Thanks for the kindly support/suggestions.
Yes, why can't X10 say the words Brian H. said? Why can't they put those words on the only pages you have to read before making a purchase decision? Is it because the pres. said. "Don't say anything of 'restrictive nature' on any X10 ads - ever!" ? (I'd like to see their in-house marketing memos.) If I'd seen "Must have internet connection to finalize installation". those many years ago - I would not have had cause to regale my friends with my tales of X10 woes or 'cease and desist' my X10 purchases.
Back in 2005 (or was it 2003? Well, within 1 month of first appearance of CM15, anyway) - I didn't trust 'the cloud' so much. My emails were MY emails. I looked, but did not find, any clues on my 'hard-drive upgraded' computer - they probably are on the old drive - which was not thrown away - so I just need to find it, unplug a CD and plug it in.
One final ranty rhetorical pondering...
What the heck is the internet required for? It's not like AHP needs to be site-licensed - it has a big hardware dongle key - the CM15. It's hardware limited. I could install AHP on a dozen computers but it would only work on one at a time - the one with the CM15 plugged in - which isn't free.
It just seems suspicious - I bet no one at X10 will say what their software is actually doing when you connect to the internet.
For all I know, it's an excuse to browse my registry and collect my computer/personal info for their database at headquarters.
There has to be SOME reason why they are the only company I know that REQUIRES a connection to home-base to install a piece of USB hardware - like the drivers are motherboard specific and the size of a zip file that contains all the options would be too big for us to handle?
IF they would give us a clue - I would know whether I would be wasting my time to take the 'cabin drive' out - plug it in to an 'internet computer' - install AHP and then re-locate the drive back to the cabin.
Oh gosh, what am I saying? This is X10 I'm talking about. Silly me to think REAL TECHNICAL INFO might spill out.
I'm liking the temporary cell-phone connection idea more - I could easily borrow one for a weekend - perhaps with a packet sniffer program so I can tell you all what 'un-necessary for hardware to work' info goes upstream when you let an X10 installation program have control.
Now, where's that old hard-drive? ...