If you want to download them all along with the GIMP source file, here it is: Ubuntu 10.10 CD Covers

When opening the Gimp source file, make sure you have the Ubuntu title font installed:

sudo apt-get install ttf-ubuntu-title

Enjoy!

These are the steps I do after installing Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat. I am collecting them here because I have several computers to upgrade, and I want to make sure I make the necessary customizations on all of them – a standard image if you will, so I can move from one to another and have a consistent environment.

Note: I will be modifying this article as time goes on and my installation technique gets tweaked. Don’t come to this article 3 months later and start blindly running the commands because you think you remember what they do.

Fix the Theme

1. Right Click Desktop -> Change Desktop Background
2. Change the background to something other than purple.
3. Under the Theme tab, select New Wave to put the close button back to the right.
4. Click Close.

Fix the Terminal

1. Open Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal
2. Edit -> Profile Preferences
3. Uncheck “Terminal bell”
4. Unckeck “Show menubar by default in new terminals”
5. Set the Default size to 125 x 25.
6. On the Colors tab, uncheck the box that says “use colors from system theme” and set to “White on black”
7. Hit Close
8. Re-open the terminal to see the new size.

Change Some Nautilus Settings

1. Hit Alt + F2 and type in “gconf-editor”
2. Navigate to /apps/nautilus/preferences/”
3. Check the box that says “always_use_location_entry” to show the full address path instead of the folder box thingys
4. Navigate sideways to the desktop directory to add additional icons to the desktop as desired

Change the Logon Background

1. {old method does not work in this version…researching…}

Set Ctrl + Alt + Backspace to Restart the X Server

1. Go to System -> Preferences -> Keyboard
2. Click on the Layouts tab
3. Click on the Options button
4. Expand the section that says “Key sequence to kill the X server”
5. Check the box next to “Control + Alt + Backspace”

Restore Various Computer Settings / Files

Assuming you backed up your home directory, these are the specific files that I usually restore.

• Nautilus bookmarks: ~/.gtk-bookmarks
• Mozilla Firefox Profile: ~/.mozilla
• Mozilla Thunderbird Profile: ~/.thunderbird
• SSH Keys & Authorized Hosts: ~/.ssh
• Pidgin Profile: ~/.purple
• Gnome Keyring: ~/.gnupg & ~/.gnome2/keyrings
• gEdit Settings / Snippets: ~/gnome2/gedit
• QuickSynergy: ~/.quicksynergy

These are just the settings and program profiles. Of course don’t forget Documents, Desktop (even though you don’t store a bunch of crap on your desktop, right…right?), Videos, Pictures, and all the other random folders created over the years.

Configure Local Apt Mirror

1. Fire up a terminal
2. I have the sources.list on my server with the local mirror already in place, so to import it into a new machine, I run this command:
   sudo mv /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.original
sudo scp server-01:/home/share/apt/maverick.list /etc/apt/sources.list
3. Run “sudo apt-get update” to make sure all the sources are reachable.
4. Run “sudo apt-get dist-upgrade” while we are at it.

Install Some Software

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

sudo apt-get install abiword alltray amarok armagetronad audacity \
banshee blender bluefish cdrdao chromium-browser clusterssh \
compizconfig-settings-manager devede duplicity dvdauthor easytag-aac \
epiphany-browser ffmpeg filelight frozen-bubble gdesklets gftp gimp gnibbles \
gnome-breakout gnomebaker \
gnumeric gpaint gpass gphpedit graphviz gwakeonlan htop hydrogen inkscape \
k3b kino listen mdbtools-gmdb mencoder mousepad mplayer mysql-admin \
mysql-client mysql-navigator mysql-query-browser neverball neverputt \
oggconvert openclipart-openoffice.org openclipart-png openoffice.org \
openoffice.org-base openssh-server oxygen-icon-theme p7zip-full pidgin \
pidgin-libnotify pidgin-otr pidgin-plugin-pack pingus prism prism-facebook \
prism-google-calendar prism-google-docs prism-google-mail \
prism-google-reader prism-twitter rapidsvn rar sound-juicer sqlitebrowser \
ssh supertux-stable supertuxkart terminator thunderbird ttf-dejavu \
ttf-dejavu-extra ttf-lyx ttf-sil-gentium ttf-sil-gentium-basic \
ttf-symbol-replacement ttf-ubuntu-title vlc wine wireshark xchat subversion \
smbfs gedit-plugins quicksynergy padevchooser nautilus-image-converter

Install Binary nVidia Driver

1. Install the driver via the Drivers manager & reboot.
2. Run “sudo nvidia-settings”
3. Click on the X Server Display Configuration and enable the second screen.
4. Click on Apply, and then Save to X Configuration File.

Connect Samba Shares in /etc/fstab

I have a couple Samba shares that I want visible on my computer. Create the empty directories in /mnt where they are to be mounted, and then use the commands like the one below to setup the mount.

1. Copy this in the fstab:
   //server/path /mnt/path smbfs credentials=/root/.smbpasswd,uid=1000,gid=1000 0
2. .smbpasswd looks like this:
   username=user
password=topsecret

Install the Citrix XenApp for Linux

Citrix is a virtualization software package to run programs remotely. I use it for work.

1. Download the package from the download page.
2. Extract the package using the Nautilus right-click menu or this command: tarr -xzvf linuxx86-*.tar.gz
3. Fire up a terminal and cd into the directory where the package was extracted to.
4. Run “sudo ./setupwfc” and follow the installation instructions

The Citrix receiver will now allow you to run Citrix applications from your favorite web browser. If you want to configure desktop shortcuts or need to use the GUI manager, run these commands:

sudo apt-get install libmotif3
ln -s /usr/lib/libXm.so.3.0.2 /usr/lib/libXm.so.4

Install DVD Playback

sudo apt-get install libdvdread4
sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh


Install MythTV From Source

http://www.mythtvbook.com/wiki/The_Hard_Way:_Installing_MythTV_From_Source

Set the Background to Something Useful

http://www.webupd8.org/2009/09/real-time-earth-wallpaper-for-linux.html

Configure Alternate Networks (If Laptop)

1. Configure wireless networks
2. Configure mobile broadband connection

Enable Sudo Insults

sudo visudo
Defaults …,insults (add insults to the end of this line)
sudo -K

Note: I will be modifying this article as time goes on and my installation technique gets tweaked. Don’t come to this article 3 months later and start blindly running the commands because you think you remember what they do.

These are the steps I do after installing Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx.  I am collecting them here because I have several computers to upgrade, and I want to make sure I make the necessary customizations on all of them – a standard image if you will, so I can move from one to another and have a consistent environment.

Fix the Theme

1. Right Click Desktop -> Change Desktop Background
2. Change the background to something other than purple.
3. Under the Theme tab, select New Wave to put the close button back to the right.
4. Click Close.

Fix the Terminal

1. Open Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal
2. Edit -> Profile Preferences
3. Uncheck “Terminal bell”
4. Unckeck “Show menubar by default in new terminals”
5. Set the Default size to 125 x 25.
6. On the Colors tab, uncheck the box that says “use colors from system theme” and set to “White on black”
7. Hit Close
8. Re-open the terminal to see the new size.

Change Some Nautilus Settings

1. Hit Alt + F2 and type in “gconf-editor”
2. Navigate to /apps/nautilus/preferences/”
3. Check the box that says “always_use_location_entry” to show the full address path instead of the folder box thingys
4. Navigate sideways to the desktop directory to add additional icons to the desktop as desired

Change the Logon Background

1. Open up a terminal, and run:
   sudo -u gdm dbus-launch gnome-appearance-properties
2. Change the background accordingly.

Remove the Universal Access Preferences Taskbar Icon

1. Go to System -> Preferences -> Keyboard
2. Under the Accessibility Tab, uncheck the box that says “Accessibility features can be toggled…”
3. Click Close

Set Ctrl + Alt + Backspace to Restart the X Server

1. Go to System -> Preferences -> Keyboard
2. Click on the Layouts tab
3. Click on the Options button
4. Expand the section that says “Key sequence to kill the X server”
5. Check the box next to “Control + Alt + Backspace”

Restore Various Computer Settings / Files

Assuming you backed up your home directory, these are the specific files that I usually restore.

• Nautilus bookmarks: ~/.gtk-bookmarks
• Mozilla Firefox Profile: ~/.mozilla
• Mozilla Thunderbird Profile: ~/.thunderbird or ~/.thunderbird-3.0 (if you were like me and upgraded Mozilla Thunderbird to 3.x during the last Ubuntu release)
• SSH Keys & Authorized Hosts: ~/.ssh
• Pidgin Profile: ~/.purple
• Gnome Keyring: ~/.gnupg & ~/.gnome2/keyrings
• gEdit Settings / Snippets: ~/gnome2/gedit
• QuickSynergy: ~/.quicksynergy

These are just the settings and program profiles. Of course don’t forget Documents, Desktop (even though you don’t store a bunch of crap on your desktop, right…right?), Videos, Pictures, and all the other random folders created over the years.

Configure Local Apt Mirror

1. Fire up a terminal
2. I have the sources.list on my server with the local mirror already in place, so to import it into a new machine, I run this command:
   sudo mv /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.original
sudo scp server-01:/home/share/apt/lucid.list /etc/apt/sources.list
3. Run “sudo apt-get update” to make sure all the sources are reachable.
4. Run “sudo apt-get dist-upgrade” while we are at it.

Install Some Software

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

sudo apt-get install abiword alltray amarok armagetronad audacity \
banshee blender bluefish cdrdao chromium-browser clusterssh \
compizconfig-settings-manager devede duplicity dvdauthor easytag-aac \
epiphany-browser ffmpeg filelight frozen-bubble gdesklets gftp gimp gnibbles \
gnome-breakout gnome-do gnome-do-docklets gnome-do-plugins gnomebaker \
gnumeric gpaint gpass gphpedit graphviz gwakeonlan htop hydrogen inkscape \
k3b kino listen mdbtools-gmdb mencoder mousepad mplayer mysql-admin \
mysql-client mysql-navigator mysql-query-browser neverball neverputt \
oggconvert openclipart-openoffice.org openclipart-png openoffice.org \
openoffice.org-base openssh-server oxygen-icon-theme p7zip-full pidgin \
pidgin-libnotify pidgin-otr pidgin-plugin-pack pingus prism prism-facebook \
prism-google-calendar prism-google-docs prism-google-mail \
prism-google-reader prism-twitter rapidsvn rar sound-juicer sqlitebrowser \
ssh supertux-stable supertuxkart terminator thunderbird ttf-dejavu \
ttf-dejavu-extra ttf-lyx ttf-sil-gentium ttf-sil-gentium-basic \
ttf-symbol-replacement ttf-ubuntu-title vlc wine wireshark xchat subversion \
smbfs gedit-plugins quicksynergy padevchooser nautilus-image-converter

Install Binary nVidia Driver

1. Install the driver via the Drivers manager & reboot.
2. Run “sudo nvidia-settings”
3. Click on the X Server Display Configuration and enable the second screen.
4. Click on Apply, and then Save to X Configuration File.

Connect Samba Shares in /etc/fstab

I have a couple Samba shares that I want visible on my computer. Create the empty directories in /mnt where they are to be mounted, and then use the commands like the one below to setup the mount.

1. Copy this in the fstab:
   //server/path /mnt/path smbfs credentials=/root/.smbpasswd,uid=1000,gid=1000 0
2. .smbpasswd looks like this:
   username=user
password=topsecret

Adding Thunderbird to the Indicator Applet

I prefer Thunderbird over Evolution, so I am going to remove the Evolution icon and add Thunderbird.
sudo rm /usr/share/indicators/messages/applications/evolution
sudo bash -c "echo /usr/share/applications/thunderbird.desktop > /usr/share/indicators/messages/applications/thunderbird"

Removing Empathy from the Indicator Applet

The casual observer would note that Pidgin was included in the software install above. Up to this point, I have preferred Pidgin, but this time I think I’m going to give Empathy another try. If you want to remove it, run the below command. I will leave them both there and choose my favorite one later.
sudo rm /usr/share/indicators/messages/applications/empathy

Install the Citrix XenApp for Linux

Citrix is a virtualization software package to run programs remotely. I use it for work.

1. Download the package from the download page.
2. Extract the package using the Nautilus right-click menu or this command: tarr -xzvf linuxx86-*.tar.gz
3. Fire up a terminal and cd into the directory where the package was extracted to.
4. Run “sudo ./setupwfc” and follow the installation instructions

The Citrix receiver will now allow you to run Citrix applications from your favorite web browser.  If you want to configure desktop shortcuts or need to use the GUI manager, run these commands:

sudo apt-get install libmotif3
ln -s /usr/lib/libXm.so.3.0.2 /usr/lib/libXm.so.4

Install DVD Playback

sudo apt-get install libdvdread4
sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh


Install MythTV From Source

http://www.mythtvbook.com/wiki/The_Hard_Way:_Installing_MythTV_From_Source

Set the Background to Something Useful

http://www.webupd8.org/2009/09/real-time-earth-wallpaper-for-linux.html

Configure Alternate Networks (If Laptop)

1. Configure wireless networks
2. Configure mobile broadband connection

Note: I will be modifying this article as time goes on and my installation technique gets tweaked. Don’t come to this article 3 months later and start blindly running the commands because you think you remember what they do.

If you want to download them all along with the GIMP source file, here it is: Ubuntu 10.04 CD Covers

When opening the Gimp source file, make sure you have the Ubuntu title font installed:

sudo apt-get install ttf-ubuntu-title

Enjoy!

rsync -rougv --archive --delete-excluded --ignore-errors --exclude=*.gvfs* /home/andrew /backup/

Below is the command that I use for each user on my main file server. This copies over SSH, so I have SSH keys on the destination server so I can run this in a cron job, and it won’t get hung up with a password prompt.

rsync -rougv --archive --delete-excluded --ignore-errors --exclude=*.gvfs* /home/user1 bckup@server-02:/media/external/backups/server-01/

From the man page, here is an explanation on all the options I use:

• -r, –recursive             recurse into directories
• -o, –owner                 preserve owner (super-user only)
• -u, –update                skip files that are newer on the receiver
• -g, –group                 preserve group
• -v, –verbose               increase verbosity
• -a, –archive               archive mode; equals -rlptgoD (no -H,-A,-X)
• –delete-excluded       also delete excluded files from dest dirs
• –ignore-errors         delete even if there are I/O errors
• –exclude=PATTERN       exclude files matching PATTERN (so it doesn’t copy any SSHFS-mounted directories on my system)

Check out this screenshot of my dual-display desktop with a dark theme enabled:

Looks pretty cool…just like all those other screenshots you see, but they are leaving out some common problems that I find when I try it out for real.  Let’s see another screen shot with some other common programs.

This one looks quite worse.  Firefox thinks it needs to theme my text boxes, form buttons, and scroll bars according to my desktop theme, and not according to the site style.  Behind the Firefox browser is the OpenOffice.org Processor.  That opened up with a text area and font color that matches the theme as well, and I don’t think it should.  It’s supposed to mimic a white piece of paper, and it doesn’t in this case.  Moving on to Bluefish (on the left), it is clear that one cannot write code in that environment.  Removing the white background will make your eyes hurt with the syntax highlighting.  Bluefish either needs to make the entire editing area white or have alternate syntax highlighting themes for a dark background.

I have done endless searching and found no solution for Firefox & Bluefish.  OpenOffice does offer the option to manually change the background or use the default background (theme color).  In general, I think that the dark theme is more appealing and easy on the eyes (especially at night), but until programs are made to easilly adapt to different color schemes, this won’t be an option for me.

Download the Gimp source file: ubuntu-cd.xcf

The color background behind the edition and processor type can be changed so you can better identify them when they are in your cases.  Just look for the version-bg-(n) layers in the image.

Also, the wallpaper layer can be hidden if saving ink is desired.  I used the full color background when printing out the desktop editions, but then hid the background for the server & alternate editions to save on ink.

If you don’t have The Gimp, you can download it here, or see all the different versions that you can make with this file below.

1. The first task is to create a user for our test version of Firefox. Click on the System (Gnome Menu) -> Administration -> Users and Groups.
2. Click on Add User.
3. Type in ‘fftest’ for the user name and choose a password. Then, click OK.
4. Fire up a terminal, su into your new user and go to your home directory by typing the following commands.
   

   su fftest
   cd ~

5. Download Firefox 3.0b2:
   

   wget http://ftp-mozilla.netscape.com/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/3.0b2/linux-i686/en-US/firefox-3.0b2.tar.bz2

6. Extract the archive.
   

   tar -jxvf firefox-3.0b2.tar.bz2

7. Type in this command to tell Firefox not to use an existing session.
   

   export MOZ_NO_REMOTE=1

8. Start Firefox
   

   ./firefox/firefox

9. If you get an error like this…
   

   Xlib: connection to “:0.0″ refused by server
   Xlib: No protocol specified

   (firefox-bin:5160): Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display:

   …that means that you need to let the ‘fftest’ user launch applications that interface with the current GUI. In order to do that, you will need to fire up a new terminal that is under your desktop user, and type in the following command:

   xhost +local:fftest

   Then start Firefox again.

   ./firefox/firefox

10. You should now see the Firefox start page.
    
    This Firefox session is completely independent from your current version, you can run them side-by-side.
    
    
11. Repeat steps 7-10 to run Firefox 3.0b2 in the future. When you are done testing, just delete the user ‘fftest’.

If you find any issues or problems with this tutorial, please contact me or post a comment.  I always want to ensure that I’m posting accurate instructions.
Reference: http://www.captain.at/firefox-run-different-versions.php

I will show you how to do this using Ubuntu 7.10 using the Generic desktop kernel. This tutorial can probably be adapted to other Linux/Unix distros. I tried it with the Ubuntu server kernel, but had no success. If you can get it, please post how you did it.

Setting it Up

1. Plug in your USB CM19a Module. Then fire up a terminal and type:
   

   dmesg

   The last several lines should look like this:

   [ 4037.694734] usb 1-2.2: new low speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 6
   [ 4037.834968] usb 1-2.2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
   [ 4038.121493] input: X10 Wireless Technology Inc USB Transceiver as /class/input/input7
   [ 4038.123803] usbcore: registered new interface driver ati_remote
   [ 4038.124444] /build/buildd/linux-source-2.6.22-2.6.22/drivers/input/misc/ati_remote.c: Registered USB driver ATI/X10 RF USB Remote Control v. 2.2.1
   [ 4038.128544] /build/buildd/linux-source-2.6.22-2.6.22/drivers/input/misc/ati_remote.c: Weird data, len=1 ff 00 00 00 00 00 …
   [ 4038.212107] lirc_dev: IR Remote Control driver registered, at major 61
   [ 4038.235359]
   [ 4038.235365] lirc_atiusb: USB remote driver for LIRC $Revision: 1.61 $
   [ 4038.235379] lirc_atiusb: Paul Miller <pmiller9@users.sourceforge.net>
   [ 4038.276958] usbcore: registered new interface driver lirc_atiusb

   The important thing to note is that it is using the “lirc_atiusb” driver. This doesn’t work with this device. We need to find a better one.

2. Download X10MMS and extract it.
3. Go back to your terminal, and cd into that extracted directory.
4. As per the instructions in the software’s readme file, run the following commands:
   

   sudo make
   sudo make install
   sudo modprobe x10-cm19a

   We’re not done yet. If you were to plug in your device, and run dmesg again, you would notice that it’s still running that pesky lirc_atiusb driver, so let’s blacklist it.

5. Type in a terminal:
   

   sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

6. Then add to the end of the file:
   

   # causes the custom cm19a driver to fail
   blacklist lirc_atiusb
   blacklist ati_remote

7. Type in a terminal:
   

   sudo rmmod lirc_atiusb
   sudo rmmod ait_remote

8. One last thing…this step allows all users to access the device. Some may say this is a security risk, but I don’t want to be root to use it.Type in the following command to open the udev rules file:
   

   sudo gedit /etc/udev/rules.d/40-permissions.rules

9. Add the following to the end of the file:
   

   KERNEL==”cm19a0″, MODE=”0666″

10. One last commad to run:
    

    sudo chmod 0666 /dev/cm19a0

11. You’re done, yay! Now it’s time to test it out. Remember, this driver only provides an interface to the module. You will have to write your own software / scripts / cron jobs to make it useful.The interface works by sending strings to it. To turn on A1, we send +A1 to it. To turn off C4, we send -C5 to it. In practice, type in the following command to turn on A1:
    

    echo +A1 > /dev/cm19a0

    Hopefully, your transeiver module will turn on.

Update (9/14/2008)

I just went back and used this post to reconfigure this device on the new kernel.  Turns out that for Ubuntu Hardy Heron (8.04), an additional kernel module needs to be blacklisted: ati_remote.  That module has been added to the previous steps.

Troubleshooting

If your test commands are not working, make sure that the driver is being loaded properly. Disconnect the module, wait a few seconds, and reconnect the device. Then type this in a terminal:

dmesg

The last several lines should look like this:

[ 7110.487961] usb 1-2.2: new low speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 12
[ 7110.629155] usb 1-2.2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 7110.632117] x10-cm19a: Probing x10-cm19a…
[ 7110.632136] x10-cm19a: Found input endpoint: 81, and output endpoint: 2
[ 7110.637872] x10-cm19a: freeing buffer in callback (0xd78eb0c0/0x178eb0c0)
[ 7111.197615] x10-cm19a: freeing buffer in callback (0xd78eb0c0/0x178eb0c0)
[ 7111.197863] x10-cm19a: X10 CM19A USB RF Transceiver connected.
[ 7111.197870] x10-cm19a: X10 CM19A USB RF Transceiver initialized to listen for remote controls.
[ 7111.205631] x10-cm19a: freeing buffer in callback (0xd78eb0c0/0x178eb0c0)

If they don’t, make sure you followed all the steps. If you didn’t understand one of them, please post a question.

More Information

A couple of tips were taken from Dan at Zenlike.ca -> Another homebrew Linux X10 Dawn simulator

The software driver mentioned in this entry can be found here -> X10MMS

Checking your Inventory

Before we can go on, here are the supplies you will need to get the ball rolling.

1. CM17a Firecracker Module.
   These can be bought from x10.com or eBay.
2. X10 Transceiver (TM751 or RR501)
3. Lamp Module (LM465) or Appliance Module (AM466)
   Note: The X10 Transceiver also functions as an appliance module.
4. Palm Pad Remote (HR12a)
   The remote is optional since we will be using our computer to send commands.

If you need to purchase all items in the list above: consider purchasing a bundle kit, like the CK18A 4 Piece Home Kit.

The items listed above are the minimum to get your X10 home automation started. If you are looking for more geeky automation toys, go to x10.com. Be careful though, it’s easy to spend money on cool stuff like this.

Installing the Software

I use Heyu to control my devices. It’s a simple command-line tool that you can easily integrate into a front-end, or use it as-is out of the box. Combining the command line tool with cron jobs is enough to make it worth it.

Download a copy of the software at Heyu’s Download Page. This is software that you will have to download and compile yourself. If you are used to deb packages and RPM’s, don’t worry. It’s not bad. Download the software and extract it. Fire up a terminal window and cd to that directory. Follow the Quickstart instructions in the INSTALL text file.

Testing the Interface

Now is the time to connect the hardware. Connect the firecracker interface to your primary serial port and connect your other modules. Make note of the house code that you set and the unit code. The house code is the code that all of your devices will adhere to. For example, if your transceiver is on house code D, then all of your devices have to have house code D. I recommend not using A because the Smith’s next door might be too lazy to switch it off of the default as well. The unit code is the unit’s unique ID. Make note of what you set on that as well.

For the purpose of this tutorial, I will be using house code A. Please change accordingly as you read through this.

Once you have everything ready to go, fire up a terminal on your computer with the interface, and type in the following:

heyu fon A1

Then type:

heyu foff A1

If you did everything correctly, you should have heard your transceiver switch on and off. (assuming your transceiver was off to begin with)

Understanding the Command

The two commands above are simple commands using the heyu program. View the man page of the ‘heyu’ command to see all others.

For example, if I wanted to turn off the appliance that has the unit code ’6′ and is on house code ‘A’, I would type this:

heyu foff A6

If I wanted to dim a lamp that was already on that has the unit code ’7′ and house code ‘A’, I would type this:

heyu fdim A7

Simple, no?

Extend the Knowledge

Now that you know how the program works, it’s time to put it to use. Since, these methods of implementation are beyond the scope of this article, I will only be providing the ideas, not a step-by-step. If you need help on the implementation of some of these ideas, please post a question in the comments area, and I will expand on it in another post.

Cron Jobs: Use simple cron jobs to time lights or appliances in your house such as lamps, Christmas lights, etc.

Web Interface: Forgot to turn on your porch light? Now you can from work, your Internet-enabled PDA, wherever! If your server has web server capabilities, make a PHP/HTML front-end to your home’s devices. Here is an example of how you can do it in PHP: X10 PHP Example

Have others? Post it in the comments section below.