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  1. #1

    Interfacing PC with other things..

    Sorry about the vague title, not really sure how to describe what I'm trying to do (rather a friend, but I'm interested in the programming aspect of the project)

    Basically, he found a tablet / touchscreen laptop, and has been tossing around the idea of using it to interface with his room... lights, TV, etc. I figure its definitely possible, if only you knew someone with the bit of know-how to show you how to get started... I know / he knows / we know people who can code up a program with an GUI no problem, and of course with a touch screen it makes it that much easier- generally the idea is to have it wall mounted and use the touch screen to control the lights and music and whatnot.

    What we're having an issue with is... just how exactly would you go about connecting up a PC / setting it up to control other 'things' in the room? Or anyone know of a good place to find more info on this?

    Its all his stuff but the mention of it intrigued me so I'm curious to find out how it'd work out.

    Thanks-

  2. #2
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    Re: Interfacing PC with other things..

    Depending on your friend's house it may or might not need major wiring, since you have to connect all the stuff to the controller (a Do It Yourself one of course) that plugs to the PC.

    lolgoogle
    http://www.instructables.com/id/SM4MLSW ... stepslogin

  3. #3

    Re: Interfacing PC with other things..

    I have set up a couple houses to use tablets like you want but they were all complete systems from various manufactures. Being an electrician and dealing with various programmable logic controllers and human interface programs I am gonna go out on a limb and say that you could buy a complete system cheaper than trying to build your own.

    Last system I hooked up was Leviton ViziaRF+ for the lighting control and they used a Logitech Harmony 890 remote. You might get some better ideas by doing some reverse engineering from that. Think the guy spent around $5k for everything when it was all said and done.

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    Re: Interfacing PC with other things..

    Never done it, but pretty familiar with computers and electronics. I interfaced an off the shelf DVD player with a DMX controller that was hooked via MIDI to a laptop. It was able to control on a per-song basis the accompanying visuals for a setlist of live music for the band I was in. Anyway, are you talking about building the electronics from the ground up? Or something else? From the ground up would be outside my realm of expertise, but I'd imagine you'd probably want to go with a USB interface. You'd have to have a pretty flexible design to handle all the devices you're mentioning. It would need to output both digital (on/off) as well as analog (for dimmer switches, volume controls, etc.) You'd probably also have to cannibalize a universal remote, unless there's a standard daughter-board available from a manufacturer somewhere that you can leverage. On the software side, you'd have to write a USB driver and code up a GUI for the app that would talk to the driver and communicate with the electronics.

    Long story short, it's going to be a pretty freakin' complex undertaking that will more than likely take a very long time to complete, unless you have intimate knowledge of all of the above.

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    Re: Interfacing PC with other things..

    There are a lot of companies who make control systems like you describe and charge a lot of money for it. If you actually try to do it yourself its going to be either very expensive, very time consuming, or both. Better off getting a universal remote or something, this way you can control anything that takes a signal. TV, AC, fans... ect

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    Re: Interfacing PC with other things..

    INTERFACING IT WITH YOUR MIND???

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    Re: Interfacing PC with other things..

    generally the idea is to have it wall mounted and use the touch screen to control the lights and music and whatnot.
    Considering your house/room is already wired, it would be major surgery and expense to redo it all. He was probably thinking he could make it happen for $20 at Radio Shack and the large expense being the (free) touch screen laptop.

    You could set it up to control your stereo system but with what youd have to do, it would be easier and better to buy a touch screen universal remote.

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