Recent content by BioSehnsucht

Using the Elk would be acceptable once I get it installed (new house, has existing panel, so most of the work is done, but haven't gotten around to it yet...), though it would be fine or perhaps better if there was one that didn't need the Elk (I'd rather not have too much non-critical/HA stuff...

Other than the HAI Omnistat 2, are there any thermostats that don't require a "cloud" API, and can be integrated with the ISY without running an extra peice of software on a PC (of any OS) as an intermediary/glue? Preferably with remote sensors as an option.

Well, they ARE Dual-Band INSTEONs, so that helps... its almost like ZWave! :D

http://www.smarthome.com/2475F/FanLinc-INSTEON-Ceiling-Fan-and-Light-Controller-Fixture-Module-Dual-Band/p.aspx This is great, it'll even turn lights and fan on/off from one unit that fits in the canopy so if you have a single power run to the fan you don't have to run a second one to have...

I'm pretty sure the staple within 12 inches isn't really quite the same rule for retrofit / old work, if you're dropping a new line for example - i mean, how are you supposed to without massively opening up the wall? I was under the impression it was more to make sure that the lines never fell...

I've seen some boxes that have extra space to the side that you can use, you sort of rotate them into position. I.e. they're as wide as a double gang even though the portion coming through the drywall is only a single gang. Example ...

Very true. I've personally had trouble with some of the original Linksys pre-wireless routers, and my Motorola BitSurfer cable modem back when I was on cable. The cable modem I automated with an every minute cron job on my Linux machine that would try to contact public DNS servers and if that...

Do you have recommendations of nationally-accessible Sur-gard IP friendly CS's, or only know of your own local CS that you use? I'd love to get set up using a supervised IP connection when I finally get to wiring up the house (this year, for sure, really!)

If this is in the USA, your main GSM providers are AT&T and T-Mobile. Anything that's vanilla GSM (SMS and voice, not 3G+ data) should work across both networks (shared spectrum allocation), with the right provider's SIM and assuming the GSM device itself is not provider-locked.

Well, you don't have to do any hacking - just use freely available software APIs from PrimeSense or the other interface packages people have developed, and connect the Kinect to a computer... but I will grant you the physical shape size and shape of the sensors make them difficult to use...

If you want multiple cameras on a single card, and pretty straightforward Linux compatibility, then I'll second Bluecherry. My friend has a setup for security at his wife's store using one card and several cameras, using ZoneMinder on Linux. ZoneMinder is pretty sophisticated and can IIRC both...

Maybe this will be cheaper: http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/03/primesense-and-asus-team-bring-kinect-like-wavi-xtion-to-your-h/ Same basic tech as Kinect, minus the color camera portion, but if you just want to sense human occupants... you can still use the PrimeSense API to let it do the heavy...

Looks like it's the Microsoft supplied .Net Micro Framework that doesn't support anything other than C# yet in the CLR. Which is interesting, I wonder what parts of the CLR are missing for .Net VB support, since the entire point of having a Common Language Runtime is so that anything targeting...

Also try RipBot264.

The HD 5xxx series generally has in the ballpark of twice the performance for "equivalent" model #'s (the xxx part) to HD 4xxx series too, so if you're already considering spending a bit more get the HD 5xxx series. The HD 5xxx line also has even better idle / low power draw compared to HD 4xxx...