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Where To Start With DIY Home Security?
secretrobotron writes "I'm a recent university graduate from a co-op system which has kept me on the move every other semester, so I've never really had a permanent place to live, and I've never had the opportunity (or the capital) to buy expensive things. Now that I'm working, those restrictions on my life are gone and I'm living in an apartment with things I don't want stolen. I would love to build a DIY home security system, but I don't even know where to start since Google searches reveal things like diysecurityforum.com, which help only to an extent for a curious newcomer. Has anybody out there successfully built a home security system on a budget? If so, where did you start?" Related query: When similar questions have come up before, many readers have recommended Linux-based Zoneminder (last updated more than a year ago); is that still the state of the art?
... X10. Avoid them like the plague. Apart from being general douche bags, their equipment is crap.
If you resort to DIY then you have nothing worth protecting. If you do have something that needs protecting, get insurance, and a real security company.
There is nothing in this about video-ing the perps. There is nothing in it about having a gun, or traps or anything weird. When you assess the possible outcomes, those things don't reduce your loss, and likely increase your trauma.
Seems to me if people break into my house intent on robbing, raping, and killing me, and I shoot them dead before they get the chance, I've mitigated the damage.
Step 1 is out because we're already at the point of something happening.
No insurance can get me back from that, so step 3 is out.
Step 4 is out too because I'm not a pussy liberal, so I'm not going to "accept" a solution that involves calling 911 and waiting while I've got a dick in my ass, a heroin scarred clit in my face, and a knife to my neck.