Technical

I love technology. Below is my home's LAN with some of the systems I have on the house LAN. It includes a Thompson Docsys 3.0 cable modem running on Comcast at their "Ultra" speed (22 mbps) and a Cisco (LinkSys) WRT310N wireless gigabit router with four gigabit ports.

The systems run Windows7 Ultimate (2 computers), Windows7 Home Premium (2 computers), Windows7 Starter (netbook), WinXP, Mac OS X 10 Snow Leopard and Leopard, and Suse Linux 10.0/Win XP Pro (dual boot).

There are really three LANs in the house:

• a gigabit Ethernet LAN over cat 5 wiring;
• a gigabit 802.11g/n wireless access point,
• and a 5.8GHz wireless LAN.

All systems can work together seamlessly. I also have an X10 network for security and video surveillance. I have several printers: an HP OfficeJet 6500 Wireless All-In-One, (4800 dpi, 32/10 ppm black/color, and includes duplex printing, color copying with sheet feeder tray); an Epson Stylus Color 600 (@1440 dpi); an HP Photosmart A516, and an HP Deskjet F4400 (4800 dpi, 28/22 ppm black/color).

I use an Apple iPhone 3G away from home and you already know its many features. Karen uses a BlackBerry Bold to keep up with her very numerous work communications. We each have a netbook, mine being a Toshiba NB305 and Karen's being an HP Mini 110. We use them primarily for work purposes (my consulting work). When I travel for pleasure, I generally don't take the netbook, just the iPhone.

I have a SlingBox Pro on the LAN that permits us to watch TV on any of our computers or any remote computer. When I say "our TV", I mean we are actually accessing our Comcast High Definition Dual Tuner Digital Video Recorder Set Top Box (a Motorola 6412) from anywhere. I even watch HDTV channels, On Demand, or my DVR'd content on my iPhone. It's cool!

I have an Apple iPod Video (5th Gen) and it syncs with my Mac Mini iTunes, iPhoto, etc. I use the iPod primarily in my teaching. In the classroom I use RCA jacks to connect the iPod to the in-wall audio/video connectors and that connects to the built-in overhead projector. I use the iPod to play slides, video clips, blogs, etc., to the class. The slides originate as PowerPoint slides. I generally create and manage the PowerPoints on my Gateway, then on the Mac I drop them into iPhoto, from which then sync to the iPod. It is very straight forward. I create videos or clip them from sources largely the same way. I have roughly 2,000 slides, 2,000 photos, 14 hourse of video, and several thousand songs on the iPod. Karen has an iPod shuffle (the very small one) and she uses it during workouts. She also has an iPod video nano.

I have X10 (a wireless protocol) cameras and motion sensor lights around the house, and we have a complete security system on all the doors and windows, as well as indoor sensors. The security system was built into the house as it was built, but I have added the motion sensor lighting and cameras. I did it for the fun of doing it, not so much because of security concerns.

Karen has a VPN (Virtual Private Network) connections to her work locations. The VPN permits her to be on the office's internal LAN, but work from home.

I am a tech dweeb... I love the stuff. I write software today, even though it is not a part of my job anymore. I did this website just for fun, and I have a two versions of it using two different web standards. I built the network in my home that has at least five computers networked. I built several computers, including my former Red Hat Linux server (now replaced with Suse on a newer machine that I built). I am continuously tinkering with things like the home security system, the entertainment systems, and most especially, our computers and their software. I do it for the sheer pleasure I get from the doing.

A note about Windows7. I used a pre-release version for testing and was very pleased. I easily upgraded two systems from Vista, and one from XP Pro to Vista to Windows7. I have lost almost nothing in the transition, except that the Lexmark Z65 printer has no Windows7 driver, and a couple of software utilities for XP needed to be upgraded or replaced. Everything else works just great, and Windows7 has a lot more pleasing interface, is faster, reliable, and both simpler and provides more capability for sophisticated system control, setup, and usage. I think it is a very good version. You can learn more about my Windows7 experiences here.

I also have Apple Snow Leopard running on one Mac and it is also a good version of their operating software. We finally have some excellence in the operating environments. The weakest OS in my opinion is the SUSE Linux. Linux is a very plain, unsatisfying environment, whether you use Gnome, KDE, or other versions of an interface. I always thought it might be or become better.

My Security Systems

I know this is going to make you think I am paranoid or something, but I have set up a fairly extensive set of security systems in and around our home. Think of them as toys and/or conveniences, not security, because their purpose is simply an excuse for me to delve into playing with technology. A by-product may be enhanced security, but the objective is to “play” with the technology. Okay? Clear? Not nuts, just curious.

I have, of course, built-in a window/door security system provided by the builder, complete with panic alarm, etc. To supplement that, I put titanium-reinforced bars inside the basement windows, and reinforced the basement door and added an additional deadbolt. The frame is aluminum-bar reinforced, as well. The front door has a steel plate layer, and is pretty much impenetrable. There are motion detection-driven floodlights in front and all around the rear of the house. This is all standard stuff, nothing special so far.

Now the fun begins. I use X10 protocol equipment throughout the house and control it from the “ChuckSecurity” computer that I built. The software that operated the equipment is called ActiveHome Pro, and it gives me pretty good control of almost any device or service throughout the house. It also interfaces with the video cameras I have set up. See below:

If you were to click on the “Go Live” box in the camera object on the image above, you would get a live video feed from the basement. I am shown below in a screen-shot of such a video picture, actually standing at a keyboard to capture the shot, which is fuzzy because it is a screen shot of a motion video - the snaps I get are better resolution, but I wanted to show you how the software looks:

I have the motion detector control video images, as well, and when there is motion, it emails me a snap every so many seconds. It also turns on floods in the basement. This kind of feature is elsewhere in the home. Also, I can turn lights on/off via motion or time or light, etc. I can do the same with appliances. I am setting up Karen with a keychain device that turns on household lights when she arrives at night.

Where will this all end? That is what Karen asks, and the answer is probably “the trash”. I told you that I only do this for fun.