What is this? ============= This is the Global Premises Control package. It is intended to be a complete solution to the DIY home automation. It provides you with a daemon which will centralize all control functions, and some custom programs for sound, remote control and things like that. The first steps to realizing the goal was made by Koen Martens. He wrote the first daemon and made the first support programs. Other people got interested and ported the GPC package to their homes. Since then it seemed wise to coordinate development to prevent from having three different versions of the package. It is currently under development and is far from complete. History ======= 15-03-98 - The first initiative With the help of Henri Aanstoot and Marco Geels the first cables were mounted in the ceiling at Waalstraat 136. This involved re-dedicating some high voltage lines for the low voltage used by GPC equipment. The next few days Koen Martens spend his time writing software to switch on the lights (which was not possible without software anymore :). This software was very rudimentry and did not feauture the daemon yet. 28-03-98 Version 1.0 was born. The need for a global way to control the premises arose, and Koen Martens decided to write a daemon which would control the input and output lines, with support programs for the logic. This resulted in global, the gpc daemon. Running on different servers there were programs to control lights and lightswitches (light_control), sound (sound) and the alarm clock (wakeup). 10-06-98 Version 2.0 (r0.2.0) was born. The support programs containing any logic had vanished, instead the daemon had all the logic encoded in it. 03-07-98 Version 2.0 still. - Added remote control receiver code. 29-11-98 GPC r0.3.0 - Started coordinated development 11-12-98 GPC r0.3.1 - Security support included, providing a (basic) interface for protecting variables with passwords on a security level clearance basis. - Global notify protocol added, clients can now register one or more variables. This makes the old (0.3.0) polling method obsolete thus reducing the network load dramatically. - Logging library added. Development =========== The development is done on the following beta sites: - Subnet Location : Waalstraat 136, Enschede, Netherlands Site coordinator: Koen Martens AKA gmc (gmc@freemail.nl) Site description: Single floor appartment 3 occupants (1 human, 2 rats) P60 32MB RAM running linux 486 8MB RAM running FreeBSD 486 8MB RAM running linux DEC Writer WYSE terminal The 486 linux machine has the daemon, and is hooked up to the premises. The P60 has a sound card and a RC receiver. - Lip-on-ice Location : Lipperkerkstraat 321, Enschede, Netherlands Site coordinator: Willem-Jan Faber AKA aloha AKA xtz (w-jfaber@freemail.nl) Site description: Three floor house Four occupants (3 male, 1 female) Connected to three other premises. Computer list not yet in! - Venom Location : P. Mondriaanstraat ??, Almelo, Netherlands Site coordinator: Sebastiaan Smit AKA venom (wssmit@freemail.nl) Site description: Three floor house Three occupants 4 computers If you would like to join the development, mail me at gmc@freemail.nl. In progress =========== The following projects are in progress right now: - A script language to describe the control logic for the daemon Koen Martens - An cgi interface for the http connectivity - Support for sharing variables on multiple daemons Usage ===== Use is for your own risk. We can not be held responsible for any damage resulted from running any of this software. Keeping that in mind, usage is very simple but work needs to be done on the documentation :)