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This is great information and I really appreciate it. It definitely gives me options to consider.

Since we are at the point where we can go wired as opposed to wireless, is there a particular wired home automation technology that you would recommend?

Any other suggestions, best practices, etc. regarding home automation?

Thanks again for the great help!

... k2ham

Hello and welcome.

It seems to me that in order to be able to give the best advice, we need some more details, mainly, what stage of the construction have you reached and where are you located.
Itsik

Hi Itsik,

Thank you for your reply. As for construction stage, the block walls have been set and the rough-in for the plumbing and basement slab will be done next. Then the subfloor, etc... we're pretty much at the early stages of construction. The house will be approx. 5,700 sq ft., log construction with main floor as well as loft and 2 bedrooms on the 2nd floor, with a full walk-out basement located in the Smoky Mountain region of Tennessee. My office as well as the mechanical room will be located in the basement. My initial thoughts are to see about building the communications/wiring closet within the mechanical room as long as we have adequate ventilation and cooling in there (which should be pretty good to start with since it in the back/underground part of the basement). I'm also anticipating getting the telephone, cable, etc. terminated in the mechanical room.

... k2ham

Good morning,

My wife and I are currently building a new home and I would very much like to incorporate LinuxMCE into its design and build. I've read the Wiki about building a new home around LinuxMCE and will incorporate its recommendations as much as possible. While I've not used LinuxMCE before, I am fairly familiar to Linux/Ubuntu and use the OS on my current desktop and laptop in our current home.

Right now, the features I'm most interested in are the home automation and security features. This new home will be located about 3.5 hours from our current home and I would like to be able to monitor things and control the HVAC from the internet as needed. I also want to think ahead and incorporate/design AV capabilities into our home but that is not the primary focus currently.

As for the advice I am seeking, if you were in my situation (building a new home, starting from scratch with LinuxMCE):

1. Which home automation technology would you build around/use and why?
2. Considering the upcoming 8.10 release, would that influence your choice of core/hybrid server (or components)? (I'll likely build and use a core server in a wiring/communications closet).


I would very much welcome any other advice, lessons learned, pitfalls to avoid, etc. from those of you that have been enjoying this project.  Knowing what you know now, what would you do if you could start over from the beginning??

I look forward to hearing from and learning from you!

... k2ham