Chapter 16

DMX512-A

When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty. I only think about how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.—Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983), architect, engineer, inventor, philosopher, author

DMX512 was conceived as a unidirectional communications protocol, and for almost 20 years it served its purpose effectively. But the increasing power and sophistication of controllers coupled with the increasing size and complexity of lighting systems have afforded the opportunity and created the desire to incorporate bidirectional communications between the controller and the loads under control. In fact, some manufacturers built proprietary bidirectional communications ...

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