
ix
Preface
• You’re comfortable enough with your computer to install software. You
won’t be asked to do anything without easy-to-follow steps.
• You’re a geek of some kind but not another. Maybe you’ve built your
own microwave oven but you have no idea how to configure a web
server.
• You want to live in the Jetsons’ house. Who doesn’t?
• You’re not afraid to learn something new.
Organization of This Book
You should be able to understand the bulk of each project with very little
reading. The pictures alone tell a story. At the beginning of each chapter we
include a conceptual diagram, a “What You Need” list, and a small “Project
Stats” section that describes the relative difficulty, time involved, and cost
of the project. We assume that you’ve already got a PC, so we typically don’t
take that expense into account in the overall cost of the project.
The 13 projects in Home Hacking Projects for Geeks are divided into three
categories: Home Automation, Home Entertainment, and Home Security.
Part I, Home Automation
Chapter 1, Automate a Light (written by Tony Northrup), introduces you to
lighting that responds to your needs without request. We’ll show you how
to automate a light using a motion sensor, and you’ll never need to walk
across a dark basement again.
Chapter 2, Automate Your Porch Light (written by Tony Northrup),
expands upon the concepts i