Hi All
I've been interested in wiring/automated home for a while but will be getting my own place soon so will actually be able to do something about it ! About as far as I got living at home was wiring a bit of cat5 to upstairs for the broadband !
Anyway this is what I want to achieve in rough order..
These are my main objectives which will build me a pretty good media centre networked over the wireless network and served by a Linux box (currently using win2k but fed up of the instabilities) with probably some sort of raid setup (just got one 80gig disk at the mo). Not really interested in the lights & curtains etc. initially since its only a small 1st floor flat and everything about can be boxed and shipped to any new place if I move.
As for a dream solution I would one day like to add..
Questions..
Ok, sorry for this 1st post being such a massive one but I've lots of ideas and no money so trying to get the best out of my buget & can't afford trial and error !!
Let me know what you think
Cheers
Daz
I've been interested in wiring/automated home for a while but will be getting my own place soon so will actually be able to do something about it ! About as far as I got living at home was wiring a bit of cat5 to upstairs for the broadband !
Anyway this is what I want to achieve in rough order..
- * Setup ADSL on a 802.11a router (moving from NTL)
* Ditto networking my PC & Sever
* Add a wireless streaming mp3 player (SoundStream maybe)
* Need to buy an amp and speakers too
* Maybe add a DAB radio but it this worth it now with streaming radio stations ??
* Get a cheap PDA as a universal remote are a controller for the SoundStream
* PVR type functionality for the server
* Add a webcam or two for both security and a cam pic on my website
* Add a wireless streaming video player (anybody tried these ? is the bandwidth enough ?)
These are my main objectives which will build me a pretty good media centre networked over the wireless network and served by a Linux box (currently using win2k but fed up of the instabilities) with probably some sort of raid setup (just got one 80gig disk at the mo). Not really interested in the lights & curtains etc. initially since its only a small 1st floor flat and everything about can be boxed and shipped to any new place if I move.
As for a dream solution I would one day like to add..
- * Light level sensitive scripting to automatically close the curtains & switch the lights on depending on light level.
* Voice recognition, so real big purpose though... just want to talk to my house !
* Fingerprint keyed entry (possible now I know but expensive !)
Questions..
- * I'm worries about overloading the wireless network so has anybody tried anything similar ? Luckily in a small flat the distances will be short but I'll be storing films on my server ripped from DVD using my PC and I don't want to have to wait hours for it to copy the file across the network.
* As mentioned about I'd like radio, preferably high quality so DAB or maybe streamed off the net. The SoundStream doesn't yet support this but is there anything else equivalent that does ? It'd need to be easy to browse the mp3s too and the appeal of the SoundStream is the ability to control the playback remotely from the server from a networked PDA.
* The PVR functionality would be great & I can ditch any video/dvd recorder but on Linux ?? Is this any good these days ? Does it mean I'll have to have my server close to the tv source ? I also vaguely remember reading about a gadget to run video down cat5 so does anyone know anything about this ? I'd rather keep the server well away from the tv and not have to water cool it to keep it quiet !
*deep breath* - nearly there !!
* Playing my server hosted videos (and recorded tv) is also a split decision. Use software on the server or a hardware solution which plays the streamed video over the network ? Again there's the problem of having the server close to the tv versus saving 200 or 300 quid and having something you can upgrade & update at will !
* Oh, I've a server to rebuild with Linux at some point soon. Needs to support raid, website hosting, 802.11a, recording from tv etc. Any suggestions ? :wink:
Does this forum do bullet points ? :? :roll:
Ok, sorry for this 1st post being such a massive one but I've lots of ideas and no money so trying to get the best out of my buget & can't afford trial and error !!
Let me know what you think
Cheers
Daz
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