Channel 9

Controlling Your Computer with X10: Adding Text-To-Speech

Tony Northrup — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 23:43:00 GMT

	This article is continuation in Controlling Contolled Home Automation series. It shows how to control your computer from light switches, motion detectors, alarm switches, and any other X10 transmitting device
Tony Northrup Tony's Blog Difficulty: Intermediate Time Required: 1-3 hours Cost: $50-$100 Software: Visual Basic or Visual C# Express Editions Hardware: Download: C# Download VB Download

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Video Tutorial Part 3

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In the first two videos, I showed you how to control your lights from remote light switches and from your computer. In this video, I'll show you how to control your computer from light switches, motion detectors, alarm switches, and any other X10 transmitting device. If you haven't watched the first two videos, watch them before this video. They provide important background on X10 technologies and show you how to connect your computer to an X10 home power-line network.

To complete this project, you will need at least one X10 transmitter and a CM11a. The CM11a interfaces between your computer and your home power-line network, however, I couldn't find an .NET Framework library that would interpret incoming serial signals from the CM11a. So, with the help of a serial port sniffer, I created my own .NET Framework library that can receive (but not send) X10 signals. Incidentally, nothing would thrill me more than if someone extended or improved my X10 library, or simply borrowed my code to write something better.

With the help of my library and a tool such as Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition or Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Express Edition, your computer can respond to real-world events. Anything that can trigger an X10 transmission can trigger a response from your computer. Examples of events include:

Flipping a light switch
Detecting motion
Opening a door
Opening a window
Flooding in your basement
Temperatures dropping below freezing

As proof-of-concept, I created a project (available in both C# and Visual Basic) that verbally speaks Engadget headlines when I flip the light switch in my office. Don't limit yourself to my example: you can use the technologies in this project in limitless ways, including developing a custom security or environmental monitoring system. To trigger events when someone opens a door or window, or during flooding or freezing, connect a security or environmental sensor to an X10 PowerFlash interface.

Besides X10, my example uses two interesting technologies: Really Simple Syndication (RSS) and speech synthesis. RSS is an application-friendly way to retrieve headlines and newsfeeds from websites such as Download Squad, MSDN, and our very own Coding4Fun. With RSS and Jerry Maguire's RSS Framework, you can add news-processing capabilities to an application with just a few lines of code.

Speech synthesis is provided by Microsoft's own speech library, Interop.Speechlib.dll. With this library, a single line of code makes your computer talk:

Voice.Speak("Hello, world!"")

It's that simple, and when you understand the basics of writing code for the .NET Framework, you can combine these technologies in unique ways that meet your needs more perfectly than any software development company could imagine. Get started now by downloading either Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition or Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Express Edition, and then watching my video.

Controlling Lights with .NET

Tony Northrup — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 23:39:00 GMT

	This article demonstrates how to control lights from your computer using custom applications written in Visual Basic and Visual C#.
Tony Northrup Tony's Blog Difficulty: Intermediate Time Required: 1-3 hours Cost: $50-$100 Software: Hardware: Download: Lost!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Video Tutorial: Controlling Lights with .NET

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Overview

In the first DIY Tech video, I discussed the basics of the X10 home automation technology, and showed you how to add and replace switches to intelligently control lights in your home. In this video, I take it a step further and show you how to control lights from your computer using custom applications written with Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition and Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Express Edition.

To do this project, you'll need to buy a CM11a serial controller to connect your computer to your X10 power line network. Plug it into your computer's serial port, and then plug it into an available electrical outlet. That's all you need to do to control your lights from your computer by using the software that's included with the controller, but that software's not very flexible, and it certainly can't match the power of the .NET Framework.

To enable you to communicate with the CM11a controller from .NET applications, you need a library. The most reliable library I have found is at CraigsCreations.com When you create your project, you'll need to add a reference to the X10 library and to the included serial port library. If you're not sure how to do this, don't worry, because I walk you through the process step-by-step in my videos.

Now that you can control your lights and other appliances from a .NET Framework application, the creative possibilities are limitless. I've always been fascinated with devices that physically show real-life information, like the BT Ambient Orb. However, I'm frustrated with their limitations:

They can't be controlled from your local computer, but instead must be configured from a Web site
They can't be directly controlled by custom applications
They require you to pay a monthly fee for access to some types of data

So, for my project (available in both C# and Visual Basic), I decided to build my own lamp to visually show how well a stock is performing. I took a very binary approach, as shown in Figure 1. Naturally, any colored lights will do-you can even build your own glowing orb by placing red and green strings of Christmas lights in an opaque plastic sphere.

If the stock is going up, my application turns the green light on. If the stock is going down, it turns the red light on. To retrieve the stock information, my application queries the Delayed Stock Quote Web service at XMethods.net.

This is a very simple demonstration that you can either build yourself or customize to your own needs. By adding just a few lines of code, you can use the red and green lights to indicate the weather forecast, traffic patterns, the number of visitors to your blog, or whether Slashdot has been updated. You can also turn lights on or off in varying degrees by using X10 dimming capabilities. That's the amazing thing about writing your own code-the power to control the exact behavior of your software.

Get started now by downloading either Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition or Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Express Edition, and then watching my video.

Using X10 Hardware: Computer-Controlled Home Automation

Tony Northrup — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 23:33:00 GMT

	This article showcases usage of X10 technology to interact with hardware devices. It is first article in Computer Controller Home Automation series.
Tony Northrup Tony's Blog Difficulty: Intermediate Time Required: 1-3 hours Cost: $50-$100 Software: Visual Basic or Visual C# Express Editions Hardware: Download: Download

What is X10

X10 is a home automation technology that anyone can use to do some pretty amazing things:

Add a wall light switch without running any wires
Turn your porch light on from your car
Add a light switch to your bedside table
Turn off all the lights in your house by pressing a single button
Sound an alarm if someone opens a door or window

X10 is Programmable

You can also combine X10 technologies with your computer and custom applications written with Microsoft Visual Basic Express or Microsoft Visual C# Express. With logic provided by your custom application, you can make some stunning upgrades to your home:

Receive an e-mail notification if someone unexpectedly opens a door or window
Send a message to your mobile phone if your basement floods
Monitor video of your property across the Internet—for less than $200 in hardware
Turn on your home air-conditioning from work, so your home is cool when you arrive
Control whether your kids can watch TV or play games from work
Monitor pets to make sure they're healthy and eating while you're on vacation
Have your porch light turn on when it gets dark in the evening, and turn off after everyone is home
Build a complex security system that uses any logic and alarm mechanisms you can dream up

How X10 Works

X10 works by sending communication signals through your home's power lines, much like the way computers communicate across a network. X10 is a very simple network, though, and signals consist mostly of messages like, “Device A1: turn on” or “Device N5: turn off.” X10 is also capable of a few other commands, including dimming lights, or controlling all the lights in your house.

When you connect a light switch, lamp module, or other X10 device, you have to assign it a house code (A-P) and unit code (1-16). Typically, you will choose a single house code for all of the X10 devices in your house. While the default is A, it's a good idea to change the default, because X10 signals sometimes cross from one house to the next—and you don't want your neighbor to accidentally turn your lights off.

If you assign X10 devices the same house and unit codes, all the devices will respond simultaneously to a signal. For example, I have two lamps in my bedroom that I always want to turn on or off at the same time. So, I assigned them both the N1 house and unit code. When I push a switch to turn N1 on or off, they both respond.

There's a wireless version of X10 that allows you to send X10 signals from wireless motion detectors, keychain remotes, and wireless wall switches. As shown in Figure 1, an X10 wireless transceiver receives wireless X10 signals and sends them across your power lines so that wired X10 devices can respond to the commands.

Figure 1: Wireless X10 devices require a wireless transceiver.

The video shows me tackling two very common problems in my 1950's era home. First, in my bedroom (Figure 2), I use two lamps to light the room. It's annoying to have to walk across the room in the dark to turn them on, and then to reach across the bed to turn them off at night. I fixed this in about ten minutes with about $100 in X10 hardware. Now, I can turn both lights on and off from a wall switch, or control them from my bedside table. As an added bonus, I can now dim the lights.

Figure 2: In the first project, I add remote switches to control two bedside lamps.

The second problem is in my office. I have a light switch, but the light it controls is too dim. So, when I go into my office, I flip the light switch on, and then walk across my office to turn on a floor lamp. With another $100 investment in X10 hardware and about 30 minutes time, I replaced my wall switch with an X10 switch capable of controlling both the built-in light and my floor lamp, as shown in Figure 3. Now, with a single flick, I can control all the lights in my office.

Figure 3: In the second project, I replace an existing light switch so it can control an additional lamp.

This video provides an important background in X10 technology and shows you how easy it is to hook everything up. I'm really just getting started, though, because in future videos I'll connect the whole X10 system to my computer. I've got several projects in mind, and I might even use that new wall switch in my office to have my computer start automatically downloading my e-mail for me in the morning, and backing up my computer in the evening.