More than 3 years ago, when I was still living in San Francisco, I almost became obsessed with X10 home automation. Almost, I said: which means that I thought about it for months on end, talked about it incessantly, and never actually did anything about it. Aside from buying 2 second-hand Audreys, which were to be the thin-clients that accessed my kickass http-enabled X10 interface.
Cut to 3 years later, and I've finally sold the Audreys. Chalk the whole project up to lack of time, lack of interest, lack of... whatever. (The good news is that they held their value pretty well. The 2 + some accessories went for about 190 bucks combined on Ebay, which is actually more than I gave for them in 2002. Yay, laws of dwindling-supply-and-continued-demand!)
(Ooops. I meant 'Not yay'. Boo!)
But I have revived my interest in home automation. Which seems so much more appropriate now that I own my own home, instead of renting a shoebox in the Inner Sunset. (Really, why would one automate actions in an apartment so small that you could almost reach any light switch while sitting on the couch?!) So I used my Ebay proceeds to get Indigo, an X10 controller and a couple of lamp modules.
I actually got the slightly-beefier Control Package from funforgeeks.com, and was pleased with the transaction - nice site, quick fulfillment, and even a little handwritten thank-you from head geek 'Norm.' Thanks, Norm!
My first simple project is to create a pretty simple X10 action set: I want a couple of lights to act natural when we're away from home for the night. So far, the setup has been pretty easy, and I've got a little blue test-lamp (from Wishbone, in my old 'hood, appropriately enough) dimming, undimming, powering off and on. Fun stuff.
Baby steps. Next stop - whole home domination. I'll keep y'uns posted.
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