I am a big fan of technology and making it work for me–to make my life more efficient and enriched. Here you will find information about how I have designed and implemented various technologies in my life, why I chose certain things or moved from one technology to another, and general technology-related thoughts.
A detailed explanation of what a virtual private network (VPN) provides and how I use it may be found in Home Private Network (VPN) – 2021 edition. My goals for a VPN have not changed since then, but the technology used to implement it has. This change was made because unRAID, the platform I use […]
Virtual Private Network (VPN) – 2024 Edition Read More »
I have found that running the exhaust fan in the bathroom drastically reduces the amount of discoloration of grout lines. When consistently using the fan when taking a shower and letting it continue to run for a while afterword, my need to scrub grout lines went from every couple of weeks to almost never. The
Automating Bathroom Fans Read More »
I have been hosting web sites on my home server since the early 1990s. At first, all the pages on these sites were made by hand without any sort of framework around them. In the early 2000s, I wrote a simple content management system (CMS) that allowed me to write the body of a page
Website – 2023 Edition Read More »
A major core of the home network is the server computer. This computer is located in the basement and handles data storage and other capabilities that are accessible throughout the house and in some cases over the Internet. All of my music, photos, videos, TV recordings, documents, backups, and other digital files are stored on
Home Server – 2023 Edition Read More »
There have been a few incidents over the years where my basement (cellar) has incurred water damage. The worst time was when the sump pump stopped working and the basement floor was covered by several inches of groundwater. While the basement is not a finished area, it is a recreational, work, and storage space containing
Automating Flood Detection Read More »
I have multiple Logitech Harmony Hubs (which I will call “Hubs” with an uppercase “H”), devices in my house that act as remote control transceivers. In other words, the Hubs can receive commands from a select set of Logitech-branded physical remote control devices such as the Logitech Harmony 950 and then issue commands to other
Integrating Amazon Echo With Multiple Logitech Hubs Using openHAB Read More »
There have been a number of times in the past where the garage door has been left open all night or when no one was at home. This could be due to issues such as someone forgetting to close the garage door, or the door having problems closing without anyone noticing. I wanted to get
Automating Garage Door Monitoring Read More »
When I am getting ready to leave the house I like to be able to issue a single command such as “turn on leaving mode” and have the home automation perform the following actions: Then, after a certain period of time passes, do the following: When I am returning home through the garage, (meaning the
Automating Leaving or Returning to the House Read More »
As part of the changes to the Stein Home Network (see Stein Home Network – 2021 Edition), the core home automation server is being moved to a new virtual machine and a new version of the openHAB software I use. While it is the same software, it is a major change and it is recommended
Home Automation – 2021 Edition Read More »
In order to implement a cohesive way to control and monitor you home, you need some sort of controller to integrate with your devices. This can take the form of a “hub” hardware device (or multiple hubs) that you place in your home, or the use a third-party (or multiple third-parties) over the Internet. Since
Home Automation Controller – 2021 Edition Read More »
