Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
The SMS solution has fallen out of favor in recent times with the cost of G3 web access coming down, but it still
provides a fairly cheap means of control for families where older phones are passed down to the kids.
Conclusion
Although a home automation system has a lot of components, you've seen that none of them are particularly complex
or outside the realm of a standard Linux machine. It is only your geek-lust that requires (nay, demands!) more
equipment. But even then, a solid server is a bedrock, although as a home automation system grows, the inclusion of
more custom hardware becomes less suitable. Even though the cost of DVD players and PVRs is coming down, the
bulk/expense of replacing each piece of kit, in each room, is troublesome. Plus, you have no benefit of being able to
share media around the house and will be continually asking, “Who had the
Star Wars
DVD last?” The target goal for
most systems is to have a very powerful computer hidden away somewhere and a lot of smaller (low-power, low-cost)
head units in the various rooms, able to play all types of media. The area containing this powerful computer is called
Node Zero, and I'll cover that next.
Search WWH ::
Custom Search