Here is a great example of how far you can go in terms of integrating computers into your home. I came across this company while flipping through the pages of CE Pro this month, they specialize in integrating ip based solutions for home automation , whole home audio, and video based on the Microsoft media center format. They recently won an award from Microsoft, The Microsoft Media Center ultimate install. Here is a link to there site as well as a link to Microsoft’s contest page featuring pictures of the winning home . http://www.cybermanor.com, http://www.microsoft.com/ceinstaller/Content/Installs/UIC/ .
Here is a look at one of my previous projects
January 29th, 2009
Here is a link to one of my previous projects. The page is in horrible need of updating but i wanted to give you some idea of the different projects i will be going over on this blog. In this project i built a custom arcade cabinet for somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 dollars. It runs a program called mame that emulates old arcade games (and some newer ones too). When you first start it up it boots into windows XP then loads a front end where you can choose one of 1000’s of different games or run a jukebox that streams music from my server. The controls are true arcade controls and the interesting thing is that at the heart of the system sits an old pentium 2 computer that i put together from a bunch of junk parts. There is a huge community of people out there with different sites dedicated to building these mame cabinets, and to updating the software and games that run them. To view pictures and a brief rundown of the build visit http://jlhomecomputing.com/massive.html
I hope you enjoy,
Josh
Tech Blog call to action
January 27th, 2009
Hello I’m Josh,
Just to give you folks out there a little background on myself, I am the owner and operator of a small computer repair and networking company in Southern California. I have a great love for everything about computers and electronics in general, but the area of most interest to me is the computers place in the home as a tool for home automation and as a home media hub. Over the past 5 years i have scoured the internet trying to find interesting projects to fill my spare time with, these are the things I would like to present to my readers.
Hopefully anyone who enjoys working on computers either the software end or the hardware end of things will enjoy reading this blog. All of the projects i will introduce here are very in-expensive if not down right free. Everything from how to set-up your pc to pull double duty as an arcade system, to how to roll out a whole house strategy for streaming your media to every stereo and television in your home.
I hope you enjoy reading this blog and return often. I am always open to suggestions for future projects and questions on previous ones. I can be reached at info@jlhomecomputing.com .
Thanks again and enjoy.
Josh
