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No More Redi Web Server?! — Parallax Forums

No More Redi Web Server?!

ChrisBChrisB Posts: 19
edited 2005-11-04 09:46 in General Discussion
All -

I just received news from Jim in sales that there will be no more redi web servers produced. Apparently, the company has chosen not to make them anymore and will not be honoring any backorders.

Speaking as someone who found the device to be extremely useful (I had 11 on backorder and was ready to order another 30-40), I am not sure what my options are now. I'm sure that the engineering department at Parallax is considering alternatives, but, of course, I was just about to kick off a project that used them and I am left wondering what I am going to do.

So, a couple questions:
Does Parallax have any plans to replace the redi, or take it over and continue producing it?
If Parallax is going to replace the unit with something else, is there even a timetable for the replacement becoming available?
Is there a person at redi that I could contact that I could plead with to receive some?
Is there a viable alternative out there?

If anyone from Parallax is reading this, please let me know what you think. I have to choose a new direction and I'm disturbed that this could just come out of the blue like this. From what I hear, Parallax did not have any say in the parting of ways, and I don't blame you for the problem. I'm just wondering if there's any alternatives out there.

Thanks
Chris

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Comments

  • Jon WilliamsJon Williams Posts: 6,491
    edited 2005-01-27 00:31
    We were disappointed with having to make this decision.· I've heard that many customers have had good luck with SitePlayer -- perhaps that's an option for you.

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    Jon Williams
    Applications Engineer, Parallax
    Dallas, TX· USA
  • Peter VerkaikPeter Verkaik Posts: 3,956
    edited 2005-01-27 02:07
    Seek out hellodevice. I am not sure wether its abilities
    match the red-i but they do offer DIL modules as well as
    standalone products.
    http://www.sena.com/products/by_name/hd_lite/

    regards peter
    ·
  • ChrisBChrisB Posts: 19
    edited 2005-01-27 17:43
    John, Peter -

    Thank you both for your input. I checked out your collective recommendations, and I have ordered a couple of the site players to test. It offers some neat features that I hope Parallax will consider when they come up with an alternative to the redi.

    Again, thank you very much. I was very disappointed last night, but now I see a light, and it's possibly better than the previous solution.

    Thanks
    Chris

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  • Ken GraceyKen Gracey Posts: 7,401
    edited 2005-01-27 21:03
    Chris,

    We were also very dissapointed about the Red-I supply situation. It was a situation we have experienced with smaller suppliers in the past. Just because a company can produce a good product doesn't mean they can actually supply it. In this case we didn't have any viable alternatives, so we decided to discontinue the product and cancel customer backorders before the situation got any worse.

    I also really liked the Red-I design and was looking into using it for web control of my Marklin 1-gauge train.

    We didn't want to violate our customer's confidence in Parallax any further.

    As for alternatives, we don't presently have anything in process but we're looking into different options. Check out the Sena device in the meantime. Or, if you only need Stamp e-mail, we've got the new Cermetek E-mail Modem in production (very similar product to our StampModem in design). We're about a month away from availability on that product.

    Ken Gracey
  • Ryan ClarkeRyan Clarke Posts: 738
    edited 2005-03-08 00:15
    Yeah, I was sad to see the Red-i go...as far as SitePlayer goes be sure to read up in the siteplayer forums about know issues (magnetics problems, etc...) and be sure that you have the latest firmware up on it before starting any work.
  • OrionOrion Posts: 236
    edited 2005-03-09 04:44
    I use siteplayers with the good luck. It is not as powerful as the redi but look at the cost difference.
  • hijkerhijker Posts: 10
    edited 2005-05-04 19:47
    Can some give me a little example how to use the SitePlayer with the BS2?

    I know it sound very "un-detailed" but I can't get the idea from their website
    what I can expect by using this thing compared to the red-i webserver.

    Thanks, Wim
  • OrionOrion Posts: 236
    edited 2005-05-05 00:16
    I can’t compare it to the redi, but here’s a quick breakdown of the siteplayer

    Check the manual out @ http://www.siteplayer.com/docs/001212/SitePlayer_Software_Manual.pdf
    There is some code on the siteplayer forums for the bs2 also.

    On the BS side, you can serout/serin data to the SP.

    Temp = 70
    SEROUT SP_RX,Baud,[noparse][[/noparse]$81,Adr,Temp.LOWBYTE,Temp.HIGHBYTE]

    The siteplayer will take this and use it to create the web pages.

    The current temp is ^temp F


    Will become

    The current temp is 70 F

    You can send data to the siteplayer like

    http://www.xxx.yyy.zzz/tstat.spi?setpoint=75

    Then read it into a BS via serin

    You have 768 bytes of ram that can hold your data, and 48K for your static html and graphics.
    8 I/O that can be set via www, rs232 also I think?
    UDP send/receive
    It will NOT send email directly
    It can interface with some spi ICs directly
    It has a status byte which can be checked to see if a page has changed, this also can be a I/O pin
    New pages can be downloaded to it via ethernet

    I use the wiring diagram @
    http://www.siteplayer.com/docs/001212/SitePlayer_Devel_Board_schem_2003.gif
    for the ethernet interface, with magnetics from www.pca.com - part # EPJ9372 $3.33/ea
  • hijkerhijker Posts: 10
    edited 2005-05-05 07:37
    Thanks Orion for this very clear response!
  • Ryan ClarkeRyan Clarke Posts: 738
    edited 2005-05-05 17:00
    Also, if you are looking to use the Siteplayer, I had about 24 PCBs made for easy interfacing with them (they match the pins up from the magnetics/RJ45 jack- original plan by a guy in New York, I altered it a little)-

    You can see it here:
    members.cox.net/dc13_tcp_ip/siteplayerjackcombo.jpg


    Simple connection setup. All the pins on the right side of the SitePlayer are open for what ever you want to use them for. To interface with a Stamp at this point is trivial.

    I have extras, let me know if you are interested (happy to let you have them at cost)-

    Ryan

    Post Edited (LostboY) : 5/5/2005 5:09:36 PM GMT
  • Ryan ClarkeRyan Clarke Posts: 738
    edited 2005-05-05 17:04
    Also, one of the nifty things you can do is pass data (via the RS232) directly, using the siteplayer as a RS232 to ether bridge type device.

    You can use UDP also.

    Ryan
  • hijkerhijker Posts: 10
    edited 2005-05-08 12:23
    Ok, I would like to have such a RJ45 board!!! Looks good.

    How much and how?
  • Ryan ClarkeRyan Clarke Posts: 738
    edited 2005-05-08 17:51
    Just sent you a private message about them...I'm down to about 15 of them left (from the original 24)-

    Ryan
  • Peter VerkaikPeter Verkaik Posts: 3,956
    edited 2005-11-04 09:46
    Parallax has a successor to the Red-I, called Pink

    http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=30013

    with an almost identical software interface regarding stamps.

    So I updated my Red-I class into a Pink class for this new module.

    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JavelinCode/files/Javelin%20Stamp%20IDE/lib/stamp/peripheral/web/

    This new module has·all variables 64bytes wide, which

    makes the code even simpler.

    regards peter
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