My Blog

Well I haven’t written in a while, and a few things have happened. I have managed to get 2 more webdt375s which are great little touchscreen web pads. The only thing I need to do now is make up some POE injectors so that I can power these things without having a GPO near them. I am also looking at the ability to make a PCMCIA to CF ribbon cable so I can conceal the ethernet card behind the pad. I would go wifi but I want this to be a full wired solution so I don’t have to worry about signal strength, AP connectivity etc. I will post some pictures of the Webpads later, as one of my friends is currently borrowing one.

I also plan to get my hands on a gc-100 (http://www.globalcache.com/products/gc-index.html) so I can IR blast anything that can not be controlled via rs232 or ethernet.

I purchased a Web DT375 (webpad). I plan to use this as a touchscreen in my house I am building. Hopefully I will be able to get my hands on 2 more of these. I have just received a Cisco Aironet 350 PCMCIA card to stick into it to test it out. So far so good, the orbiter works and I can control The Squeezebox (which I also recently purchased), the squeezebox will be going outside in the alfresco.
I can also control one of the media directors (MD). An orbiter is basically a glorified remote control. I also have some PLCBUS switches in my current house and they too can be controlled via the webpad.
It is all coming together slowly.

I will be using wired nics for the webpads and making up some POE injectors so all that is required at the mounting points is 1 x Cat5e run. I plan to put one at the front door, in the kitchen and most likely at the back door. I also have a nokia 770 which is being used as a portable orbiter.

I will take some photos of the kit I have and post it up here shortly.

For anyone interested this is an awesome list of codes that work with most Samsung LCDs etc.
http://mine.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin/mboard/rc-discrete/thread.cgi?2792,1
The only problem is the DTV code is a toggle not discrete for both my LCDs :~

So it turns out that when you create a “Device Template” in LinuxMCE you should allow it to create a “Device” because it can cause problems.  In this particular case I was trying to create a “Device Template” for use with my Samsung LCD(s) using IR.  Basically when I first created the template I could add/teach it IR codes, but as soon as I saved it and closed the template window I could no longer go back into the template to make additional changes/learn more IR codes. So after a couple of hours of sulking, I noticed it had created a Device with this Template so I deleted it and *bang* I can now edit the Template!! wooo. 

Last night I emailed Samsung and requested the discrete codes for my tv, and this was their response.

“No can do, in this instance, unfortunately, as korea HQ considers this information proprietary, and therefor does not supply it, even internally to other subsidiaries, inclusive of Samsung Australia.”

So they are gonna make me read the codes from the remote control Luckily some of the codes from 
http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin/files/rcfiles.cgi?area=pronto&db=discrete&br=samsung&dv=hltserieshdtv
actually work.  

So now I just have to filter through what I can and can’t use.

Ok,

So I succumbed to the lowest of the low. I am now a blogger…. *sniff*
The reason for this blog is to allow me to document my progress into the world of Home Automation.
I am going to be building a house soon with all sorts of cool Home Automation gizmos, and this seems like the best way to document it. It will also allow the HA gurus to point out mistakes and stupid things in my design and thus helping me along the way to HA enlightenment…