eHome Digital Tools:

What exactly is the eHome Digital Tools system?
What does E. D. T. stand for?
Does the eHome AVOD system need a server?
What kind of content can eHome AVOD play?
Will eHome AVOD Scan my hard drive and find all my MP3's and video clips?
Since eHome AVOD is peer to peer, what if one of my clients is down?
I don't have a touch screen. Can I still use eHome Digital Tools?

General:

Why was eHome Digital Tools Created?
What OS does E. D. T. need to run?

Equipment:

What kind of computer do I need?
Where do I get a touch screen?
What are the prices like for a touch screen?

eHome Digital Tools:

  • Q: What exactly is the eHome Digital Tools system?

  • A: eHome Digital Tools is a framework that provides snapins (programs - AVOD, browser, games) that can be used on a touch screen or or other computer. The uniqueness here is the front end (the client side) is completely separate from the back end (the server side) and all communication is through sockets. So in a nutshell, you can have one sever that plays music and three clients that connect to it and everything stays in sync.
     

  • Q. What does E. D. T. stand for?

  • A. eHome Digital Tools
     

  • Q: Does the eHome AVOD system need a server? 

  • A: No, it can use one but it's a peer to peer system. eHome clients talk to each other and share information on each clients system load and bandwidth. As long as all clients can see each on the network they can share content.
     

  • Q: What kind of content can eHome AVOD play?

  • A: Anything Windows supports it can play. All features might not be available but it can play it.
     

  • Q: Will eHome AVOD scan my hard drive and find all my MP3's and video clips?

  • A: Nope. eHome AVOD is a content management system and player. It allows you to build a LEGAL library of movies and music. Primary input into the system will be by eHome rippers so you can buy that DVD or CD and add it to you system but there are other supported ways too.
     

  • Q: Since eHome AVOD is peer to peer, what if one of my clients is down?

  • A: Then that content is just not available at the moment, it will return later when the client is back up. 
     

  • Q: I don't have a touch screen. Can I still use eHome Digital Tools?

  • A: Yes you can. The mouse can be turned on and you could hook it up to your TV or just play it through your local computer.

General:

  • Q: Why was eHome Digital Tools Created?
  • A: Well, I am a programmer and after buying a house in America, I have wanted to automate it. You know, house wide music, lights, heating and all that stuff. But the prices for something's are just way to much. I have seen home automation Touch Screen systems go for between $1,500 and $40,000! I don't have that kind of money just laying around and everything out there is a closed system. You cannot add to it and extend it. If I have to buy a $3000 touch screen to control my lights and heating system it seems to me that looking up a phone number or playing some MP3's should not be too hard. 
     

  • Q: What OS does E. D. T. need to run? 

  • A: eHome was developed on a Windows 2000 - SP4 computer and has been tested on NT4 - SP6  (Sept 2004 - bug reported on a Nt4 box and data access. ** Update, March-2006, Microsoft's ADO, MDAC was removed and SqLite is now being used as a data layer. NT4 Bug fixed!)  It has also been running on Windows XP home addition. **

Equipment:

  • Q: What kind of computer do I need? 

  • A: eHome was written with one big thing in mind, Touch Screen, POS equipment and in wall SBC computers are NOT state of the art. They are not P4 or 64 bit machines. (but they are getting there) Computers horsepower depends on what you are using. The basic framework is happy on a Pentium 2 or above. Playing Video is the hardest on your processor and I recommend at least a P3 600. (although Divx6 now recommends a P3 900) MP3 music is not as bad as video and a Pentium 2 300 or AMD-K6 300 works fine. These are minimums and I recommend something like a good Pentium 3 900 with 256meg of RAM. The computer I put in my wall was $225 off of EBay. A little slow so I put in a Pentium Celeron 1.2Ghz pushing the total to about $300. A note on 1st generation Intel Celerons (300Mhz - 500Mhz). The processors are DOGS! JUNK! Replace them with an socket 370 Tualatin Celeron and adapter. 
     

  • Q: Where do I get a Touch Screen?

  • A: Best place is EBay or look at used Point Of Sale equipment
     

  • Q: What are the prices like for a Touch Screen? 

  • A: Touch screens themselves can go anywhere from $40 for a used 14inch tube to $700 for a nice new flat panel and everywhere in between.  The computer can be anywhere from $60 (Pentium 2  400) to mega bucks.