Smart Home Automation with Linux- P1 doc

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Goodwin
Smart with Linux
Home Automation
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Companion
eBook Available
BOOKS FOR PROFESSIONALS BY PROFESSIONALS
®
Smart Home Automation with Linux
Dear Reader,
With this book you will turn your house into a smart and automated home.
You will learn how to put together all the hardware and software needed for
home automation, to control appliances such as your teakettle, CCTV, light
switches, and TV. You’ll be taught about the devices you can build, adapt, or
hack yourself from existing technology to accomplish these goals.
In Smart Home Automation with Linux, you’ll discover the scope and possi-
bilities involved in creating a practical digital lifestyle. In the realm of media and
media control, for instance, you’ll learn how you can read TV schedules digitally
and use them to program video remotely through e-mail, SMS, or a web page.
You’ll also learn the techniques for streaming music and video from one
machine to another, how to give your home its own Twitter and e-mail accounts
for sending automatic status reports, and the ability to remotely control the home
lights or heating system. Also, Smart Home Automation with Linux describes
how you can use speech synthesis and voice recognition systems as a means to
converse with your household devices in new, futuristic, ways.

Additionally, I’ll also show you how to implement computer-controlled alarm
clocks that can speak your daily calendar, news reports, train delays, and local
weather forecasts. You can then reuse this same weather data in conjunction
with motion sensors to remind you to take an umbrella when you’re about to
leave the house on days when the forecast calls for rain!
I’ve written this book to document all the processes and lessons I’ve learned
when creating my own smart and automated house, and now with the help of
this book you can do the same.
Steven Goodwin
US $34.99
Shelve in:
Computer Hardware/
General
User level:
Beginner to Intermediate
www.apress.com
SOURCE CODE ONLINE
Companion eBook

See last page for details
on $10 eBook version
ISBN 978-1-4302-2778-6
9 781430 227786
5 3 4 9 9
THE EXPERT’S VOICE
®
 IN LINUX
Smart Home
Automation with
Linux

Steven Goodwin
Learn how to control your home from your PC
Steven Goodwin, Author of
Cross-Platform Game
Programming
Game Developer’s Open
Source Handbook
THE APRESS ROADMAP
Expert Shell Scripting
Smart Home Automation
with Linux
Automating Linux and Unix
System Administration,
Second Edition
Practical MythTV:
Building a PVR and
Media Center PC
Beginning Ubuntu Linux,
Fourth Edition
Beginning SUSE Linux,
Second Edition
Beginning the Linux
Command Line
THE EXPERT’S VOICE
®
 IN LINUX
Learn how to control your home from your PC

Smart Home Automation
with Linux












■ ■ ■
Steven Goodwin



Smart Home Automation with Linux
Copyright © 2010 by Steven Goodwin
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
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To Mum and Dad for the first automated home I had, where clothes washed themselves
and food cooked itself!









iv

Contents at a Glance
About the Author xii
About the Technical Reviewers xiii
Acknowledgments xiv
Introduction xv

■Chapter 1: Appliance Control 1
■Chapter 2: Appliance Hacking 49
■Chapter 3: Media Systems 85
■Chapter 4: Home Is Home 117
■Chapter 5: Communication 149
■Chapter 6: Data Sources 185
■Chapter 7: Control Hubs 215

Index 269

v

Contents
About the Author xii
About the Technical Reviewers xiii
Acknowledgments xiv
Introduction xv

■Chapter 1: Appliance Control 1
X10 1
About X10 2
General Design 4
Device Modules 6
Stand-Alone Controllers 15
Gateways and Other Exotic Devices 20
Computer Control 23
C-Bus 28
About C-Bus 28
Differences Between X10 and C-Bus 28
Devices 29
Controllers 30
Gateways 31




■ CONTENTS
vi

Networked Devices 31

Ethernet Devices 31
Networking Primer 31
CCTV Cameras 38
Stand-Alone BitTorrent Clients 41
Infrared Remote Control 41
All-in-One Remotes 42
IR Relays 42
IR Control 46
Conclusion 48
■Chapter 2: Appliance Hacking 49
Software Hacks 49
Linksys NSLU2 49
Developing on the Slug 51
Hacking Game Consoles 52
Hardware Hacks 58
Linksys NSLU2 58
LEGO Mindstorms 60
Arduino as an I/O Device 61
Joysticks for Input 79
Other Input Controllers 80
Hacking Laptops 80
Your Own X10 Devices 81
Conclusion 83


■ CONTENTS
vii

■Chapter 3: Media Systems 85
The Data Chain 85

Extracting the Data 86
Storage 91
Stand-Alone NAS Systems 91
NAS with Media Playback 94
Configuring a Linux Box 95
Media Extenders 98
Stand-Alone Hardware 99
Just Linux 105
Distribution 107
Local Processing vs. Remote Processing 107
AV Distribution 107
Wiring Looms 109
Wireless AV Distribution 110
Matrix Switchers 110
Control 112
Local Control 112
Remote-Control Methods 112
Conclusion 115
■Chapter 4: Home Is Home 117
Node0 117
Function and Purpose 117
Determining the Best Room 118
Primary Options 121
Building the Rack 122

■ CONTENTS
viii

Servers 123
Purposes of Servers 123

Types of Server 125
Power Consumption 128
Server Coordination 131
UPS 132
Backups 136
Hiding Your Home 140
Adding to Your Home 141
General Considerations 142
Wired Network 143
Wireless Points 145
Audio Cabling 146
Other Access Points? 147
Conclusion 148
■Chapter 5: Communication 149
Why Comms? 149
IP Telephony 150
Skype 150
Asterisk 151
E-mail 151
Preparing E-mail in Linux 151
Sending E-mail 152
Autoprocessing E-mails 153
Security Issues 156