3 Review(s)

What would you give to be able to live in a house that communicates with you no matter where you are? What if that house could send you messages about your TV schedule, or if you could switch off lights from anywhere on the planet? Steven Goodwin’s book, Smart Home Automation with Linux and Raspberry Pi, delivers that and then some for every gadget enthusiast to make your home come alive. Summary of the Book Everything thinks these days, so why not your house? Why can’t your house talk to you, why can’t it tell you when you’ve left the lights on? Why can’t your stereo tweet you messages to let you know what tune’s coming up next? They can. Discover the magic of home automation using some of the greatest gifts the FOSSS community has given mankind: Linux and Raspberry Pi. Raspberry Pi has gained fame as the cheapest all-purpose computer device in the market. It has all the features of a full-fledged computer system, and can be used to cheaply automate a house with a little programming know-how and Linux experience. This book introduces readers to Steven Goodwin’s ideas of home automation, ideas which he has used personally on his own house. He shows how you can control appliances and why one would want to do so. He progresses to show how to control and monitor devices such as kettles, switches, CCTVs, and the TV from a computer. He also discusses the technologies he recommends to do this within a small budget, namely ZWave, ZigBee, and Hue. He progresses to discuss media systems and how to automate regular activities. The ideas he gives, he admits, may not be state-of-the-art, but they work and work extremely well within a budget, making smart home automation achievable in every way. About Steven Goodwin Steven Goodwin is an English computer professional and electronics enthusiast. He has been tinkering with Robotics for almost his entire life, and has created the Minerva project, an open source suite of tools and protocols which empower many different technologies. He is an active contributor to the Linux and FOSSS communities, and has spoken at several conferences including UKUUG, FOSDEM, NotCon and the BBC Backstage OpenTech event.