Any advice for ambitious newbie?

["Bruno Prior" <bruno@xxxxxxx>]

Sorry, in advance, for the very long post.

I am new to this group, and fairly new to home automation. I've had
whole
house audio and networking for quite a while in my current house with a
server for MP3s and other services and PCs in each room, but I'm a novice
at
X10 and similar technology.

I am just about to start a barn conversion for our new home. We are
literally stripping it down to a shell and rebuilding, so it is a great
opportunity to set up a more comprehensive home automation system. I
was
hoping that the members of this group might help me with comments on the
way
I was planning to go about it.

I am willing to change my plans in the light of advice in most regards,
but
there are a number of things which I cannot change. Probably the most
significant is that I want the house to be a Windows-free zone (with
the
exception of my wife's computer, which is a battle not worth fighting).
This
means that I certainly won't be running any Windows-based automation
server
software, and I am even reluctant to use proprietary hardware if it can
only
be configured from Windows. I am not trying to start a flame war on the
merits of different OSs, or suggesting that others are wrong to use
Windows.
This is simply a matter of personal principal and bitter experience.

As far as I can see, the main categories that I need to plan are:

Audio/video
Internet/networking
Lighting/appliance control
Security
Heating
Phones

Is there anything else I should think about incorporating?

For me, audio/video and internet/networking go together. I tried the
route
of a CD jukebox years ago. I still have my Technics 110 CD jukebox, but
I
found it very limiting. It holds and displays limited information about
the
CDs (so selecting CDs and tracks is a matter of memory or guess-work),
it
offers very limited facilities to control the playing order of the
tracks,
and it does nothing for my fairly extensive vinyl collection (which
gives
you an idea how old I am). Probably some of this could be overcome with
more
modern jukebox systems, but I do not believe jukeboxes will ever be as
flexible as a hard-disk-based system. In particular, a jukebox will
always
struggle to allow different people in different rooms to listen to
different
tracks simultaneously. Maybe it can be done, but it would be a lot more
complicated and expensive.

Because of this, I put together an MP3-based system when we moved into
our
current house around 3 years ago. Mostly, I have found this a vast
improvement. I have a linux server in the cupboard under the stairs to
hold
the MP3s (originally 4 12Gb disks in a RAID-5 array, now 4 40Gb disks in
a
RAID-5). And I have a PC in each room to play back the tracks.

Although this works pretty well for me, there are a number of
irritations
that I would like to eliminate. The most significant is the noise of the
PC.
Another is the bootup delay and the hassle of turning the machine on if
it
is hidden (as my wife insists) in a cupboard or other inaccessible
location.
Another is the lack of suitable software on Windows offering the
facilities
I want with the speed of response I want (I settled on Musicmatch Jukebox
as
the least bad, as it offers much better facilities to view and select
tracks
than programs like Winamp, but it is hideously slow when it has to
handle
hundreds of albums and thousands of tracks). And then there is the
difficulty of controlling it. It's OK in situations, such as the spare
bedroom/office, where a desktop is appropriate, and you can use a
normal
keyboard and mouse in close proximity to the screen. But in the main
bedroom
and in the lounge, you want to be able to operate it without standing
in
front of the screen. This meant going with an IR keyboard with a
pointing
device onboard, but it is not an effective means of operating an audio
jukebox, particularly if you are sitting some distance from a 15"
screen so
the text is too small to make out (as in our bedroom), or if you are using
a
widescreen TV as the screen, which distorts and blurs the image (as in
our
lounge).

What I plan for the new home is to replace the Windows PCs with
diskless
linux workstations NFS mounting their filesystems from the server,
which
will eliminate one source of noise and make for a faster bootup. I should
be
able to get the noise down to a minimum using components from companies
like
QuietPC, such as the Zalman heatsinks and the quiet PSUs. I will use
NICs
with WOL (Wake-on-LAN), so that movement sensors can send an X10 signal
when
someone enters a room, which the server can pickup and trigger a WOL
signal
to the workstation in that room, so it begins booting when someone comes
in,
which should mean it is ready to roll by the time that person wants to
use
it. Alternatively, the motherboards should have Wake-on-Keyboard/Mouse
etc.
so that they can be started without having to press the power switch.

I was planning to get X10 MouseRemotes for limited control of the
workstations, but I guess I will have to stick with cordless keyboards
for
anything more complex. Does anyone know of alternatives for controlling
PCs?
Should I be looking at IRMan and some kind of suped-up remote like a
Pronto?
Would this sort of solution still let me send X10 signals as well?

As for the screens, I was going to take a hammer to crack this nut and
replace the Widescreen telly with a Plasma display, and get a bigger
TFT
screen for the bedroom, preferably with built-in tuner, so I don't need
to
fire up the computer (with tuner card) just to watch TV. Does anyone
have
any experience of Diamond Technology's displays, which seem to offer
the
best price per inch for this sort of screen? And does anyone know of a
modern Plasma display that has DVI input? I understand that output from
a
DVD-ROM via DVI offers as good or better picture quality as component
video
connection, but I can't find a decent 42" display that has DVI. Not
that
this really matters, because it is probably simpler to get a separate
DVD
player anyway, but I would still like the best picture quality possible
when
using the screen with the workstation.

Then all I need is a practical interface. I have two options: use a
conventional window manager and get the desktop and apps to use large
fonts
and icons; or get hold of a bespoke interface such as OEone
(www.oeone.com).
Although the latter looks very nice, I would prefer the former, and I
think
it shouldn't be too much of a problem under X-Windows. Anyone have any
advice?

I was thinking of getting one of LetsAutomate's LoftBox units for
distributing TV/radio signals, although in an ideal world I would have
9,
rather than 8 room feeds. Can you split the feeds to give more than 8?

I think I understand how the FM, terrestrial TV and satellite work
through
the LoftBox, but what about DAB? Is the DAB signal also multiplexed
onto
each feed? If so, why do the standard wallplates just have the two
sockets
for TV and FM? What do you do if you want both analogue and digital
radio
>from
frequencies that need decoding? If so, why are there separate inputs to
the
LoftBox for FM and DAB antennae? And if I don't want to feed CCTV
through
the loftbox, can I use this input for some other video signal, such as
from
a terrestrial digital decoder?

My intention for recording was to go for hard-disk recording. But
rather
than get a Tivo or other one-box solution, I was thinking of putting TV
tuner cards in a couple of the workstations, so that I could record to
the
server, and be able to watch any recorded programs from anywhere in the
house with a screen. Are there serious problems with this approach? I
was
thinking of going for ATI 7500 All-in-Wonder cards. I understand they
are
one of the best cards for these purposes for linux support. Does anyone
have
any comments on their suitability for this purpose, or suggestions of
better
alternatives for recording TV from linux? I take it I would be able to
record whichever satellite channel was selected if I plugged one of the
multiplexed feeds into it? I was also hoping to rip any DVDs I own to,
say,
DivX files on the server so that I could also watch these anywhere in
the
house. Is this likely to be feasible?

As for DAB, I think my only linux option is to go for a Terratec
DR-Box.
Does anyone have any experience of these? Assuming I don't want to go to
the
expense of getting one for each room, is it practical to hook this up to
the
server and stream it round the house? The documentation for the linux
drivers seems to indicate that the linux DAB Server provides this
facility,
but I'm not sure I understood it right. Would I be limited to streaming
one
channel per DR-Box, or could I stream more than one channel from the
same
ensemble, if required? Does anyone have any experience of this?

The thing I have most doubt about is the interface. If I am going to use
the
computers as my main A/V equipment, I must have an easy interface. I am
looking in particular for two factors: (a) it must be able to be
operated
largely by remote control; and (b) it must have an intuitive and
accessible
(i.e. easily readable from a distance) GUI. I believe the former would
not
be too hard to achieve if I could live without the latter, as the IRMan
could control XMMS for playing back MP3s and DAB streams (and probably
other
programs for other A/V purposes). However, the XMMS interface is hard
enough
to read at a desktop (even in the ugly DoubleSize mode), let alone
sitting
several metres from the screen. And the track selection tools are
pretty
limited. On the other hand, most of the jukebox programs out there that
allow more flexible track selection also make a lot of use of grids that
are
difficult to read from a distance and need a lot of use of the mouse
for
scrolling throught the lists.

As far as I can see, the best way to put together an interface that can
be
suitably sized for distant reading is to have a web interface. But web
interfaces are usually designed to control command-line players. I am
thinking of putting together a system where all track meta-data is stored
on
a MySQL database, use local apache servers and perl scripts to generate
the
web interface from this database (and other resources, such as TV
listings),
use the perl xmms modules bundle to send commands from the scripts to
control xmms, and some combination of lirc/irmctl/plircc to control the
browser interface (and xmms, xawtv etc.) from a remote control. Sounds
rather complicated. Any suggestions of a simpler way to achieve the
same
results?

The obvious alternative might be to have the web interface controlling
a
streaming server at Node Zero, but as the server will be doing a lot of
work
as it is, I wanted to move as much processing onto the workstations as
I
could. Plus, I'm not sure how this would work for the V part of A/V
(although I think it could probably be done with VideoLAN). I'd be
getting
into a fair number of streams if I wanted to allow each room to operate
independently, which might give me some QoS problems on the network as
well
as the load issues on the server. Or am I exaggerating the problems?

The local switch has just been DSL-enabled, so I am planning to get an
ADSL
connection. I want to be able to provide authenticated web access to a
lot
of the automation system from outside the house, so I was assuming it
would
be much preferable to go for a fixed IP account. My current ISP
(Frontier)
puts all sorts of firewalling at their end of the DSL connection, and
does
not officially provide fixed IP, so I was thinking of switching to
Demon.
Has anyone had experience of Demon ADSL accounts? And what hardware
would
people recommend to hook the linux server to ADSL? I want the server to
handle NAT, firewalling etc., so would I be better trying to get an
ADSL
modem hooked up to the server so I don't have to worry about 2
gateways?

I am fairly comfortable with the rest of the network configuration. I
will
be putting twisted pair connections into each room, and also a couple
of
wireless access points. I'll be running Apache as web server, Samba to
provide access to the server for my wife's computer, CUPS for printing,
postfix/courier-imap/sqwebmail/maildrop for email, OpenSSH for remote
access, IPtables for NAT and firewalling, phpGroupware for diary,
contacts
etc, jabber for chat, Hylafax for faxing, MySQL for database
management,
OpenOffice for word processing, spreadsheet etc. Anything else I should
watch out for, or haven't taken into account/provided for?


Lighting and appliances:-

I was planning to go X10 for lighting control. From what I have read, I
should go for the DIN modules in preference to the X10 wall switches,
right?
My electrician says this will increase the cost of getting the house
wired,
as running a loop for each circuit is more labour intensive and
probably
will require more cable. He works for the family company, so I am sure he
is
not trying to rip me off, but is this people's experience?

Does anyone have experience of lighting a barn? I have heard a lot of
teeth
sucking whenever I have asked people (electricians or lighting salesmen)
how
to best achieve this. I have yet to meet someone with a barn who felt
that
they had managed to get good quality lighting across the room. The
problem
is that the light tends to disappear into the rafters, and it's difficult
to
position sufficient downlighters without a ceiling. You also want the
lighting to be as inobtrusive as possible, so as not to detract from
the
traditional appearance. I've also got to incorporate a couple of
cartwheels
which my wife wants to adapt as chandeliers, which will give a lot of
lighting, almost none of which will be cast downwards. And just to make
life
really difficult, I'd love the lighting to be as efficient as possible
(I
work in the environmental field, and ought to live by my principles), but
I
understand that low-energy bulbs don't work well with X10 (or at least
not
with the lamp modules).

For planning reasons, we don't have a lot of windows, and many of the
ones
we have are out of reach. I therefore want to automate the opening of
blinds
and curtains. Am I right in thinking that SilentGliss is practically my
only
option nowadays for curtain openers? And what is my best bet for blind
openers? Are there any options that can raise/lower and open/close
Venetian
blinds? Am I right in thinking I will need X10 relay modules to control
these openers?

Because of the planning limitations on new windows, we have tried to
get
permission for a few Veluxes to increase the light. At the moment, the
conservation officer is trying to force us to have the smallest
conservation
Velux available, which is one of the few models that they do not offer
an
automated blind opener for. If I am forced to have these Veluxes, are
there
any other options for automated blind opening/closing? My architect seems
to
think it would be easy to rig something up, but I haven't come across
anything. And if I get my way, and persuade the planner to let me have
the
next smallest Velux, which can be equipped with a Velux blind
opening/closing mechanism, are these easy to adapt for X10 control?

As I am so limited on the light I can get into the building, I came up
with
a slightly off-beat solution. The planner would not let us glaze the
existing barn doors, as most conversions used to be allowed to do. He
wants
it to look as much like a working barn as possible. The architect's
solution
was to put 2 slit windows in each barn door, which would have neither
looked
authentic, nor allowed much light into the building. I suggested that
we
have full restored barn doors on the outside, with glazing (and french
windows) behind. If we equip the barn doors with gate opening mechanisms,
we
can dramatically alter the amount of light allowed into the building
without
having to go outside and open the doors, and with an appearance that
satisfies the planners. This also then becomes a part of the heating
system,
because the amount of solar gain throught the south-facing barn doors
when
they are open will make a dramatic difference to the temperature of the
barn. I would therefore like to be able to control it both manually (e.g.
by
remote control or pressing a switch) and automatically(e.g. the server
would
automatically open or close the barn doors depending on the external
and
internal temperature, light readings etc). I thought this also ought to
be
straightforward to control by X10, but now I am having doubts, because
of
security. The barn doors will form a significant part of the security of
the
house, as the French windows behind will not present a significant
barrier
to anyone wanting to break in. This is a significant consideration, as
we
will be only half a mile from the local gypsy site! Am I right in
thinking
that the barn doors would be relatively easy to operate from outside
the
house, if I have any All House Code RF Receivers? If so, what would be
an
alternative way of controlling the barn door opening mechanisms from
the
server?

I wanted to setup a garden irrigation system, but my wife is a garden
designer and very particular about how the plants get watered.
Apparently,
the systems that drip release water slowly into the ground are no good
for
the plants. If it was going to be a sprinkler system, how would you
control
the sprinklers? Sounds like it would need a lot of hose, a lot of
sprinklers, and a lot of valves. And the valves advertised on
Letsautomate
say they are not for use at mains pressure. So what do people use?

I was going to stick some of the kitchen appliances on X10 controls. Would
I
be better off going again for the DIN modules rather than the wall
switches,
plugin modules or mains sockets? Are there any other appliances I
should
think of X10 enabling while I am at it?


Security:-

The security element was what first attracted me to X10. I
simplistically
imagined that I could put together a reasonable security system with a
combination of the external PIR/floodlights, internal PIRs, some XCam2s
and
some logic on the server. Now I'm not so sure. Presumably, I don't need
to
worry about RF control, as per the barn doors, as it is no advantage to
a
thief to be able to send false alarm signals. But I still have a number
of
problems with this plan.

I have gone away from the idea of using XCam2s. I want to be able to
interact with the security system from outside the house, particularly
over
the web. So I need to get the signals into the server. I haven't found
anything that will enable me to get signals from the XCam2 into a linux
server. The problem is that the receiver attaches by USB, and I can't
find
any information about USB drivers for this device. In any case, I was
starting to veer away from this plan before I encountered this problem.
I
want to have quite a few cameras. I couldn't find information on
whether
they could be configured to have more than one operating at once, or
how
many could be combined onto one receiver, or whether you could have
more
than one receiver working side by side, and if so, how each receiver
knew
which XCam2s it was receiving the signal for. And then there was the
problem
with the receivers having to be located near the server (due to USB
cabling
restrictions), which would leave quite long transmission distances for
some
of the cameras. And if all this could be resolved, it still looked like
it
would be a heavy load on the server, constantly grabbing frames from sets
of
cameras.

So now I am thinking of going for either Axis or D-link cameras, which
I
understand both have built in http and ftp servers. This should move
the
load off the server and allow for simultaneous monitoring of more than
one
camera at a time. I believe they also provide the additional (though
not
significant, I think) benefit of improved picture quality. Any advice
on
which to go for? The D-link units appear to be cheaper, but Axis are
the
specialists. If I went with Axis, I assume I would be better going for
individual cameras, rather than the video webserver, as it would be
much
more flexible, and not significantly more expensive. Is this the right
way
to go? And anyone know where I can get housing for mounting some of
these
externally?

As for the PIRs, I am wondering whether they are either effective or
sufficient as intruder detection systems. We plan to get a dog for
added
security, but that means we have to decide which to rely on, as I
imagine
that, if left inside, the dog will constantly trigger the PIRs. Plus,
we
plan to have a wood-burning stove in the main area, and I understand
PIRs
are not effective where there is another significant heat-source. Am I
worrying needlessly about their effectiveness? How do other people with
pets
handle this? Should I also be looking at other detection equipment like
pressure mats, motion beams, contact closures on windows etc? I
imagined
that these would be largely redundant if the PIRs worked, although the
contact closures might give the nice additional benefit of being able
to
check if any windows were left open when you went out.

I understand a lot of people use Comfort to control their security
system.
Is there a significant benefit to using this over programming the X10
logic
with something like Misterhouse or Heyu/Xtend? To me, it seems preferable
to
have all your control logic in one place (the server), rather than
divide
between multiple machines. Maybe the phone facilities would be useful.
Apart
>from
security?

It would be nice to be able to trigger the door locks from anywhere,
but
again, I guess you don't want to do this by X10 for security reasons.
Likewise opening and closing garage doors. What is the best way to wire
up
and control these sort of devices? And what's the best way for us to
trigger
it when we want to get into the house? My wife is quite security
conscious
and insists on locking the deadlock every time we leave, so I guess no
automated system will be able to unlock this when we return. But
fiddling
with two keys when you are loaded down (as I usually am when I come
back
>from
easy as possible for me to get in, but as hard as possible for
intruders.
What would people recommend? I see Letsautomate offer a proximity
access
control system, but this seems to be standalone kit. Can you install
this
and still also trigger the door by some other means internally? Is this
a
secure solution? Dallas also claim that their ibuttons could be used
for
security purposes, as each button is unique. Is this an alternative
that
could integrate more easily with the rest of the home automation gear?

What about smoke detectors. The ones advertised by Letsautomate do not
say
if they can be integrated with X10. I like the idea that smoke
detectors
could report to the server, so that the server could then make decisions
on
who and how to inform. How best to achieve this? I understand that one
should use heat, rather than smoke detectors in kitchens. Are there
heat
detectors available that can be integrated with X10?


Heating:-

We are going for quite a funky heating system in the barn. We will be
using
underfloor heating, hopefully powered primarily by a ground-source heat
pump, with LPG boiler as backup for hot water and the coldest days (we
have
no gas supply). We will also have a BAXI ventilation/filtration system,
which has heat recovery to recycle the exhausted heat back to the fresh
air.
And the heat pump will be reversible to provide cooling, so I want to put
a
heat exchanger from the heat pump to the BAXI intake to provide cool air
in
summer. It will be smart if it works.

Given the issue with the barn doors, I would like more intelligent
control
of the heating levels than simple thermostats. I guess what I need is
temperature sensors scattered round the rooms and externally, reporting
back
to the server, which controls the valves to the underfloor zones, barn
doors, BAXI ventilation, heat exchanger etc. I looked at the X10
thermostats, but they are pretty expensive to scatter round, and most
of
their functionality would be redundant. Now I am thinking of going with
1-wire temperature sensors indoors and weather station outside, wired in
to
the server, which will control the valves, doors etc with X10 signals
or
otherwise. I think I can use Misterhouse to program the control logic.
Has
anyone tried any of this? Are the X10 motorised valves suitable for
controlling the underfloor zones (they look like it)? Should I expect
any
problems with the 1-wire temperature sensors?


Phones:-

This is where I am _really_ confused. My wife works from home, so we
need
two phone numbers (work and private) and a fax number. On the other
hand,
it's unlikely that we will be using more than two of these at a time,
especially now that the internet connection will be going by ADSL.
Three
numbers, two channels - sounds like Home Highway. Except this is what I
have
had at our current house since we moved in, and ISDN (with MSN) before
that.
And it has never been satisfactory. I have been using an Argent (now
Lucent)
CyberGear Gold all this time, but it has never been satisfactory. It
should
be the ideal piece of kit - router, firewall and six analogue
extensions.
But it never works reliably, which it really should at the price (o800+,
and
I bought two!). It regularly resets itself, and then refuses to allow
anyone
to pick up their messages. It constantly loses its connection to the
timeserver on the server, then thinks it is the wrong time of day, and
goes
into the wrong mode. And the program to extract call information has
not
worked for years (since an "upgrade"), and as ISDN does not
provide most of
the facilities that you get with a POTS line, we have no way of knowing
who
called. It is so bad, that this is the only thing that my wife expresses
a
strong opinion on - she insists that for her work line at least, she
must
have a POTS line that she can plug a good, old-fashioned answerphone
into.
And I don't blame her.

So I will have ADSL, and at least one POTS line. It doesn't seem worth
getting Home Highway or any other ISDN variant on top of that. I guess
that
means I should just get two other POTS lines for private phone and fax.
Fax
is fairly straightforward - at the moment I use Hylafax to receive
faxes,
and either Hylafax or an old multifunction device to send. But I would
say
that it is an unnecessary step to view the fax on the computer before
printing it, so at the next house I will probably get a new fax machine
to
receive as well as send, and just use Hylafax as an additional option
for
sending from the desktop.

But I really don't know what to do about the home phone. We have yet to
resolve whether the lines will be her line and my line or work line and
home
line. If the former, which number do we give to friends as the main
house
number (you know people will only ever remember one)? And if the latter,
how
does someone leave a private message for one or the other of us? And, as
my
wife spends _a_lot_ of her day and evening on the phone, how do I avoid
being constantly unable to make or receive phone calls for the few
hours
each day that I am home, if we share and publish the home line?

I am torn between sticking with Highway for fax and phone, and
connecting
one of the data ports to something like an Eicon Diva Server card in
the
server, or going for a POTS line and either connecting that to a
Quicknet
Linejack card in the server, or giving in and connecting it to Comfort.
The
first option is the most flexible, as I would then have two channels
connected to the server, which I could use as a PBX/voicemail/VoIP
gateway
using something like Asterisk (www.asteriskpbx.com). And I could simply
add
extensions by adding extra Quicknet Phonejack cards, or just use VoIP
around
the house and use IP phones or headsets or microphones and speakers
connected to the workstations. Has anyone tried this or the Linejack
solution? Is there a mini-PBX solution that I should be looking at
instead
(although the CyberGear Gold has made me sceptical of any non-open
solution)?

Then there is the question of how to distribute the phone system round
the
house. At the moment, we have two DECT phones plugged into two of the
extensions off the CyberGear Gold, and my wife has an analogue cordless
with
her answermachine plugged into one of the analogue ports on the Highway
box.
I guess she will stick with this kit for her line. The problem I have
with
the DECT solution is that I can never find the handsets. And we
currently
only live in a small house. In the new house, if we have the bases in
our
office, we won't even hear the phone ring, let alone be able to get to it
in
time, if we are in the living room or kitchen. I guess I could get
something
to extend the ring to other parts of the house, but that still doesn't
get
round the problem of being able to get to the phone in time. It seems to
me
that one solution is to be able to use any of the workstations for VoIP
to
answer the phone, and then either continue the conversation at the
workstation, pass it to another workstation, or hand it off to a handset
or
headset. Will this work?

I really like the look of the Arialphone cordless headset, but it is
Windows
only. Anyone know of a decent cordless headset that does not require
Windows? I guess it could be any of analogue, DECT or VoIP. Or can the
Arialphone be adapted for use with linux? Voice recognition is available
for
linux, but I don't know if the signals that the Arialphone sends to the
computer are public. And I guess it would take more training than with
Arialphone's own software.

Another thing that doesn't work well at present is Caller ID. It is
passed
to the DECT handsets, but to read the number, you have to take them off
the
base-station, and the act of taking them off the base-station answers
the
phone. So we never have time to read the number before answering (even if
we
haven't had to run from one end of the house to the other), so it might
as
well not be there. And even if you have the handset on you, and can read
the
number before answering, all that is presented is the number, which, with
my
memory, is useless.

What I would like is for the server to read the Caller ID, look it up in
our
Contacts database, and then, if recognized, present the caller's name
somehow, or number if not recognized (or block it completely if the
caller
is rude enough to use 141, as this is probably a tele-sales merchant
anyway). I think this could be done with the Diva Server or Linejack
solutions. Comfort (or other proprietary systems) could probably do part
of
it, but I would guess that it would have to have its own database of
names
and numbers, rather than using the central database for the house
(which
would probably be on MySQL). One of my bugbears is the number of places
that
contact information has to be duplicated nowadays, and the range of
formats
that the information is stored in. As far as possible, I do not want to
duplicate contact information in the house.

I was thinking the best way to present the caller's name or number was
to
announce it verbally. The systems that overlay the number on the TV are
fine
so long as you are in the TV room and it is on. Hopefully, if we are
living
a full life, this won't be too often. I was thinking it might be most
effective to broadcast this information to the workstations, which should
be
on in any rooms where people are present, due to the PIR/WOL mechanism.
As
long as the workstations are using something like ARTS or ESD, they
should
be able to output the information, even if another program (such as xmms)
is
already outputting via the soundcard. The question is how to get the
workstations to output the information. I guess it needs some kind of
daemon
waiting to receive the Caller ID info from the server on a specified
port,
that uses a Text-to-Speach program to turn this info into sound. Anyone
know
if something like that exists, or would be difficult to create (I can't
see
any major problems)? Or alternatively, I suppose the workstations could
run
a second copy of something like xmms (or probably a less graphically
intensive alternative) in the background, that was set to play a
streaming
channel from the server, and the PBX on the server creates the
announcement
(using Text-to-Speach) and passes it to the streaming server. Are either
of
these options feasible/already available/impossible? I think maybe the
second option is easier. Is there another, easier alternative I haven't
thought of?

I want to be able to interrogate the home automation system in a variety
of
ways: by phone, web and WAP, and for it to send some signals to me by
SMS.
For phone control, can I use the server instead of the X10 telephone
transponder? Am I right in thinking that the telephone transponder
simply
accepts touch-tone commands? If so, I assume you have to remember which
key
corresponds to which command? And isn't the range of commands that can
be
transmitted very limited? And how do you specify whether the transponder
or
your answerphone/PBX picks up the call? Wouldn't it be better to have
voice
control menus? From what I can tell, Misterhouse's voice control menus
are
designed to function from a microphone connected to the machine on which
it
is running. Can it also accept voice control by phone? Perhaps it could
be
linked with the Asterisk PBX? If not, am I limited to the telephone
transponder, and am i right in my assumptions about this unit's
limitations?
Or is there another voice control option that doesn't require Windows?


Much of the above may make no sense whatsoever. I am just feeling my way
on
home automation. I may be getting completely the wrong end of the stick
for
many bits of it. But I would rather be ambitious and then cut back on
my
ambitions, than never try. Particularly as it is better to make
provision
now, during construction, for whatever I may want in the future, than
it
would be to think about the options later.

If any of you have got to the end of this message (without skipping all
the
stuff in the middle ;-), thank you and well done. I don't expect anyone
to
reply to the whole message. But if you've got some expertise on any
particular aspect of home automation, I would appreciate your advice on
that
aspect. Just don't tell me to use Windows.

Cheers,

Bruno Prior

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