Another couple of births are in the process. One is this object:
What is it? it's the very first wireless SPOCS node. It's based on an Arduino Uno clone, which, in turn, is based on the ESP8266 module. These little fellows can be had for less than $10. The board on top is called a "shield". This particular shield has a pair of 3.3 volt to 5 volt level shifter modules on it. Those are the flat things at the left. The Arduino's I/O runs at 3.3 volt levels, so it is necessary to shift the levels for the 74150 multiplexer chip. The 74150 makes it possible to get 16 digital inputs into this board. Development is nearly done; the resistor leads that are sticking up all over the place are the inputs. They will go to terminals for connection to various things like magnetic switches. This is the prototype; I have ideas for an improved version already.
The second impending birth is the new version of the SPOCS DR7 driver. The old version could only connect to one IP address. The new version will handle up to 20 IP addresses, so 20 individual devices. The rest of the SPOCS version 2.6 system has been happily running on dev machine SPARCL14. Hopefully, I will get this done soon.
More Later.
P.S. the Earl of Grey is still growing! (his real name is Earl Grey). He is 2 years, 4 months old, and is still growing!
