I am very interested in the RF link connections. I'm hoping to hook a transmitter up to my PC via either a Serial->MAX232->RF -->> RF->Arduino setup or a USB->TTL->RF setup. Basically I want the Arduino to be able to be far from the computer but still be able to receive RSS feeds, time of day, etc. I already have the pieces (standard 434 MHz transmitter/receiver pair from sparkfun) and have the MAX232 and USB->TTL components on the way, whether or not they get used we will see.
Anyway, has anyone tried that, or does everyone just make Arduino to Arduino connections? If so, what did you use on the computer to send data to the Arduino? Right now I can and do use Processing (I run with a USB cable for now) , but I want something I can minimize to tray or have running in background.
Currently I send data with the delimiters $ (start first line), % (start second line) and ^(end data). That sends to the correct line of a 2 line display. That's not a problem, and it works fine with the USB but I want to be able to place this on my nightstand or possibly the living room or something and still be updated however frequently it has to be. I hope to not use Bluetooth (too much $$$) or XBee (again, cost) unless i REALLY have to. As a side note, those delimiters will send correctly over RF wont they?