Assisting with Technology

Hardware

DIY Alarm Monitor

We are happy to announce  our first major Mac program, DIYAlarmMonitor. Just as the name suggests it is a software interface to monitor your home alarm system. The basic project consists of three parts, an Arduino, DIYAlarmMonitor and an unused Alarm System. 

For the Arduino we also proved the PDE program which is written to be easy to read by the programming novice. When a zone is active it sends a code to the computer, it also sends a random number to confirm communications and it monitors temperature.

DIYAlarmMonitor was written to be used to support a personal website, meaning it creates files that you could easily read using PHP. It also supports  relay controls to activate lights or siren.

alarm system.png

This is an on going project, so please contact us for feature requests or bugs.

We are also considering developing an interface, or shield for the Arduino that would be a matter of plug-in play.

Thanks

Little Software Barn Development Team 

IP Power 9258 Mini Controller

See a need, fill a need.

After losing contact with one of remote sites we decided we needed a way to do a hard reboot of remote computers. Call it 'cycle the power'. Turn the power off, wait 30 seconds and then power the unit back on. Servers can run months, even years without issue. Unless they are overloaded or overheated.

Checking eBay for over the counter power controllers, we found the IP Power 9258. We got our first one for less than $70, but most cost between $50 to $120. After looking at programming options and being a Mac Shop we figured it was doable. In less the a week we completed IPPOWER.app. Very small, very simple controller for the IP Power.

First you'll need the IP Power's IP number. Using an old PC we configured ours DHCP, using the IPEdit that came with the unit. (Read their instructions, which aren't very well translated to english). We then use LanScan to find the device by its Mac Address.

After you have the IP Power's IP number, just startup IPPower, it will ask for the IP Number, administration name and password. The defaults are admin, 12345678.

You can now control the IP Power using keys 1 - 4, clicking on button 1 - 4 or sending "/Applications/IPPower.app/Contents/MacOS/IPPower 4" (4 being the outlet to cycle the power on).

We have also setup iChat to support cycling the power. See the attached AppleScript. Configure iChat to execute the script on message received. The script will look for "outlet1" - "outlet4" as a message. And cycle the power with prompting.

IP Power 9258


Thanks

Little Software Barn Development Team