Thanks people! I had seen some references to the HS board- I'll get over there to check that out.
I have some exposure to X10- I got a starter kit of some kind years ago- 2 lamp module, 1 appliance module, 1 firecracker, 1 remote. I've used it for turning the christmas tree lights on and off (so I don't have to crawl on the floor ;-), and for turning the back light behind the TV on.
I guess I should sit back and make a list of all the stuff I might want to do. Right now, all I'm thinking about is replacing a bunch of wall switches, some two way, some singles. That way I don't have to run all over the house turning them off when I sit down to watch TV at night. (since the family seems to be untrainable ;-) So I need wall switches (some with dimmers) that function at least fairly close to how regular switches do. I'd like to have computer control so that I can have a vacation mode to make it look like the house is occupied.
For the future, I'd love to have the thermostat hooked in, along with blinds control, and maybe even the ability to open and close windows or vents. With lots of SW behind it, to minimize energy use. Only other thing that comes right to mind would be security, but I haven't thought much about that.
As far as commitment level, I don't mind some time to tweak and set up, but I don't really want another hobby. Ie, once I have it set up, I expect it to work with less than 1 hr/week support and maintenance.
On the ability side, I'm a hardware engineer who programs some C++ on the side. But I hope not to need those skills too much for this! ;-)
Thanks
Markd
ps - I do have cat5 to most of the rooms in the house, if that changes anything.