<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML ><HEAD ><TITLE >Introduction</TITLE ><META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.7"><LINK REL="HOME" TITLE="Home Electrical Device Control HOWTO" HREF="index.html"><LINK REL="PREVIOUS" TITLE="Home Electrical Device Control HOWTO" HREF="index.html"><LINK REL="NEXT" TITLE="System Requirement" HREF="sysrequirements.html"></HEAD ><BODY CLASS="SECT1" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#840084" ALINK="#0000FF" ><DIV CLASS="NAVHEADER" ><TABLE SUMMARY="Header navigation table" WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" ><TR ><TH COLSPAN="3" ALIGN="center" >Home Electrical Device Control HOWTO</TH ></TR ><TR ><TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="bottom" ><A HREF="index.html" ACCESSKEY="P" >Prev</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="80%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="bottom" ></TD ><TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="bottom" ><A HREF="sysrequirements.html" ACCESSKEY="N" >Next</A ></TD ></TR ></TABLE ><HR ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="100%"></DIV ><DIV CLASS="SECT1" ><H1 CLASS="SECT1" ><A NAME="INTRODUCTION" ></A >1. Introduction</H1 ><P >Many people asked me, "Is it possible to control some electrical stuff [e.g. lights, radio, tv, etc.] by using a home computer?" The answer is YES. The process is very easy, and anyone can do it.</P ><P >After I read the Coffee Machine Mini-HOWTO, I got an idea of how to control my home electrical appliances. I made some modifications on the circuit discussed in that Coffee Machine Mini-HOWTO, and wrote a simple program. The circuit can control many small electrical devices.^_^ You can use <B CLASS="COMMAND" >crontab</B > to set your lights to come on automatically or to turn on your airconditioner. I use it to control my VCR and VCD ( I do still need some modification on VCR/VCD). By writing a simple program, you can control everything over the web. You can use telnet with SSH and your telephone dial in to control all the appliances you have on the circuit.</P ><P >This circuit is VERY SIMPLE. Even if you don't know anything about circuits, you can set up this circuit.</P ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="NAVFOOTER" ><HR ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="100%"><TABLE SUMMARY="Footer navigation table" WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" ><TR ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="index.html" ACCESSKEY="P" >Prev</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="index.html" ACCESSKEY="H" >Home</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="sysrequirements.html" ACCESSKEY="N" >Next</A ></TD ></TR ><TR ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" >Home Electrical Device Control HOWTO</TD ><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" > </TD ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" >System Requirement</TD ></TR ></TABLE ></DIV ></BODY ></HTML >