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 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 »
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a way to securely access a private network over a public one such as the Internet. For example, when I am away from home I may want to access and use my desktop computer located in my home study. But I do not want other people who may have
Virtual Private Network (VPN) – 2021 Edition Read More »
DNS and DHCP are core services that many home networks provide. Usually these services are handled by an appliance such as a router provided by a person’s Internet Service Provider. Even though one of the major goals of the 2021 edition of the Stein Home Network is to simplify the infrastructure, (see Stein Home Network
DNS and DHCP – 2021 Edition Read More »
When computers connect to each other over the Internet or on your home network they usually use something called an IP address to know how to reach the destination computer. Unless you have a “business class” Internet package, you are likely given a single, Internet-accessible IP address for your home network. Your network equipment then
Dynamic DNS – 2021 Edition Read More »
