Suraj N. Kurapati wrote:
> Last time I checked, there wasn't any (usable) serial-port extension
> for Ruby. Thus, how are you planning to have Ruby communicate via
> RS-232?

Like this:
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.ruby/browse_frm/thread/21d9ef82f56346a/1f72a79dd9760dc1?q=serial&rnum=1#1f72a79dd9760dc1


> The library, it seems to me, would simply be an extension/relative
> of the IO class which keeps state information about the particular
> Russound device being controlled, correct?

Well, the Russound API has specific packet formats it uses. In addition
to wrapping up common commands (volume=, zone_source=, allon, alloff),
the library does stuff like forming the packets for you, which includes
calculating the checksum according to russound's algorithm, inverting
high-order bytes and injecting special markers, and so on.

It will use a derivative of IO for the actual communication, but
there's some higher-level niceties planned and in the works.