
viii
Preface
ments—each project presents a workable, practical way to improve your
home. When you finish a project, you will have built something unique that
you can customize to your family’s individual needs.
No matter what your current skill level is, you can learn from the projects
in this book. Neither of the authors is a Linux guru by any means, and you
don’t need to be one either. Working through the Linux-oriented projects is
an excellent introduction to the Linux operating system and to both well-
known and underutilized Linux tools. There are Windows-based projects
as well, and wherever practical, solutions are presented for both platforms.
Above all, this is a practical book. If you’re reading it, you’re probably a
geek, but chances are not everyone you live with would wear that moniker
with pride. The end product of these projects should not intimidate even
the most technophobic person—your family will never have to touch a
command line, or even a keyboard. The whole point of these projects is not
just to enhance your home life but to make things
easier. We’ve relied on the
user interfaces everyone is already comfortable with: wall switches, remote
controls, and occasionally a web browser. In fact, many of the projects are
designed to not require
any interaction from your family—for example,
you’ll learn to completely automate yo