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The device they have shown is a modified Compaq iPAQ, which they have so far modified to control two lamps, a fan and a stereo with a five-CD changer."

Hate to break it to them, but someone's already invented this! They only cost $35, much less than an iPaq! =)

Mine controls my TV, cable, DVD player, stereo, living room lights, bedroom lights, fan, and even my neighbor's cat (just kidding).

Get a remote with Jp1 and also get X10 stuff and you can control almost anything from a single remote, and you can program the remote (you get to make your own serial cable to interface to your computer) so any button does excatly what you want.

I've got a radio shack remote that transmits RF to an IR transmitting base, so I can turn lights off from the back yard if I wanna see stars better, or kill the WIGGLES on the TV after my daughter has stopped watching them.

M@

It has an X-10 RF transmitter in addition to the common TV/VCR/CABLE/AUX1/AUX2/SAT IR control. I don't know if it has a "Learn" mode; it does have many types of codes available.

So to turn on the outside Christmas lights, push X10,1,+. A touchscreen interface would be prettier.

Incidentally, those researchers had to use a laptop to send the X10 codes. X10.Com has a tiny "Rocket" serial port RF transmitter which could be attached to an iPAQ. Linux software is available. And it's not hard to connect a powerful IR transmitter and IR repeaters around a house.

I'm only impressed by their press agent.

They have a large variety of surveillance products, at various price/durability levels.

Disclaimer: No affiliation with Smarthome, except as a satisfied customer. I've bought wired cameras and other products from them, never had any problems with SmartHome.

They have a large variety of surveillance products, at various price/durability levels.

Disclaimer: No affiliation with Smarthome, except as a satisfied customer. I've bought wired cameras and other products from them, never had any problems with SmartHome.

I tried to draw 'em for you, but the lameness filter hates ASCII-art.

I prefer the flat surface mount kind like these Smarthome emitters.

Leviton makes several X10 products....some better then X10's as well. I don't think they sell direct, but Smarthome sells them for sure....on that note...pop ups do SUCK alot, but that would not stop me from buyinf from X10. Sure, I hate em too, but you have to admit....everyone KNOWS who they are! ;) I would buy from them. Personally, I think thats the only way they will stop popping up is if you bu something. The more people buy, the less they have to spend to get people to buy, so, less popups.....unless they get REAL greedy. Then you will have to rename porn storm X10 XCRUCIATING! ;)

Before you send it back, walk around your property with a compass and a tube from a paper towel roll, or something similar. Using the azimuth and elevation figures from the TiVo setup screen, hold the tube up at the indicated angle and see if you can find a place with a view of the satellite. It may not necessarily be "southern", depending on where in the US you are. Where I am, the view is definitely southwest. Many installers are lazy and won't spend the time to find a good site. You can install the dish yourself, it's not hard to do. Try to find a mounting spot on the side of your house, that's much preferable to a pole. You may find that one of these brackets open up possibilities. As for Series 2 - keep in mind that at the moment, these are available only in "standalone" models, not with DirecTV integration. I'd hold out for getting the DirecTiVo to work. I now have two of these, and they're wonderful. I had a standalone TiVo before, and loved it, but DirecTiVo is "lust"! There's lots of help for TiVo users on the TiVo Community Forum (sigh - I hope their new server can survive being Slashdotted yet again...)

1. iPod - $399
2. Waterproof speakers - $120
3. Cable - $20
4. Violating copyright before breakfast - priceless...

1. iPod
2. Waterproof speakers
3. Cable
4. Plastic bag

And I'd have to think twice before buying an X-10 module after those damned camera ads.

X-10 the company has nothing to do with X-10 the home automation protocol. Even IBM makes X-10 equipment.

For a non-obnoxious place to get X-10 gear, try Smarthome.

One thing to find out BEFORE you begin mounting expensive electronic equipment down in your nice, cool basement is:

HOW PRONE ARE YOU TO FLOODING?

My parents place was in a well developed subdivision with one decent power drop and one shitty one. Guess which one they were on?

So every time they'd get a bit of rain, BOOM. Out would go the power in their place, and every place down the right-hand side of the block. While our next door neighbors off to the left (and down the left side of the block (we were at the end of a cul-de-sac) had power.

Consequently, if this happened in the middle of the night, they'd take on 3-4 feet of water.

If you're in an area that has no flooding problems, you're set. You can drop your setup down in the basement.

If you live in an area that's flood prone, then take the extra time and money to rig the server room on the main floor.

Have a cold-air return in the floor (or low on the wall) blowing directly into the equipment bay. Then (assuming you're in a one story home), have a ceiling ventilation fan above the rack.

You can find a lot of HVAC supplies to improve your climate control here. Look particularly closely at the duct fans.

You need to check SmartHome.com
Wires, Cables, Jacks
Guide to Cable Types

You need to check SmartHome.com
Wires, Cables, Jacks
Guide to Cable Types

Running two category 5e cables to every room is a good idea. Also, running at least one RG-6 grade coax cable to every room is a good idea, if not two. Fiber is a bit debatable at this point, especially since putting the ends on a fiber cable is a real bitch and the cable is very very fragile.

If cost is not an object at all and you want maximum expandibility for anything then run conduit. If you do that then regardless of what different types of cable may be encountered you can simply pull the cable through the conduit (assuming the conduit is large enough).

Another option would be one of the all-in-one cables that usually have two cat 5, two RG-6 and sometimes one or two fiber lines. Doing a preliminary search brings up smarthome.com which may be able to answer some of your questions and provide you with different types of cabling, including the all-in-one types.

The important thing is to run all the cable to a centralized wiring closet where you can put such things as ethernet switches, cable TV splitters, etc. Be SURE to run your cable TV this way. It's a hell of a lot easier to run cables if every cable going to every room ends in one centralized place. If they need to bring in more cable drops they can just run them into that centralized place and you can do any wiring or rewiring there. The same goes with conduit. If you run conduit just run it all to a central wiring closet and you can do everything from there.

Believe me, you want to be sure that you put high-quality RG-6 coax in. Digital cable/satellite TV requires high-grade coax and RG-6 is the way to go. There is one type which is even more high-grade which is RG-11, but you usually don't need that unless you are running a cable for many many hundreds of meters (very unlikely inside of a house).

Also on the coax front be sure to use good fittings. Brass is the way to go. I suggest something of the snap-n-seal variety, or a compression fitting. Installation of either of these types requires a special tool, but the signal will be much better than with the cheap-ass radio shack fittings crimped on with a pair of pliers.

Also, don't finish your basement. It's a basement, you're SUPPOSED to be able to see the inner-workings of the house. If it's just absolutely not acceptable to be seeing the water pipes or electrical or whatever when you look up at the ceiling in the basement then at least use a drop ceiling of some type. I highly recommend against a dry-wall ceiling in a basement. Usually the only reason a basement is finished is so that it can be included in the square footage of the house's finished areas which is really a cop-out because after all, it's a basement, not a real floor.

Anyway, that is my $0.02

SmartHome also sells the same stuff.

But this is a heck of a lot cheaper. I personally would like some CAT-6 or -7 STP matched up with the Quad-shielded RG6 to run through my home (project in progress), but this is the best I can find. There is _no_ need for fiber.

X-10 based home automation stuff, of course not from x-10.com, their ads are far too annoying (not that I've seen one since I installed junkbuster, but I still remember). Maybe from another source.

An iPod would be nice, but too expensive, and while my MP3 player only holds 64 MB, that's enough for now.

I'm considering a Playstation 2, if the price drops. Why not an X-box?

• Tekken 3, Tag Tournament, and 4
• Soul Calibur 2
• Gran Turismo 3
• Metal Gear Solid 2
• Final Fantasy X
• ...

Another idea -- maybe I'll buy myself an Apple iBook. I'll be able to choose either OS X or Linux. Not too overpriced, and cool looking...

Of course there's always Lego Mindstorms, or just plain Lego. Some of that advanced "Technics" stuff is pretty cool.

I also want a DVD player, though if I get a PS/2 that might do for a while. I've also thought about getting a surround sound system...

Disposable income is nice.

Here is a place I found the other day that sells X10 stuff as well as other similar things.

http://www.smarthome.com

Digital Camera Watch

I wish I could have all of my components share a simple communications channel (hmmm, or complex, like Bluetooth :-) so I could actually control what the devices are doing, instead of just blasting out pre-determined IR codes and hoping for the best.

Well, you can buy a JDS Infrared Xpander. It will work in standalone mode (without the home automation controller) and has a common bus that allows you to hook up various sensors to your devices. Then you can program it with simple if/then/else logic, so if it detects that the TV is already on, it won't issue another power command to it. Integrate it with a Timecommander Plus or Stargate for full home automation pleasure.

I have the Timecommander Plus & IR Xpander and absolutely love it. I can initiate macros from any device - IR, RF remotes, wall mounted touchscreens or keypads - and the JDS equipment takes care of everything, including lighting & appliance control throughout the house.

For considerably less money, the Houselinc will accomplish many of the same tasks. However, these devices are not hand-held controllers, although you can use your computer as one. You'll still need an IR remote to control the bulk of what you want to do. Most people couple them with a Pronto, or Crestron or Phast touchscreen ($$$$$). These systems will simply take care of your macros, sensing the current status of your devices and responding appropriately. If you block out the IR ports on your equipment and channel all IR input through a complete JDS setup, you can use flags & variables to keep track of the status of each device in great detail - for instance, whether your receiver is set to CD, DVD, VCR, etc, or what channel your TV is on.

I wish I could have all of my components share a simple communications channel (hmmm, or complex, like Bluetooth :-) so I could actually control what the devices are doing, instead of just blasting out pre-determined IR codes and hoping for the best.

Well, you can buy a JDS Infrared Xpander. It will work in standalone mode (without the home automation controller) and has a common bus that allows you to hook up various sensors to your devices. Then you can program it with simple if/then/else logic, so if it detects that the TV is already on, it won't issue another power command to it. Integrate it with a Timecommander Plus or Stargate for full home automation pleasure.

I have the Timecommander Plus & IR Xpander and absolutely love it. I can initiate macros from any device - IR, RF remotes, wall mounted touchscreens or keypads - and the JDS equipment takes care of everything, including lighting & appliance control throughout the house.

For considerably less money, the Houselinc will accomplish many of the same tasks. However, these devices are not hand-held controllers, although you can use your computer as one. You'll still need an IR remote to control the bulk of what you want to do. Most people couple them with a Pronto, or Crestron or Phast touchscreen ($$$$$). These systems will simply take care of your macros, sensing the current status of your devices and responding appropriately. If you block out the IR ports on your equipment and channel all IR input through a complete JDS setup, you can use flags & variables to keep track of the status of each device in great detail - for instance, whether your receiver is set to CD, DVD, VCR, etc, or what channel your TV is on.

I wish I could have all of my components share a simple communications channel (hmmm, or complex, like Bluetooth :-) so I could actually control what the devices are doing, instead of just blasting out pre-determined IR codes and hoping for the best.

Well, you can buy a JDS Infrared Xpander. It will work in standalone mode (without the home automation controller) and has a common bus that allows you to hook up various sensors to your devices. Then you can program it with simple if/then/else logic, so if it detects that the TV is already on, it won't issue another power command to it. Integrate it with a Timecommander Plus or Stargate for full home automation pleasure.

I have the Timecommander Plus & IR Xpander and absolutely love it. I can initiate macros from any device - IR, RF remotes, wall mounted touchscreens or keypads - and the JDS equipment takes care of everything, including lighting & appliance control throughout the house.

For considerably less money, the Houselinc will accomplish many of the same tasks. However, these devices are not hand-held controllers, although you can use your computer as one. You'll still need an IR remote to control the bulk of what you want to do. Most people couple them with a Pronto, or Crestron or Phast touchscreen ($$$$$). These systems will simply take care of your macros, sensing the current status of your devices and responding appropriately. If you block out the IR ports on your equipment and channel all IR input through a complete JDS setup, you can use flags & variables to keep track of the status of each device in great detail - for instance, whether your receiver is set to CD, DVD, VCR, etc, or what channel your TV is on.

I wish I could have all of my components share a simple communications channel (hmmm, or complex, like Bluetooth :-) so I could actually control what the devices are doing, instead of just blasting out pre-determined IR codes and hoping for the best.

Well, you can buy a JDS Infrared Xpander. It will work in standalone mode (without the home automation controller) and has a common bus that allows you to hook up various sensors to your devices. Then you can program it with simple if/then/else logic, so if it detects that the TV is already on, it won't issue another power command to it. Integrate it with a Timecommander Plus or Stargate for full home automation pleasure.

I have the Timecommander Plus & IR Xpander and absolutely love it. I can initiate macros from any device - IR, RF remotes, wall mounted touchscreens or keypads - and the JDS equipment takes care of everything, including lighting & appliance control throughout the house.

For considerably less money, the Houselinc will accomplish many of the same tasks. However, these devices are not hand-held controllers, although you can use your computer as one. You'll still need an IR remote to control the bulk of what you want to do. Most people couple them with a Pronto, or Crestron or Phast touchscreen ($$$$$). These systems will simply take care of your macros, sensing the current status of your devices and responding appropriately. If you block out the IR ports on your equipment and channel all IR input through a complete JDS setup, you can use flags & variables to keep track of the status of each device in great detail - for instance, whether your receiver is set to CD, DVD, VCR, etc, or what channel your TV is on.

I used to buy loads of X10 stuff and automated the hell out of my home, but with the current X10 popups in my face, I don't know if I want to buy from them again. Smarthome is a good alternative for your X10 needs and so much more. The patents are up on that tech, so plenty more companies are coming out with these devices and hopefully they all won't be spraying popups in our faces.

Try SmartHome.com. Lots of X10 stuff, no pop-up/pop-under ads or other obnoxious stuff. I've never ordered from them, but have been getting catalogs from them every few months for the last few years.

If you love X10 gear, but hate X10's sales division, you should look at some of the X10 licensees. They produce X10 compatible gear, but either cheaper clone versions or extravagently expensive $100 wall switches.

You should check out SmartHome, an enormous home automation site I am not affilited with in any way, or X10 Pro, X10's slightly more serious professional division.

--

Cheap 4U EMPTY rack case!
Interlogic Industries

My idea was to convert my standard cases into rackmounts. Not too expensive it seems. That's the cheapest 4U rack enclosure I've ever seen. Dunno if it's still a good price though.

If anyone else has any other hints, lemme know. I'm still thinking about rack mounting to save space in my apartment.

smarthome.com, and gadgethome.com are the best for home automation. for cameras, go to supercircuits.com.

Your question is at the crux of the advertising business. What marketers have learned is that recognition is everything.

Nope, it's not everything. Perhaps it's everything when making choices between two apparently similar products (Tide vs. ABC) or alerting the public the availability of a new product (which X10 is to many people I'm sure). But as for me, and legions of others, I will not buy from X10 because of their marketing. I personally got an free X10 kit 2 years ago when they were advertising on /. I was actually quite happy with it. But their marketing techniques made me buy supplemental products from a competitor, SmartHome, which for me was unknown.

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I doubt it. I don't think X10.com will ever be a successful large corporation because people associate their products with sleazy advertising that is aimed at enticing perverts to spy on women. Infact I think their advertising has actually hurt the overall market for X10-based products. Maybe I'm wrong -- I hope not.

-rt-

Some of them make a lot of sense: remote access to temperature and lights in the home can be useful. Others don't. For example, I don't think more automation in the kitchen does much good: people would probably benefit more from a healthy relationship with food (cooking themselves with fresh ingredients) than minute tracking of soft drinks and junk food. And short of automated driving and road following, I don't really need or want any additional gadgets in my car.

http://www.smarthome.com/9031.html or http://www.realgoods.com/shop/shop3.cfm?dv=3&dp=30 2&ts=1025344&kw=monitor

Luckily there are lots of other places to get X10 gear. Check Smarthome to start with.

I almost never patronize x10.com.

Rackmount PC hardware is still expensive, but rackmount fullsize cases aren't all that pricey- the real money goes for systems optimized to use as few rack-inches as possible.

If all else fails, you can buy threaded rack rails and build your own cabinet around them.

Everything I have looked to do what you are talking about is in the $2k-3k ranage (for a 6 input x 6 output). They all are nice, but expensive. I looked here for most of my stuff for this: http://www.smarthome.com/8270c.html

Once again - great checklist. I have a few more of my own to add...

It was stated earlier, but can't be repeated often enough: Use Conduit!

Considering item #3 (Always pull a string), it's even more important - and helpful - to run conduit. I wouldn't exactly call it future-proof, but it certainly helps...

A couple of more items from my own recent experience:

1) Clean Power is nice!
SmartHome sells in-line power conditioners (read: whole house surge-suppressor) for less than $50US. You can have it wired in at the breaker box by the electrician for a couple of bucks. I cannot stress enough what a difference this makes to X10 installations. And the peace of mind that comes with not having to put every PC/stereo component/TV/etc. on its own surge suppressor is nice, too.
Most modern homes have an external breaker box that splits the incoming line into two: one that feeds the 110V breaker box inside, and another that feeds the 220V appliances like air conditioner/heat pump/furnace, oven, electric clothes drier, etc... The power conditioner goes to the 110V box.

2) If you have the space to set aside a server closet, then do it right.

a. Twin-pole (telecom-grade) racks are cheap and easy to install. If installed properly, they can support a couple of hundred pounds without issue. You can use them to mount your stereo equipment, PCs, switches, routers, etc. This makes cabling a breeze, too.

b. Back to that power thing... Be sure the server closet isn't on the same circuit as some large appliance (or your hairdryer). Have the electrician run a dedicated circuit to that room, using 12 gauge wire. 14 gauge is standard for residential, 12 is slightly larger. It's usually used for 220V lines, but is also useful for higher amperage loads - like lots of computers.

c. Electrical equipment generates heat. Lots of heat.
Do whatever you can to minimize this heat, but you're probably going to have to ventilate. Running a duct to the closet will NOT work. You're pumping cold air in, but you still have to pump hot air out. Plus, what are you going to do in the winter? Your heat pump/furnace will be pumping hot air out of those ducts, toasting your servers.

Suggestions:
1-Use a window unit that ventilates to the outside. Ugly, but cheap and workable.
2-Use a ductless split-vent system. This is a smaller version of your home unit that doesn't use ducts. The compressor sits outside, where it compresses coolant before pumping it back into the house. The chiller/fan unit sits in the server closet and blows hot air over the chillers, extracting the heat from the closet. Expensive, but SO nice. You'll never have to worry about your hardware overheating. You may, however, have to run the drip from the chiller to a humidifier, since these systems tend to dry the air, causing major static electricity buildup.
3-This is what worked for me: Put the server closet in the garage. Install a window unit in the closet, but vent it into the garage. That way you can't see the window unit from outside.

Hopefully the cooling aspect isn't as big a deal for you as it is for me. I live in Central Texas and I have a couple of big, honking Dell toaster... er... servers in my rack. It gets warm.

Good luck!

If you go wired, and you're installing in an extant building, while you're laying out where you want Ethernet jacks (you *are* planning to lay it out on paper first, right?), try to avoid exterior walls if you can. The fewer of these that you do the better.

Exterior walls are:

• Filled with PITA insulation that will be a bitch to cram a fish tape through
• At the edge of the roof line, so drilling through the stud caps in the attic is hard (there's not much space for your drill)
• Is almost always a load bearing wall, and thus not something the Enthusiastic Amatuer should be munging about with
• Is always an insulating wall, and thus is a great place to accidentally create a thermal break by drilling the accidenal hole

www.smarthome.com

--

I just wired a portion of my house. I recommend using the Leviton QuickPort outlets or outlet covers. These are outlet covers with square holes in them. The holes accept snap in QuickPort jacks. Leviton sells QuickPort jacks for RJ45 jack, RJ11, and coax (they may sell more, this is what I saw on the shelf). They come in 1, 2, 4 and 6 hole varieties.

For my computer room, I bought 2 of the 6 hole variety, 8 RJ 45 jacks and one package of 4 blanks to cover the 2 unused holes. That way I have 4 ethernet ports on opposite walls with 2 spots on each wall open for future jacks.

You can buy them from http://smarthome.com and probably elsewhere online, but you might also try your local Home Depot (they were cheaper there). While there, pick up some blue 3/4" flexible conduit that they sell in 10' sections. Even if you don't have a junction box, you can still run the conduit to your outlet holes keeping you from having to fish through walls each time you want to pull wire. Of course, having conduit everywhere would be nice, but even just running conduit through those difficult areas is a big plus.

Also, when you run the first wire, drag a piece of nylon cord with it. Then you can pull your wires through always dragging along a nylon cord so you can do the next pull.

You can buy an all-in-one cable from Smarthome
Not cheap...

You can buy an all-in-one cable from Smarthome
Not cheap...

SmartHome (www.smarthome.com) has a lot of really great automation and home network equipment. They have everything from your basic X10 light switches to automatic pet doors and feeders to whole-house stereo equipment. They also have literature that can help you get started.

A system that learns from the occupant would be exactly the reason to use neural nets for X-10 macro programming. Why sit down and program the lights to come on "around the time I get home" or "about 20 minutes before sunset" when those times change, and that change can be learned?
------
WWhhaatt ddooeess dduupplleexx mmeeaann??

Check out this camera from SmartHome.Com. It runs on a 9-volt battery and can transmit to a 900 MHz base or to channel 59 UHF. It has a 200' range. Kinda expensive, but very cool.

Check out this camera from SmartHome.Com. It runs on a 9-volt battery and can transmit to a 900 MHz base or to channel 59 UHF. It has a 200' range. Kinda expensive, but very cool.

Is it worth it? I bought some X10 controllers because it was cheaper and more convenient than having an electrician do a lot of rewiring. The thermostat may help save you energy since you can leave your heating off and turn it on remotely with a telephone call or via the Internet before you get home. Beyond that, it seems like it's a gimmick.

Would you like to pet my Penguin? The Linux Pimp

A good place to look for automating your home along with other gadgets is Smarthome.

While I can't quite justify spending $15k on that system (although I think it's very neat) I'm wondering where they got the rack they mount the computers in. I'm looking to reduce the clutter of computer equipment I have and I'm looking into racking most of it. I've found a source of very inexpensive rack cases for ATX motherboards (Interlogic Industries, the RKT series economy 4U chassis) but I can't find an inexpensive rack to mount it in... Smart Home looks like it has an option, but I really do dig that yellow rack and its simplicity... anyone have any ideas?

I have a conventional security system, although I'm also looking at some video options, due to the street crime outside my place, which is considerable. On a budget it's difficult to get all the options you want. For cheap, non-digital cameras try Supercircuits. You can get a decent B&W camera for well under $100. These output a regular NTSC video signal which can be plugged into a TV, VCR, or video capture card. This type of signal is very easy to manage, with a wide variety of wireless links, etc., available for fairly little money.

The main problem with video is storing the signal. A Tivo would be very well-suited to security applications, if the software were changed to allow motion detection or other event-based recording, and to allow uploading of images to an offsite location.

If you decide to store the signal onsite, you could put the video equipment in a hidden, secure location and wire up everything to work remotely. Smarthome has a lot of tricky ways to do this using coax. The best suggestion I saw from them was to use RF modulators to put different video signals on different TV channels on a single wire throughout the house. Instead of running, say, an entire cable signal to a box next to the set, you put the cable box in a closet and feed its output to channel 3, and your security camera to channel 5, etc. This system allows any video emitting device to be viewed from any TV or VCR by simply changing channels. The catch is that you need an infrared relay to control the equipment from another room. Smarthome has relay systems which transmit infrared signals back down the coax to a receiver next to the cable box, using a different frequency that doesn't interfere with the TV channels.

Their stuff can be pricey, but you can shop around other places for similar equipment. I've found that an RF modulator for one channel will run around $65, but you might already have a channel 3 out on one device, so you get that one free. You can also get multichannel 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz wireless links for around $100, so wireless distribution is also a possibility. The infrared relays are in the $100-200 range; maybe someone could suggest a cheaper solution.

There are a few ideas that come to mind. You could use X-10 based hardware (smarthome has a good selection, but shop around on prices - their's run steep) to capture the video, pipe that into a video capture card (check the video4linux project for specific stuff), take pics every few [seconds|minutes|whatever], use a package on freshmeat (can't remember the name) that checks for a "diff" between images and can run a program based on the return value. You could then send a text message to your pager/cell phone/email account. They also have relays that can trigger X-10 events based on normally-open (NO) or normally-closed (NC) trigger devices (like the laser tripware, door contacts, motion detectors, etc) and, again, send a text message to you with the details. The X-10 device signals can be monitored with a power-circuit to serial port device that isn't too expensive.
Hope this helps - I'd be interested in hearing what you eventually go with, as I'd like to implement something similar at home....