[sf-lug] controlling external electronics? for a little science project Digest, Vol 30, Issue 14

[Matt Price]

On Wed, 2008-05-14 at 08:15 -0700, Paul Ward wrote:
> You should check out linuxmce.org. It includes a lot of home
> automation stuff in addition to a media center, VOIP, etc. They don't
> sell hardware, but support a variety of home automation devices and
> have a huge wiki.
> 
> 
> 
> On May 14, 2008, at 8:01 AM, Sam Geffner wrote:
> 
> >         From: Matt Price <matt.price at utoronto.ca>
> >         Subject: [sf-lug] controlling external electronics? for a
> >         little
> >                science project
> >         To: sf-lug <sf-lug at linuxmafia.com>
> >         Message-ID: <1210734462.7367.22.camel at localhost>
> >         Content-Type: text/plain
> >         
> >         hi folks,
> >         
> >         my 9-year-old has an idea for an invention..
> >         
> >         maybe she's not the first one to have invented it exactly,
> >         but i'd like
> >         to encourage her.  she wants a reverse alarm clock, that
> >         does the
> >         following:
> >         -turn out her light at bed time
> >         - play from a selection of boring speeches after lights out,
> >         to lull her
> >         to sleep
> >         - wake her in the morning with a less boring speech.
> >         
> >         now, it strikes me that most of this could be done pretty
> >         easily with a
> >         simple python script on her xo-1.  but to turn the light out
> >         she needs
> >         to open a circuit external to the computer.  now i imagine
> >         even this is
> >         pretty easy to do; that there exist generic usb connected
> >         electronics
> >         kits, that let you perform arbitrary simple actions (like
> >         flipping a
> >         switch) with signals from the computer.  but if this is so i
> >         have no
> >         idea how to do it.  anyone know anything about this sort of
> >         thing?
> >         
> >         as usual i appreciate al the help...
> >         
> >         matt
> >         --
> >         Matt Price
> >         matt.price at utoronto.ca
> > 
> >  
> >  
> > Matt,
> > 
> > Smarthome.com has just what you need in an Insteon controller for
> > the lights and an Insteon PC-USB interface box.  Possibly not the
> > cheapest, but definitely off the shelf.  I haven't researched
> > whether the USB interface includes Linux drivers, but their tech
> > support [800-762-7846] is relatively knowledgable & exceptionally
> > helpful and could be a source to answer your further questions.  
> > 
hey guys,

thanks for all the help.  i will definitely try one of these out down
the road.  i was hoping for a solution that mika could demonstrate at
school, so it seems to me i might need to build something instead...  i
don't know.  probably we'll work on this togethero ver the summer!
thanks,
matt


> > -- 
> > Sam Geffner
> > sgeffner at gmail.com 
> > 415-648-7744
> > 415-793-3562 cel
> > 
> > 
> > "That which makes our task difficult is part of the task."
> > _______________________________________________
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> > sf-lug at linuxmafia.com
> > http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo/sf-lug
> 
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-- 
Matt Price
matt.price at utoronto.ca