tola

I've finally got around to plugging in the X10 home automation kit that arrived in the post last week, courtesy of the lemon.

I ordered the basics:

• CM12U - Serial X10 Computer Interface
• LW10U - X10 Wall Dimmer
• LM12U - X10 Lamp Module

So far I've plugged the computer interface into a PC, plugged a 20W desk lamp into the lamp module and tried controlling the lamp using bundled Windows software. There was a horrible buzzing sound coming from the lamp module, the lamp only just managed to light up very dimly and playing with the "dim" feature resulted in a precarious display of flashing which I thought was going to blow the bulb! I wonder if these problems would be solved by using a different lamp rated higher than 20W, but I'm not really sure what's causing them.

The equipment completely failed successfully transmit a signal from upstairs to downstairs, possibly struggling to cross between different rings on the house mains.

So far I'm very unimpressed, but I need to learn more about the X10 kit and the way houses are wired in the UK before I make my mind up.

I'm interested to know how much power is wasted by an X10 receiver or transceiver when on standby.

I've decided what I'd like for my birthday, it's just a black box, a big black box with a computer in it, the size of a shipping container in fact.

That crazy Cringely got it right for once, he just picked the wrong company.

Sun are becoming quite interesting recently, I was very interested in Simon Phipps' talk at LugRadio Live and they're doing interesting things.

In other news...

I got a package in the post today (courtesy of Twisted Lemon) containing some X10 kit to play with and I bought a Nokia 770 the other day, things are finally starting to happen.

Synopsis

Software for a home central computer which features a media centre, social software and home automation with a minimalistic and multimodal web interface.

Codename

Moya

Rationale

Anything from an email to a song to an electrical appliance in the home can be modelled as a resource and identified by a Universal Resource Identifier (URI) in an information system.

On the world wide web, a web page is just one representation of an abstract resource. That resource can have other representations which can be interacted with by the user in different ways, depending on ability; preference or environment.

Moya will attempt to model these resources and allow users to interact with them in many different ways, resulting in a flexible smart home.

Features

Social Software

• Synchronous and Asynchronous telecommunication with text, audio and video
• Calendar
• Contacts
• Mediablogging

Media Centre

Syndicated, live and archived media in text, images, sound and video.

Home Automation

• Lighting
• Climate
• Multimedia Distribution
• Security
• Energy Efficiency

Misc

• Single sign-on
• Natural language command

Use Cases

Moya is a central computer for the home, an appliance for information. It is a computer but it doesn't live on a desk, it sits in a corner somewhere out of the way. Its function is to connect everything digital in your home together and to act as the digital hub for your life. The kind of things Moya looks after are your email, calendar and address book; your phone, instant messenger and answering machine; your TV, films, music, pictures and news; your heating, lighting and security.

You can interact with Moya using audio, visual and tactile input and output. Interaction is via a whole range of devices including touch screens around the house, an adapted TV, an ordinary PC, a mobile device or even a light switch. The best part is that you will be able to access the system from anywhere you can find an Internet connection and almost all functionality is usable remotely.

Implementation

See Moya