EarthLCD: 10" Thin Client LCD

Every smart home needs a nice interface to allow occupants to control various aspects of their abode, so I thought a nice touchscreen interface had to included in the project.

Been looking around on/off for a good few months, but I just wasn't up for paying a few grand for an in-wall pc, and wasn't sure about running long vga/ps2/usb cables to a pc elsewhere in the house.

So I thought building a thin client would be the most affordable solution.

After quite a bit of searching, I found this 10" thin client LCD for a damn good price.

Will be able to install a basic O/S , which will probably Win 98 as it's mentioned on their site - and I haven't touched a *nix system in a very long time.

I'll have it either launch a full screen browser to the interface that I'm yet to write, or perhaps automatically Remote Desktop into my MediaCenter and build a frontend on that.

So Anyway.. I bit the bullet and ordered it - looks like it will be around $700 landed - which is ALOT cheaper than anything else I've been considering. I almost bought a RelayTouch which I thought was perfect - but the price was a bit too steep. Would have come in at around $1700 landed!

If I can get it to work as i'd like to, I may get a few more and have multiple screens setup around the home.

How Hot is it? 4 Channel Temp Logger

I thought it would be great to get some real-world temperatures feeding into my system to:

• Control HVAC
• Curtains/Blinds
• Display on Squeezebox / Touchscreen

The idea is to have 1-wire sensors setup in the main living areas, one outside and another in the equipment encloser.

I saw there was an xpl application to get a Quasar 3145 Temprature board onto an xpl network.

Did a bit of searching and found a local supplier that sold them here, both in kit form and assembled (Under a different brand - but looked identical). Being a little lazy - I went the assembled route :)

Arrive a couple of days ago, plugged it in, installed the app - and presto - worked a treat.

Total cost: a little over $100. (4 sensors)

USBMicro: Cheap I/O Interface

Was after a cheap way of getting some PIR & Door Switches hooked up to my system

Stumbled across one of these USBMicro which looks like a fairly simple & affordable way of getting 16 digital i/o ports connected

I've just ordered one so will have a crack at writing an XPL Application to get it on my XPL network..

Should be a good learning exercise at the very least

Will keep you guys posted.

XPL Script: Sending Status Messages to Twitter

I stumbed cross twitter a couple of months back, and didn't think much of it.. I thought i'd just leave it to the MySpace teens to play with... Who really wants to know what i'm doing at any waking moment? (well besides my gf :o) )

Then I came across Gordon Meyer's Post on using Twitter to send status messages to his phone, email, web, widget..




BRILLIANT... Now I don't need to code something myself!.. I could even work the above widget straight onto a touchscreen interface!

So here it is.. An quick XPL script I wrote to basically relay OSD messages to a nominated Twitter.com account..

What it Does

• Piggy-backs of another OSD device and relays the message via http get to a Twitter account.

How to Install it

• Download the script and save it to the scripts folder (or create a new user script and cut & paste the code in)
• Change the user/password variables in the script to your own (well hour house's)
• Add a trigger to the device you want relay messages from (eg device script: Slimdev_Slimserv_slim1.xpl)
• Send an OSD message to that device and whalla - Twittered!

Enjoy!

XPL Script: Current Melbourne Weather

One of the first things I thought i'd try with XPL is to get some global variables set up.

A good start was some global varialbles to store the current weather. Which will obviously come in handy down the track when I look at HVAC & garden watering systems.

With most XPL development being overseas (UK mainly) - there was nothing specific that i could use.

Anyway I found a script on the XPL Forums which I based this on (only ended up using the concept & a couple of lines - but thanks clinque)

What it does

• Grabs the last weather reading via http from the corresponding city page on The Beurea of Meteorology (ie. Melbourne)
• Locates the first row of readings, and writes values into Globals for Temperature, Wind Direction & Speed, Pressure and Rainfall.
• Sends an OSD message when done (I've got a Slim Devices Squeezebox setup to recieve them)

How to Install it

• Download the script and save it to the scripts folder (or create a new user script and cut & paste the code in)
• Setup globals in XPLHAL Manager
  BOM_CURRENTTEMP
  BOM_WINDDIRECTION
  BOM_WINDSPEED
  BOM_PRESSURE
  BOM_RAIN
• Change the URL if needed (Should work on any of the location observation pages)
• Add "call Weather_Init()" at the end of xPLHal_Load() (in script xplHal_Load.xpl)
• Reload scripts (or restart xplHal) - and the globals should be populated with the current weather & the current temperature should be sent to all OSD devices.

Welcome!

Hiya... and welcome!

I'm currently building a new home.. and being a lover of tech, and working in IT in some way, shape or form for my entire working life, I thought I'd finally put some of that love to some practical use.. And create a completely WIRED home..

WIRED of course being a state of being at one with technology..

So what will you find here?

This blog will pretty much hold all my results of my research... from touchscreens to buttons, from automation systems to handy scripts. What i chose, am chosing.. and why.

The goal - to create a complete smarthome at a fraction of the cost of having a "professional" installed setup.

So Enjoy!

Which Platform? XPL Project!

The platform:

After MONTHS of research, i've finally decided on the software platform to build my system on.

My Pre-requisites:

• Windows Based (To be embedded)
• Small footprint (I will be running off compact flash - so smaller the better)
• Excisting support for devices via plugins
• Scriptable (VBScript for me)
• Extensibile
• Customiseable web interface (For multiple front ends)
• Community support
• MediaCenter automation support (play video/media etc)

So the winning platform is: (Drum roll)

XPLHAL - Home Automation Manager

Based on XPL - an open sourced, unified protocol to allow control and monitoring of devices around the home.

I've spent the last few weeks playing around with it, and it looks damn good. Should be able to build a robust system based on this - and with the loads of community support out there, and the myriad of interfaces to devices its perfect for this project. Have even built some custom scripts that others may find handy which i'll post up here shortly.