No Subject

[Kieran Broadfoot <Kieran.Broadfoot@xxxxxxx>]

Mark,

Thanks for your comments.  After giving it some more thought I would like
to
ask a couple more questions both to yourself and the rest of the group. 
The
reason for this is because I have some ideas, but I really need some more
detail on the actual technical considerations before jumping in.

So if you dont mind, here goes:

1: I would would very much like to set up a system using complex(ish) X10
macros to control multiple devices and test the states of these devices
before
deciding whether they should be on/off or other.  Does anyone know if the
ActiveHome Automation Interface will do this or is there something better?

2: Stupid question of the month:  How do most people actually control there
HA
systems?  I am tempted to set up a number of IR receivers around the house
and
then have one main handset and maybe a keyring for other myself when I am
coming into the house.  If you go down this route can you then program
these IR
sets to use the macros in the interface or can you only switch on
individual
devices?

3: What systems are available for touch panels etc.  A backlit pad by the
frontdoor would be very useful for controlling devices as you enter the
house.
I thought about IR from outside the house but that is dependent on the
above
question and the range seems quite short.  (I would like to be further down
the
road than 10 metres if I want a warm house on entering!)

All in all I would like to set up a system for controlling multiple devices
etc
from one device capable of providing macros.  Above and beyond this I would
probably like to control via IR but I appreciate that this requires
multiple
receivers due to occassions when line of sight between all points in the
house
is just not physically possible ;-)

If anyone can help with the above then I would really appreciate the
comments.

Alternatively voice activation would be v. cool but I noted Marks comments
on
ambient noise.  Does anyone else have any experiences with voice control?

Cheers
Kieran


On Nov 4,  1:43pm, Harrison, Mark (Alliance) wrote:
> Subject: [ukha_d] Re: New to the scene
> Kieran
>
> Welcome!
>
> To take your points in turn, and offer what I can, please see below. I
must
> lay my cards on the table and say that I'm not an X.10 fan, though,
and
> wouldn't use it to control lighting, but that's a result of being a
bit
> obsessive about lighting flexibility.
>
> 1:
> Assuming you want to "get some equipment and play", the
places to talk to
> are Laser Business Systems (tel: 0181 441 9788,
http:\\www.io.com\~lbs),
> HomeTech (01603 870662, http:\\www.hometech.co.uk) or indeed Maplin
(the
> ubiquitous chain store.)
>
> You can find a fuller list of suppliers on
http:\\www.ukha.demon.co.uk, as
> well as a number of product reviews. Mark McCall, the web site owner,
is
> also a leading light (if you'll pardon the lighting control pun) of
this
> distribution list.
>
> A good setup for "experimenting" would be:
> --- "Controller to plug into your PC"
> --- A PC, which I assume you have
> --- X.10 lighting controller (can be dimmed)
> --- X.10 relay (can't be dimmed)
>
> Laser do a series of "starter kits", which might be worth a
look.
>
> 2:
> No idea! Don't know enough about how Dragon Dictate can interface back
to
> other programs on your PC. (If you know, please drop me a line, 'cos
I'd be
> interested to find out!)
>
> 3:
> Some kind of balanced cabling would seem to be in order. The two ways
I can
> see to do it would be to run balanced mics (which, as you say, would
almost
> certainly want to plug into an XLR setup), and to have a local Pre-amp
> brought the signal up to line level and then modulated onto UTP (this
is how
> Linn Knekt distrubutes audio, and it cetainly gives the right
quality.)
>
> I'm not sure how you envisage the mics being fitted. If you're talking
about
> a series of "wall plates which you go up to and speak into",
then I would
> guess that a low sensitivity, and a noise gate on each mic would be
all
> you'd need, then you could literally mix them together and run a feed
into
> your PC.
>
> If you're considering putting mics all over, so you can literally
raise your
> voice anywhere, and have it heard by the system, I think you'd need to
think
> quite carefully about how to manage ambient noise, particularly
> TV/Music/Movie noise. If you have multi-room audio, then you could
take a
> feed from the room-specific soundtrack, invert it, (possibly delay it
by a
> few milliseconds) and mix it with the microphone input (amplifies to
line
> level) to cancel its own noise. In principle this could be done with
> analogue audio kit, but you might end up needing to do some DSP stuff.
> (Quite possible with a modern PC and soundcard, but a pig to program.)
>
> 4:
> At the simplest level, you can get PC/X.10 interface cards that the PC
talks
> to by squirting ASCII characters down a serial port. As such "cat
ALLON.TXT
> > /dev/com1"
> (where /dev/com1 is your serial port, and ALLON.TXT is a text file of
X.10
> commands you made earlier) should work...
>
> << These views are mine, not those of BP, not those of Bovis,
all mine >>
>
> Mark Harrison
> European IT Manager, BP/Bovis Alliance
> Tel: +44 181 869 1439
> Fax: +44 181 423 7711
> SMTP: Mark.Harrison@xxxxxxx
>
>
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>-- End of excerpt from Harrison, Mark (Alliance)

--
Kieran J. Broadfoot.
Equities Unix Administration.
Goldman Sachs, London.
Phone: 0171 774 5946
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