The next meeting of the Front Range UNIX Users Group (FRUUG) will be held at
4:00 P.M. on Wednesday, December 5th.
Imagine your alarm clock telling your toaster and coffee pot
to start making breakfast, and your dishwasher to do the
dishes after you've left for work.
As almost everything has a microprocessor in it today, the
line between computers and home appliances is getting
increasingly blurred, and scenarios like this become
closer to reality.
Join us for two fun and interesting talks on home automation:
what technologies and off-the-shelf components exist today, and if you don't
like how they work, how to do it yourself.
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Gary Koenig works as an IT consultant for McStain Homes in Boulder,
designing home techology systems for their model homes. He will
talk about the basic technologies and components available to
build "smart homes" today, including wiring, the connection center,
the home IP network, the home wireless network, audio, video,
remote controls, security, intercoms, phones, and firewalls.
-
Jim Elliot will give us the do-it-yourselfer perspective.
Not happy with the off-the-shelf alternatives, Jim has designed
his own home automation system, with a C++ program controlling
interior and exterior lights, heating, security, and the sprinkler
system. He will discuss his house from three perspectives:
what does the system do, what are the real-world components,
and what is the software? He will show us his home through
photographs, UML, C++ source code, and schematic diagrams.
Gary Koenig has a B.S. in mechanical engineering and has worked as
an aerospace engineer,
programmer, systems analyst, IT manager, development manager, support
manager, sales manager, system administrator and independent consultant.
He has experience in systems software, database development, mathematical
modeling, compiler development, graphics software, user interface software,
speech recognition, multi-media development, back office systems, sales
management software, thin client applications and home technology.
He is currently working as an independent contractor for a McStain Homes
in Boulder, managing the IT department and designing home technology
systems for model homes.
Jim Elliott has been programming for 25 years on mini
computers, micro computers, and workstations. Since
1993, he has written I/O drivers, telecommunications
applications, and the software controlling his own
house in C++. While acting as the software project
lead at Aztek Engineering he lead the design of a
distributed implementation of equipment in a telephone
access network. He has also worked in the fluid flow
meter industry at Micro Motion and RAID storage at
Array Technology. He received a Masters degree in
Computer Science from Southern Methodist University in
1976.
This meeting will be in room 123 of
the CU Academic Computing Center building at Arapahoe and Marine Streets in
Boulder. Marine St intersects Arapahoe at 38th St; the Computing Center is
on the southwest corner.
Notes and resources from our past meetings are available at
http://www.fruug.org/mtgarchive/index.html.
Meetings that we are planning for the next few months
include the following:
-
Managing your Storage Area Network
-
The Microsoft .NET Virtual Machine
-
DNS Update
Softpro books has donated a $20 gift certificate for
a lucky FRUUG member; they're at Baseline and Foothills
in Boulder. Enter the drawing at
http://www.fruug.org/library/giveaway.html/.
The runner-up will win an O'Reilly t-shirt featuring
the charging lions from the cover of their "Java and XML" book.
Our new library books this month include the following:
From O'Reilly & Associates:
- Enterprise JavaBeans, by Richard Monson-Haefel
- Java & XML, 2nd Edition, by Brett McLaughlin
- Java and XSLT, by Eric M. Burke
You may check out books using your business card as your library card;
you must be on the membership list to check books out. Books are due at the
meeting following the one in which they are checked out.
Remember that your FRUUG membership entitles you to
discounts on your book orders
from both New Riders Publishing and O'Reilly & Associates; refer
to the FRUUG Web site for details.
