RE: What bedside clock for a HA-er?

["Paul Gordon" <paul@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hmm... what OS & application software do you run on it?

I can't imagine being satisfied with the speed of XP on anything that
isn't=
fairly powerful... - I have a LINITX PC "spare" with the Nehemiah
(spellin=
g?) 1GHz chip, that I used to run as the kitchen PC with XP on it, and I
wa=
s quite frequently annoyed with the slow speed...

It also wasn't silent, since that chip / board does require a fan, and the
=
HDD also made a bit of noise.

I'm also trying to *reduce* the number of PC's running in the house to try
=
to reduce our ridiculous power bills! And I reckon a PC that's man enough
t=
o run a modern OS acceptably fast with a decent GUI on it, is going to be
a=
significant drain if it's on 24/7/365

And finally, I'm concerned about running a critical item on a PC. - I've
ha=
d too many lockups, crashes, hardware failures etc. over the years to be
co=
mfortable with that idea. - I'm not saying my PC's are especially
unreliabl=
e, quite the contrary, but if I'm late for work even once because the darn
=
thing froze in the night then that is once too often, since a =A39.99
clock=
from Argos wouldn't have this problem...

I reckon I'd be happy to try something that is low-power and solid state,
s=
o I suspect that pretty much excludes any WINTEL type solution.... - but
I'=
m happy to be proven wrong...

Actually, I suppose it wouldn't be a problem if the interface was just the
=
control point for setting the actual "alarm" function on another
HA system =
(i.e. Comfort) - then once set, even if the PC died in the night, I'd
still=
be woken up at the right time by the lights coming on, & the
chime/voice a=
nnouncement over the comfort keypad....

What screen do you have on it? - one of those little touchscreens?

Cheers

Paul G.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
> Mark McCall
> Sent: Tuesday, November 07, 2006 5:01 PM
> To: UKHA_D Group
> Subject: RE: [ukha_d] What bedside clock for a HA-er?
>=20
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> > NOT a nano-ITX PC based solution - too noisy and/or unreliable
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> That's what I have and it's superb, I wouldn't be without it.  It's
tiny
> (in
> the "packbox" case I think it's called), it's fanless (using
the heatbloc=
k
> on the CPU) so practically silent.  I use it with a pair of cordless
> headphones to watch TV and listen to streamed Internet Radio and
podcasts=
.
> I can control the HA through it, view calls from xAP Switchboard,
watch
> the
> CCTV cameras etc etc.  After my work PC and my laptop, my beside
computer
> is
> probably my most used machine.
>=20
> M.
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> ** Sponsored by http://www.BERBLE.com **
> all the Cool Stuff, in one Place
>=20
>=20
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