Safety

Tinkerbus is young software that talks to real buildings. Its defaults are built around that.

Listening is passive

Connecting to a gateway and watching the telegram monitor sends nothing beyond the connection itself.

Sending is a switch, and it is off

• Allow sending in the top bar is off after every connection and switches off again when you disconnect.
• Diagnostics (device information, line scan, programming-mode search) and Programming need it, even though diagnostics only use read services, because they put telegrams on the bus.
• A group write is previewed and needs a confirmation each time.
• Group reads and writes sent from the application are at least 250 ms apart. A faster attempt is refused with “telegrams are limited to a few per second”.

Writing a device needs more

• Check first. The check step only reads the device. It shows what would change and saves a backup of the memory.
• The right device. The load needs the serial number of the device (-expect-serial on the command line, shown in the application’s write box). none is accepted only for devices of mask 0x0012, which have none. The device’s mask must match the one of the application program.
• A backup. The load refuses to run without a backup file of the device memory. On the command line, -write needs -backup DIR and the tool stops at once without it.
• Warnings stop the load unless you accept them (-allow-warnings, or the checkbox in the application).
• Confirmation. The application asks you to type the target address. knxprogram waits five seconds, which you can use to interrupt.
• Writes are enabled for one address. The bus client refuses write services unless writes were enabled for the target device, so a bug elsewhere cannot write to a different device.
• Masks without a plan are refused. Only verified masks have load plans. The application offers to report such a device; nothing is sent unless you do it yourself.

Your files

• Saving a project replaces the file you opened, after copying its previous version to a backup folder (the last five per project are kept). Save as asks before replacing an existing file.
• The password is never taken on the command line, and a typed password in the application is not kept. A remembered project stores a key derived from the password in your configuration folder, readable only by you.
• The online catalog is off until you agree, and sends only search words and file ids to the address you set.

What can still go wrong

• A load that stops half way, for example when power or the bus is cut, can leave a device without its application. The backup is for your reference; Tinkerbus has no restore command. Reload the device from the project instead.
• The software has seen a limited number of device types. See verified masks.
• There is no warranty. See Legal.

Test on a device you can get back to the factory state before you load a device that is hard to reach.