Computers Around The House controlling your house

So I have 5 computers and was thinking it would be a good idea to start specializing them to be used in certain parts of the house. I was thinking I could get a decent running computer in the kitchen to look up recipes or watch videos while in the kitchen. I was also thinking I could put on in the living room to be used as a controll for the tv with a flat pannel touch screen by the couch and have the tower hooked up to the tv to record shows using it as a tivo. Does anyone think this is a waste of money or have any other good ideas to use a computer for something around the house besides a box that sets on your desk that you sit down to read email play games and surf the web?

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I started automating my house around 1980. Over the years it was lots of fun though not necessarily practical. As the old equipment died I did not replace it so my house is slowly reverting to its original stone age technology.

Rather than have an automated house (infrastructure) I now have automated "living". I have either a computer or terminal in most rooms including the garage. Everything is on a Win2k3 domain except for the garage computer which is a standalone box.

My dear wife maintains recipies, kitchen inventory and shopping lists on her computer. She can create a menu for any number of people for a period of time and simply print out the recipies, ingredients availability and a shopping list for needed items. This is the most fun.

I use a SQL database to track all balance sheet, income statement cash flow items dating back to ~1960. Naturally, my income tax forms as filed with all supporting documents are included back to 1965 (they are still subject to audit). This is not fun.

I don't attempt to control the AV system because HDTV hardware for a PC just isn't fully functional yet. Soon.

Finally I also store family photo and 8mm film images that date back to the 1890's. It is wonderful to review family history, especially my fathers WWII military diary. He was stationed in China prior to WWII and in the harbor at the Japanese surrender.

Even though I have a home network, and can control it anytime with my tablet, I don't let it handle any functions in my house. I just don't trust my PCs to get everything right. Also, my family wouldn't be too happy about it. For now, streaming all of my music and DVDs throughout the house is good enough.

i use VNC and my cellphone to control all my computers through wifi and bluetooth

i was waiting for ua to reply ;) - and all one can say to that is --> :cool:

but i detect a bit of sarcasm and cynicism in the OP's comments - and while i too have a liking for all the wonderful things we can do with computers, i find it very distressing that much more effort isn't placed upon "automating simple tasks" - i believe there to be a direct correlation stemming from many MANY moons ago -- Apple's orig vision and it being eaten alive by the ratbag gates' vision and other intellectual property cronies, who seem to think you can actually own digital bits

*starts to put on his flame-retardant gear*
:D

Computers already control my money and my soul...why would I allow them to control my houz?

to me that stuff isn't practical. i don't find a use for a computer in every room of the house.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PriMaTe

to me that stuff isn't practical. i don't find a use for a computer in every room of the house.

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You probably have a computer in every room of the house. I'm refering to those single purpose computers that are used for control functions such as alarm clock (bedrooms), appliances (kitchen), automobiles (garage), entertainment equipment (living & family rooms), pool timers (outdoors) and HVAC equipment (basement or attic).

BTW - I control all of my networked equipment (including phones) from my notebook computer (4 NICs) via WiFi, Ethernet, Bluetooth or dialup using a special program for cell phones, remote desktop for computers or telnet for other equipment. When not at home I can tether my cell phone to my notebook and use the Cingular EDGE network (128-256kbps) for acess via internet from anywhere in the world for an unlimited data rate of $25/mo.

I was using a low cost version of HAL a while back with voice commands to turn lights on / off and operate some motorized shades on my sky lights which was working pretty well. I do plan to integrate some kind of interface screen into the wall in my livingroom one of these days. There are a lot of things you can automate / control but a lot of them are also kind of dull and pointless. Voice command of the thermostat would be useful to me as well as some kind of video surveillance but I don't want to spend the money on the cameras and networked temp controller right now.