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ASUS EeeBox PC as a Home Automation/Media Server

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Michael

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I recently acquired an ASUS EeeBox PC (EB1006). My goal is to set it up to serve media, manage our home automation systems, and some additional security roles. I’m hoping this will be the last major change to the home automation setup for a few years.

My first home automation system ran on an older, unused Windows XP system. After a while I converted it to a virtual machine that ran under Virtual Box and then later in Fusion. About a month ago I shut down the virtual machine and started running similar functions from my iMac in OS X.

Now that I have the EeeBox I’m in the process of shifting these functions over to it. Most of the software is working, with the exception of the VPN server. The home automation system is not running under my license of mControl 2, but instead using the beta version of mControl 3. I’m currently experimenting with Boxee and XBMC for HTPC functions – the computer is connected to the HDMI switch in the living room.

This is the configuration I’ve been planning to implement at some point. Eventually, I was going to purchase a Mac-mini server or an ASUS PC. Since these functions must run all day I wanted to shift to a low-power system that wouldn’t draw as much power as my iMac.

Instead of using Windows XP, which is what the EB1006 had pre-installed, I installed Windows 7. In the near future I will upgrade the RAM from 1 GB to 2 GB, though it runs surprisingly well with only 1 GB.

I haven’t decided whether or not I’ll upgrade the hard drive. I plan to move the movies I’ve ripped from our DVDs to this system, but I could do that now by attaching an external USB hard drive.

7 responses to “ASUS EeeBox PC as a Home Automation/Media Server”

  1. Vitamin D Video: A Licensing Surprise « Press Any Key

    […] December I purchased a copy of Vitamin D Video for OS X. However, I’ve been moving various services  over from my iMac to the new ASUS EeeBox. At first, I assumed this would require that I purchase another license for the Windows version of […]

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  2. How I Made the Airport Extreme Base Station “Play Nice” with an ASUS WL-520GU Wireless Router « Press Any Key

    […] Base Station wouldn’t properly handle an incoming PPTP VPN connection. Recently, because I moved my home automation setup to an ASUS EeeBox PC, I decided to switch back to PPTP by using an ASUS wireless […]

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  3. ASUS EeeBox PC (EB1006), Boxee and Netflix Experience (Unacceptable) « Press Any Key

    […] Experience (Unacceptable) by Michael on August 16, 2011 I have three projects for the ASUS EeeBox PC that I have yet to spend much time on: speech recognition, text-to-speech, and serving media files […]

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  4. Waking Wireless Speakers from Standby for Audio Output (Windows 7) « Press Any Key

    […] 30, 2011 I recently purchased a set of wireless speakers, which I’ve connected to my ASUS EeeBox PC. They work well but I have encountered a problem that is common to wireless speakers – they […]

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  5. mControl 3 Activation Problem – License File « Press Any Key

    […] I figured out that it damaged the network ports on the Airport Extreme Base Station along with the ethernet port on the ASUS system, which is my home automation […]

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    […] surge from a nearby lightning strike. Unfortunately, one of the devices that took a hit was the ASUS system I’m using for managing home automation. After the surge I configured the system to use wifi but it was struggling to keep up with network […]

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  7. Moving from mControl 3 (Windows) to Indigo 6 (OS X) for Home Automation | Press Any Key

    […] a different package I went ahead and upgraded to version 3 when it was released. The software was running on an ASUS system I had setup at the house for managing home automation and security video […]

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Hello,

I’m Mike

Welcome to my blog, which I have maintained for several years, off and on, to share things that I’ve learned from numerous projects and various problem solving escapades. This is my way of giving something back to the online communities that have helped me learn more about a wide variety of topics.

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