We finally got those baby fish and the 20 gallon tank into my room last night. It looks nice in there but I gotta say that the power bar I bought to plug the tank into was a pain in the ass. I bought it specifically because it has wide plugs on it so when I get my X10 stuff going and automate the tank with a computer, I’ll have a place that the plugs can plug into, but man, I friggin hurt my hand trying to plug the plugs into the power bar.
Why would I want a computer controlled aquarium? Because it’s cool. Actually, I’m looking and building a media/control PC which will house all of mine and Tamara’ digital pictures and MP3’s. The plan is that this PC will act as a server which my wifi equipment (to be purchased) can access so I can stream MP3’s through the house (specifically the kitchen), perhaps get digital pictures down to the TV for a cool slide show, and other neat-o stuff. That same machine will host the X10 applet that allows you to control X10 devices via your PC. So, I write a small program that interfaces with that, and voila, the tank’s lights & bubbles come on and off automatically, and maybe I might even rig up something to feed them automatically.
The plan is that’s a test project leading to more cool things. Ideally, I’d like to be able to walk into my room, say “lights on” or the lights come on, or “play music” and it plays music, but that stuff takes more gear and some much better software than what I have now, but it is not beyond the realm of possibility. When I lived in Poughkeepsie, I rigged my PC up so that I could speak into the microphone and say “Bill Gates is the devil” and the lights would turn on. I also had it rigged so when I went on Christmas vacation, the lights turned on and off at scheduled times, and turned music on and off at scheduled times. Now that I have a house of my own, I’m gonna see how hi-tech I can make it 🙂
