An attempt at blogging

I started this blog, because I noticed a large number of people interested in my home domotics project. I received a lot of comments and emails with questions which was a bit too much to answer. Through this blog I hope to answer some questions and tell you about my current work-in-progress: my new home computer software which is written from scratch and a whole new take on this.

For anyone who got here and is still wondering what this is all about; you may want to watch this YouTube video.

Read more for the details...

This was also noticed by the Dutch computer magazine Computer Idee and they interviewed me for their article on my home computer. In Dutch language of course.

So let me get back to answering some questions. Most questions were about that hard- and software, so I will give you a short bit on that. The hardware is a Pentium D dual-core CPU (3 GHz per core) and 2 GB RAM. The video card is a NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT which was chosen for its 2 video outputs and an internal S/PDIF connection to merge audio with the video on the HDMI output. The machine has an internal audio chip (SigmaTel) but also has a SoundBlaster X-Fi audio card which was chosen especially for its internal S/PDIF output which can be wired to the video card mentioned earlier. Some processes on the machine choose to use the SigmalTel audio device, while others (displayed on the other screen) choose to use the SoundBlaster. This way the computer is connected to the Home Cinema Set with a HDMI cable and I can play a video on the secondary screen (which goes along with the SoundBlaster audio to the Home Cinema Set) and have the computer interface software still running on the primary screen with its SigmaTel audio going to the screen on the wall. All this is put away nicely in a closet behind a panel (along with some other devices such as the central network switch). A couple wires power some fans for better air flow and extend the power button to the panel.

 

The software runs on Windows XP, is programmed in C# and uses .NET Framework 3.5. Everything in there is hardcoded and, contrary to my other projects, not so nicely programmed for customization or flexibility. This is what you would call a prototype. It works, but you can't sell it because it lacks quality. I will not make it open source or otherwise distribute it, because of the lack of quality, but also because it really isn't high-tech-rocketscience. You can learn a lot more from the source code of my other projects which are open source.

The reason why I didn't include control of my room lights and other hardware is because all that I could find was hard to find, didn't really assure me that it would work properly and is quite expensive. In the end the light switch next to the door is more practical anyway. Of course, if I can find reliable and decently priced electronics for this purpose some day I will sure think about this again.

I hope this answers most of the questions asked. If you have any more questions, please post them here and I will see if I can answer them. Now I'm going back to work on my new home computer, which I will post some information about later.