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Mac Hardware

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Specs:

• G4 (Gigabit Ethernet) tower
• Dual G4 500 MHz cpus
• 1 GB RAM
• Two internal hard drives
• Internal DVD burner
• Firewire: backup hard drive, DVD-RAM drive, Camcorder and 1st gen iPod (in keeping with the retro theme).
• USB: two hubs, printer, scanner, mouse & keyboard plus devices listed below
• Airtunes / Airport Express / Rosewill wireless router - this combo let's me stream music from iTunes to the stereo in the living room.
• Radeon 7000 (AGP 64 MB) video card drives the main 19" LCD display in the den / computer room
• Radeon 7000 (PCI 32 MB) connected to the 52" TV downstairs in the recreation room (channel 92 - All Mac, All the Time).
• Sound out port is connected to a Yamaha amp to drive speakers throughout the house.
• Sound in port is also connected to the Yamaha. For converting audio tapes and vinyl LPs to digital.

These three USB devices are the heart of myHouse:

Keyspan USB - Serial adapter This provides 2 standard serial ports. My trusty CP290 (X-10 Computer Interface) is connected to one port, and the other port is connected to a switch box: one port on the box is open and the other is connected to a B&B Electronics Analog to Digital converter.

ActiveWire I/O board This board connects via USB and provides 16 I/0 channels. The only problem is that the company that makes the board hasn't delivered on a Mac OS X compatible driver (despite promises on it's webpage). Luckily, a third party driver does exist.

Parliant Telephone adapter (PhoneValet) This is a hardware / software telephone interface that connects via USB. I would much prefer just the hardware, with a documented programming interface, but the manufacturer prefers a closed system; requiring their software. Fortunately, it allows limited AppleScripting and I've added an AppleScript interface to myHouse so I can pass phone call info from PhoneValet to myHouse in real time. I used to use a similar product, Phlink, to handle phone calls. It provided much more AppleScript flexibility, but was very buggy and the developer, Ovolabs, was more interested in generating paid updates than fixing the existing bugs.

House Hardware:

Sensors:

Magnetic sensors on all doors and windows to detect break-ins. Also one on the mailbox.

Some infra-red sensors inside and outside the house at strategic points to detect movement.

A water sensor in the basement.

Optical sensors in the basement (I always used to forget to turn off the lights downstairs).

Temperature sensors are in the den / computer room, living room, recreation room (downstairs), inside the Mac case, waterbed, refrigerator and outside the house.

Security:

Cameras in the driveway and front door (tied to infra-red sensors) display on the TV in the rec room. Either of these cameras can also be used instead of the camcorder as the webcam.

Camcorder, being used as a webcam, looking out of the computer room window or can be swiveled around to view into the room. Webcam can be viewed on the 19" LCD or shots can be uploaded to my website for viewing.

Door Locks are computer controlled. Doors can be locked/unlocked via the exterior keypad, or operated manually (from the inside).

Speakers:

At the front door for a computerized greeting to visitors.

In the bedroom to wake me up in the morning.

Computer room / Den.

Recreation room.

Kitchen.

The speakers in the kitchen, bedroom and front door can be turned on and off using switching circuits controlled by output channels on the analog to digital converter.

In addition to greeting visitors and waking me up, the Mac also announces mail arrival (classic Addams family sound) and email arrival. Upon returning home and unlocking the doors, myHouse greets me by name, announces the house temperature, number of phone calls waiting, number of emails received and if the mail has arrived.