House Control PC on the wall ! NEED HELP!

[Killboy123]

OK ok, i tried to sum it up as best as possible in the topic, but let's elaborate a bit on this. We have a Duron 1200mhz CPU, a motherboard for it, a power supply, some ram... and now we're going to build a computer that we are going to frame on the wall.. (basically a wall unit computer).

We want to put a 15" LCD on the wall too (beside it).
Now the computer part we can handle, although i'm still trying to think of what kind of keyboard/mouse setup i should get for it.

The tricky part:
I want it to be VOICE activated, and I want to be able to:

* turn on music (mp3s on the computer)
* adjust the volume
* turn on specific lights (dim lights would be cool too, but optional)
(optional would be to give live reports such as time, weather)
ALL OF THIS THRU VOICE ACTIVATION.

1. Now, I need suggestions on what kind of software I could use to do this, I have no clue what's out there, I just saw Dragon's Naturally Speaking, but I have no idea if it can do those functions, or there's the windows integrated voice... but I never even touched that. Anyhow, please tell me if there's software that exists that works well.

2. What kind of microphone should I hook up to the computer to receive the voice commands? I think it needs to be a "open" mic or some sort... I forget the terminology.

3. Those ANYONE know if this exists... and where I could get some if they do. USB / Wireless or basically any interface that would allow me to hook up a "power on/off" switch box to my computer? (so I could plug the lights into it and control them)
If anyone has suggestions on what kind of hardware I could use to control the lights, that would be awesome.

4. Speaker wise... I'm trying to minimize wiring, anyone know of a wireless audio relay that is cheap ? It would be fun to be able to scatter speakers all over the house wirelessly. Of course, i'm trying to spend as little as possible.

Thanks guys! I'll post pics as we go along

 

[ApacheChief]

You're probably going to need to program this yourself.

You'll need some kind of voice recognition 'API' (I think that's the term), most likely you'll have to pay big bucks for it.

Just plug a very sensative microphone into the computer and make a seperate hole for it, make sure you have some kind of duct for cooling the computer.

EDIT: I made a simple AutoIT program to control the music on my computer with my fan controller remote... didn't work too well, but it worked

 

[ApacheChief]

Here's what you need: http://www.martin2k.co.uk/vb6/tips/q3.php

 

[Killboy123]

Thanks, not really what I was looking for... But I GUESS i could program it.
I can't believe there isn't a program that doesn't already do this though ;o

 

[ApacheChief]

Me neither.

I'll make this one of my little projects. Be sure to PM me if you want more info, my buddies at Autoitscript.com seem interested.

 

[fell8]

For a KB, you'll probably want to go wireless with an integrated pointing device like this. I'm using an old Chicony unit that is similar. It has good range and is quite robust, weathering years of rough handling very well.

Another option, if possible, would be to skip the KB altogether (for daily use at least) and get a touch screen monitor. It should prove an adequate interface and I believe Windows includes a virtual KB in it's Accessibility Options.

 

[Killboy123]

Anyone know where I could get computer controlled light switches?

I saw a page where you could turn on someone's lights in his house thru the net... anyone remember where that was? i'll go ask him.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Killboy123
Anyone know where I could get computer controlled light switches?

I saw a page where you could turn on someone's lights in his house thru the net... anyone remember where that was? i'll go ask him.

Try a google search for "home automation".

 

[Rike]

X10 technology is the standard for this type of stuff. Google it and you'll get a bunch of stuff. Here's one link to get you started.

BTW, a touch screen interface would still be mighty cool.

 

[Rike]

I was looking around the site I gave you and found this. It might be just what you where looking for. It doesn't even cost that much.

Cool stuff. I wish I had that kind of money to do a project like that. Have fun with it.

 

[Killboy123]

Yes THANKS.

That's EXACTLY what I was looking for.

Also, I had seen the x10 complete package previously, but it's aimed more towards setting up once and then forgetting about it.

Just imagine walking into the house and saying:
LIGHTS HALL (the lights turn on in the hall)
LIGHTS KITCHEN (the lights turn on in the kitchen)
MUSIC (winamp opens)
J (jump menu open)
WEEZER, ENTER (weezer starts playing)
UP,UP,UP,UP (the volume increases!)

*drools*

 

[Zepper]

You will need to get Dragon Naturally Speaking, IBM Via Voice or similar voice rec. SW and train it to work with the X10 computer interface software. You may want to use a Z-mic - Radio Schlock used to carry a relatively inexpensive one - pro versions are made by Crown Electronics. They damp echoes and have a pretty good hemishperic pattern. Though a simple, cardioid electret mic might work well enough for less money.
. And learn about the way X10 works as I had a laptop computer that had a power supply brick that would hide all the X10 devices on the circuit it was plugged into - its noise filtering was too good... There is at least one other system that uses RF instead of AC line carried signals.
.bh.