[Show suggestion] Controling stuff with your computer

[Sh1fty]

you could show people how to contol stuff with their computer(lights, electric door locks,...). you could show them how to do it with an X10 interface and how to build their own interface(parallel port should be the easiest, there are USB to parallel converters for like $10-15). just a couple of resistors and optocouplers or relays and that's if if they need up to 8 output pins. if there's anything i can help you with just email me ;)

[solex]

I second this idea, would love to see some pc interaction projects and as I am automating my home at the moment, this would be great.

solex

[Endorean]

That sounds like a great idea for an episode.
Perhaps a whole series of episodes on Home Automation.

[d4rk_fr33dan]

You could probably use the K8055 board from the crane game episode to set something up and control your house that way.

[AscendedDaniel]

I've used the U2C-12 from Diolan (http://www.diolan.com/i2c/u2c12.html) [diolan.com] for a project. I can't post the details here, but using it has been a breeze. It is easy to program, and the libraries available from the website make programming it amazingly simple. Be aware that shipping time is about 2-3 weeks with the lower cost shipping option.

[tempesta]

They did a bit of this on the first season of hak5.

but lets face it, by the very nautre of the show, systm would do a more thorough job.

[andrewtj]

Jon Oxer did a great talk called 'Making Things Move' that you guys might find interesting - http://mirror.linux.org.au/linux.conf.au/2007/video/wednesday/124.ogg

It's essentially a primer for hacking off the shelf parts for home automation and web/sms interfaces.

[scoobydiesel]

Id like to see it, specaily if i could do it with my Macbook pro o_O;

[jigglebilly]

I agree...id love to see something on this. Great idea!!!

[LastHand]

Why do I keep seeing Visions of tim the Toolman Taylor?