Apress - Smart Home Automation with Linux (2010)- P4:Linux users can now control their homes remotely! Are you a Linux user who has ever wanted to turn on the lights in your house, or open and close the curtains, while away on holiday? Want to be able to play the same music in every room, controlled from your laptop or mobile phone? Do you want to do these things without an expensive off-the-shelf kit | Acknowledgments For every word I ve written five have been discarded. Such is the nature of writing. For every ten programs I ve downloaded tried and tested nine have been discarded. Such is the nature of software. Finding a perspicuous overlap has been a long and arduous tasks and one that I d wish for no one to suffer in solitude. Fortunately I didn t. To those enduring the role of first-line support to my restless questions and curiosity I thank you. Phil Downer Mal Lansell and Frank Scott will be collecting their magniloquent medals in due course The greatest of thanks go to those developers reviewers evangelists and forum posters over whose shoulders we ve all peered to learn and discover with those active on UKHA_D GLLUG Lonix FAB and TULS having all played their part. Thanks also to those manufacturers that have supplied me with test hardware to verify my assumptions about their wares. They include Dr. Chris Dodge technical director at RedRat Ltd. Alan Quinby of Keene Electronics Ltd. Benjamin Gilbert at Anders Electronics and Melanie Jeuken at Marmitek for the crystal-clear images of the X10 kit. Also thanks to Chris Vine at IntelliSoftware Ltd. and Darren Daws at Txtlocal Ltd. for allowing me send junk text messages through their systems until I got it right My thanks also to Duncan Parkes Anne Collett Matt Wade and their respective editorial and production teams at Apress for fixing my mistakes before my readers realize I ve made them To my network of friends colleagues and associates Dean Butcher David Eade Ed and Margaret Grabowski Lucas Grange Justine Griffith Phillip Hart Mike Knight Andy Leigh Phil Lunt Colin Murphy Shane O Neill Cveta Rahneva Steve Shipton Michal Skorupka John Southern Fiona Stewart Josiane Valverde and Dave Wall. And as always to my family Grandma Shirley and Ken Juliette and Dean Melanie and Dan and Grace Mum and Dad Angela and Colin and Holly who s probably still not old enough to understand it . Steven Goodwin xiv Introduction .
