.5"
with a mouse jack (9 pin D connector) on one end, a stereo jack (like they
use for portable tape player head-phones) on one side, and a modular
telephone jack on the other side.  The box can be plugged directly into the
mouse port, but I've found it more convenient to use the 6' extension cable
that came with the package.  There is also a stereo Y adaptor that plugs
into the stereo jack and terminates with 2 RCA phono jacks.  An IR
transmitter with a RCA phono plug plugs into the right jack, and the left
jack is an input for a tone generator.  You can get an extension phono cable
to run from the right phono jack to the plug on the IR transmitter to make
it more convenient to use (this cable is not included - I bought one from
Radio Shack for about $2 (US)).

	The box, in addition to the jacks, contains an IR receiver, an IR
transmitter, a red LED, and a yellow LED.  When the box is receiving IR
signals, the yellow LED flashes.  When the box is transmitting IR signals,
the red LED flashes.  All of this is located inside the box and can't be
seen (until the LEDs start to flash).

	Once you have the hardware attached to the mouse port (turn off the
computer during installation, just to be safe), and the software installed
(either on a hard drive or a backup copy of the floppy), you're ready to
go.  The first thing you need to do is set up an AirWindow.  This is a
normal Workbench window that looks like a remote control.  The window takes
a little getting used to because, when it is active, none of the normal
window borders or gadgets are visible - it just looks like a picture of a
remote.  The borders and gadgets are still there, but you can't see them.
If you click in the upper right corner, the window will cycle front-to-back
like normal.  When the window is not active, the borders and gadgets
reappear.

	Setting up the AirWindow isn't very hard, but it does take time - it
probably took me 3-4 hours to set up my first one.  I can do it in about an
hour now.  The first thing you have to do is get a picture of the remote.
You can scan in a picture of the real remote, draw one using a paint
program, or just draw a box with some buttons on it.  The image doesn't have
to look like the real remote, although that might be best.  You'll want to
make sure each of the buttons are labeled with what you want them to do.
Once you have the image, save it as a brush.  I'm not sure what all paint
programs let you do this, but DPaint (II or IV) works fine.

	Next, you'll need to start up an AirWindow (using one of the sample
ones provided) and load the new image on top of it.  The old AirWindow
resizes to the size of the new image.  You then delete the old gadgets and
start defining new ones.  A gadget is a spot on the AirWindow where you can
click and have a command executed.  They can be anywhere, but it's best to
make them where you've drawn button boxes on the image :-).  You define
gadgets by putting the AirWindow in gadget definition mode and then, for
each gadget, point to where the upper-left corner of the gadget is, click,
hold and drag to the bottom-right corner.  After the gadgets are all defined,
they need to be named and the Hold flag set.  The Hold flag tells whether
the gadget continues to transmit IR commands if it is held down (like a
volume control).  The names are (as near as I can tell) only used to specify
what gadgets to activate through ARexx.

	Once you have the gadgets defined and named, you need to program
them.  A separate program is supplied (called "sample") for programming the
gadgets.  You start the sample program, put it in autosample mode, put the
AirWindow (that you just created) into sample mode, push one of the defined
gadgets, and then hold down the button on the real remote that you want for
that gadget.  The sample program tells you when to start holding down the
button on the real remote and then draws a picture of the IR command when it
is done.  You keep repeating these steps until all the gadgets have been
programmed.  Then you save the AirWindow (it will get saved with an icon)
and quit the sample program.

	Once you have the AirWindow set up, you just click on one of the
gadgets you defined, and the IR command associated with that gadget gets
transmitted.  In my case, I've got an AirWindow set up that contains all the
buttons from my receiver and CD player.  When I want to hear some music, I
click on the POWER button in the AirWindow and I've got music.  I can use
the CD player, or tune to an FM station (I don't listen to AM).  You don't
need to start and AirWindow by clicking on its icon.  You can run the Air
command directly and specify the AirWindow file to use.  I start up my window
in my User-Startup, so it is always available.

	When you have an AirWindow open, you can click on the standard close
or zoom gadgets (or where they normally are since you can't see them) to
iconify the window.  When an AirWindow is iconified, it gets reduced to just
the title bar (with normal system gadgets).

	You can control the AirWindow startup through tooltypes in the icon
or with options to the Air command if running from the CLI.  The tooltypes
and options are:

	Tooltype          CLI option    Purpose

	ICONIFY=ON      - +i          - Start up the window iconified
	EXIT=ON         - +exit       - Quit window after doing NOW Links
	VBEAM=ON        - +vb         - Turn on vertical beam timing
	PRIORITY=N      - +p N        - Set the input even priority
	AREXX=name      - +arexx name - Set the ARexx port name
	INPUT=name      - +input name - Set the input event port name
	Link IN<> OUT<> -             - Any link command (see below)

	The following menu items are available from the AirWindow.

	Project
		Quit - exits the AirWindow
		Info - prints info about the Air program
		Load Links - Load links from a different AirWindow
		Load Gads - Load gadgets from a different AirWindow
		Load IFF - Load a new IFF brush file
		Load Air - Load a different AirWindow
		Save Air - Save the current AirWindow
		Arexx=PORT - Set the ARexx port name

	User-Menus
		Menu 1 - User defined menu item for links
		...
		Menu 10 - User defined menu item for links

	Gadgets (set AirWindow mode)
		Transmit - Transmit IR command (normal mode)
		Move - Move gadgets around
		Move All - Move blocks of gadgets around
		Size - Change size of gadgets
		Sample - receive IR command (program mode)
		Name - Name gadgets
		Add - Add new gadgets
		Del - Delete gadgets
		Flashing - Make gadgets flash for visibility
		Delete All - Delete all gadget information

	Links (see below for an explanation of links)
		List Links - Show all links for the AirWindow
		List Mouse - Show last 20 mouse clicks
		Del Links - Delete all link information
		Read Links - Read links from text file
		Write Links - Write links to text file

	Settings
		IR Output
			Test Mode - Send IR command continuously
			JoyPort 2 - Send IR command through 2nd mouse port
			Par. 0 - 7 - Send IR command through parallel port
			Audio L., R. - Send IR command through audio channel
		User Info
			Text On - Custom Users Info Mode active or not
			Load Text - Load text to user info window
			Save Text - Save text from user info window
		User Menu
			Text On - Custom User Menu Mode active or not
			Load Text - Load text to user menus
			Save Text - Save text from user menus
		IR Burst = N - Adjust the number IR signal bursts
		IR Data
			Read IR Raw - Load IR data from text file
			Write IR Raw - Save IR data to text file
		Phone Input (IllumiLink only)
			On - Toggles the phone interface on or off
			Test Win. - Open test phone window

	This is about the extent of my use of IllumiLink.  I've used ARexx a
few times to send commands to my AirWindow.  They work, that's about all I
can say about it right now.  Most of what follows is what I've picked up
from reading the manual, but haven't really tried.

	Actually, transmitting IR commands when you click on a button is
only a small part of what IllumiLink can do.  Its main function is to link
input types to output types.  There is a list of 11 input types, and 11
output types.  You can set things up so that whenever one of the input types
occurs, IllumiLink makes the output type occur.  Using an AirWindow to
control an IR device is really a link from a gadget input type to and IR
output type.

	The list of input and output types are:

	Input			Output
	=========================================
	Key			Key
	Menu			Menu
	Gad			Message
	Gadup			Mouse
	Now			Exec
	Timer			Control
	Arexx_In		Arexx_Out
	Serial_In		Serial_Out
	MIDI_In			MIDI_Out
	Par_In			Par_Out
	Phone*			IR

	(* Phone is only useful with IllumiLink.)

	The Key input type activates an output link when a certain key is
pressed.  Qualifiers are allowed (up to four) and any key is legal.  The Key
output type simulates a keystroke to another program.

	The Menu input type activates an output link when an AirWindow User
Menu is chosen (up to 10 allowed).  The Menu output type activates the User
Menus as if they were chosen with the mouse.

	The Gad input type activates the output links associated with a
gadget in an AirWindow when you click on the gadget.  You can define more
links for a gadget that will get executed before the IR type (if one is set
up).

	The GadUp input type works like the Gad input type except it is
activated when the mouse button is released.

	The Now input type activates the output type it is linked to as soon
as the Air program starts up.

	The Timer input type is used to activate an output type repeatedly
every given number of seconds.

	Arexx_In input type creates custom ARexx commands that execute the
output event when executed through ARexx.

	The Serial_In input type is used to activate output links whenever a
certain character is received (the baud rate is selectable).

	The MIDI_In input type is used to activate output links when MIDI
note ON or note OFF events are received.  You can specify the MIDI channel
and note number.

	The Par_In input type is used to activate output links when data
lines on the parallel port go high or low.  You can choose which line (0-7).

	The Phone input type is only used by IllumiLink.  It links a phone
button press with an output event.

	The Message output type opens a window on the Workbench for one
second and displays the given message.

	The Mouse output type simulates a left mouse button click (either
one or two clicks) at a given location or a menu mouse button click.

	The Exec output type runs any program in the background.

	The Control output type is used to control a number of variables the
affect the Air program behavior.

	The Arexx_Out output type allows you to execute any ARexx program.

	The Serial_Out output type allows a string of characters to be sent
to the serial port.  The baud rate can be specified.

	The MIDI_Out output type transmits up to three MIDI bytes.

	The Par_Out output type allows you to send a low or high pulse
signal to one of the 8 parallel port data lines.

	The IR output type transmits IR commands.

	IllumiLink also comes with a number of built-in ARexx commands to
allow for control from another program.  The built-in commands are:

	Info			Gives program info
	Version			Give program version
	Get_load_name		Gives name of last Air file loaded
	Get_gadget_names	Gives list of loaded gadgets
	Get_left_button		Gives state of left mouse button
	Get_right_button	Gives state of right mouse button
	Front			Move AirWindow to front
	Back			Move AirWindow to back
	Iconify			Iconify AirWindow
	Deiconify		De-iconify AirWindow
	Togiconify		Toggles icon state of AirWindow
	Load_iff		Load new IFF brush for AirWindow
	Load_air		Load new AirWindow
	Save_air		Save current AirWindow
	Exit			Quit the Air program
	Link			Link an input type to an output type
	Output			Activate an output type
	Link_out		Activate entry in link list
	Link_clear_all		Clear all links
	Error_box_on		Open requestor on errors
	Error_box_off		Don't open requestor on errors
	Get_link_count		Gives number of links in list
	Set_menu		Set text for a User Menu

	The only difference between IllumiLink and AirLink is that the
hardware for IllumiLink contains a phone jack for attaching a cordless
telephone, and an input jack for a tone generator.  The phone jack doesn't
allow you too attach a phone and then call your system.  The phone isn't
attached to the phone lines in any way.  You attach a cordless phone, and
then use the remote handset to send commands just by hitting the buttons.
One application for this (I got this from the manual, but I think it sounds
great) is to stand at a podium and use a a telephone handset to control your
Amiga which is running AmigaVision which controls a laser disk (or VCR - but
who uses those any more :-)).

DOCUMENTATION

	The IllumiLink package comes with a 72 page printed manual for
AirLink and another smaller manual for IllumiLink.  The binding quality (36
pages stapled in the middle and folded) isn't great, but that isn't
something I worry too much about, so it's never been a problem for me.

	I think the manual is fairly good - I've been able to find out how to
do just about everything I want.

	I don't think the manual is written for beginning computer users.
You should know something about the Amiga (how to use the mouse, menus,
windows, etc.) before you try using IllumiLink, but I think that applies to
most applications.

	There is a section that tells how to make an IR transmitter that
attaches to the parallel port or mouse port. and how to create IR
transmitters attached to phone jacks.  I've tried making both the parallel
port transmitter and the extra transmitter with a phone jack and both are
fairly easy to do.

	There is a small section at the end of the manual that gives ideas
on how to use IllumiLink for MIDI work, multimedia, and video frame
recording.

LIKES AND DISLIKES

	Likes

		I'm really impressed by what all this product seems to be
	able to do.  All I've done with it is control IR devices, so can't
	really comment on anything else, but it looks impressive.

		One of the projects I'm currently working on is setting up a
	music database using SuperBase.  I want to have a database of my CD
	6 packs, and use it to program the CD player just by clicking on the
	songs in the order I want to hear them.

	Dislikes

		If you're a perfectionist, it's kind of a pain defining the
	gadgets on an AirWindow so they sit exactly on the the buttons and
	cover the entire button.

		This may be a bug, but I haven't called Geodesic to find out
	for sure; I haven't been able to figure out how to make an AirWindow
	open anywhere except with its upper left corner in the upper-left
	corner of the screen.  I'm sure it has something to do with not
	being able to snapshot the window, but I haven't spent a lot of time
	trying to figure it out.

		The machine locks up for a short amount of time when it is
	sending an IR command.  The time is very short (usually about 300ms
	according to the manual).  The doc states that this will happen when
	sending the IR output to anything but the audio port, but that
	doesn't mean I have to like it.

		There's no feedback.  This isn't a limitation of IllumiLink,
	but of IR in general.  When you use an IR control (either
	IllumiLink, a universal, or what comes with the device), you can't
	tell whether the device received the IR command or not - unless
	you're looking at it, or you can hear it, or something like that.
	This isn't a problem unless the device is in some other room where
	you can't see it.

COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS

	I haven't seen any similar products.

BUGS

	I did find a bug when sending IR commands to the parallel port that
are repeating commands (like the volume control - you can hold it down, and
it keeps sending).  They didn't work consistently.  I called Geodesic about
it and they were very receptive.  The guy I talked to suggested that it
might be a bug, and to try turning off the repeat flag for that gadget.
That fixed the inconsistency, but I can't hold down my volume control button
any more.  I called him back to let him know, and he said they would try to
get it fixed.  I called again, and he said the problem was fixed, but I
haven't had a chance to download the new version yet.  (Actually, the
work-around works well enough that I haven't cared enough to get it.)

VENDOR SUPPORT

	Geodesic has a BBS where you can download the newest version of the
software and download/upload AirWindows for different devices.  I've tried
calling the BBS a few times in the last year, but have gotten connected only
once.  The last few times, all I've gotten is their FAX machine.  I called
the support line to ask about it, and the support person said they've been
having problems with BBS software (PD version), and he is looking for
something else.  He said the BBS should be up in November.

	I've called Geodesic a couple of times (three times about the bug
above, and once about their Audio AIR Buffer product), and they have been
very nice.

	The person I've talked to has told me that they are working on a new
version of the software and hardware, but he hasn't said when it would be
ready (naturally, I forgot to ask).

	I am not associated with Geodesic in any way except as a satisfied
customer.

WARRANTY

	None that I know of.

CONCLUSIONS

	I really love stuff like this, so I think this product is the best
thing I've got for my Amiga.  The potential for what you can do with it is
amazing.  I'd give this 5 stars out of 5.  I don't really see how you can go
wrong with this (if you have any IR devices).  It costs about as much as a
good game or three and is at least as much fun to play with.  Plus, you can
get a lot more use out of this.  

COPYRIGHT NOTICE                                                   
                                                                   
	Copyright 1993 Kevin Messick.  All rights reserved.
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