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Hi all, I am new to HA and would like some help. 1st...I would like to automate as much of the house as possible but it appears that will not be in the immediate budget. So I am thinking of starting off small...I have a computer that I can dedicate to the HA, so I think I am going to be starting off on the right foot. I think at first I would like to get Voice activation...I have been reading about HAL 2000..and it really got my juices flowing for experimenting. Is HAL 2000 the definitive Voice program there is or are there others that work as well and may be more affordable? Let's start with this and see where it leads.

Thanks

Tom

Oh, there was one other thing...is there a way, through just the computer, and no additional software, to schedule the system to go on the net, retrieve the newspaper of my choice, and have it print out, with out me manually doing that. I would love to have that waiting in my printer 1st thing in the AM.

Reply to
Tom
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Hi Tom,

Both HAL200 and HomeSeer are good packages that will be able to do things like voice recognition, go to the net, get info, etc, etc. There are pros and cons with each of these systems. What is most important to you will determine which one to go with. I would start by getting the computer interface (I would recommend the 1132C). Once you have the interface, download the 30 day trial for each of the software packages and see for yourself which one suits your needs better.

Welcome to the fun world of home automation!

Martin Custer

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Reply to
AutomatedOutlet.com

Hi Tom,

I would also recommend Homeseer, which supports Voice Recognition as well (eventho it has been argued before that the HAL VR is better, but if I am not mistaken, both use the MS SAPI interface).

As for the printing, I am not sure if this can be done without using any

3rd party tools. There are plenty of free tools which can help you with this (such as Auto-It v3,
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, which can also compile the scripts into a single exe, so all you would have to do is execute the exe once every day using the MS scheduler service).

dan

Reply to
Dan

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